PASSPORT Screen Scraping Software

Recently, Zephyr has seen a significant increase in client-based VT/100, TN3270 and 5250 screen scraping projects using the PASSPORT terminal emulation. In fact, most new Zephyr customers have required some form of point-to-point legacy integration as a contingency for migrating from their existing terminal emulator to PASSPORT.

Download PASSPORT Screen Scraping and Terminal Emulation Software

That's probably because 'screen scraping', as its called, is hard to beat when it comes to price, reliability and risk. The simple, but effective host application integration, is inexpensive, non-intrusive and uses time-proven business logic.

At the crescendo of the dot com era, many organizations had plans to spend large amounts of money to completely re-architect host applications and their associated business processes. However, in today's bottom-line environment, management is prone to integrate existing packaged or internally developed applications with each other rather than take a substantial risk on rebuilding from scratch what already works.

The appeal of this type of integration is widespread, yet we find that many developers may or may not know exactly what it means when it comes to host connectivity. As such, we’ve included a sample flow chart that incorporates typical steps found during the development of a screen scraping project. The steps outlined above would apply regardless of whether you’re engineering a legacy integration solution using terminal emulation (PASSPORT Web to Host® or PASSPORT PC to Host®) or a programmatic legacy integration client or server (PASSPORT Host Integration Objects).

Screen Scraping Software Solutions

Zephyr offers the PASSPORT Object Toolkit to ease programmatic legacy integration efforts. It is available at no cost for customers who license at least 500 units of PASSPORT via an annual subscription license.

The Zephyr line of PASSPORT terminal emulation software offers APIs to assist with screen scraping legacy integration projects.

Desktop Based Legacy Integration APIs

• HLLAPI Interface
• Object Interface

Using the host application screen display as an API, developers can quickly navigate through TN3270, TN5250, VT100/VT220/VT420 and SCO ANSI applications to locate specific screens, fields and text, and cut and paste data to and from the host session.

The APIs listed above can be used with either PASSPORT PC to Host® or PASSPORT Web to Host®. PASSPORT PC to Host® is a desktop based terminal emulation product, whereas PASSPORT Web to Host® is a server deployed web-based terminal emulation product.

Sample Screen Scraping Legacy Integration Projects

• Microsoft Access macros can be written to update information in a host application using data from an Access database with PASSPORT terminal emulation software for host access
• A PowerBuilder HLLAPI application originally written for the NetManage Rumba desktop based terminal emulator can be ported to the PASSPORT Web to Host® web-based terminal emulation software
• Complex Attachmate EXTRA!® macros and applications written specifically for Attachmate EXTRA!® can be easily ported for use with the Zephyr PASSPORT terminal emulation
• A corporate desktop-based application that integrates multiple applications can embed and interface a complete terminal emulation program

Screen Scraping with the HLLAPI Interface

The HLLAPI (High Level Language Application Programming Interface) Interface was originally developed by IBM in the mid 1980's and first used with the MS DOS-based IBM PC 3270 Emulation software. It has evolved over two decades to become the most widely used API to link thousands of desktop-based applications to IBM mainframe applications.

A library file (.LIB) is provided that may be linked into an application in order to use the HLLAPI interface. Only C++ applications need an explicit link to the .LIB file. HLLAPI is not an ActiveX COM object and isn't object oriented. HLLAPI provides a single function that has four parameters. The first parameter indicates which HLLAPI function to perform. PASSPORT uses either hllapi() or winhllapi () as the function name entry point.

The IBM HLLAPI DLL name is PCSHLL.DLL whereas PASSPORT uses the PASSHLL.DLL file name. When migrating an HLLAPI application to PASSPORT it's important to check:

1. The name of the HLLAPI DLL being loaded is correct (normally needs to be changed)
2. The HHLAPI application can find the HLLAPI DLL by adding the PASSPORT installation directory to the PATH environment variable
3. The HLLAPI function entry point is correct, either hllapi() or winhllapi () or something else (normally does not need to be changed).

The HLLAPI short name, which ranges from the letter 'A' to the letter 'Z', is used to identify which host session is being used.

When to Use: The HLLAPI Interface is recommended when PASSPORT is being used to replace an existing terminal emulator and an existing PC HLLAPI application. Also, third party applications may require HLLAPI screen scraping.

Screen Scraping with the Object Interface

Both PASSPORT PC to Host® and PASSPORT Web to Host® include an Attachmate-compatible Object API that lets you reuse existing screen-scraping applications written for Attachmate EXTRA!®. In most cases, the EXTRA! screen-scraping applications can be used 'as-is' with Zephyr terminal emulation software.

The PASSPORT Object Interface provides compatibility with the Attachmate EXTRA! OLE automation support and exposes terminal emulation objects such as the entire group of sessions, a single session, screen, area, OIA, keypad, etc. Applications that require host access and need to control multiple host sessions can use the Object API.

C++, Visual Basic, VB Script, Java Script or any language that can use the Microsoft COM object interface can be used for development. Developer assistance is provided to customers and opportunities with 100 or more units of the PASSPORT terminal emulation. The PASSPORT Object Toolkit, a time-saving developer resource, is available to no charge for customers or prospects with 500 or more units of the PASSPORT software.

For PASSPORT, you can use CreateObject ("PASSPORT.SYSTEM"). The Area object can then be used to select parts of the host screen, and the copy and paste methods can be used to copy data from one host session to another. The Object Interface does not have any event driven functions.

When to Use: The Object Interface is recommended in order to run existing Attachmate OLE automation applications, complex Attachmate EXTRA!® macros that have been converted by Zephyr for use with PASSPORT as an alternative terminal emulator, or new host access applications that require an object-oriented interface for screen scraping.