The Windows 5250 emulation market is probably the most competitive arena in the entire AS/400 software market. Just a few years ago, good old character-based Work Station Function (WSF) was the only way to get 5250 emulation running under Windows. The hurdles you had to clear to get WSF working under Windows were high, and after you'd cleared them, the results were pretty ugly. The PC Support/400 (PCS/400) router hogged DOS memory, and running DOS-based PCS/400 under Windows was a lot like fitting a square peg into a round hole. Now, many products provide native Windows-to-AS/400 connectivity.

In this product roundup, we review seven popular Windows-based 5250 emulation products: Andrew's 5250 Elite (APPC Edition), Attachmate's Rally! for AS/400, IBM's Personal Communications AS/400 (PC AS/400), NetSoft's NS/Midrange Bundle, Synapse's WinAPPC, Wall Data's Rumba for the AS/400, and Walker Richer & Quinn's (WRQ's) Reflection for the AS/400. "Windows 5250 Emulation Products Features Chart" (page 25) makes it easy for you to compare these products.

Review Criteria

In these reviews, we consider the essential characteristics of 5250 emulation software -- connection types, 5250 emulation, printer emulation, file transfer, and miscellaneous features.

Connection types. PCS/400 and Client Access for OS/400 (CA/400) have set the standard in this area. To match them, a product must support twinaxial, Token-Ring, Ethernet, asynchronous, and Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC) connections to the AS/400. Other important connections include gateways such as Novell's NetWare for SAA and Microsoft's SNA Server.

5250 emulation. Support for multiple display and printer sessions is vital. Other important emulation features include macros, keypads, scalable fonts, hotspots, graphical status lines, and toolbars.

Printer emulation. On the PC side, support for Hewlett-Packard LaserJet-compatible printers is important because these printers are the de facto office standard. AS/400 printer emulation support should include dot matrix (e.g., the 5224) and 3812 laser printer support. We also note support for any advanced functions, such as computer output reduction, which lets you print reports originally intended for 14.875- x 11-inch paper in landscape mode on 8.5- x 11-inch paper.

File transfer. All the products we reviewed have a file transfer component. Different products support different file-translation formats, and some are more useful than others. Probably the most important translation options include ASCII, comma- separated values, and dBase. Other good, but less common, formats include Excel and Lotus 1-2-3.

Miscellaneous features. Although most of these products are easy to install and operate, there are differences -- one of the biggest being the range of additional software components bundled with each package. Some products include such software components as shared folders, virtual print, remote command, and data query. With these additional components, some products can completely replace PCS/400 and CA/400.

Support for the CA/400 API set is another area where these product differ. Many third- party client/server software packages require some CA/400 APIs (e.g., the Data Queue, Remote Command, and Open Database Connectivity, or ODBC, APIs), but not all of these 5250 connectivity products support the CA/400 APIs.

For More Info

For more detailed looks at two of the products, see the following NEWS 3X/400 product reviews: PC AS/400 (November 1994) and NS/Midrange Bundle (July 1994). Also, "Windows-Based 5250 Emulation" (Winter Quarterly 1994) provides more detail about Windows 5250 emulation features and offers a buyer's guide that includes all seven products reviewed here plus 35 others.

Michael Otey is a senior technical editor for NEWS/400 and president of TECA, Inc., a software development and consulting firm specializing in client/server and networking applications for the PC and the AS/400. You can reach Mike at (503) 761-6334; on CompuServe at 70214,1056; or on the Internet at mikeo@teca.com.

Andrew's 5250 Elite (APPC Edition) 3.5.1

Andrew Corporation's 5250 Elite (APPC Edition) is a basic nuts-and-bolts 5250 and printer emulation package. Bundled with it is NetSoft's NS/Router, which lets you run 5250 Elite without PC Support/400 (PCS/400).

5250 Elite and NS/Router are easy to install and come on three diskettes. Included on a fourth diskette is Andrew's TranScend 400 for Windows, a file transfer product. After installation, you must configure 5250 display or printer sessions using the 5250 Elite Configurator program. Once you've configured the sessions, you run the 5250 Elite program and open the previously configured sessions.

