What are CICS web services?

[utkarsh]

Hi,

I have a very basic question on CICS web-services, what are CICS Web Services? What is that thing which we could not do if they were not available to us?

I looked at documentation but that does not seem to answer this question specifically or I seem not to understand this.

Would appreciate if you can help with some example too.

[Anuj Dhawan]

CICS Web Services act as a bridge between your existing CICS programs and the modern web world. They allow you to expose functionalities of your CICS applications as web services, following standard protocols like SOAP or JSON. Imagine CICS applications as islands of functionality. Traditionally, these islands could only be accessed by other CICS programs directly. With CICS Web Services, you build bridges allowing them to be accessed by any application that understands web services, opening them up to a wider range of clients.

Here's what you couldn't do without CICS Web Services:

• Interact with CICS programs from mobile apps or web applications: These applications typically don't understand the inner workings of CICS. CICS Web Services provide a standardized way for them to communicate and request data or functionalities.
• Easily integrate CICS with other services: CICS Web Services allow your CICS programs to act as web service clients as well. This means they can interact with other services following web service protocols, enabling better integration within your IT infrastructure.

Example:

• You have a CICS program that manages customer accounts. Traditionally, a custom program would be needed to access this functionality from a web application. With CICS Web Services, you can expose this program as a web service. The web application can then use standard protocols (like SOAP) to call the service and retrieve customer information or update accounts.

Hope this helps,

[jonebanes]

interesting topic with useful background, thanks

[utkarsh]

If that's how it works, then why do they keep on saying to migrate away from mainframes to have a connectivity with front end? In the name of mainframe migration?

[zum13]

Many large businesses have huge investments in mainframe technology as the means of running their businesses. Migrating that functionality to another platform would be incredibly expensive to do so the alternative is to move away from the paradigm of the mainframe as being a thing solely for running batch jobs and manging green screen terminals to one of being a black box that contains callable services for the applications that run your business.

For example, suppose you have some sort of quotation system running under CICS which is only accessible through a green screen interface. The use of that application is essentially limited to the staff within the organisation so a customer would have to contact someone in order to get a quote from the system.

If you adapt that application to have a webservice interface, you make the quotation application available to other systems. You can therefore write a web-based application for your quotation system without having to port the service to a different platform. The web application handles the interface with the user and then submits the quotation request to the mainframe via the webservice before displaying the returned result. The web interface can not only be used by your own staff but can be made available to your customers without exposing the mainframe systems to the outside world.