About ARCAD-API
Create and expose RESTful Web services over IBM i 5250 applications
ARCAD API is a “no-code” solution for organizations needing to rapidly interface core business systems on IBM i with other applications and devices. This makes the solution particularly well adapted in situations with no access to application source code – such as vendor packages – or where the source code is too complex or too critical to modify.
ARCAD API enables you to create web services to interface directly with the native 5250 data stream. It is able to record 5250 scenarios, then to translate them into RESTful web services. It is also able to create web services based on an SQL query to extract data from the target IBM i database.
ARCAD API generate web services only with the working knowledge of how to use the IBM i application by recording scenarios of your applications' usage in the 5250 emulator of the API Studio. The web services are created and tested with API Studio and are deployed on an API Production Server or through API gateways.
ARCAD API is a client-server application. The studio provides access to both the design and production servers. Both servers are installed together. A production distribution of the ARCAD-API Server and the API Studio is also available only to manage the web services that are in production.
For more information about installing ARCAD-API, refer to Installation.
The Studio
The ARCAD-API Studio is the client application which provides access to all of the elements required to create, test, validate and promote web services.
The studio connects to the ARCAD-API Server which has two types of servers embedded together.
For more information about using the ARCAD-API Studio, refer to the Overview.
The Design Server
The design server is the server where the metadata elements, the scenarios, and the web services are designed and tested. Once a web service is validated, it can be promoted into production.
This server requires some configuration. For more information, refer to Configuring ARCAD-API.
The Production Server
The production server hosts web services in production. When the web services are validated they are promoted to production where they become available for general consumption. The production server allows you to manage versions, self-documentation, API packages and baselines and execution optimization.
For more information about pushing web services to production, refer to Web Services.