Features

5250 Elite supports both 24-x-80 and 132-x-27 displays. Unlike the other 5250 emulation products included in this roundup, Andrew's 5250 Elite emulation uses the Windows Multiple Document Interface (MDI), which displays multiple 5250 emulation windows within the confines of a single parent window (similar to the way Microsoft Word displays documents in its main window). The package supports scalable fonts, with the fonts adjusting themselves to an "optimum" size when you resize the window. However, the fonts have a case of the jaggies and don't look as good as the fonts in some other emulators. One feature 5250 Elite doesn't support is automatic window resizing. When you resize a window, 5250 Elite actually resizes the fonts, not the window, so you may end up with white space below or to the right of the main text area of the 5250 screen.

5250 Elite has a macro facility, letting you record keystrokes, name them, and attach them to a button on a toolbar; however, you can't edit macros once you've created them. The program also supports hotspots for function keys and menu items, although the look is a little dated. 5250 Elite reverses the colors for hotspots, whereas some other emulators actually overlay a button onto the screen for a function key or menu-item hotspot.

The product supports Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) and WinHLLAPI. Andrew also offers the Application Developer's Kit with 5250 Elite (5250 Elite comes with a coupon you can mail in for a free kit). The kit includes extensive WinHLLAPI information.

TranScend provides a drag-and-drop PC-AS/400 file transfer facility, using an interface that closely resembles the Windows File Manager. TranScend works well, although you can drag only one file at a time. TranScend supports the same PC file types as PCS/400 -- don't hope for Excel, dBase, or Access file types. Still, TranScend beats PCS/400's RFROMPC and RTOPC programs and adds significant value to 5250 Elite. (For more information about TranScend, see "TranScend 400 for Windows," Fall Quarterly 1994.)

5250 Elite's printer emulation is minimal; the product supports only the 3812 laser printer. To direct and manage printer output, you use the Windows Print Manager. 5250 Elite doesn't support computer output reduction.

How Does It Rate?

Andrew's 5250 Elite works well but feels dated compared to some other emulators. It has no toolbar and still uses the old text representations of 5250 indicators (e.g., Input Inhibited, Message Waiting) instead of graphical representations. Also, 5250 Elite's MDI works fine for word processing but is inconvenient for 5250 sessions because of the large amount of screen real estate each session occupies. MDI also makes manipulating session windows clumsy.

Reviewed by Chuck Lundgren, a NEWS/400 technical editor and president of Iris Software, Chico, California.

5250 Elite (APPC Edition) 3.5.1

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

Andrew Corporation

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 5.5 MB of disk space

PRICE

$245

Andrew Corporation

10500 153rd Street

Orland Park, IL 60462-3071

(800) 328-2696, (708) 349-3300

Fax (708) 349-5673

Attachmate's Rally! for AS/400 2.0

Attachmate's Rally! for AS/400 includes native Windows-based 5250 display and printer emulation, a Windows-based file transfer utility, a copy of NetSoft's NS/Router, DB/Query (a database query tool), an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver, and seven Visual Basic and Visual C++ program examples.

You install Rally! from five diskettes (which also contain the NS/Router software); you can choose complete, custom, or minimal installation, based on your disk space. You can also configure Rally! to connect to your AS/400 using NS/Router, PC Support/400 (V2R2 or later), or Client Access for OS/400. You can configure and use multiple display and print device sessions simultaneously from one or more AS/400 host systems.

Features

Rally! supports twinaxial, asynchronous, Token-Ring, Ethernet, Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), X.25, SNA Server, and TCP/IP connections. (To connect via TCP/IP, you need the appropriate Winsock-compliant stack; printer emulation and file transfer aren't supported when running TCP/IP.) Rally!'s 5250 emulation support includes the typical 24-X- 80 and 27-X-132 modes. For each display session, you can configure colors and keyboard layout, specify fixed or scalable fonts, turn on or off the automatic sign-on function, and show or hide the toolbar. Emulation also supports keystroke macros, hotspots (default hotspots are available for all AS/400 screens through Rally!, or you can customize the hotspots), and a floating SmartPad you can use for clicking on common events such as Enter, F3, F5, Page up, Page down, or any configurable keystroke event. Rally! includes a configurable toolbar and a graphical status bar. The toolbar lets you quickly access the file upload and download functions, the copy and paste functions, and additional Rally! sessions. You can click on the graphical status bar's icons to perform actions. For instance, if the message icon appears in the status line, you can click on the message icon to display the AS/400 message; there's no need to manually type the AS/400 DSPMSG (Display Message) command.

