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OS/2 Shareware BBS: 3 Comm
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1994-06-10
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Introduction
1.1 Product Overview
1.2 Product Description
1.2.1 The Customization File
1.2.2 Communications Support
1.2.3 Terminal Emulation
1.2.4 The Phone Book
1.2.5 Phone Book Entry Definitions
1.2.6 Modem Configuration Files
1.2.7 EHLLAPI Support
1.2.8 File Transfer
1.2.9 AUTOPILOT Programming Language
1. Introduction
1.1 Product Overview
TalkThru is a Presentation Manager based asynchronous, TCP/IP or Netbios
Terminal Emulation product. Release 1.03 of TalkThru is a 16-bit version
designed for OS/2 release 1.2 and above. Release 2.3 of TalkThru is a full
32-bit version developed specifically for OS/2 release 2.x. This User
Guide is designed to provide the necessary information for releases 1.03
and 2.3 of TalkThru For OS/2.
TalkThru has been developed to expand the host systems available to OS/2
workstations by providing Terminal Emulation plus an EHLLAPI interface to
many host environments not readily available to OS/2. The protocols
supported by TalkThru include:
Generic TTY
ANSI
VT52/100/220/320/340
HP2393A/HP2397A
TELEVIDEO
TYMNET78
TYMNET79
WYSE 50
IBM3101
TalkThru will communicate through:
o A directly connected COM Port.
o A COM Port redirected to the IBM LAN Shared Serial Device Support.
o The Communications Manager's ACDI.
o ACDI redirected to an IBM LANACS Modem Pool.
o IBM's TCP/IP for OS/2.
o OS/2 LAN Requestor, LAN Enabler or Novell's Netbios Interface
Although TalkThru can cooperate closely with the Communications Manager
without impacting its function or performance, The Communications Manager
is not required for successful TalkThru operation.
TalkThru has implemented an EHLLAPI interface which is compatible with the
one used to direct the Communications Manager. This allows other
development languages (i.e. EASEL, The Applications Manager, etc.) to
direct the asynchronous connections provided by TalkThru in the same manner
they can 3270 sessions with the Communications Manager.
TalkThru File Transfer supports all the popular protocols including IBM
IND$FILE and Kermit. It also has support for Drag And Drop such that file
transfer operations can be automated.
TalkThru includes a sophisticated development programming language entitled
AUTOPILOTTM which allows OS/2 Workstation Developers to quickly and easily
automate all host activity, whether the host is a TalkThru session or any
session available through the IBM standard EHLLAPI interface. AUTOPILOT
can create simple Text Windows for displaying fixed font textual
information or can be used to build sophisticated Presentation Manager
Dialogs. AUTOPILOT also supports Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) to allow the
development of sophisticated cooperative applications with an easy to use,
easy to maintain language.
1.2 Product Description
The TalkThru components can be categorized into the following general areas:
1.2.1 The Customization File
1.2.2 Communications Support
1.2.3 Terminal Emulation
1.2.4 The Phone Book
1.2.5 Phone Book Entry Definitions
1.2.6 Modem Configuration Files
1.2.7 EHLLAPI Support
1.2.8 File Transfer
1.2.9 AUTOPILOT Programming Language
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.1 The Customization File │
└──────────────────────────────┘
TalkThru determines the specifics of the OS/2 environment it is running
under by referencing a text file called the TalkThru Customization File.
This file contains the following information:
- the names of the directories TalkThru was installed in
- whether the EHLLAPI interface is to be used
- whether the Communications Manager is present
The Customization File is updated by selecting System Configuration from
the Utilities pull down menu on any TalkThru Phone Book Window (see The
Phone Book below) and it is the only required parameter passed to
TalkThru at initialization.
┌──────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.2 Communications Support │
└──────────────────────────────┘
TalkThru provides communications support to a wide variety of host
computers that are not traditionally available to OS/2 Workstations.
Today, TalkThru may communicate quickly and easily to any host system
that will support any of the following Terminal Protocols:
Generic TTY
ANSI
VT52/100/220/320/340
HP2393A/HP2397A
TELEVIDEO
TYMNET78
TYMNET79
WYSE 50
IBM 3101
TalkThru will communicate to these host systems through:
o a COM Port
o a COM Port redirected to IBM LAN Shared Serial Device Support
o the Communications Manager's ACDI
o ACDI redirected to an IBM LANACS Modem Pool
o IBM's TCP/IP for OS/2
o OS/2 LAN Requestor, LAN Enabler or Novell's Netbios Interface
TalkThru will coexist with the Communications Manager, if desired, but
does not require the Communications Manager for successful operation. If
the Communications Manager is present, TalkThru will intercept ALL
EHLLAPI requests to the Communications Manager and route them to the
appropriate TalkThru session or the Communications Manager as required.
