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 WebSmart
4 Advanced Training
The official release of WebSmart 4 is just around the corner (expected
release date of Feb 15th) and the best way to learn about all the
new features is to attend a course. BCD is looking at the possibility
of hosting a combined Advanced WebSmart and WebSmart 4
training course in the coming months and we would like to know
if you are interested in attending. Be the first to learn about
WebSmart Change Management, the new Template Wizard, sending HTML
emails and many other new features and functions(for a complete
list click
here). The course is intended for experienced users of WebSmart
and would cover some of these advanced topics: WebSmart security,
using SQL in WebSmart, building a search indexes, IFS and image(graphing)
functions, advanced HTML and CSS, extending the PML and customizing
templates.
If you would be interested in attending this class, or another
like it, please fill out the Training
Request Form posted at our web site, or email Marcel
Sarrasin, the training coordinator.
WebSmart
4 Basic Training
We have scheduled a WebSmart 4 Basic public training session
for the week of January 26-29, 2004. We plan to hold the class
at our location, here in beautiful Sidney, BC (with regards to
the weather here at the end of January, think northern California,
not North Dakota). This class will include updated material to
cover the new features that have been added in the soon to be released
Version 4. If you're debating whether it would be worth attending
this class, read the writeup in a recent
issue of Midrange Stuff.
If you are interested in attending this class and would like additional
information, please fill out our Training
Request form. You can also contact Marcel
Sarrasin, our training coordinator. For a general overview
of the contents and structure of our training class, you can visit
the Training page
at our web site.
WebSmart
is now IBM Server Proven
We are pleased to announce that ProGen WebSmart has recently been
granted IBM ServerProven® status.  Customers
who purchase ServerProven solutions on IBM eServer can take advantage
of special offers and rebates from IBM. Rebate details and forms
are available at www.ibm.com/servers/solutions/finder.
What
does ServerProven mean?
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Programmer Poll: WebSmart Template
Usage
In anticipation of setting the design defaults
for the upcoming release of WebSmart 4,
we would appreciate your input on the following
question:
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WebSmart
Example Programs
The latest WebSmart example program is Example
55, which illustrates how to use a checkbox that corresponds
to an input field. The example program allows you to have multiple
input capable fields and have a checkbox correspond to each field.
A possible use of this would be if you had a page where you can
input multiple user IDs at the same time, and each user ID has
a checkbox option to include it in an email list; in this case,
you need to know which checkbox goes with which user ID. This program
allows you to determine this using javascript and the getnxtparm
function in the Websmart PML.
For further details on any of the WebSmart examples, or if you
have any questions on how to implement the techniques they illustrate,
please contact Technical
Support.
Catapult
5.0 Upcoming Release and Beta
We are pleased to announce the upcoming release of Catapult 5.0,
a major new release of the software. Catapult 5.0 includes several
important new features, the most significant being its integration
with the Nexus Document Repository. If you have Nexus installed
(available for free from BCD; contact
the sales office for details), you can now use Catapult to
automatically populate the Nexus Document Repository. This means
that as reports are generated on the iSeries, they can be immediately
processed by Catapult, converted to an appropriate format, and
filed in a document repository. This document repository is in
turn both accessible and searchable with Nexus.
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Cosyn Software
Auckland, New Zealand www.cosynsoftware.com
Cosyn Software specializes in AS/400 ERP
implementation and support in New Zealand
and Australia. It also exports its Spool
Manager/400 and Audit Trail/400 products
internationally. Cosyn has been in existence
since 1993, successfully supporting large
internationals like Coca Cola, 3M, Marley,
Firestone and a raft of local companies.
In 1998, as a result of a customer request
for a product to distribute AS/400 reports
by e-mail, Cosyn became aware of BCD's
Catapult. Cosyn was so impressed with the
product and Catapult's interaction with
its Spool Manager/400 product that it asked
to become the local BCD dealer.
Robinsons Industries has been a recent
Catapult project success story. Robinsons
produce oven/range hoods, waste disposal
units and laundry tubs. They decided that
they would eliminate pre-printed stationery
and their dedicated stationery printers
by using Catapult and it 'forms overlay'
function to distribute their purchase orders,
invoices and statements electronically
as PDFs.
The project has been a huge success. Potential
savings were conservatively estimated at
a dollar per document (pre-printed stationery,
stamp, envelope). The uptake of people
willing to receive their purchase orders,
statement and invoices electronically was
quite surprising - about 60%. And the quality
and simplicity of distribution is exceptional.
The result has been cost savings on their
approximately 10,000 documents a month
equating to $6,000 - more than paying for
Catapult in its first month of operation!
