Course Description

Writing z/OS CGIs in COBOL

This course: course objectives; course outline; UNIX curriculum; z/OS curriculum; Topic list; Course list; Home page

Benefits

CGI stands for Common Gateway Interface, and it is the most widely used programming technology for creating dynamic web pages at the server. Students who complete this course will be able to design and code CGI programs in COBOL to run on z/OS used as a web server.

Audience

COBOL programmers experienced with working in an OS/390 or  z/OS environment who will be designing and coding CGI applications that are to be run on z/OS.

Prerequisites

At the very least, the student entering this course should have an understanding of CGI concepts and design issues, such as might be obtained from attending "Introduction to CGIs on z/OS".

Related IBM Materials

None required.

• General program structure (COBOL CGI)
• Using display, printf() and bpx1wrt to emit XHTML
• Deploying a CGI
• Classic HTTP vs. Apache server
• Handling GET requests
• Accessing environment variables
• Parsing QUERY_STRING
• Decoding QUERY_STRING
• Working with data on the server
• VSAM KSDS access
• DB2 access
• Hidden controls and cookies
• Handling POST requests
• Handling files sent by POST
• Working with Unicode
• Submitting jobs from a CGI

Exercises

There are eight standard and two optional hands on computer exercises.