HostAnalyzer

Description

The HostAnalyzer program is a tool that helps you to build an information base describing transaction screens, and host definitions. This information is saved in the HostSchemas.xml file for each application and can then be used by HostConnector to support an XML host transaction interface. It could also be used directly inside your ASP pages, for example, to convert host screens to HTML pages.

In the screenshot above you can see the main features of HostAnalyzer. On the left there is a tree that displays the collections and elements within the collections. Underneath that is an item definition pane that displays details of the selected iterm. On the right is an instance of the ActiveUTS control that provides a terminal screen for connecting to your host.

Note that there is a splitter bar so you can change the window pane visibility. You can also see that there are multiple toolbars with functions that are pertinent to the individual panes.

Clicking on a HostScreen (Logon Screen) on the tree displays the properties below and also attempts to display the original saved screen data on the terminal screen pane.

Clicking on Fields under a ScreenMap on the tree pane rebuilds the terminal screen from the fields collection. This may or may not look like the original terminal transaction screen, depending on how many of the original screen fields were included in the screen map. For example, if you use Create on the terminal screen toolbar then it includes all the static data as well as the input fields. However, if you have created a screen map for mapping fields to your customized web page you have probably dropped much or all the static data and the resultant reconstruction will only show the input fields; perhaps a blank screen.

Clicking on Identifiers under a ScreenMap on the tree pane displays all the identifiers from the identifiers collection on the terminal screen.

Clicking on an individual field or identifier in the tree highlights the defined area on the terminal screen, just to help you verify where it is visually.

In summary, the flow is as follows:

Select Root in the tree view
Add a new Application by clicking on the toolbar or using the Add menu
Select the terminal screen and click on Connect in the toolbar, fill in the fields and connect to you r host
Enter transactions in the terminal screen until you reach a screen you wish to include
For each of these screens you will:

display the host screen data

click Save Screen to save the screen data

click Create Screen map to create a map with all fields

optionally customize the screen map

create identifiers for the screen

A more detailed description is given below.

Using HostAnalyzer

Starting with an empty tree and you are about to create screen maps that identify the transaction screens used in your application. First you need to add an Application and give it a name. Then you can click on the + button on the toolbar to create a new ScreenMap schema and add fields but, to start with, it is more intuitive to connect the terminal screen control to your host and pull down a live transaction screen. Go to the terminal screen toolbar, click on Connect and enter a valid terminal name and host definition, then click on Connect. When you are connected enter your transaction codes etc to display the required screen, using the terminal screen as a straightforward emulator.

Now click on Create Screen Map in the Item Definition pane. This creates a new screen map with a collection of field definitions that map to each of the terminal screen fields, as defined by the host. Remember that this is only a starting point. You can add, remove or modify fields later. At the same time it is very useful to save the screen data by clicking on Save Screen. This simply saves the screen content and is very handy for displaying a recognizable screen when you click on a screen entry in the tree. Remember that this data is actually irrelevant for the runtime screen mapping (the field definitions are important then) but useful in this offline mode of preparing the screen maps.

This new screen map is called ScreenMap2 or something similar. Click on the entry in the tree pane and you will see the default assigned properties in the pane below. You can change any of the properties and then click on Apply Changes in the toolbar for the changes to take effect. So, change the screen map name to something more meaningful. In the tree you can expand your newly named screen map and see the Identifiers and Fields collections. The Fields collection contains all the fields from the host screen, created by HostAnalyzer but the Identifiers collection is empty. This is because only you know what is significant about this screen that can be used to identify it uniquely.

To create one or more Identifiers go to the terminal window and drag select some significant text. Then click on Add Ident in the terminal toolbar. Notice that a new identifier has been created in the tree. Click on that entry and examine the properties below. The row, column, length and text have all been captured from the selected screen text. Again, you can always make changes to the properties and use Apply Changes. Repeat as many times as you need to uniquely identify the screen.

You can always create a new field or a new identifier manually, by selecting Fields or Identifiers under a screen map on the tree and clicking on Add. You can then edit the properties to specify the screen position, contents etc.

Now let's return to the screen map properties by clicking on the screen entry in the tree and look at the item properties below.

Property Panes

When you select a collection item in the tree pane the properties are displayed in the pane below. Here are descriptions of each property pane:

ScreenMap Properties

Item Description

Refresh Click here if you change properties but wish to revert to the original.

Set Sets the changes.

Screen Name The screen name.

Web Page A template web page to be used in generating web output. If the action is Insert Form then a copy is made of this web page and a form inserted. If the action is Map Fields then this web page is used fields mapping. This page name can also be used in an arbitrary fashion by a script.

Field Properties

Item Description

Field name The field name

Start row The start row on the terminal screen

Start column The start column on the terminal screen

End row The start row on the terminal screen

End column The start column on the terminal screen

Type The field type (0=input, 1=static)

Identifier Properties

Item Description

Id name The identifier name

Row The start row on the terminal screen

Column The start column on the terminal screen

Length Number of characters in the field

Text The identifier text. At runtime, when you call the MatchScreen method, this data is compared to the data in the corresponding terminal screen position.

Condition The comparison condition (equal, not equal, contains, not contains).