Is there a way to automate simple repetitive tasks in mainframe terminal window?

Question

My employer uses TN3270 Plus 2.07 version mainframe emulator. It is quite old version and does not support some of the scripting commands/features like waiting for screen refresh, "if" condition and simple computation instructions like incrementing etc, which are available in newer version. I need these features, so I can not use the builtin scripting.

It does not support DDE.

I was left with any options like VBScript, JScript or PowerShell (or any other option available in Windows 7 Enterprise with out installing third party tools like AutoIt).

What I need is, I want to be able to read some data from a file, enter that into mainframe terminal, wait until I receive a response from mainframe (it is quite random, some times instantanious but other times may take 20 to 30 seconds) i.e., wait for screen refresh. And then I want read the text from terminal window, depending on that information, I need to take some action like continue with reading next line from file loop or do some other thing.

Is there any way to achieve this?

Note: Changing the emulator or intalling 3rd party tools is not an option ;)

Answer 1

I have never tried it myself, but you might want to look at x3270 and specifically s3270 and possibly tcl3270:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/x3270/

Unless you are willing to put in the effort to write your own implementation of the 3270 protocol, some kind of 3rd party tool will be required. The question is one of cost in terms of time and licensing (with the above options, the only cost is time).

Of course, it may yet be possible to do with your existing emulator, but I am not familiar with it and the version does seem rather old.

Answer 2

You could use a scraping tool, like IBM HATS, or you could use some of the IBM Java TN3270 classes to talk to the mainframe.

Either case would have you making a TN3270 connection from your software. NOT scripting your emulator.

If you can get the mainframe software to a point where you can interact with it on a batch job level -- or you write some simple Rexx commands that interact with it -- you can use ftp protocol to submit jobs to issue commands to the mainframe software. It won't directly do a TN3270 session with it, but Rexx commands and/or other custom written programs could replace that interaction. Then you could just talk to the mainframe software using simple JCL.

Answer 3

Yes. UiPath is a general automation tool that has dedicated activities for working with terminals and green screens.

Right now it support via API:

• Attachmate
• Rocket Blue Zone
• Rumba
• IBM Personal Communications
• IBM EHLL

for TN3270, TN5250 or VT terminal types.