Rally! supports Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) (including a Rally!-supplied clipboard viewer), which lets you easily cut and paste between your AS/400 sessions and the Windows environment. The package also supports WinHLLAPI programming, a feature documented only in the WinHLLAPI Manual, available as an option at no charge.

Rally's printer emulation currently supports any printer running in your Windows environment. You make a basic selection of daisy wheel, dot matrix, or laser printer types, and Rally! handles the rest. You can manually override the host's page-orientation and font commands as well as select computer output reduction.

Rally! lets you output text in ASCII, Data Interchange Format (DIF), DOS Random, or untranslated (i.e., with no conversion from ASCII to EBCDIC) formats. The file transfer interface lets you browse AS/400 libraries, files, members, and fields (if you decide to work directly with the SQL syntax) and your PC hard drive. For complete member upload/download requests, the interface requires only the AS/400 library/file (member) and PC file names. If you want to then modify the actual SQL syntax to customize your request (e.g., record or field selection, sorting, grouping records with summary), you can do so using a simple point-and-click interface.

How Does It Rate?

Rally! is a strong product that offers an easy-to-use interface, helpful and ample documentation, and a variety of connection/configuration options to fit into most installations. Rally!'s only weakness is the lack of direct transfer output capabilities (there is the DIF method) to popular Windows software. Most other products reviewed here share this weakness. However, Attachmate's ODBC-based DB/Query product uses Rally! to provide a custom query environment to meet some direct transfer output needs.

Reviewed by Wayne Madden, publisher of NEWS/400.

Rally! for AS/400 2.0

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

Attachmate Corporation

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 4 MB of disk space (6 MB if you load NS/Router)

PRICE

$4,500 for each AS/400 CPU, with unlimited PCs connected; or $165 per PC

Attachmate Corporation

3617 131st Avenue Southeast

Bellevue, WA 98006

(800) 426-6283, (206) 644-4010

Fax (206) 747-9924

IBM's Personal Communications AS/400 4.0

IBM's Personal Communications AS/400 (PC AS/400) is a Windows-based 5250 emulation package that includes a native Windows-based router, 5250 display and printer emulation, file transfer capability, and shared folders.

PC AS/400 comes on four diskettes and is easy to install. The package supports many connection methods and provides an easy-to-use configuration facility to make these options manageable.

Features

PC AS/400 supports the following AS/400 connections: LAN, twinaxial, Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), asynchronous, Novell NetWare for SAA, and Microsoft SNA Server. For LAN connections, PC AS/400 provides Ethernet and Token-Ring support and a LAN TCP/IP connection with Telnet 5250 (TN5250) support. The package also includes a native Windows router for AS/400 connectivity.

In addition to the standard APPC/LU6.2 connection, PC AS/400 offers an LU7 (5250 emulation-only) attachment to the AS/400. This attachment is called twinax console support because it lets you configure a PC as the AS/400 system console (the system console must be seen by the AS/400 as a 5250 device; you can't use PC Support/400- or Client Access for OS/400 (CA/400)-attached PCs). This twinax console connection, however, is not limited to the system console; it can function over any twinax address. As you might expect, the twinax console connection doesn't support file transfer or shared folders (both of which require an APPC/LU6.2 connection to the AS/400). PC AS/400 also includes a 5250 adapter handler as a virtual device driver; thus, you don't need to load a DOS-based terminate-and-stay-resident adapter handler when using PC AS/400.

PC AS/400's 5250 terminal emulation offers the features you'd expect in Windows-based emulation: copy and paste; 24-X-80 and 27-X-132 displays; Windows-based online help; a separate window for each terminal-emulation session (i.e., Single Document Interface, or SDI); Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) (copy and link) and EHLLAPI support; hotspots; and customizable screen characteristics, such as cursor blinking, colors, and fonts. PC AS/400 also supports keystroke macros and has an optional toolbar that provides iconic access to many functions. However, the toolbar isn't customizable. Up to 16 display sessions can be active at once.

PC AS/400 also provides up to 16 simultaneous printer sessions, letting a Windows- attached printer function as an AS/400 printer. By default, PC AS/400 emulates an IBM 3812 laser printer; however, it also supports the AS/400's host-print-transform feature, which changes print data to ASCII format and outputs that data by emulating many other popular printers.

