Further Reading — Chapter 39: Real-Time Integration

Books

  • IBM MQ: Designing and Implementing Solutions — IBM Redbooks. Comprehensive guide to MQ architecture and programming including COBOL examples.

  • Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Programming Guide — IBM SC27-8847. Chapters on JSON GENERATE, JSON PARSE, XML GENERATE, and XML PARSE.

  • Modernizing Enterprise COBOL Applications — IBM Redbooks. Covers z/OS Connect, API enablement, and modernization patterns.

IBM Documentation

  • z/OS Connect EE Documentation — https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/zos-connect — Service definitions, API mapping, and COBOL integration.

  • IBM MQ for z/OS: Application Programming Reference — https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ibm-mq — COBOL MQI API reference including MQPUT, MQGET, and all data structures.

  • CICS Web Services Guide — https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cics-ts — CICS WEB commands for HTTP client and server operations.

  • Enterprise COBOL JSON and XML Support — Search IBM docs for "JSON GENERATE COBOL" for detailed syntax and examples.

Articles and Tutorials

  • "Exposing COBOL as REST APIs with z/OS Connect" — IBM Developer tutorials with step-by-step instructions.

  • "MQ Programming in COBOL" — IBM MQ Knowledge Center includes COBOL-specific examples for all MQ API calls.

  • "JSON Processing in Enterprise COBOL" — IBM presentations from SHARE conferences demonstrating JSON GENERATE and PARSE with real-world examples.

Online Resources

  • IBM Z Xplore (https://www.ibm.com/z/resources/zxplore) — Includes MQ and CICS exercises that can be completed with COBOL programs.

  • Open Mainframe Project (https://www.openmainframeproject.org/) — Community resources for mainframe modernization and integration.

  • IBM Developer: Mainframe (https://developer.ibm.com/components/ibm-z/) — Technical articles, code patterns, and tutorials for COBOL integration.

Tools

  • Postman (https://www.postman.com/) — Test REST APIs exposed by z/OS Connect. Useful for verifying JSON request/response formats.

  • IBM MQ Explorer — GUI tool for managing MQ queues, monitoring messages, and testing MQ programs.

  • SoapUI / ReadyAPI — Test SOAP and REST web services, useful for end-to-end integration testing.

Standards

  • JSON (RFC 8259) — The JSON data interchange format specification. Understanding the spec helps debug JSON GENERATE output.

  • XML 1.0 (W3C Recommendation) — The XML specification. Relevant for XML GENERATE and XML PARSE behavior.

  • OpenAPI Specification (https://swagger.io/specification/) — The standard for defining REST APIs. z/OS Connect can generate OpenAPI definitions for COBOL-backed APIs.