Business Information Server (BIS) is a web server environment for version 9.0 and higher ACUCOBOL-GT applications. It provides a web server extension that integrates with either Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) or the Apache web server. it also provides a service engine, which executes ACUCOBOL-GT applications under the control of the web server extension. BIS manages application sessions and makes them available via any web browser or other web user agent that is granted access to the BIS server. BIS offers application developers a real opportunity to build state-of-the-art Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) applications incorporating legacy business data and logic freely mixed with the latest web languages and tools.
BIS is a separately sold and licensed product. See the Xcentrisity BIS Users Guide for more details.
For those using the J2EE platform, we offer a native Java interface that encapsulates the ACUCOBOL-GT runtime in a JAR file. By invoking the Java class contained in this archive, a Web service running on J2EE can start the runtime and run your COBOL program. Your program becomes a service to another program or service.
Consumers of the COBOL service use their own tools to incorporate a client proxy into their application. On the WebLogic platform, for instance, they use the Web Services Tool Kit (WSTK) of WebLogic Workshop to update their Web service.
As with any Web service, the consumer application must also contain logic for connecting to the COBOL server. It must also be programmed to issue a Web service request to the specified URL via XML/SOAP.