PC AS/400's Windows-based file transfer function, called Data Transfer, functionally replaces the old PC Support/400 (PCS/400) RFROMPC and RTOPC file transfer facilities. However, the user interface is disappointing, providing no drag-and-drop enhancements or user-interface improvements. Data Transfer offers the same output file types as PCS/400 and adds BIFF file support (BIFF files are directly importable into Microsoft Excel spreadsheets). An optional file transfer component is available for PC AS/400, but it adds no functional improvements to Data Transfer. (Don't let the "data" and "file" transfer component names fool you. The "data" transfer component bundled with the package will handle virtually all your file transfer needs; you won't need the optional "file" transfer component.)

Unlike many native Windows packages, PC AS/400 provides native Windows access to shared folders. You can use a simple shared-folder window to assign shared folders to PC drives. The only drawback to PC AS/400's shared folder support is that its user interface, like that of the Data Transfer component, is not as effective as the competition's. Still the mere inclusion of native Windows shared folders is notable.

How Does It Rate?

Overall, PC AS/400 is an easy product to use, with an especially well-done 5250 display component and at least workable printer emulation, file transfer, and shared folder components. PC AS/400's biggest weakness is that its router doesn't support the PCS/400 or CA/400 APIs -- substantially limiting its ability to run some third-party products that rely on those APIs (IBM has promised that PC AS/400 4.1 will be much more full featured, including such features as an ODBC driver and API support). Aside from the currently existing API limitation, PC AS/400 is a refreshing piece of IBM-written software -- it is competitive and well-designed.

Reviewed by Roger Pence, a senior technical editor for NEWS/400.

Personal Communications AS/400 4.0

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

IBM

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 6 MB of disk space

PRICE

$395; upgrades $195

IBM Corporation

4205 South Miami Boulevard

Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

(800) 426-2255 (outside the U.S., contact your local IBM representative)

Fax (919) 254-1190

CompuServe: GO APPC; section name: IBM PC400

NetSoft's NS/Midrange Bundle 5.01

NetSoft's NS/Midrange Bundle includes NS/Router (NetSoft's native Windows-based router), NS/Elite (5250 display and printer emulation), NS/Transfer (file transfer), NS/Folders (shared folders), NS/Commander (remote command), and NS/Queues (data queues). With these software components, NS/Midrange Bundle provides a complete replacement for PC Support/400 (PCS/400) or Client Access for OS/400 (CA/400).

NS/Midrange Bundle comes on 10 diskettes, but the installation program is friendly, and you can have the entire product installed and running in about 15 minutes.

Features

NS/Midrange Bundle can connect to the AS/400 using either the NS/Router or the CA/400 router. NS/Router is a native Windows router that supports twinaxial, Token-Ring, Ethernet, Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), asynchronous, and Hayes AutoSync connections to the AS/400. For twinax connectivity, NS/Router requires two DOS terminate- and-stay-resident programs (E5250AH.COM and NSTWINAX.EXE) to be loaded, but all other connections use native Windows Virtual Device Drivers (VxDs) or Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), which require no lower DOS memory. NS/Router also connects to the AS/400 using gateways, including Novell's NetWare for SAA and Microsoft's SNA Server.

NS/Elite supports both 80-´-24 and 132-´-27 screen modes. The emulation provides hotspots, macros, keypads, scalable fonts, a graphical status line, and a toolbar with automatic pop-up help. However, NS/Elite is not as full-featured as some of the 5250 emulation products reviewed here. For example, it doesn't provide a configurable toolbar - - although you can turn the toolbar on and off from the menu.

A graphical status line replaces the standard 5250 session indicators, but you can't perform any actions using the status line icons (e.g., clicking on the message icon to display a message in the 5250 emulation session). NS/Elite menu options let you easily switch to another session using the Session Manager (a window that lists all configured display and printer sessions) as well as start the file transfer program. NS/Elite supports both HLLAPI and Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

NS/Elite's printer emulation component supports 3812 laser, 5224 dot matrix host printers, and 5219 letter quality printers. It supports all standard PC printers through Windows Print Manager, and it supports computer output reduction.

