UNIFACE CommUNIque

UNIFACE DCM

A new option now available to Compuware's UNIFACE application development environment helps developers boost scalability, flexibility and throughput of client/server applications so they can easily span the enterprise.

The UNIFACE Distributed Computing Manager (DCM) option opens the door to distributed computing technologies that ease deployment of large-scale, complex applications. In its first release, DCM includes:

• Facilities for partitioning UNIFACE applications across clients and servers to place processing where it best fits;

• Interfaces to Tuxedo and CICS transaction processing monitors. These act as traffic cops for large numbers of application end users and volumes of online transactions, enforce data integrity and manage multiple server and database platforms; and

• An interface to remote procedure calls (RPCs) executing under OSF's Distributed Computing Environment (DCE), a standard for easier interoperability across heterogeneous platforms.

To learn more about DCM, or to see a demonstration of the new option, contact your UNIFACE sales
representative at 800 365-3608 in North America.

DCM Option

• Available initially for Windows 3.1 clients

• Requires UNIFACE 6.1.d

• Distributed Form Server available for the HP 9000, RS/6000 and Sun Solaris server platforms

• Compatible with Tuxedo and CICS TP monitors running on any platform

"UNIFACE already simplifies the development and maintenance of sophisticated applications through its model-driven approach and broad support of computing platforms," says Frank Slootman, director of UNIFACE product management at Compuware. "Through DCM, UNIFACE developers benefit from emerging distributed computing technologies to deploy enterprise-scale applications."

Linking to TP monitors

The TP monitor--once found only on the mainframe--is seen today as a fundamental of distributed computing. Essentially middleware, TP monitors help boost the scalability and performance of client/server applications. Novell's Tuxedo is the most widely used TP monitor available for UNIX servers, while IBM has ported its CICS monitor from the mainframe to a variety of other platforms.

DCM helps UNIFACE developers to take advantage of Tuxedo or CICS on any server platform, including the mainframe. DCM tells a client interface to kick off a Tuxedo or CICS service or program on a server and then returns results of the activity to a UNIFACE application on the client. In the accompanying diagram, DCM could work behind the scenes to trigger a Tuxedo loan verification program and to incorporate the loan approval or denial into a UNIFACE application. With this approach, UNIFACE applications can co-exist with legacy applications such as CICS mainframe programs and new TP monitor programs.

DCM automatically generates the code necessary for the UNIFACE client to communicate with CICS or Tuxedo. By doing so, DCM saves UNIFACE developers from writing 3GL code on the client or having to understand the technology of TP monitors.

DCE

DCM will enable UNIFACE applications to Dce remote procedure calls in the same way it currently connects UNIFACE to TP monitors. DCM can access multiple DCE servers concurrently.

Partitioning logic

Another way developers can build applications to handle growing numbers of end users and increasingly complex functions is to spread application processing across different computers. Batch processing, for example, or heavy-duty number crunching might be better suited to a large server than to a client PC. In the same way, a developer could reduce network traffic by grouping processing results on a server before transmitting them to the client.

Even without DCM, UNIFACE developers can use the UNIFACE PolyServer option to execute some application functions on a server. DCM gives developers greater flexibility because they can partition any processing logic between clients and servers. Developers simply build application forms on a client using traditional UNIFACE model-driven methodology and subsequently use DCM's Distributed Form Server (DFS) to execute the appropriate forms on a server.

Working with DCM

DCM includes development and deployment components. Before working with DCM, developers define and store application fields and entities as usual in the UNIFACE repository and determine which processing should occur on the client and various servers. Then developers use DCM's development workbench to specify the information that should be sent to the TP monitor or Distributed Form Server. In the case of the loan verification process, that information might include the field in the UNIFACE application, its use, the name of the Tuxedo service, user name and password, and processing priority. Next, the workbench automatically generates the code describing that information, compiles and links it into runtime executables.

Returning to the UNIFACE development workbench, developers paint application forms with all the needed fields and entities and a button that, when clicked, would trigger the external service. Client binders included with DCM's deployment environment transparently handle the connections between the application and the external services API so that the information can be communicated.

In summary, DCM eliminates the need to write special client-side 3GL code to:

• Communicate to third-party API

• Pack/unpack data for conversion to the distributed data type

• Handle buffering and other low-level code operations

• Move data between UNIFACE and distributed environments

• Handle transaction management

• Handle errors

Assistance available

Customers who already have Tuxedo or CICS up and running will find DCM an easy way to link their UNIFACE applications to those TP monitors. For customers just getting started with TP monitors, Compuware consultants can assist with their installation and related programming. Professional services also can be arranged to introduce UNIFACE developers to DCM.