Release 8.8.6 and Release 8.7.9 are now available to download. 

You can view the release notes here: https://www.iet.uk/Download/RelNotes.htm

IET recommend that you install the service packs to obtain the latest fixes and new features.

With great sadness we announce that Gary Donoghue (a.k.a Gazza) our friend and colleague of nearly 30 years passed away in July 2024 after a period of illness.
 
Gary joined IET in its early days and will be well known to many of you from his roles in customer support, training and product development.
 
He had a great sense of humour, was always fun to work with and is much missed.
 
RIP Gazza.

   

A very powerful feature of Object List+ is the ability to define custom functions. 

Custom functions allow you to easily run more complex queries against the model. As an example, assume that you want to list action blocks that have entity action views. This requires a check that the action block has an entity action view, or an import or export view that has the 'supports entity actions' property ticked. To perform this check against each action block would be very time-consuming, but once developed as a custom function, it can easily be run on demand.

Custom functions can be developed in two ways - either using custom SQL queries (via the System Admin client) or, for more complex requirements, using C or COBOL in the user exits.

   

IET provide various example custom functions and you can download examples of custom sql queries from the the IET support centre.

If you have an idea for a custom function that could be useful and want help developing it, get in touch.

Release 8.8.5 is now available to download.

You can view the release notes here: https://www.iet.uk/Download/RelNotes.htm

IET recommend that you install the service pack to obtain the latest fixes and new features.

In addition to fixes and minor enhancements, Release 8.8.5 also includes these new features:

Studio Developer

Compare to Minor Version
The PAD Editor contains a new feature to compare the current PAD to a minor version. Invoking this function displays a dialog box from which a minor version is selected. The current PAD is then extracted to a text file in the same format as the minor version and a Beyond Compare window is opened to display a line-by-line comparison between the current PAD and the minor version. 

Default Return Exit State
You can specify the name of a default ‘returns on’ exit state in the Model Preferences. If this preference is set and an exit state is found in the model or subset with this name, then when adding a new link dialog flow, the returns on exit state is defaulted to this exit state.

Search Text includes views
The search and replace text function now includes view names as part of the search when <ALL>, Action Diagram or Views is selected. 

Viewing Screen / Window Designs using Studio Editors
There is now an option to view screen and window designs from the GuardIEn Studio client (i.e. from Object List+) using the Studio Developer screen/ UI designer rather than the GuardIEn GUI Windows client. The advantage of the Studio viewer is that you can choose alternate dialects to display and see more details compared to the GUIO viewer. The choice is made using the GuardIEn Studio preferences dialog.

GuardIEn

New Tutorial Structure
The Tutorials have been enhanced to provide additional Getting Started Guides and content update. The Tutorials option accessed from the main menu now only contains the option to view the course material, with the setup of the Tutorial Projects moved to the System Admin client.

CICS Newcopy step for HE
The CICS newcopy/phasein was previously implemented via a SU exit step for the HE. It is now provided as a standard step type with support for remote job submission to cater for CICS regions that reside on a separate LPAR.

HE FTP step now supports RPD
The HE FTP step to transfer source, ncal, dbrm and load modules now also supports the use of the GuardIEn Remote Processing Daemon (RPD) as the transfer mechanism.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Instead of posting cards, we are making a donation to our wonderful local hospice Dorothy House.

   

Rapide 4.0 is now available to download from the IET web site.

For full details on enhancements and fixes in this release, please consult the release notes.

For further details on Rapide, visit www.iet.uk/rapide

Please join us for a couple of new events this November:

Thursday 16th November - IET Product Update

Release 8.8.4 of the IET DevOps Suite introduces some exciting new features: Generation of REST web services, an Action Diagram Compare editor, new diagrams, a REST API for GuardIEn and new security options. Join us for this event to catch up with an overview of the latest product updates and see them in action.

Thursday 30th November - Studio Developer Web Services

With Studio Developer you can define and generate default and custom REST and SOAP web services. The web service definitions are stored within the Gen model and can be generated for both Java and CICS target platforms, either from the workstation or as part of an automated GuardIEn System Update. This event will provide an overview and demonstration of this new capability.

The events are 1 hour long and start at 15:00 GMT.

To attend these events please register on the IET Support Centre (Events page) at https://support.iet.co.uk/#EVENTS

Release 8.8.4 and Release 8.7.8 are now available to download. 

You can view the release notes here: https://www.iet.uk/Download/RelNotes.htm

IET recommend that you install the service packs to obtain the latest fixes and new features.

