Legacy systems often used a host-dumb terminal architecture where the dumb terminal accessed the host's capabilities, including stored information, computation power and printing, through one of several terminal communication protocols such as VT100 or ANSI. Terminal emulation software such as HostAccess® enables a modern Windows™ PC to appear as a terminal and access these legacy applications. The level of emulation is complete and includes alpha-numeric keys as well as screen management functions such as cursor positioning and screen clearing.
HostAccess enables you to connect to one or more hosts across different networks using multiple emulations and protocols. HostAccess is session-based and supports multiple, concurrent sessions each with a different emulation. Individual sessions can be open, closed, and saved independently of other open sessions.
HostAccess supports both block mode and asynchronous (character-mode) emulations. Block mode devices tend to be those designed to work with large mainframes such as IBM 3270 and IBM 5250. Character mode devices tend to be those designed to work with mid-range systems such as DEC VT100 and Prism.
HostAccess also allows the user interface of legacy terminal-based applications to be modernized using its powerful AutoGUI feature. In three easy ways, HostAccess technology enables you to implement your terminal emulation solution:
- Create a tailored GUI to transform most traditional green screens into modern, Windows™-like applications in minutes using the powerful AutoGUI features.
- Integrate your host applications with your PC applications using ActiveX™ Controls, COM Objects, OLE automation, and DDE.
- Transform your host applications with floating toolbars, hotspots, hot keys, mouse support, icons, push buttons, secondary windows, graphs, ActiveX™ Controls, and COM Objects using the AiF Toolkit.