LANSA Open for .NET

Opening up the LANSA Repository to Microsoft .NET developers

LANSA Open for .NET allows developers to write .NET applications that take advantage of resources on the IBM i via the LANSA Repository without leaving Visual Studio. It is a class library which exposes services (including data and programs) that .NET developers incorporate into Windows rich-client and Web applications. The developer sees the data and processes from the IBM i (System i, iSeries or AS/400) as resources within Visual Studio.

From within the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE,
developers access IBM i objects using the
Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor.

Since its inception, LANSA’s Repository has protected the integrity of data for thousands of companies using the IBM i worldwide. With LANSA Open for .NET, LANSA brings the productivity, discipline, security and performance of its repository to the .NET world. By storing enterprise business rules centrally in the LANSA Repository, IBM i and .NET programs can be subjected to the same validation constraints. The results are zero duplication of source code, tighter security, faster performance and cleaner, more reliable data for IBM i organizations.

Just about every non-LANSA application contains source code that validates data before information is inserted, updated, or deleted in the database. Even though these rules are critical to safeguarding the integrity of enterprise data, they are often duplicated in multiple programs in today’s mixed platform environments. Not only is this a maintenance nightmare, but also it can introduce validation variations and application inconsistencies.

In LANSA, business rules critical to enforcing data accuracy are stored centrally in its meta data repository rather than in the database or application. This locks down system-wide validations, calculations and other business rules by delivering a completely independent data services layer that governs all database access. With LANSA’s Repository, these business rules, algorithms and calculations reside within the repository and are not sprinkled across many programs. Changes made to these business rules, algorithms and calculations do not require the client programs to be recompiled or redeployed, whether the client is a .NET or IBM i application. Implementing a data services layer for LANSA Open for .NET dramatically reduces the time and cost associated with traditional application development and maintenance.

Access LANSA Repository objects from the Visual Studio IDE

Developers working with Microsoft Visual Studio can use objects from the LANSA Repository in their .NET applications. The objects available are database table schemas, data definitions, validation rules, business logic algorithms and multilingual text (field labels, headings and help text). The developers access the objects using the Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor provided with LANSA Open for .NET. For example, to view the schema and content of tables in databases, .NET developers, working from within Visual Studio, connect to a LANSA Repository on an IBM i server and use the Repository Explorer to inspect the database objects in the LANSA Repository.

.NET applications written with C# or Visual Basic, or potentially any Common Language Runtime (CLR) compliant language, can use the Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor.

The Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor operate like any resource in Visual Studio and include IntelliSense support. Developers prepare a data model for their application from database tables defined in the LANSA Repository by dragging objects from the Repository Explorer and dropping them on the Data Model Editor. Saving the data model will generate the .NET classes and methods that will access the tables on an IBM i server from the .NET application.

.NET applications use the same business rules already defined in the LANSA Repository. Not having to duplicate the business rules in the .NET applications will increase developer productivity and reduce the ongoing maintenance effort.

An IBM i or LANSA administrator can also create data models for use by .NET developers, using the standalone version of the Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor.

.NET applications work collaboratively with IBM i server functions

.NET developers have access to IBM i server functions including programs, spooled files, message queues and operating system commands. They can write programs that inspect spooled files, issue operating system commands, start programs and use message queues. For example, data queues on the IBM i server provide messaging services for program-to-program communication. With LANSA Open for .NET, developers can write .NET programs that use these same messaging services.

A program running on the IBM i server and a .NET program can work collaboratively by sending messages to each other via data queues. This simple integration architecture can help to automate business processes across the Windows and IBM i platforms.

Immediate and secure access to internal data for external parties

LANSA Open for .NET’s data services layer enables IT departments to safely open up their enterprise data and applications to a variety of internal and external .NET applications without risking security or data integrity. For example, IBM i organizations with hosted .NET Web sites can now tightly integrate them with the data and business processes on the IBM i server to deliver a better customer experience. Anyone with packaged .NET applications that execute independent of their IBM i applications can now link them together, eliminate database synchronization headaches and provide a single version of the truth to users. For example, manufacturers can streamline their supply chain processes by providing vendors with access to their database. LANSA Open for .NET’s data services layer manages the access so that vendors can safely update information and executive business processes on the manufacturer’s IBM i.

Faster transfer of data and information

LANSA Open for .NET implements native record-level access over an encrypted, secure connection. Using native record-level access means .NET applications that work with large volumes of DB2 data will perform faster by taking advantage of the IBM i's powerful data processing capabilities.

Tighter security and better auditing

LANSA Open for .NET’s data connection encrypts and compresses data during transmission between the client and the server, protecting sensitive data from being compromised as it is sent down the wire. These features enable packaged software vendors and in-house development teams to securely and quickly update IBM i information from .NET interfaces.