(Click
here to see an example PDF). "In today's
competitive environment it's not enough
to have a great product - you've got to
give great service and that means across
all customer / supplier touch points," concludes
Nick Probert, IT and Business Improvements
Manager. "Catapult has certainly delivered
that for us".
For further information on Cosyn Software,
or the Robinson Industries project, please
contact Trevor
Middleton. Visit Cosyn's web site and
check out their other success stories,
including their Catapult
installation at Firestone. |
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Other new features include:
• The preview functionality has been redone, to improve
access to the previews, and make it easier to import report elements to your grab
rules.
• A new Poller Monitor has been created to help monitor
the Catapult Poller PC operations remotely. This program can be added into your Start
Up group so that you can always keep an eye on the status of your Poller.
• When using replacement values to generate folder and
file names, invalid characters are replaced with underscores.
• Support for including additional files in the distribution
of reports by email, print and fax.
• The Catapult Poller includes a set of bar code fonts
you can use.
If you are interested in participating in the Version 5.0 beta,
please fill in the Catapult
5 Beta Request Form, and our lead developer will contact you
to provide the links for the downloads.
Nexus
2.0 Beta
In conjunction with the release of Catapult 5.0, we are also preparing
to release Nexus 2.0. In addition to several other structural and
aesthetical enhancements, the flagship feature of Nexus 2.0 is
its integration with Catapult to provide instant access, via Nexus,
to a newly created document repository.
The new Nexus portlet (these were previously designated 'wadgets')
is designed to create a repository of entries. This portlet allows
the archiving and searching of spool-files that Catapult has processed.
You can also manually add any other object on your PC to this repository
manually. The document repository then allows you to access each
of these entries, as well as search within them.
Other Nexus 2.0 features include:
• Significant enhancements to how Portlets (previously
'wadgets') are managed, designed around the concept of a Porlet class and Portlet
instances. This provides increased functionality and flexibility in how a Portlet
is designed and ultimately functions on a page.
• Optional use of iSeries user id and password for
login, so enterprises with many iSeries users do not have to create separate Nexus
user ids.
• Security/Login now supports hints and secret questions,
with updated look & feel to login screen.
• Redesigned interface for working with group pages.
Nexus now identifies user defined pages from those created for a group. This allows
users the flexibility of managing their own pages while ensuring that group page
content remains consistent for each user.
• Support for Apache with an O/S of V5R2.
• Nexus calendar redesign
• everal UI enhancements including enhanced creation
of HTML Include Portlet types.
For further details the Nexus/Catapult integration and the document
repository, or any of the new features, please contact Technical
Support. If you are interested in participating in the Nexus 2.0
please fill in the Nexus
2 Beta Request Form, and our lead developer will contact you
to provide the links for the downloads.
Allowing
NEXUS to Protect your CGI and Static Pages
A frequent question we receive in Tech Support is "How do I make
my existing secure WebSmart programs (or any other CGI iSeries
hosted programs) available in Nexus and keep them secure". The
Link Protections feature in Nexus is the means by which you secure
CGI programs such as WebSmart programs and other static pages hosted
from your iSeries. In the following example you will learn how
to set this up by making the correct changes in the HTTP configuration
and by adding the correct link to Nexus. This technique has the
advantage of eliminating any other logins previously required to
access protected resources after you have already logged into Nexus.
Nexus allows you to protect WebSmart programs (or any other CGI
programs hosted from your iSeries) at a group or user level and
determines whether they are Included or Excluded from accessing
the resource.
Example:
You have a WebSmart program with a web path (you can test this
by clicking on the link UserID: nexus password: nexus):
http://esdi.excelsystems.com/esdiapps/program.pgm
This program resides in the library WSDEMO on our AS400 and is
secured by a protect statement in the HTTP configuration. These
are the relevant HTTP statements:
protect /esdiapps/* USER
Exec /esdiapps/*.pgm /qsys.lib/wsdemo.lib/*.pgm
The protect statement will bring up a challenge box prompting for
a UserID and Password. (For more information on Protect Statements
go to p.447 of the WebSmart Reference Guide. If using APACHE see Task
4356 and Task
4404)
To make this program accessible from your NEXUS portal you could
add the link, http://esdi.excelsystems.com/esdiapps/program.pgm to
the site links. However, when you click the link from your Nexus
Portal page you will be prompted for a UserID and Password by the
challenge box. (UserID: nexus, password: nexus)
You've already signed in to Nexus so why do you need this second
sign in? The answer is you don't.
