>GDDM sounds very interesting, though perhaps too much in >the way of programming requirements on the z/OS side.
"It depends," but probably not. If the signature images are already in DB2 for z/OS, fantastic. If not, there are fairly straightforward ways for a CICS, IMS, TSO, or other 3270 application to get them. Getting them into the right GDDM-friendly format might be slightly interesting though certainly not insurmountable. COBOL, C, PL/I, REXX, and Assembler are all fine -- and anything else that can invoke such interfaces (which should cover everything including Java) -- so you can pick your preferred language (s). GDDM gets along fine with Basic Mapping Support (BMS) in CICS, for example. It all looks well documented and reasonably straightforward for anyone doing development and maintenance of applications with 3270 interfaces. I don't know enough to recommend a specific path among those I suggested, but I think all are viable. If the 3270 emulation client you already have is one of those that supports GDDM (at least full 3179G) then there'd be *zero* to do on the client with the GDDM approach except perhaps flip a switch (and shut off the EHLLAPI client code). And I think it's the only approach if the "hardcore" users want a non-popup (in-line) presentation of the signature image while keeping everything else exactly the same (highest performance 3270 interface). Anyway, it's important not to forget that 3270 protocols and interfaces do actually support graphical content via the GDDM extensions, and assuming you have a 3270 emulator which supports those extensions. Displaying graphical information is not particularly new. There were a couple ways to do it even before GDDM first came along in 1979. (SAGE in 1955 comes to mind.) My understanding is that everybody with a z/OS license has GDDM. There are two GDDM add-ons (GDDM-Presentation Graphics Facility and GDDM-REXX) that require additional licensing, but I don't see how you'd need either option for this use case. To correct an earlier comment, I think (in addition to Personal Communications) Host On-Demand would also be sufficient for this particular use case with a GDDM approach, but please check me on that. PComm provides some more comprehensive GDDM functions, but HOD also looks like it'd work quite well for displaying a signature image delivered with GDDM (as a 3179G emulator). -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples GMU VCT Architect Executive (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
