Unable to enter password securely in mainframe 3270

[ronlobo]

I’m using ‘UiPath Internal provider’ to automate IBM 3270 where I need to enter password securely.

I have used ‘Send Keys Secure’ to send the password, but it is always visible on the screen.

Any solution for this?

[cornel (Cornel Dumitrascu)]

Hi @ronlobo.

I would assume this is not about TSL authentication (Internal Provider does not support it) and also that you don’t end up by mistake entering password in a wrong field.

Send Keys Secure is the Same as Send Keys in behavior, the only difference is that Send Keys Secure uses Secure Strings which has to do with process memory ( see here SecureString Class (System.Security) | Microsoft Learn ).

Now, Internet Provider has limitations and I would only use it as the last resort.

I would like to learn about which Terminal Emulator you are using, if it supports EHLL I would go with that instead of Internal Provider. I would also like to make sure the mainframe you connect to is not an actual 5250 model (As400, iSeries, zSeries). I would even go with regular UI Automation if Internal Provider shows limitations.

To cut a long story short, the Internal Provider wraps around an internal emulator, and that emulator may be limited in terms of special Screen Map attributes.

So again, can you let me know which Terminal Emulator app is used normally to connect to the mainframe and maybe a screenshot as well. I could give more details about how to connect via EHLL if it’s one of the commonly known terminal apps.

[ronlobo]

Thanks Cornel for your quick reply.

Due to security reason I can’t share any snap shots. But the terminal we use is IBM Quick 3270 where we can save session with extension as “.ecf”

[cornel (Cornel Dumitrascu)]

I see.

Well, we do not have a direct provider for Quick3270.
It’s not by IBM now, is it? Is this one? http://dn-computing.com/Quick3270.htm

It seems to support EHLL, I see this under “Some Features”:

• Standard and Enhanced EHLLAPI (32-bit) programming interface.

So I would suggest that over Internal Provider.

This means you need to automate the actual application open (with the .ecf profile if needed) and use a Terminal Session to attach to the application opened that way.

If you need help with EHLL, let me know, it goes a bit like this.

You need a DLL (you should find one in the installation folder of Quick3270).
If you choose EHLAPI32.dll, uncheck “Enhanced” box.
If you choose pcshll32.dll, keep it checked.

To test, just open the terminal manually (don’t automate the application open) and use a sequence with just a Terminal Session Activity in it to try attaching to it.

[ronlobo]

Thank you Cornel once again.

After going through couple of other blogs, I found the EHL API settings (the DLL). And I’m now able to automate 3270 as expected.

Thank you so much once again.

[cornel (Cornel Dumitrascu)]

You’re welcome!