The full range of additional software components sets NS/Midrange Bundle apart from other 5250 connectivity products. NS/Midrange Bundle provides components that support all the major PCS/400 and CA/400 functions. The file transfer component supports exactly the same output options as CA/400. It's also compatible with the .TFR and .TTO files that CA/400's file transfer uses. The package supports shared folders, virtual print, and remote commands and provides interactive programs as well as CA/400-compatible APIs for all these functions; it also supports the Data Queue API and comes bundled with the NS/ODBC driver.

How Does It Rate?

NetSoft's NS/Midrange Bundle is a high-quality product that provides all the major software functions and APIs CA/400 provides.

Reviewed by Michael Otey, a NEWS/400 senior technical editor and president of TECA, Inc., Portland, Oregon.

Product Information

NS/Midrange Bundle 5.01

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

NetSoft

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 6 MB of disk space

PRICE

$395

NetSoft

31 Technology Drive

Irvine, CA 92718

(800) 352-3270, (714) 753-0800

Fax (714) 753-0810

Synapse's WinAPPC 3.03

Synapse's WinAPPC 5250 Emulation for Windows includes native Windows-based 5250 display and printer emulation and Windows-based file transfer. NetSoft's NS/Router rounds out the package. WinAPPC includes no shared folders component.

WinAPPC comes on two diskettes (NS/Router is shipped separately on two additional diskettes) and is quick to install. Configuration takes just a couple of mouse clicks. In short order, you can be using WinAPPC.

Features

WinAPPC supports twinaxial, Token-Ring, Ethernet, Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), X.25, and asynchronous attachments to the AS/400. The product supports the following router interfaces: PC Support/400 (PCS/400) DOS and Extended DOS, NS/Router, Novell NetWare for SAA, and Telnet 5250 over TCP/IP (which provides 5250 display emulation only). WinAPPC can emulate multiple display and printer devices simultaneously and can concurrently connect to multiple AS/400 hosts.

The 5250 emulation provides both 24-´-80 and 132-´-27 modes. Colors and keyboard layout are user configurable. The 5250 emulation provides scalable fonts, macros, hotspots, and a keypad. However, there is no toolbar (although one is promised in version 3.1). One nice feature of WinAPPC's keyboard remapping is that you can press a key to find out which 5250 function that key is mapped to. The 5250 emulation menu bar provides easy access to other display or printer sessions that you may have running as well as to file transfer (file transfer is also accessible from its own icon in the WinAPPC program group).

WinAPPC offers a variety of cut and paste options from the 5250-emulated screen, including saving a copied screen as a bitmap file and intelligently parsing copied screen contents into spreadsheet cells. The product supports Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) and WinHLLAPI. The WinHLLAPI documentation is extensive, providing more than 150 pages of detailed information; however, it comes only as a Windows Write file and isn't provided in hard copy.

WinAPPC's file transfer component is a native Windows file upload/download facility. In addition to supporting all the file output types that PCS/400 and Client Access for OS/400 (CA/400) support, WinAPPC's file transfer component outputs to dBase, Excel, and tab-delimited formats as well as savefile format, an option that lets you transfer files to and from the AS/400 without losing the file-creation date or other file attributes. WinAPPC's file transfer component is easy to use, and although it doesn't support drag- and-drop file selection, it does use drag-and-drop effectively to select fields for transfer and to load and execute file transfers. The only problem I had with the file transfer feature was that it failed when it encountered binary fields with negative values. Synapse has since fixed this problem, however.

WinAPPC's printer emulation can emulate several IBM printers, including the 5224 dot matrix printer and the 3812 laser printer. The emulation works with any printer for which Windows has a configured printer and printer driver. In addition to manually supporting portrait and landscape modes, the WinAPPC printer emulation supports computer output reduction and comprehensive font mapping and scaling. The printer emulation worked well with both a Hewlett-Packard DeskJet and an Apple LaserWriter.

How Does It Rate?

Although WinAPPC lacks some features that keep it from being a complete CA/400 replacement, if your needs are basic, you will find it a polished, capable product. If your needs are more advanced, Synapse offers features such as data queues, remote command, and an Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) driver in other products.

Reviewed by Roger Pence, a senior technical editor for NEWS/400.

