Creating a CICS Application Binding project

A CICS® Application Binding project defines an application binding. An application binding is a type of management bundle that maps, or binds, the CICS bundles specified in an application bundle to the region types in the target platform.

Before you begin

Ensure that the Application project for which you want to create an Application Binding project exists in the local workspace. Also ensure that the Platform project exists in the local workspace.

About this task

An application binding maps each CICS bundle in an application to one or more region types in the target platform. For example, if the application is bound to a unit testing platform, all bundles might be mapped to the 'Unit Testing' region type. However, if the application is bound to an acceptance testing platform, some bundles might be mapped to a 'Connection Owning' region type, and other bundles might be mapped to an 'Application Hosting' region type.

You can also deploy additional CICS bundles with the application binding, as an alternative to deploying them with an application bundle or adding them to the platform. These CICS bundles might include resource definitions that customize the behavior of the application for the target platform. For example, a URIMAP resource might expose a different URI in the unit testing and acceptance testing platforms.

Procedure

  1. On the Eclipse menu bar, click File > New > Project to open the New Project wizard.
  2. Expand the CICS Resources folder and click CICS Application Binding Project.
  3. In the Project Name field, enter a name for the project. The Application properties section of the wizard is automatically populated, but you can edit the name, description, and version if required.
  4. Click the Application Browse button to display a list of applications by application name and version. Select an application and click OK.
  5. Click the Platform Browse button to display a list of target platforms. Select the required target platform and click Next.
  6. Select any additional CICS bundles that you want to install with the application binding, and click Next.
  7. In the CICS Bundles pane, select a bundle, and map the selected CICS bundle to a region type by making a selection in the Region Types pane.
  8. Repeat the previous step for each bundle in the CICS Bundles pane, until you have mapped each CICS bundle to at least one region type. A CICS bundle can be mapped to more than one region type.
  9. Click Finish to create the Application Binding project.

Results

The application binding project is created. The project contains a META-INF folder that contains the following XML files:
Note: When you have created and deployed your application binding project using the CICS Explorer®, you must ensure proper management of the project source. The application binding project cannot be reconstructed from the exported data in zFS, and a failure of your workstation might cause the data to be lost. Ensure that your project is checked into a source code management system. When you use a source code management system that integrates with Eclipse, you can check projects in and out while you are working in the CICS Explorer.

What to do next

Export the application bundle and the application binding to zFS.