Announcing new features for IBM WebSphere® Host On-Demand Version 10.
Productivity
Customizable Popup Keypad: WebSphere Host On-Demand V10 introduces a new popup keypad that can be customized by assigning macros and keystroke functions to the popup keypad buttons. Users can specify the size of the popup keypad, the number of popup keypads associated with a session, and the number of rows and columns in each popup keypad. The keypad configurations can be stored as part of the session configuration or as separate files that can be shared by multiple users and/or sessions.
Reuse active credentials: Reuse active credentials is a new feature available in WebSphere Host On-Demand V10. This feature enables users to bypass the host sign-on screen once they have been authenticated one time to that same host. For example, if a user is prompted for a user id and password to log into a display session and then needs to create an FTP connection or run an SQL query to the same host or logon again to the display session at a later time, these subsequent connections will bypass the normal sign-on process.
Remap character attributes for VT: WebSphere Host On-Demand V10 allows you to remap the Bold, Underline, Blink, and Reverse Video character attributes, as well as any combination of those attributes to different colors.
User locations for macro and file transfer lists: Create and use macros and file transfer lists using any accessible network or file system location. The macro and file transfer list panels which allow users to select a location, now lets you define up to three additional user locations.
Security
SSH Enhancements: For users using Sun JRE 1.5 (or higher) or IBM 1.4.2 (or higher), Host On-Demand V10 improves its SSH support by supporting SSH V1 for VT display sessions. In addition, RSA algorithm is added for SSH V2 support for display sessions and sftp sessions. There is no configuration options for these additions as they are negotiated between the client and the server.
Password vault portlet: WebSphere Host On-Demand provides a separate portlet for manipulating user IDs and passwords in the portal vault for use with Web Express Logon. The portlet is provided as a WAR file (PasswordEditor.war) and is stored in the portal sub-directory of WebSphere Host On-Demand publish directory.
Technology
VT UTF8 (Unicode) character set support: WebSphere Host On-Demand V10 provides VT-UTF8 (Unicode) support for VT100-like terminals. This support provides the ability for VT sessions to transmit and receive Unicode characters encoded in UTF8 format. This capability will be important as many newer versions of Linux use UTF8 as the default. Using UTF8, WebSphere Host On-Demand can now support VT connections to systems configured for Double-Byte Character Set languages. This support is enabled by selecting VT-UTF8 as the Terminal Type in the session properties.
Support for Workplace Client Technology (WCT): WebSphere Host On-Demand V10 has added support for the IBM Workplace Client Technology (WCT) for Windows platforms. With this support, you can now generate WebSphere Host On-Demand plugins that run in products based on the Workplace Client Technology.
Portal JSR 168 Support: In order to function in additional Portal Servers, WebSphere Host On-Demand v10 provides an option in the Deployment Wizard to generate a portlet to be used with any JSR 168 compliant portal server.
Usability
Print Screen in Color: When using the Print Screen function within an emulation session, WebSphere Host On-Demand v10 now supports printing in color.
Highlight Field with Cursor: WebSphere Host On-Demand v10 users can select the foreground and background color of the field containing the cursor within the host screen. This feature is available for 3270 and 5250 sessions and is enabled via the Color Remap facility.
FTP Copy Append: With WebSphere Host On-Demand V10, an additional option is presented that allows users to append a file to an existing file for either a send or receive operation. This option is available for both the FTP and sftp protocols.
Undo Cut/Copy/Paste: Several Undo functions are now available for Cut/Copy/Paste operations. These functions are available from the Edit menu.
Macro Library variable: Continuing to expand the macro programming language, WebSphere Host On-Demand now offers a new Macro Library variable called $HMLSystemUtil$ that allows you to make Macros even more dynamic by obtaining the following:
- An applet HTML parameter
- An operating system property (environment variables)
- A java system property
- Serviceability
IBM Support Assistant: The IBM Support Assistant provides an easy, consistent user interface which enables customers to resolve software questions themselves. WebSphere Host On-Demand, as well as many other IBM software products, provides a plug-in which makes its product information available to the user through the Support Assistant. Support Assistant provides three components: a Search component, a Service component, and a Support Links component.
The search component allows customers to search IBM&s database for technotes and other documents which may help solve a problem or provide additional information about the product. The Service component assists customers who choose to submit a problem by providing access to the Electronic Service Request web site. The Support Links component offers a consolidated list of IBM web links organized by brand and product. Help desk personnel and WebSphere Host On-Demand administrators might want to install Support Assistant in order to better support end users. Support Assistant can be downloaded from the following Web site: http://www.ibm.com/software/support/isa/index.html
Additional Features
- Prompt user for destination address when logging on to FTP
- Applet size can be specified with any pixel or relative percentage value
- Native font support for Java 2 clients
- Ignore user typing and mouse clicks during macro playback
- Mouse wheel support for Java 2 JVM 1.4 and higher clients - This feature will allow users to navigate screens in host applications using the mouse wheel
- Allow title of a macro prompt to be specified
- Screen size for 3270 sessions can be specified with any row/column values
- Redirect license count files created by the WebSphere Host On-Demand server
- All Latin 1 characters are now available for mapping in the Key Remap editor
- Support for host initiated screen copy in 3270 display sessions
- Web Express Logon enhancement for 3270 display sessions, to allow specification of the destination address for the target host when different than the TN3270 address - This feature will allow Web Express Logon to work in Session Manager and WebSphere Host On-Demand redirector environments
