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VM/ESA GUI Facility is Available!

How to obtain the VM/ESA GUI Facility
Are you interested in knowing more about the VM/ESA GUI Facility?

The VM Graphical User Interface facility initially became available with VM/ESA Version 2 Release 1.0. This no-charge feature provides an efficient means for host-resident applications to be displayed on a workstation using a graphical user interface and provides the capability to modernize the view to VM from the end-user perspective. The VM/ESA GUI Facility employs the concept of distributed presentation to allow you to produce VM host-resident GUI applications.

The VM/ESA GUI Facility is comprised of an application programming interface and the CMS Desktop.

  • Application programmers can now write GUI applications on VM via the application programming interface that does not require their awareness of the type of workstation with which the program is running.
  • Workstation/host communication is optimized to ensure that only events that require application action are transmitted to the host.
  • Connectivity to the workstation is via SNA APPC (LU 6.2) or TCP/IP sockets. Refer to, Making the APPC Connection to the CMS GUI
  • The GUI API is an object-oriented API that can be called from the REXX, C, C++ and Assembler programming languages.
  • Use the GUI Builder tool, from our download library, to make writing your GUI applications much easier.
  • The supported workstation environments are: OS/2® 2.1, AIX®, or Microsoft(*) Windows(*) 3.1.
  • Support for Windows(*) 95 was added for VM/ESA® Version 2 Release 2.0.
  • The application programming interface technology used is the same as the technology that is currently used by the GUI with ISPF on MVS.
  • The CMS Desktop, a VM GUI application itself, serves many end user functions and can be used as a programming example using the application programming interface on VM.
  • Multiple CMS programs can be started from the CMS Desktop due to the CMS Desktop exploiting the advantages of CMS Multitasking to run multiple applications concurrently.

How to obtain the VM/ESA GUI Facility

The VM GUI Facility is automatically shipped to all VM/ESA Version 2 customers of record. For additional information on the new VM/ESA GUI Facility, refer to the VM/ESA Version 2 announcement letter dated June 12, 1995.

Are you interested in knowing more about the VM/ESA GUI Facility?