Figure 1: Standard CICS Architecture

Figure 2: NeoKicks Architecture

Execution-time support: At the core of both CICS and NeoKicks are the services they provide to the application programs. NeoKicks provides a similar environment to mainframe CICS in which users can enter transactions, causing the application programs to be loaded which then invoke services, initially coded using EXEC CICS statements. The main differences are that NeoKicks is executing within the .NET Framework and may have a slightly different plug-in component architecture.

Pseudo-conversational model: The architecture of ASP.NET Web pages (Web forms) is very similar to that of mainframe CICS. Users are given the impression they are having a continuous conversation with an application program, but in actual fact the programs relinquish control when information is sent to the user and are essentially restarted, with some kind of session state provided to indicate the stage reached in the processing, when the user takes an action that sends information back to the server. NeoKicks provides equivalent functions to SEND and RECEIVE MAP along with maintaining CICS-compatible communications and storage areas so that the structure of your COBOL CICS applications doesn't have to change.

Separate interface and application logic definitions: With CICS applications interfaces are defined using BMS macros and the application logic is contained in the COBOL code. NeoKicks mirrors this separation by converting the BMS macros to Web forms with these forms being driven by the migrated COBOL programs in the pseudo-conversational manner described in the preceding paragraph.

"EXEC CICS" translated to service calls: On the mainframe the CICS translator converts EXEC CICS statements into calls to "DFHEI1" with parameters indicating the required function and passing the necessary data. Similary the NeoKicks preprocessor invoked by the NeoKicks Project Wizard, converts EXEC CICS statements into calls to "NKServices" (actually INVOKE statements as the NeoKicks services are methods of .NET classes) with parameters indicating the required function and passing the necessary data. The only difference is that whereas you invoke the CICS translator before every compile on the mainframe, you are more likely to use the NeoKicks preprocessor just once when setting up your NeoKicks project. You enhance your NeoKicks converted COBOL code by either coding the NKService INVOKE statements directly or by using other .NET Framework class library functions.

Separate configuration files: Both CICS and NeoKicks provide utilities to set up information required at runtime such as transaction ID to program mapping and data file information. For CICS the setup information is stored in files such as the FCT and PCT. For NeoKicks the information is stored in the application's .config file.

Links to database and file systems provide transactional support: By integrating with a COBOL file system and database system both CICS and NeoKicks are able to provide commit and rollback transaction support.

DPL simlar to Web services: The CICS Distributed Program Link (DPL) is a similar concept to Web services, just that the latter has been designed for general consumption on the Internet. NeoKicks makes it easy to migrate CICS programs designed to work with DPL to Web services within the .NET Framework.

Because the CICS architecture maps so conveniently into the .NET Framework, with the help of NeoKicks, migrating your CICS applications to .NET and giving them a new life in that environment is a very straightforward process.

Modernization Processes
The basic steps involved in modernizing a CICS application with NeoKicks are:

1. Start Visual Studio and invoke the NeoKicks Wizard by creating a new project and selecting the NeoKicks Project Wizard template.
2. Point the Wizard to your COBOL and BMS source files, and select other configuration options offered in the Wizard dialogs.
3. After completing the information requested by the Wizard, it preprocesses your COBOL source, converting EXEC CICS statements to invoke NeoKicks services, converts the BMS maps into ASP.NET Web forms and sets up a Visual Studio solution ready for you to start working on your converted application.
4. Data is migrated to Windows-based files or databases usually with little change required to VSAM or SQL procedural statements.
5. If necessary syntax adjustments are made to ensure the programs compile successfully with NetCOBOL.