Access VBA and Quick3270 mainframe emulator

[SonOf27]

I'm not sure if this is the right area to post this one. I have a few Access programs that contain VBA code that currently have a reference to Attachmate Extra Basic to allow some automation between the Access program and our mainframe.

The company I work for has now decided that Attachmate is too expensive and have decided to convert to Quick3270 and I have absolutley no say in what they do. I am hopeing someone out there can give me a push in the right direction to get things to work the same.

I can create the reference and create the objects but for some reason I cant get it to actually do anything to the session once it is open. Following is something very simple that should just type some text on the screen however I get nothing, not even an error.

' send something to the screen
Set objQuick3270 = CreateObject("Quick3270.Application")
Set objSession = objQuick3270.ActiveSession
Set objScreen = objSession.Screen
 
With objScreen
 .PutString ("HELLO")
End With  

Thank-you.

[Stewart Ross]

Hi. This is more of a Quick3270 question than a VBA one really, and I for one am not familiar at all with the emulator concerned. As far as it goes, I can see no fault in the way you are setting the VBA objects in your listing, but without knowing the Quick3270 object model I have no idea whether or not this is truly OK.

Questions:
Can you confirm that the emulator window appears on your screen after you create the object reference? Is it visible by default, or do you have to set it visible explicitly? Has the emulator been configured for you to access your mainframe? If not, would you expect to see characters echoed to the emulator screen if it is not connected - do you need to send some kind of control or escape sequence which sets the emulator off-line before you would see such characters?

-Stewart

[NeoPa]

I doubt there'll be too many here with such specific experience I'm afraid. In such situations I generally recommend that you contact the providers of the system for help. Sometimes they have their own forums, otherwise see what technical support they offer.

[ADezii]

@SonOf27
Won't the Object Browser expose the Properties, Methods, and Events of the Quick3270 Type Library, and also provide assistance as far as their usage goes?

[SonOf27]

Thanks for responding guys.

Stewart, I have tried with the Quick3270 window already open and also explicitly set it to visible. When I set it to visible it continues to open new windows every time the program runs. Yes the emulator has been configured and I can log in and use it manually with no apparent problems. I need it to be online and logged in so I can key directly into CICS screen locations.

NeoPa, I would agree and have sent a similar question to them as well and am waiting for a responce.

ADezzi. Yes the Object Browser exposes the properties, methods and events. My VBA pannel even autocompletes the code as I type however it still does not do what I'm expecting it to do.

Thanks for your time guys, I will keep at it and hopefully find a solution

[smsfinvest]

Hi SonOf27,

I'm only a few years late in replying you regarding your Quick3270 screen scraping question. Hope you don't mind. Below is a very simple test i did to logon in CICS. To run this, copy the function to your Excel or Access module, make a early binding to Quick 3270 Type Library. As a prerequisite, you also need a quick 3270 session started up. This function will log you in stay on your main menu. To use this function other then SonOf27's environment, customization is required.

Cheers,

Public Function SignOn(strUserID As String, strPass As String) As Boolean
 
' Assumption: early binding to Quick3270 2.0 Type Library
 
Dim x As Quick3270.Quick3270
Dim Q As Quick3270.ISession
 
Set x = Quick3270.Quick3270
 
x.Visible = True
x.TimeoutValue = 500
Set Q = x.ActiveSession
If Not Q.Connected Then
  MsgBox "Please start Q 3270 session."
End If
 
Do While Not Q.Screen.WaitForString("USERID", 18, 2)
  DoEvents
  Sleep 1000
 
  ' implement exit strategy here
 
Loop
 
'
Q.Screen.MoveTo 17, 33
Q.Screen.PutString "MA"
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Enter>"
Sleep 1000
 
' Solve system NMGA
Q.Screen.MoveTo 21, 40
Q.Screen.PutString strUserID
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Tab>"
Q.Screen.MoveTo 21, 64
Q.Screen.PutString strPass
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Enter>"
Sleep 1000
 
Do While Not Q.Screen.WaitForString("Command", 2, 2)
  DoEvents
  Sleep 1000
 
  If Q.Screen.GetString(2, 2, 13) = "Select Option" Then
    Q.Screen.MoveTo 2, 21
    Q.Screen.SendKeys "CC<ENTER>"
    Exit Do
  End If
Loop
 
Q.Screen.MoveTo 7, 2
Q.Screen.PutString "S"
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Enter><Enter>"
Sleep 1000
 
Do While Not Q.Screen.WaitForString("CICS", 1, 26)
  DoEvents
  Sleep 1000
Loop
 
Q.Screen.MoveTo 7, 24
Q.Screen.PutString strUserID
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Tab>"
Q.Screen.MoveTo 8, 24
Q.Screen.PutString strPass
Q.Screen.SendKeys "<Enter>"
 
If Q.Screen.GetString(32, 15, 29) = "OPID FYW Sign-on is complete." Then
  Q.Screen.SendKeys "MAIN<ENTER><ENTER>"
End If
 
MsgBox "You should now be on the Main Menu"
 
End Function