Taking its Internet adoption in stages, connectivity supplier WRQ introduced a new version of Reflection at HP World that lets users run the software from inside their Web browsers using Active X controls.
Reflection 6.0 for HP uses Active Document support to activate Reflection from within a browser shell. The software is only available for clients running Windows 95 or Windows NT desktops, but it lets users access HP 3000 data from the same desktop window as their browsers, e-mail and Internet newsgroups.
WRQ said the product follows the model of providing a simple first step toward integrating corporate intranets with host systems like the 3000. Because WRQ isn't delivering its Java-based client until early 1998, it can include all the functionality of the current Reflection products in what it reluctantly calls a fat client -- but one full of features that won't be in most Java-based connectivity tools.
"Active Document is a simple way to get the same Reflection product within a browser," said WRQ's spokesperson Rose Earl. "We hate to call it fat, but that's what it is -- that fat, robust, application-rich Reflection."
Java-based Reflection "is not as full-featured" as Reflection 6.0, she added, following a thin client model. "This might be enough for certain populations of users," Earl said of the intranet connectivity in Reflection 6.0. Heads-down users may not be candidates for workstations like a network computer or Java-based Reflection. "Some populations will never go to Java-based products," she said.
Active Document is designed to enable applications such as application training information that companies post on Web pages to appear in the same window as the application itself. Users can either split the browser window or use the browser's Forward and Back buttons to jump between application and intranet pages.
WRQ is also introducing a new graphical interface feature with the product, a technology it calls Hot Spots. The feature lets mouse clicks on designated areas of an HP 3000 application screen trigger pull-down or pop-up lists, designed to simplify data entry and reduce errors. The Hot Spots are simple enough to be implemented by users, according to WRQ, but they can also be an interface designtool to be used at the IT level of a company.
The software sends mouse clicks in customer-defined coordinates to the host application, working with text that's already on the application screen. The Hot Spots can also execute Reflection scripts or commands -- features that can be used to trigger operations on the HP 3000.
Version 6.0 also includes Mouse Mapping, which lets HP 3000 applications interact with a mouse using Windows left and right clicks. A new Connection Wizard automatically determines the correct connection and terminal settings; WRQ says this feature means users only have to know the name of the target host they're attempting to link with.
To further reduce the amount of help desk time a user might require, WRQ is also introducing a Troubleshooting Toolbar in Version 6.0. The feature collects information for diagnosis and treatment of desktop or network-related problems. Reflection now has integrated FTP transfers within its product and supports terminals from Wyse, Data General and ADDS in the new release.
Version 6.0 of Reflection for HP costs $399 without NS/VT networking and $478 with NS/VT software to optimize HP 3000 connections. WRQ is offering a $99 upgrade for current users, while those on the upgrade maintenance program receive the update at no charge.