In addition to fixes, Release 8.8.4 introduces many new features and enhancements:

REST Web Services
Studio Developer now provides the ability to define and generate both default and custom RESTful web service interfaces to Gen generated servers. The web services can also be generated using a system updating step using GuardIEn CSE. The web services are generated either for Java to target a JEE application server or COBOL to target CICS.

CICS SOAP Web Services
Studio Developer now provides the ability to define and generate default and custom CICS SOAP web service interfaces to Gen generated applications.

GuardIEn Web Services Comms Option
GuardIEn can now use web services as an alternative client/server communications option between the GuardIEn client and server for CSE platforms (using the in-built web services feature of the Gen transaction enabler) and also for CICS (using the new GuardIEn feature to generate CICS SOAP web services).

Action Diagram Compare Editor
Studio Developer provides a new editor that performs a side-by-side comparison of two action diagrams. The action diagrams can be from the same model or two different models, and reside either as a local model on the workstation or in the encyclopaedia. For example you can compare an action diagram from a development model that is downloaded to the workstation with the production fix model in the encyclopaedia.


The Compare Editor provides full action diagram editing capabilities for both action diagrams, allowing changes made to be easily re-compared until the desired changes have been made.

Data Model Diagrams
Studio Developer now provides a data model diagram to facilitate visualisation of all or part of the data model.

Navigation Diagrams
Studio Developer now provides a Navigation Diagram which displays the dialog flows between screened procedure steps.

Project Definition Diagrams
The life-cycle and model architecture diagrams are now available in the GuardIEn Studio client.

GuardIEn REST API
The GuardIEn API is now based on REST web services, making it easier to integrate third party tools with the IET DevOps suite.
 
TLS support
Many of our customers are disallowing the use of plain unencrypted FTP. The GuardIEn client and Remote Processing Deamon (RPD) now support SSL/TLS encryption. This enables you to encrypt the data exchanged between the client and server using FTPS which can often be achieved through a setting on your existing FTP server rather than having to migrate to an alternative SFTP product.

Support for Linux CSE
GuardIEn is now available for a Linux CSE.

Increased number of jobcard lines
The number of jobcard header lines supported by GuardIEn has been increased from 4 to 10, primarily to support long passwords in the jobcard.

Security Token
GuardIEn can now use a security token for user authentication. An example is when multi-factor authentication is enabled that requires a time-limited code to be included in the password and subsequent authentication using a generated token rather than the time-limited password.

Release 8.8.4 of the IET DevOps suite (including GuardIEn and Studio Developer) will be available on 21st September. 

This preview introduces two new diagrams in Studio Developer - the Data Model Diagram and the Navigation Diagram

Data Model Diagram
Studio Developer now provides a data model diagram to facilitate visualisation of all or part of the data model. 

Large data models can be difficult to comprehend, and it is often more useful to be able to view a subset of the data model focussed on specific entity types, so the Studio Developer data model diagram has been designed to make it quick and easy to view the data model for a specific set of entity types. Diagrams can then be saved, either to the model or a local file.

   

Navigation Diagram
For visualising UI navigation it is often more useful to be able to view the dialog flows between a small selection of procedure steps rather the entire model or business system. Studio Developer now provides a Navigation Diagram which displays the dialog flows between screened procedure steps. Multiple diagrams can be opened at the same time and saved to the model.

   

Release 8.8.4 of the IET DevOps suite (including GuardIEn and Studio Developer) contains many exciting new features and enhancements.This preview introduces a new Action Diagram Compare Editor in Studio Developer.

It is often useful to compare two versions of source code, for example when performing parallel development or re-working a fix into a new development version.

Developers will often use file comparison tools like Beyond Compare which provide a side-by-side compare of two versions of source code to identify differences and which also allow both versions to be edited simultaneously to make it much easier to merge changes.

Up until now this has only been possible for Gen development by comparing action diagrams that have been saved as text files, and in this approach editing is not possible.

Studio Developer provides a new editor that performs a side-by-side comparison of two action diagrams as can be seen in the screenshot below. The action diagrams can be from the same model or two different models, and reside either as a local model on the workstation or in the encyclopaedia. For example you can compare an action diagram from a development model that is downloaded to the workstation with the production fix model in the encyclopaedia.

The Compare Editor provides full action diagram editing capabilities for both action diagrams, allowing changes made to be easily re-compared until the desired changes have been made.