TCP/IP Sockets

[Guest.Visitor]

Is it possible to write both the client AND the server programs on an AS/400 for an application that would communicate between the AS/400 and an NT client? Is it mandatory for the client program to run physically on the NT client, or can it run on the AS/400 somehow? I'm just starting to experiment with sockets, so please forgive me if I'm "green behind the gills" conceptually. Thank you in advance. - Brendan Farragher

[Guest.Visitor]

Hi Brendan, In terms of what people typically mean by client/server between different boxes, it tends to eliminate the concept if the client has nothing running on it. You may have two telephones at your house and you can put them both to your ears and talk, but nobody else is going to hear about it. Having put that nicely ( I hope, ) one can write client/server programs on the same box. One model we're probably all familiar with ( stretching a bit, I know, ) is a dumb terminal session. The user keys, then when enter, command key , whatever is pressed, a request is sent to the server ( AS/400. ) More typical is if we have, say, an RPG program that receives info, updates and returns to a caller, that is a sort of client/server. The only type of thing that resembles your original question would be, maybe, a java program running on the 400 ( or the SAME program running only on NT or other box -- java's cool that way ) has both a DB2 driver and a driver for a DB on the other box. This program could get/update data on both machines. Even here, it's really client/server; it's just that the server in this case is the DB engine so we didn't have to write the client -- or is it server? - side. Hope that helps somewhat with the concepts. Best, Joe Sam Joe Sam Shirah Autumn Software Consulting/Development/Outsourcing Please Note New Email: jshirah@attglobal.net Visit our User Group at: http://www.jax400.com

[Guest.Visitor]

Thanks for replying, Joe. I was trying to find a way of executing IE on the client without using RUNRMTCMD, and without installing more software on the client. Guess I might as well try to figure out a way for pigs to fly while I'm at it... :-) Thanks.

[Guest.Visitor]

When you figure out how to make pigs fly, let me know. I've been working on that one for years :-) You are correct that you will need some sort of client software in order to call IE or any other PC program from the AS/400. You can use the CA/400 RUNRMTCMD to do this. You could write your own sockets program or you could use some other 3rd party program such as our FTP/400 product to handle what you need to do. In our case we've written a FTP command daemon that runs on the PC and we have a command similar to RUNRMTCMD on the AS/400, although it does a lot more than RUNRMTCMD. We can launch programs, transfer files, launch MS Word or Excel and make OLE calls, etc...... If you're experimenting though it might be fun to write an AS/400 RPG or C sockets program and then a VB sockets program. What better way to learn C/S programming for the Internet !! Best of luck in your endeavors. We've all been there :-) Regards, Richard Schoen RJS Software Systems Inc. "The AS/400 Report Distribution Experts" Email: richard@rjssoft.com Web Site: http://www.rjssoft.com >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Thanks for replying, Joe. I was trying to find a way of executing IE on the client without using RUNRMTCMD, and without installing more software on the client. Guess I might as well try to figure out a way for pigs to fly while I'm at it... :-)