Using the Original HTTP Server
To avoid this second sign-in and to make the site secure you will
need to add two Nexus service program statements to your HTTP configuration
file and an exec statement in your configuration file to utilize
the Nexus security functions. You may also need a valid pass statement
to point to all of the static files that are inherent to this program.
The exec and pass statements will need to be below the Nexus service
program statements in your HTTP configuration file (see Example
below). You will have to place these 3 statements above the service
program statements that are included in your Nexus instance.
(Replace harmonics in the following EXEC statement with your Nexus
sitesprotected path):
#Secure programs using NEXUS HTTP server protection extension service
program:
service /harmonics/cgi/*.pgm /QSYS.LIB/XL_SMSLIB.LIB/sc_httpsrv.srvpgm:xl_service
nametrans /harmonics/cgi/* /QSYS.LIB/XL_SMSLIB.LIB/sc_httpsrv.srvpgm:xl_nametrans
exec /harmonics/cgi/*.pgm /qsys.lib/wsdemo.lib/*.pgm
Using the APACHE Web Server
If you are using the APACHE web server you will only need to add
a ScriptAliasMatch (equivalent to exec) and a LocationMatch to
use the Nexus security. The service program is already included
in your NXAPACHE instance and you will have to place the ScriptAliasMatch
and LocationMatch below this statement (see below). Unlike the
original HTTP server with APACHE you only have to load the module
once and you can use this module by using (NexusAuthorization *ON)
inside your LocationMatch container.
(replace harmonics in the following statements with your Nexus
sites protected path):
#Secure Programs using NEXUS HTTP server protection extension service
program:
LoadModule external_auth_module /QSYS.LIB/xl_smslib.lib/NXAUTH.SRVPGM
ScriptAliasMatch ^/harmonics/cgi/(.*)\.pgm$ QSYS.LIB/WSDEMO.LIB/$1.pgm
NexusAuthorization *ON
Order allow,deny
Allow from All
Options ExecCGI
AddHandler cgi-script .pgm
The final step is to define your link protections in the NEXUS
administration, as shown here:
You can still protect the original path of the program if it is
required that people outside of NEXUS still need to view the link.
If not, you can take out any protect statements for the library
and the original path.
If the program that you made accessible from Nexus previously used
the UserID from the challenge box to display user specified data
the program will now need the sign-in information from the NEXUS
log-on. To learn how to obtain the NEXUS sign-in information with
a WebSmart program refer to Task
4554 from our knowledge base.
To learn how to protect specific paths or programs refer to Chapter
8, Link Protections, in your NEXUS manual. If you have any questions
about how to implement this technique, please contact Technical
Support.
Summary
List of Recent Updates
Updates require V4R5M0 as a minimum operating system release level.
Docu-Mint 6.0
- DN60R008 -
Corrected problem with analysis of Q objects. Corrected a problem
with Procedure analysis and lower case program calls.
- DN60R007 -
Corrected problem with the analisys error reporting.
- DN60R006 -
Added support for CLLE programs to the PRTPGMEXP command.
- DN60R005 -
Removed processing of system files to prevent level checks.
Please visit the Docu-Mint
Updates page for further information on the available updates.
DbGen 2.3
- DB23R008 -
2004/01/06 - Enabled lower case entry on File text field on
the Work with Files screen. (475136)
Please visit the DbGen
Updates page for further information on the available updates.
© 2004 ExcelSystems Software
Development, Inc.
ProGen Plus and ProGen WebSmart are Trademarks in the US and
Canada.
The IBM ServerProven name and emblem are
T or ® of the IBM Corp. in the USA and other countries and are
used under license.
ServerProven is a marketing program. Applications bearing the
ServerProven logo are licensed to use that logo based upon the
software provider's submission of information concerning one
or more end-user customers that have successfully implemented
its product on the indicated IBM hardware platform(s). IBM does
not warrant, however, that these end-user Customer Experiences
are typical of those encountered by the software provider's customer,
nor that any installation will be free of errors. Potential customers
of this software product are responsible for determining whether
any particular software provider's products or services are suitable
for their own needs. BCD should be contacted regarding this software
product and such items as installation, support, education, documentation,
maintenance and any other terms and conditions. All understandings,
agreements, or warranties concerning any product must take place
directly between BCD and the customer.
IBM makes no warranties of any kind with respect to the BCD software
product. IBM expressly disclaims all warranties, expressed or
implied, including but not limited to, the implied warranties
or merchantablilty and fitness for a particular purpose. This
disclaimer does not apply in the UK or elsewhere to the extent
of inconsistent with local law.
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