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.

   

Release 8.8.4 of the IET DevOps suite (including GuardIEn and Studio Developer) will be available on 21st September. This update contains some exciting new features and enhancements that will be previewed over the next few days.

This preview introduces the new Web Services design and generation capabilities in Studio Developer and GuardIEn.

Current Gen Web Service Capabilities

Gen currently has various web service capabilities in the standard product:

- A default SOAP interface to Gen servers when using the Transaction Enabler for C generated applications.
- Generation of EJBs with a SOAP web service interface.
- Generation of a SOAP web service that accesses a Gen server via a generated Java proxy using the Gen toolset Web Services Wizard.
- Define and generate custom SOAP web services using Gen Studio that invoke a generated Java EJB server.
- There are also third-party and hand-coded alternatives, but these options can have the disadvantage that any definitions for the web service are maintained outside of the Gen model and need to be kept in synch with changes to the procedure step import and export views.
- Web services maintained outside of the model cannot be automatically migrated and  generated as part of a GuardIEn system update to promote through the life-cycle.

Studio Developer Web Service Capability

To provide a more integrated and automated web service design, maintenance and generation capability for Gen, Studio Developer adds support for REST services for CICS and Java platforms (proxy or EJB) and SOAP services for CICS.

In addition to the definition of customised web services, Studio Developer also supports the concept of a “default" web service that can be generated for a load module to enable a web service interface for all (or selected) server procedure steps without needing to define and maintain a separate web service definition.

The web services are generated for the following platforms:

1) A REST/JSON web service targeting a JEE application server. The Gen servers can either be generated as a Java EJB or invoked via a Java proxy. The Java proxy can then invoke the Gen server on all platforms supported by the Java proxy, for example Windows, UNIX and MVS. 

2)  A SOAP/XML and/or REST/JSON interface using CICS web services.

The table below shows the support for the various platforms for SOAP and REST services, sub-divided into “default” which means that a web service can be generated from a procedure step without needing to maintain a separate web service definition and “custom” which means that the web service definition uses custom procedure step interfaces and path names as well as additional features like query and path parameters and response code mapping.

There are new system updating steps available with GuardIEn to automate the generation and installation of the web services so that when a new or changed server procedure step is migrated though the life-cycle, the web services that use it can be automatically updated.

   

Release 8.8.4 of the IET DevOps suite (including GuardIEn and Studio Developer) will be available on 21st September. This update contains some exciting new features and enhancements that will be previewed over the next few days.

This first preview focusses on security enhancements and support for Linux.

SSL/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.

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.

A new server exit can be customised to generate a security token that is then returned to the client and can be inserted into the Gen Common Format Buffer sent on subsequent flows and used for authentication instead of the password. An example is when multi-factor authentication is enabled that requires a time-limited code to be included in the password. In this scenario, the initial logon will invoke the server exit which will generate a token (for example a JSON Web Token) which is returned to the client and then sent on subsequent server calls. The Gen runtime validation would then be customised to verify the user with the token rather than the password.

Support for Linux
The IET DevOps suite now supports Linux as a server platform to coincide with the recent support for Linux as a CSE platform.

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.

Broadcom have recently published toolset PTF TSN86306 which changes the title of the Gen toolset from "CA Gen" to "Gen". 

This affects the GuardIEn toolset interaction since when it automatically starts the toolset for the checkout of a subset, GuardIEn 'finds' the toolset executable based on  the window title and a change is needed to take into account the new window title.

The next service packs for GuardIEn 8.7.8 and 8.8.4 will include support for this change, but if you apply the PTF prior to these service packs being available, then you can request a temporary fix from IET.

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.

   

The FTP function provided with the GuardIEn client uses the Microsoft WinInet library which does not support TLS encryption (often called FTPS). 

For the next Release 8.8 service pack, the GuardIEn client DLL has been modified to use the libCurl library that supports SSL/TLS encryption. 

FTP is used in the GuardIEn client for:

- Transferring transaction (.trn) files between the toolset and encyclopaedia server for upload/download tasks
- Transferring XOS files between the client and the XOS file server(s)
- Transferring XOS minor version files between the client and encyclopaedia server

If the server supports or requires TSL encryption, then the client will automatically negotiate the encryption.

If you would like to participate in beta testing TLS encryption for the GuardIEn FTP client functions, please contact us.