Product Information

WinAPPC 5250 Emulation for Windows 3.03

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

Synapse Network Associates

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 3.2 MB of disk space

PRICE

$229

Vendor Information

Synapse Network Associates

11 Sacramento Avenue

San Anselmo, CA 94960

(415) 457-5250

Fax (415) 258-1658

Wall Data's Rumba Access/400 3.0

Wall Data's Rumba Access/400 includes Rumba Router (Wall Data's native Windows-based router), Rumba 5250 display and printer emulation, file transfer, shared folders, virtual print, PowerSync (a replacement for the PC Support/400 (PCS/400) Update function), Rumba for Database Access, Rumba Report Writer, Rumba Messenger (AS/400 mail capabilities), the Remote Command API, and the Data Queue API. In addition to these Client Access/400 (CA/400)-type components, Rumba Access/400 also includes a full suite of TCP/IP applications, including a 32-bit TCP/IP stack, the Mosaic Web browser, a Gopher package, and an Internet newsreader.

Rumba Access/400 comes on a CD or on 21 diskettes. The installation program is friendly, and you can quickly have the entire product installed and running. Rumba's Fastpath configuration helps get you connected to the AS/400.

Features

Rumba Access/400 can use NS/Router, the CA/400 router, or the Windows-based Rumba Router for its connection to the AS/400. The Rumba Router supports twinaxial, Token-Ring, Ethernet, Synchronous Data Link Control (SDLC), asynchronous, and asynch console connections to the AS/400. For twinax connectivity, the Rumba Router requires only the 5250 adapter handler (E5250AH.COM). No additional DOS terminate-and-stay-resident programs are necessary. All other connections use native Windows Virtual Device Drivers (VxDs) or Dynamic Link Libraries (DLLs), which require no lower DOS memory. The Rumba Router also supports Novell's NetWare for SAA and Microsoft's SNA Server gateway connections. In addition, Rumba Access/400 includes Multiprotocol Transport Network (MPTN) support. MPTN lets you use SNA over TCP/IP, meaning you can use Rumba's full range of functions over a TCP/IP network.

Rumba emulation was the first 5250 emulation package for Windows, and it still sets the standard for Windows 5250 emulation. Rumba includes all the 5250 emulation features you'd expect: hotspots, macros, keypads, scalable fonts, a graphical status line, a configurable toolbar, and watermarks (which let you use a bitmap image as "wallpaper" behind the 5250 display). The functions of the different toolbar icons are automatically displayed in pop-up tool tips (a.k.a. balloon help). Rumba's graphical status line replaces the standard 5250 session indicators, but you can't perform any actions using the status line icons. In its default configuration, the toolbar has options that let you switch to another session or start the file transfer program. Rumba Access/400 also includes a new feature, QuickAssist, which provides Quicken-like automatic data-entry capabilities for 5250 screens.

Rumba 5250 emulation supports both 80-´-24 and 132-´-27 screen modes. It also supports HLLAPI and Windows Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE).

Rumba printer emulation supports the 3812 host laser printer and, through Windows' Print Manager, all standard PC printers. It also supports computer output reduction. Rumba's Application Print Setup lets you customize the printed output for different host applications, such as Source Entry Utility (SEU), OfficeVision for OS/400 Mail, and Programming Development Manager (PDM).

Rumba Access/400 has excellent terminal emulation and a comprehensive set of additional client functions. Rumba 5250 emulation is highly configurable and supports more features than the other products reviewed here. You can customize the menu, toolbar, and graphical status line as well as the 3-D buttons' functions, the mouse buttons' functions, and more. A built-in editor lets you build macro scripts.

In addition to 5250 emulation, Rumba Access/400 provides a full range of other functions. The file transfer component supports the same API and output options as CA/400 file transfer. It can also use the same .TFR and .TTO files that CA/400's file transfer uses. In addition, the product supports shared folders and virtual print and the Remote Command, Data Queue, and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) APIs. Wall Data's ODBC driver provides database access for all ODBC-compliant applications as well as Rumba Report Writer and Rumba for Database Access products, which are also included with Rumba Access/400.

How Does It Rate?

Rumba Access/400 is a high-quality product. It provides basic 5250 emulation and all other major software functions and APIs that CA/400 provides.

Reviewed by Michael Otey, a NEWS/400 senior technical editor and president of TECA, Inc., Portland, Oregon.

Product Information

Rumba Access/400 3.0

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

Wall Data, Inc.

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 16 MB of disk space (50 MB total if you install Database Access, Messenger, client applications, TCP/IP stack and applications, Report Writer, and Internet applications)

PRICE

$400; $149 competitive upgrade through December 31, 1995

Vendor Information

Wall Data, Inc.

