Native CICS PDF Creation for Web-enabled Mainframe Applications
CICS2PDF is a CICS tool to dynamically create secure PDF documents for CICS applications. CICS2PDF leverages the advanced PDF overlays and scripting capabilities of our JES2Mail and JES2FTP suite to provide a permanent, portable, secure output solution using Adobe’s PDF format.
CICS2PDF supports Adobe Acrobat™ encryption and compression, and can create complex PDF pages containing multiple overlays, watermarks, JPEG and TIFF-F images, annotations, bookmarks and more.
The Benefits of PDF vs HTML
Web-enabled systems typically deliver end user results via HTML or XML. HTML page 
presentation is subject to a browser’s interpretation and formatting, and often contains multiple embedded links and graphics presented via the HTML ‘page’ construct. However, that HTML ‘page’ is transient in nature. It cannot be reproduced in its entirety without assembling all necessary data and presentation elements.
PDF, on the other hand, is a permanent, portable representation of a unit of work or output. A PDF can be saved, forwarded, and viewed reliably with all fonts and graphics included. A PDF can also be a multi-page document and it will print in a consistent format on all printers.
Leveraging CICS Means More Control and Efficiency
Building the PDF on the mainframe in CICS, rather than an alternative layer in a multi-tier solution, results in fewer ‘moving parts’, fewer ‘points of failure’, and ultimately more control.
For example, in an application that is to deliver a copy of the customer’s latest statement or transaction, CICS2PDF can get the request, compose the PDF, send it, and update the customer database to the effect that ‘the document was delivered with a timestamp’ – all in a single CICS transaction or unit of work at the source of the data – the mainframe. Without this tight coupling, this type of delivery assurance would require much more time and effort, and involve multiple units of work on potentially multiple platforms.
CICS2PDF Output Supports Many PDF Options and Properties:
- Multiple pages
- Overlays (Forms)
- Fonts (native and imported)
- Inserted JPEG or TIFF-F images
- Multi-level Outlines (indexes, table of contents, etc)
- Annotations for highlighting and web links
- Compressed contents
- Encrypted contents
CICS2PDF also supports numerous additional options:
- Print style input (ASA standard formatting)
- Variable pairs input (variable=value)
- Threadsafe and open TCB usage in CICS
- Uses standard CICS services for storage and I/O
- Script language for complex page composition
Make the most of your host output with CICS2PDF.
Evaluate CICS2PDF in Your Shop – See for yourself how CICS2PDF will increase productivity and streamline output handling in your z/OS environment.