Program Call Markup Language

Program Call Markup Language (PCML) is a tag language that helps you call server programs, with less Java™ code.

PCML is based upon the Extensible Markup Language (XML), a tag syntax you use to describe the input and output parameters for server programs. PCML enables you to define tags that fully describe server programs called by your Java application.

Note: If you are interested in or are already using PCML, consider using Extensible Program Call Markup Language (XPCML). XPCML enhances the functionality and usability of PCML by offering support for XML schemas. For more information about IBM^® Toolbox for Java XML components, including XPCML, see Extensible Markup Language components.

A huge benefit of PCML is that it allows you to write less code. Ordinarily, extra code is needed to connect, retrieve, and translate data between a server and IBM Toolbox for Java objects. However, by using PCML, your calls to the server with the IBM Toolbox for Java classes are automatically handled. PCML class objects are generated from the PCML tags and help minimize the amount of code you need to write in order to call server programs from your application.

Although PCML was designed to support distributed program calls to server program objects from a client Java platform, you can also use PCML to make calls to a server program from within the server environment.

Refer to the following pages for more information about using PCML:

Building iSeries program calls with PCML
To build iSeries™ program calls with PCML, you must start by creating a Java application and a PCML source file.
PCML syntax
PCML consists of the following tags, each of which has its own attribute tags.
Examples: Program Call Markup Language (PCML)
The following examples use Program Call Markup Language to call i5/OS™ APIs, and each one links to a page that shows the PCML source followed by a Java program.

Parent topic: Extensible Markup Language components