Easier management of multiple IT development teams

IT directors have struggled to manage siloed development teams and multi-platform projects because there hasn’t been an effective way for mixed development environments to share resources. LANSA Open for .NET allows RPG, COBOL and .NET programmers to reuse enterprise business logic, validation rules and calculations within their .NET and IBM i applications. Duplication of source code negatively affects application maintenance and it slows down new application development because developers are often recoding the same business logic. IT managers can use LANSA Open for .NET to break down their development silos, share enterprise wide business rules and resources across all development environments and improve the speed and quality of application development.

Inexpensive mechanism for delivering Web services

Microsoft provides tools for publishing Web services that companies can combine with LANSA Open for .NET to expose the data and services running on an IBM i as Web services. There is no need to implement the IBM Web service infrastructure on the IBM i. The Web services will use LANSA Open for .NET to retrieve data and/or execute programs on the IBM i and return the response to the Web service. Suppose you wanted to include an order entry form in a Web site or a SharePoint portal. The Web service will collect the order data from the Web form and pass the data to LANSA Open for .NET which will run the order entry program on the IBM i to insert the data. This architectural approach provides you with the capability to extend the reach of your line-of-business systems while protecting the servers and databases that manage them.

Reduce the cost of publishing Web services from IBM i systems by implementing the Web services on the Microsoft
platform combined with LANSA Open for .NET to expose the functionality and data from the IBM i systems.

Why use LANSA Open for .NET?

Applications live most of their life, after they are first deployed, in a state of constant modification and extension. Centralizing the application’s business rules and allowing .NET applications access to them means not having to code them in any .NET program and, more importantly, only having to change the business rules in the repository when change is required – less cost, less time, less risk.

Business rules centralized in the LANSA Repository are portable. They can be independent of platform and database, allowing your .NET programs to access different server types and different databases without changing any code.

LANSA Open for .NET enables IT departments to safely open up their enterprise data and applications to a variety of internal and external .NET applications without risking security or data integrity. For example, IBM i organizations with hosted .NET Web sites can now tightly integrate them with the data and business processes on the IBM i server to deliver a better customer experience.

Anyone with packaged .NET applications that execute independent of their IBM i applications can now link them together, eliminate database synchronization headaches and provide a single version of the truth to users.

You can now choose .NET development tools as the user interface for server based business applications. LANSA Open for .NET provides this flexibility for the presentation layer.

For ISVs with LANSA solutions, LANSA Open for .NET enables their existing LANSA solutions to be customized by .NET developers. Their customers can use .NET development tools to extend or enhance a LANSA-based solution without the need to understand or even be aware of the underlying LANSA technology used to build the solution.

Getting started is easy

Following the footsteps of other LANSA products, LANSA Open for .NET is easy to use and implement for .NET developers. The class library is shipped with ready-to-run samples in both the C# and VB.NET languages. There is almost no learning curve for .NET developers.

No knowledge of IBM i, DB2, or LANSA is needed.

No additional LANSA software needs to be installed on the .NET client system.

If you already use Visual LANSA, all you need is Microsoft Visual Studio, the LANSA Open for .NET DLL and the online documentation. Nothing else is required.

If you are not already a LANSA development site, you will need to identify and train a LANSA Repository Administrator to administer the LANSA environment on the server. The rest of your .NET team only needs the LANSA Open for .NET class library and documentation. Your whole team is now ready to start using LANSA Open for .NET.

Features:

Opens up the IBM i data and applications to .NET developers in a productive and safe context while enforcing data management discipline.
LANSA Repository Explorer and Data Model Editor – access to the LANSA Repository from within Visual Studio.
Data management discipline is enforced by centrally stored business rules and functions, including data validations, error messages, referential integrity, database triggers and derived (or virtual) fields.
Productivity is enhanced by removing the need for the inclusion of business rules and data validation in the .NET applications.
Call programs on the IBM i including LANSA functions and programs written in RPG, COBOL or Java.
Invoke IBM i server functions from C# or Visual Basic programs.
Maintain (create, update, delete) databases on the IBM i from .NET programs with business rules enforced at the database.

Provides access to multilingual and DBCS support.
Faster and more secure than ODBC. Unlike basic table I/O applications, all client applications are automatically subjected to rigorous IBM i security checks, data validation and referential integrity checks.
Secure encryption between Windows and the LANSA Repository using industry standard DES or Twofish.
Full .NET CLR verifiable class library – LANSA Open for .NET is not a class library front end to a non-CLR compliant WIN32 application.
No knowledge of LANSA required by .NET developers. They only need to become familiar with the services provided by the class library.
Small footprint – deploys as a single DLL within your .NET applications.
Standardized error handling, tracing and diagnostic capabilities.