Connect Terminal Session Client Solutions IBM with EHLLAPI ( IBM\EHLLAPI)

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How can i connect uipath with terminal as400 client soltions IBM ? Please help me out on this one? thanks. On this moment i receive an error.

Terminal Session: There was an error connecting to terminal. Error code: Error

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Hi @vincent.maessen
welcome to forum

You can check this video for regarding the mainframe automation [ for connecting too]

Regards,
Nived N
Happy Automation

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I understand this is about IBM iACS ( i Access Client Solutions).
If you can get an IP Address/Port for the mainframe backend, I would recommend to go with Direct Connection as this will remove a lot from the complexity.

If that is not an option, I’ll leave here a rather long step-by-step guide for iACS v1r1. The trick is it will need the programmable interface to be enabled and the EHLL Bridge installed.

UI Automation might also be an option, unsure how difficult that might be for you in this (Java-based) case.

Step-by-step guide for EHLL in iACS:

2. Installation

The following are necessary:

Here’s a screenshot with the necessary IBM downloads highlighted:

3. Environment Requirements

Note that the general principle here is 32-bit . So everything must conform to 32-bit.

3.1 Access Client Solutions

You will need to use the Access Client Solutions’ 32-bit launcher, it’s called acslaunch_win-32.exe and it is located, in my case, under c:\Users\cornel.dumitrascu *\IBM\ClientSolutions\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32*

If you need to validate the correct version when it’s started, press Help → About, and you should see the following (important items highlighted in yellow):

The java.home set to a Java Runtime Environment from within C:\Program Files (x86) means it’s the 32 bit version.

3.2 The EHLL API Bridge

The EHLL API Bridge only comes in 32-bit format and should get installed by default under " *c:\Program Files (x86)\IBM\EHLLAPI* "

Make sure the location is valid and that it contains the EHLL DLLs, similar to this (the libraries of interest for us marked in yellow):

4. Starting IBM i Access Client Solution with the EHLL API bridge

The best way to make sure everything starts smoothly is from command line:

"C:\Users\cornel.dumitrascu\IBM\ClientSolutions\Start_Programs\Windows_i386-32\ acslaunch_win-32.exe " /PLUGIN=PCS -vm "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_181 "

Let’s break it down:
acslaunch_win-32.exe - ensures we are running Access Client Solutions 32-bit

/PLUGIN=PCS - it’s a parameter that tells Access Client Solutions to turn the Programmable Interface on, in some cases this might be needed, so to be on the safe side start it anyway.

-vm "C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jre1.8.0_181 " - this argument is one more safety measure to enforce that Access Client Solutions starts with a 32-bit Java Runtime Environment for sure (the path you give within quotes has to be valid on your machine and a true 32-bit Java Runtime must reside there)

The above process runs in background.

Also start Access Client Solutions 32-bit from your desktop (it’s normally this icon : ).

NOTE: Alternately, you can see IBM’s recommendations on this on it’s website: EHLLAPI With the Access Client Solutions Emulator

5. Connect to IBM i Access Client Solutions from UiPath Studio

First, make sure IBM i Access Client Solution is running (see Section 4. above) and a 5250 session was established.

This pretty much follows normal EHLLAPI procedure, but the DLL chosen has to be one from the EHLLAPI Bridge location, see section 3.2 above, and here is the default install location as well:

EHLAPI32.dll - is the Standard HLL API interface

pcshll32 - is the Enhanced HLL API interface

We’ll proceed with the first, Standard HLL API, so we add a Terminal Session Activity in a Workflow in UiPath Studio and configure it as follows:

6. Now that it works

You may want to automate the part that starts IBM i Access Client Solutions correctly, in the workflow, before attaching it with the Terminals Session Activity.

See the full command line with arguments in Section 4. Starting IBM i Access Client Solution with the EHLL API bridge

Further details

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Hi @cornel Can using IBMEHLLAPI we can connect to an already opened Mainframe and work on that instead of UiPath Terminal Wizard. Also “ESCAPE” button click is not working on UiPath Terminal Wizard