This allows multiple Communications Manager sessions and multiple
TalkThru sessions to be active concurrently.
TalkThru is constructed such that the Terminal Protocol being used is
entirely separate from:
- Terminal Emulation
- the EHLLAPI interface
- the Device Interface (COM Port, ACDI, TCP/IP, Netbios)
- File Transfer
If your connection is through a COM Port or the Communications Manager's
ACDI, you may describe the modem attached to this COM Port and Associate
this with all Terminal Sessions from a single centralized dialog.
┌──────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.3 Terminal Emulation │
└──────────────────────────┘
The Terminal Emulator within TalkThru allows for easy, intuitive
modifications by providing numerous dialogs available from pull down
menus on the terminal emulator screen. The changes that can be made in
this manner include, not only the specifics of the connection (device,
parity, baud, etc.), but also many of the aesthetics. Amongst others,
the individual user can specify:
- What is to appear on the terminal emulator status line.
- What foreground and background colors are to be mapped to the terminal
protocol field attributes (i.e. High Intensity, Low Intensity,
Protected, etc.).
- Which font should be used. Several fixed pitch fonts are distributed
with the TalkThru product allowing a Terminal Emulator screen to be
just one window on the desktop or the entire desktop, but any fixed
pitch font available on your OS/2 system can be selected.
- What action the Left and Right MOUSE Buttons perform. This can
include:
positioning the cursor
sending the text under the MOUSE
sending the host key associated with the text under the MOUSE
Any of these parameters may be modified temporarily to view their effects
or can be saved as permanent settings for a specific Terminal Emulation
environment. There is also a DEFAULT setting for each of these if you
wish to restore any environment to the distributed settings.
The TalkThru Terminal Emulator also allows you to specify up to 144
Emulator Buttons which appear under the terminal emulator screen. These
buttons appear up to 12 buttons per row on up to 12 rows. These buttons
are an integral part of HP 2393A/HP 2397A Terminal Emulation, but are
also available with any of the other protocols supported by TalkThru.
These Emulator Buttons can trigger any keys that might normally be
triggered by the PC Keyboard. An example of this might be the 3270 Keys:
PF1-24
CLEAR
ERASE EOF
PA1-3
Or, the Emulator Keys may trigger other activities such as:
- invoking AUTOPILOT programs to automate host sessions
- invoking OS/2 programs that can now run as separate OS/2 Sessions
- sending PC Keystrokes to the host system to start host sessions
- displaying another row of Emulator Buttons in a menu hierarchy
The Emulator Buttons provide a useful mechanism for building OS/2
Professional Workstation environments which require little or no keyboard
skills.
The TalkThru Terminal Emulator also supports the OS/2 Drag And Drop
feature. If a file name is dragged from the OS/2 File Manager and
dropped onto the Terminal Emulator, you may specify a command to be
executed. This feature will most commonly be used to invoke a file
transfer operation.
┌──────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.4 The Phone Book │
└──────────────────────┘
The main component of TalkThru that always appears on the desktop is a
Phone Book. The Phone Book is an OS/2 window which lists the various
TalkThru connections that are available to this OS/2 Workstation user.
If desired, multiple Phone Books can be active concurrently.
It is from the Phone Book that all TalkThru sessions are initiated. Any
number of sessions from any number of Phone Books can be active at any
given time. The only limitation being the number of concurrent sessions
that can be supported by your communications hardware. For example, if
you only have one Modem attached to a single COM Port, you probably can
have only a single session active. But if you have a LAN Modem Pool, a
TCP/IP network, or Netbios connected hosts, you may be able to support a
large number of connections concurrently.
The Phone Book contains several dialogs from Pull Down Menus which allow
you to:
Open other Phone Books
Add/Delete/Change Phone Book Entries
Define/Modify COM Port Configurations
Terminate TalkThru
┌────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.5 Phone Book Entry Definitions │
└────────────────────────────────────┘
Each TalkThru session must be described by a Phone Book Entry Definition.
The information contained in a Phone Book Entry Definition includes:
- the device being used (COM Port, ACDI, TCP/IP)
- connection specifics like BAUD, PARITY, etc.
- the terminal protocol to use (TTY, VTxxx, Hpxxxx)
- the interface timing for Clipboard and File Transfer
- the mapping of the PC Keyboard to host keys
- the number and meaning of any defined Emulator Buttons
- the items, color and font which appear on the terminal emulator screen
- the name of any EASEL or AUTOPILOT "script" or any EXE file you would
like to invoke whenever this connection is started
Since the variety of host systems and associated protocol converters can
vary tremendously regarding this information, the accuracy of these files
is critical to the successful operation of any TalkThru session. Because
of this, when new entries are added to a Phone Book, rather than have you
build them from scratch, you are offered the list of available Phone Book
Entry Definitions to be used as MODELS.
