Defines a CICS transaction.

A CICS Transaction Gateway can host several servers running different applications. In a CICS application, the display and business logics are usually managed in distinct programs.
Programs exchange input and output data through a memoy pool called COMMAREA (COMMON AREA). The COMMAREA is usually mapped by a definition of COBOL data included in communicating programs. It can be stored as follows:

• built in the source code of the CICS program,
• stored in a copybook separate file copied when compiling.

From a Convertigo point of view, a CICS transaction represents a transaction executed by a given program of the server. Input (inputMap) and output (outputMap) data mapping COMMAREA definitions are defined in CICS transactions either manually or by importing data from a copybook.
Parameters passed when executing the Convertigo transaction are mapped in the inputMap transmitted when calling the CICS transaction.
The XML resulting from the Convertigo transaction execution corresponds to the outputMap returned by the CICS transaction. For more information, see the CICS connector object.

Property Type Category Description
Accessibility Accessibility standard Defines the transaction/sequence accessibility.
This property can take the following values:

Public: The transaction/sequence is runnable from everyone and everywhere, visible in the Test Platform and is also exposed in the SOAP WSDL as a web service method.
Hidden: The transaction/sequence is runnable but only from people who know the execution URL, not visible in the Test Platform nor exposed in the SOAP WSDL.
Private: The transaction/sequence is only runnable from within the Convertigo engine (Call Transaction/(Call Sequence steps), is not visible in the Test Platform and cannot be requested as SOAP web service method. This value is used for tests, unfinished transactions/sequences or functionalities not to be exposed. Private transactions/sequences remain runnable in the Studio, for the developer to be able to test its developments.

Note: In the Test Platform:

• The administrator user (authenticated in Administration Console or Test Platform) can see and run all transactions / sequences, no matter what their accessibility is.
• The test user (authenticated in the Test Platform or in case of anonymous access) can see and run public transactions/sequences and run hidden ones if he knows their execution URL.
Comment String standard Describes the object comment to include in the documentation report.
This property generally contains an explanation about the object.
Program String standard Defines the program to execute on the CICS server.
Response timeout long standard Defines the response maximum waiting time (in seconds).
Maximum time (in seconds) for a transaction/sequence to run. When specified time is reached, the transaction/sequence ends and returns a timeout error. If requested through the SOAP interface, the error is returned as a SOAP exception.
Transaction id String standard Defines the transaction to call for the program.
User id String standard Defines the user identification needed for connection on CICS server.
User password String standard Defines the user password needed for connection on CICS server.
Add statistics to response boolean expert Defines whether some statistics of execution of the transaction/sequence should be added as data in the transaction/sequence’s response.
If this property is set to true, the transaction/sequence response will be enhanced with the statistics data of its execution (total time for the request, time spent waiting for the mainframe, etc.).
Note: This property has nothing to do with the general property of the Convertigo engine Insert statistics in the generated document that can be edited in the Configuration page of the Administration Console.
Authenticated context required boolean expert Defines whether an authenticated context is required to execute the transaction/sequence.
If this property is set to true, the context of execution of the transaction/sequence must have been authenticated. Otherwise, the transaction/sequence is not executed. Default value is false for a standard access to transactions/sequences.
Notes:

• When a context is authenticated, all the contexts in the same HTTP session are also authenticated. For more information about context and HTTP session, see Context general presentation paragraph in JavaScript Objects APIs chapter.
• When executing a transaction/sequence from stub (__stub variable passed to true in entry), this property is ignored. Indeed, executing from stub is for testing purposes and should not require any authentication: the context would never be authenticated as the transaction/sequence setting the context as authenticated could also be executed from stub.
Authenticated user as cache key boolean expert Defines whether the authenticated user should be used as cache key.
When the cache is enabled (Response lifetime setting filled with a time-to-live), the Authenticated user as cache key property allows to specify to use the authenticated user ID from context/session as an additional key to the cache.
It would have as effect that two different identified users cannot retrieve the cached response of the other for the same request. Default value is false: the authenticated user is not used as cache key.
Call the biller boolean expert Defines whether the billing management module should be called for each generated XML document.
If this property is set to true, the applicable billing management module, defined thanks to the connector’s billing class name property, is invoqued. This parameter should never be changed (Convertigo private use only).
Character set String expert Defines the character set used for operations on the generated XML document (default: UTF-8).
Input Map XMLVector expert Defines the description of input data for the transaction.
This property is a list of inputs.
Note: A new input can be added to the list using the blue keyboard icon. The inputs defined in the list can be ordered using the arrow up and arrow down buttons, or deleted using the red cross icon.
Input Map size String expert Defines a fixed size for input map (in bytes).
Output Map XMLVector expert Defines the description of output data for the transaction.
This property is a list of outputs.
Note: A new output can be added to the list using the blue keyboard icon. The outputs defined in the list can be ordered using the arrow up and arrow down buttons, or deleted using the red cross icon.
Response client cache boolean expert Defines whether the transaction/sequence response should be cached by the client.
If set to false, the response XML is sent to the client along with HTTP headers forcing the client browser not to store it in its local cache. This is the default value, since dynamic responses are usually preferred. If set to true, the XML response is sent normally.
Response lifetime String expert Defines the response time-to-live (in seconds) in cache, i.e. the time during which the cached response remains valid or time interval for its renewal. This property enables the cache when filled, disables the cache when left empty.
The Response lifetime property allows to specify the cache settings for the transaction/sequence’s response. It can be set to the following values:

<empty>: Disables the cache for the transaction/sequence. The response will not be cached and each request will execute the complete transaction. It is the default value.
absolute,<time in secs>: Enables the cache for the transaction/sequence. The response will be cached for the time specified in seconds. If an other request with the same parameters occurs within this time, the response will be returned from the cache.
daily,hh:mm:ss: Enables the cache for the transaction/sequence. The response will be cached until hh:mm:ss of the current day is reached. If an other request with the same parameters occurs before this time, the response will be returned from the cache. A new day starts at 00:00:00.
weekly,hh:mm:ss,w: Enables the cache for the transaction/sequence. The response will be cached until hh:mm:ss of the wth day of week is reached. For Sunday w = 1, for Monday w = 2 … and for Saturday w = 7. If an other request with the same parameters occurs before this time, the response will be returned from the cache. A new day starts at 00:00:00.
monthly,hh:mm:ss,d: Enables the cache for the transaction/sequence. The response will be cached until hh:mm:ss of the dth day of month is reached. If an other request with the same parameters occurs before this time, the response will be returned from the cache. A new day starts at 00:00:00.

Notes:

• The Response lifetime property editor proposes a Generator tool that can help you configure the Response lifetime setting.
• The Variable objects contain the Cache key property that allows to specify to use this variable as a key to the cache or not. See Variable objects documentation for more information.
Secure connection required boolean expert Defines whether the transaction/sequence should be called through a secured connection (e.g. HTTPS).
Depending on the requester, if this property is set to true, the transaction/sequence must be accessed through a secure connection (e.g. HTTPS in case of HTTP access). Default value is false for a standard access to transactions/sequences.
Style sheet int expert Defines how the XML returned by the transaction has to be processed by XSLT.
This property can take the following values:

None: Do not process with XSLT. Usual setting for web services (SOAP or REST) where plain XML data is to be returned.
From transaction: Use the XSL style sheet attached to the transaction. When used, make sure a style sheet object is added to the transaction.
From last detected screen class: Use XSL style sheet attached to the last detected screen class (in case of a transaction with screen classes).

Transactions using sheets from last detected screen class are mainly used in Web Clipping or Legacy Publishing projects.