A HATS 5250 example

Imagine you need to create a GUI for a 5250 host application. With HATS you have a choice of providing the GUI using a Web application or a rich client application.

The following figure shows a screen from the host application:

If you need to create a Web application that provides the GUI, you use a wizard to create a simple HATS Web project. You give your project a name and specify the host machine where the host application runs. You take all the defaults and add no customization. After just a few minutes, you use the preview function to see the host screen transformed to this:

As you can see, HATS has added a banner across the top of the screen and a navigation area on the left, but has made minimal changes to the original host screen. This Web page is not yet what you want to show to your users. Now you do some customization. After each change you make, you preview the screen to evaluate your changes. Soon your page looks like this:

Figure 3. A customized Web transformation

After a very short time, you have transformed the host screen into an attractive Web page that provides all the function of the host screen and more, and is accessible through a Web browser. You decided to switch to a template more suited to your business. You hid unnecessary information and display only required input fields. You inserted some data on the screen to aid the user in constructing correct search conditions, provided a drop-down list of valid values for an input field, changed the size and location of some of the text, and provided navigation buttons.

If instead of creating a Web application, you need to create an application that runs on a rich client platform, you perform basically the same steps. You use a wizard to create a simple HATS rich client project. You give your project a name and specify the host machine where the host application runs. You take all the defaults and add no customization. After just a few minutes, you use the preview function to see the host screen transformed to this:

A default transformation — Figure 4. A default rich client transformation

As you can see, HATS has added a banner down the left side of the page, but has made minimal changes to the original host screen. This GUI is not yet what you want to show to your users. Now you do some customization. After each change you make, you preview the screen to evaluate your changes. Soon your transformation looks like this:

A customized transformation — Figure 5. A customized rich client transformation

After a very short time, you have transformed the host screen into an attractive GUI that provides all the function of the host screen and more, and is accessible using a rich client application. You decided to switch to a template more suited to your business. You hid unnecessary information and display only required input fields. You inserted some data on the screen to aid the user in constructing correct search conditions, provided a drop-down list of valid values for an input field, changed the size and location of some of the text, and provided navigation buttons.

Whether creating a Web application or a rich client application, you might decide that this is enough customization, but with HATS you can add much more. For example, you can:

Use HATS macro support to provide programmed navigation through multiple host screens. For example, you can take your users directly to the first screen that you want them to use, bypassing other screens. You can combine data from several host screens into one HATS GUI page.
Use business logic and global variables to integrate your host applications with other back-end systems in your enterprise, as well as with your business partners' systems.
From HATS macros generate HATS Integration Objects, which are Java™ beans that encapsulate interactions with a host application, and use them to create Web pages, Web services support files, or RESTful service JAX-RS resources.
Develop Enterprise JavaBeans™ components that use HATS Integration Objects to exchange data with host applications.
Develop a HATS Web application with an interface that allows users to access your host system using mobile devices such as cellular phones, data collection terminals, and personal digital assistants (PDAs).
Develop a HATS portlet, which complies with either the standard Java™ Portlet Specification (JSR 168 or JSR 286) API, and deploy it on WebSphere® Portal.