This allows you to define a particular connection just once and apply
that definition as a model to create other connections. Also, TalkThru
is distributed with a wide variety of Phone Book Entry Definitions for
commonly accessed services (Compuserv, Dow Jones) and host protocol
converters.
Phone Book Entry Definitions are created initially when a new entry is
made to a Phone Book, but can be modified either from the Phone Book or
Terminal Emulator window.
┌─────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.6 Modem Configuration Files │
└─────────────────────────────────┘
If you are using TalkThru's OS/2 Standard COM Driver or the
Communications Manager's ACDI support, you need to describe to TalkThru
the type of modem (HAYES, etc.) connected to that COM Port. This
information is stored in a Modem Configuration File and is referenced by
every Phone Book Entry that indicates that COM Port as it's device.
Modem Configuration is performed by selecting Modem Configuration
(release 1.03) or Device/Modem Configuration... (release 2.2 and above)
from the Utilities pull down menu from any Phone Book window.
┌───────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.7 EHLLAPI Support │
└───────────────────────┘
The TalkThru EHLLAPI interface has been developed to be compatible with
the standard IBM EHLLAPI interface to the Communications Manager. The
majority of EHLLAPI calls will work transparently across all protocols
supported by the Communications Manager and TalkThru. This means that any
Proprietary Product or Development Language (i.e. EASEL, REXX, 'C',
'COBOL', etc.) that supports EHLLAPI will be able to view and direct any
TalkThru session exactly as it does with the Communications Manager.
One exception to this are the EHLLAPI calls which require Field Specific
information (i.e. EHLLAPI Calls 30 - 34). Some terminal protocols (i.e.
VTxxx and TTY) do not present field level information to the PC so there
is no definite field association of data. These EHLLAPI differences are
described in greater detail in the Chapter, EHLLAPI Support under
Guidelines For Usage.
┌─────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.8 File Transfer │
└─────────────────────┘
The following File Transfer protocols are supported by TalkThru:
o Ascii
o Screen Capture
o Xmodem
o Ymodem
o Zmodem
o IBM IND$FILE
o Compuserv B+
o Kermit
Dialogs for performing all of these File Transfers are available from the
Terminal Emulator window.
┌──────────────────────────────────────┐
│ 1.2.9 AUTOPILOT Programming Language │
└──────────────────────────────────────┘
The AUTOPILOT Programming Language is a powerful, interpretive language
available only with TalkThru. AUTOPILOT programs, also referred to as
"scripts", may be used to control the execution of pre-defined sets of
activities, either on the PC, the mainframe, or in combination.
The AUTOPILOT Programming Language possesses considerable functionality
combined with extensive flexibility. Multiple OS/2 Windows can be defined
from a single program with total control over the size, location and
contents of each. Besides simple Text Windows, Statements and Functions
are available to create and control Action Bars, Pull Down Menus and
sophisticated Presentation Manager Dialogs.
Branching to labels, subroutines, nested scripts, return codes, timeout
processing, and error recovery facilities are all standard features. In
addition, variables can be defined and passed from one script to another.
Arithmetic operations, string functions and comparisons can be performed
on the variables. Extended file support provides the capability to read
and write text files from within AUTOPILOT programs.
Besides the wealth of functions available in base AUTOPILOT, any
function defined in other Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs) can be declared
to AUTOPILOT and used as if they were AUTOPILOT functions.
AUTOPILOT applications, besides being used to run OS/2 applications,
commands or command files, can also be sophisticated scripts developed to
combine OS/2 programs and commands with mainframe communication sessions.
Through the use of AUTOPILOT, the complexities of accessing CMS, TSO,
CICS, IMS, DOS/VSE or any mainframe environment can be totally hidden
from the PC user. Transactions or programs on different physical
computers can be executed by simply selecting an item from an OS/2
Application Menu.
Language statements within AUTOPILOT support all communications
environments with an EHLLAPI interface. This includes all communications
supported by TalkThru itself, as well as any 3270 communications present
on the OS/2 workstation. The syntax for all of these environments is the
same, so that a single AUTOPILOT application can easily support a wide
variety of communications environments without modification.
AUTOPILOT also supports Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE). This support allows
an AUTOPILOT program to be a DDE Client, Server or both. This allows
powerful, cooperative applications to be developed with AUTOPILOT which
interface data, not only with the communications environments available,
but also with any other applications which support the DDE interface.
The AUTOPILOT language is fully integrated with TalkThru Terminal
Emulation and File Transfer capabilities. Programs may be created which
perform the logon procedure and, in turn, invoke either terminal
emulation or file transfer.