Minisoft is releasing a pair of products this month that extend the connectivity of TurboIMAGE databases to the Internet and new platforms, as the 3000’s first JDBC driver leaves beta testing and ODBC/32 adds three platforms to its MPE/iX roots.

The JDBC driver was scheduled to ship in mid-February, according to Minisoft’s R&D manager Joe Grimm, after an extended test cycle to include the latest Java 1.2 specifications.

The driver uses the same 3000 software listener module as Minisoft’s ODBC/32 driver, Grimm said. Minisoft’s JDBC will let customers create Java applications and applets which can access data contained in TurboIMAGE databases, the first such capability in the 3000 market.

Few observers expect many Java applications that will run right away on HP 3000s. Java/iX shipped as a supported language late in 1998 as part of MPE/iX 6.0, and Java performance on HP 3000s still is a concern for some IS managers.

But Java is in active development and use on many other platforms. Industry estimates from the Gartner Group show that Java is installed in 70 million seats worldwide, and that 42 percent of the applications written in Java are mission-critical. It has wide industry acceptance; IBM boasts of more programmers working in Java than any other corporation.

Java is also serving users who need access to data on HP 3000s in the enterprise. The Minisoft driver, at first release, will let those users access MPE flat files and KSAM files in addition to IMAGE and TurboIMAGE data. Minisoft founder Doug Greenup said JDBC is cutting-edge technology for the 3000 that puts the system in the mainstream of the Internet.

“We slip right in next to HP’s JDBC for SQL,” Greenup said. HP’s forthcoming free JDBC driver will require Allbase/SQL knowledge to connect IMAGE/SQL databases to applets and applications — the same limitation that HP’s bundled ODBCLink/SE for MPE/iX works under.

The Minisoft JDBC product doesn’t require any server but an HP 3000, but it can also be configured to use an existing NT Web server in its first release. This provides a single entry point for applets or applications, without limiting access to databases that might reside on a unlimited number of HP 3000s.

A different, two-tier implementation of Minisoft’s JDBC runs applets or applications on a non-3000 system, providing access to TurboIMAGE using standard SQL syntax. That same syntax can be employed in an all-3000 implementation, where HP 3000 Java applications access TurboIMAGE databases.

JavaShop for quick setup

The new Minisoft driver will also ship with JavaShop/3000, a bundled development environment based on Minisoft’s FrontMan client-server development tool. JavaShop generates Java code, includes GUI-based form layout tools, and can build the fundamentals of a Java form by linking the form to an IMAGE database with a few clicks.

Building a form then leads to providing connection information through a Windows interface to JavaShop, a step that lets a Java application to access the HP 3000. The server can be the same machine that runs the application, or it can be any machine running the JDBCServer application. Developers enter an IP address and the port for the machine that is running the JDBCServer, then click to automatically write the Java JDBC code which accesses the IMAGE database. Another button in JavaShop sets up the basic functionality for an application in Java code.

Minisoft’s JDBC will sell for $1,995 to $4,995, priced identically to the ODBC/32 product. It will also be available for an extra $1,000 to customers already using the company’s ODBC/32 driver, which provides native access to IMAGE data for PC-based clients. That driver, in its latest version, now links to HP-UX, Macintosh and Linux clients.

Expanding ODBC/32

Minisoft also released these new ports of its ODBC/32 technology for the Macintosh, HP-UX and Linux platforms. The new software lets users of these systems connect to HP 3000 TurboIMAGE and IMAGE databases, as well as KSAM and MPE files. The libraries are available at no extra charge to ODBC/32 customers who have a current support contract with Minisoft.

Making the ODBC libraries machine-independent while building the Minisoft JDBC driver opened the door to wider ODBC/32 use — and a greater enterprise reach for TurboIMAGE data.

“This was a part of our JDBC project,” Greenup said of the port. “We ported the ODBC libraries over to those platforms to create kind of a MiddleMan for the Mac, but with ODBC calls.” Macintosh users who drive the FileMaker Pro database — at the heart of many mission-critical Macintosh applications — can use their database’s new ODBC connectivity to link with HP 3000 data via ODBC/32.

The Stanford Alumni Association and Provo, Utah School District use Macs widely in their HP 3000 client bases, Greenup added, along with telecom giant Nortel. “They have a real desire to keep the 3000 and integrate their desktops into that 3000,” Greenup said, “and they don’t want their Mac users to have to go to Windows.”

Adding the broader reach of the Internet as well as clients on three new platforms is a big part of the Minisoft stretch to help the 3000 deliver more value where it’s already installed.