Appendix I - tn3270 Recorder

This topic contains the following sections:

•	Architecture

•	Configuration

•	Running the Recorder to Capture 3270 Interactions

The purpose of the TN3270 Recorder is to capture the baseline of user’s online interactions with CICS or IMS applications on z/OS and enable ART Test Manager to replay these interactions automatically against rehosted applications running under ART for CICS or IMS, collecting responses and comparing them with the ones from z/OS. This capability enables ART Test Manager to completely automate the testing of the online screens in rehosted applications.

Before testing CICS 3270 and IMS MPP test cases, users need to run the equivalent tests with the mainframe application and use TN3270 Recorder to capture the baseline information. The recorder is able to collect the 3270 data stream in both directions and the associated screenshots. The ART Test Manager uses the input portion of the datastream (from terminal to the mainframe) to automatically replay the online interactions, and uses the output portion of the datastream (from mainframe to the terminal) to compare results.

The TN3270 Recorder can be launched from a command line or from inside the ART Test Manager.

Architecture

Recorder (tn3270rcd) runs on a Linux system as a TCP daemon or socket gateway between the terminal and the mainframe. It accepts the data stream from both terminal and Mainframe side, then transparently transfers the data stream to the other side, while recording it to the blueprint (input) and benchmark (output) files as shown in the following diagram.

Configuration

To start the recorded manually, enter the following on the command line:

tn3270rcd -f <recorder configuration file path>

Example of a configuration file:

[tn3270rcd]

gwPort=50002

hostAddr=your.mainframe.server

hostPort=43945

printHTML=YES

Caption=YES

FnPlay=PA1

Configuration file parameters are described in the table below.

 

Table 13‑1 Configuration File Parameters

Field Name	Value	Description
gwPort	Mandatory	The port number the Recorder uses for accepting connections from tn3270 emulators.
hostAddr	Mandatory	IP address of the mainframe host
hostport	Mandatory	The port number on the mainframe used for accepting tn3270 connections
printHTML	YES | NO	Specifies whether screenshot file in HTML format is generated. The screenshot file in TEXT is generated by default. If YES is specified, the recorder generates an HTML version of the screenshot for side-by-side view in ART Test Manager.
Caption	YES | NO	Specifies whether the caption is added before each screenshot in output file.
FnPlay	Mandatory	Specifies function key to start and stop recording. PA1 is a typical choice as it’s rarely used by applications and therefore will not interfere with the application processing in most cases. If this key is not available for keyboard entry, tn3270 emulators provide soft keyboards where you can find and click PA1 key.

Running the Recorder to Capture 3270 Interactions

Assuming the configuration file is named tn3270rcd.ini, start the recorder by entering on the command line:

$ ./tn3270rcd -f tn3270rcd.ini

Then start a tn3270 emulator and connect to gwPort defined in tn3270rcd.ini (for example 50002). The recorder will initiate a connection to the mainframe using the host address and port number specified in the tn3270rcd.ini file and will present the mainframe screen. Login and navigate to the CICS or IMS application, then press PA1 (or another FnPlay key defined in tn3270rcd.ini) to start recorder session.

Once connected and positioned at the right place to run the application, submit transaction in 3270 terminal and interact with the CICS or IMS screens as usual. When the test sequence is completed, press PA1 again to stop the recording. Blueprint, benchmark, and representation of screenshots are generated by tn3270rcd and packaged into a compressed tar file with “.tgz” extension. This package is now ready to be uploaded to the ART Test Manager case. If the TN3270 Recorded was started directly from the ART Test Manager, “Collect Baseline” button can be used to upload the captured baseline package.