11332 Northeast 122nd Way

Kirkland, WA 98034

(800) 915-9255, (415) 856-9255

Fax (415) 856-9265

WRQ's Reflection for the AS/400 4.2

Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.'s (WRQ's) Reflection for the AS/400 offers native Windows-based 5250 display emulation, printer emulation, and a Windows-based file transfer component. Reflection also includes a copy of NetSoft's NS/Router.

You install Reflection from six diskettes. Aside from letting you specify the target directory, the package offers no installation options (e.g., complete or custom installation). If you install NS/Router, you must do so separately from four other diskettes and perform some minor manual configuration for the file transfer component. WRQ provides a 25-page NS/Router configuration guide to facilitate this process.

Features

You can configure your Reflection sessions to use either IBM's PC Support/400 (PCS/400) or Client Access for OS/400 router, Novell's NetWare for SAA (which still uses PCS/400), or NS/Router. You can run Reflection over TCP/IP if you install TCP/IP stack software (which you can buy from WRQ or another vendor); however, file transfer and printer emulation aren't available if you use TCP/IP instead an APPC-based router.

Like some other emulation products, Reflection doesn't directly support Data Queues, shared folders, message services, or virtual printing access but instead relies on the underlying router and add-on product support from IBM, NetSoft, or other vendor. Reflection deals only with display and printer emulation and file transfer.

The 5250 display emulation lets you choose from a variety of terminal types (e.g., 3476, 3477, 3196) and lets you configure colors, screen-mode support (24-´-80 or 27-´- 132), cursor type and blink rate, keyboard mappings, and hotspots. Configuring colors is a drag-and-drop operation in Reflection. You click and hold the mouse button on a foreground or background color and then simply drag the Paint Brush icon to the area on the screen you want to color. The color configuration process's only weakness is that it offers no template color pattern sets and forces you instead to configure colors for each piece of your emulation screen (e.g., text and background, status bar and background). Like most other emulation products, Reflection offers a configurable toolbar and a keyboard map, which lets you remap keys and functions.

Reflection's printer emulation is solid in terms of supporting printers configured in the Windows environment; however, you cannot customize your printed output except to override the font, request computer output reduction, and change margins. I had no problem printing on my IBM 4019E laser printer using Reflection to output everything from an AS/400 screen capture to a program listing.

Reflection's file transfer interface is quite good and is different from what you might expect from a 5250 emulation product, taking on more of a LapLink or File Transfer Protocol (FTP) quality. Reflection divides the dialog box on the left and right for the PC and AS/400 directory tree, respectively. You click on directory-tree icons (much as you do in Windows File Manager) until you have both file names identified. You can then transfer files by clicking on the appropriate directional arrow (i.e., from AS/400 to PC or from PC to AS/400). You can also choose such things as file-conversion type and SQL custom syntax.

Reflection supports output in DOS Random, ASCII, Basic Sequential, comma-separated, tab-delimited, and untranslated (i.e., with no conversion from ASCII to EBCDIC) formats. You can also customize your requests by using a point-and-click SQL-build interface, in which Reflection prompts you for field-selection criteria, record-selection criteria, sorting options, and group and join options. You can execute your upload/download request immediately and/or save the request in a template file for execution any time.

Reflection has strong macro language support, using the Reflection Basic language to let programmers write sophisticated front ends for the client interface. This language serves as the scripting language for keyboard macros as well as separate macros that you can run when Reflection is active. The language offers many built-in functions and enables WinHLLAPI programming using Reflection.

How Does It Rate?

Reflection is yet another strong emulation product in today's market. It has excellent display emulation, but its printer output choices (e.g., page orientation and paper type) are weak. Reflection offers versatility for 5250 and 3270 emulation. If you want to use WinHLLAPI to customize application front ends, Reflection offers a robust and integrated scripting language.

Reviewed by Wayne Madden, publisher of NEWS/400.

Product Information

Reflection for the AS/400 4.2

Windows-based 5250 emulation software

WRQ

PLATFORM

Windows PC with 15 MB of disk space

PRICE

$299

Walker Richer & Quinn, Inc.

1500 Dexter Avenue North

Seattle, WA 98109

(206) 217-7500

Fax (206) 217-0293