If you want your web application to display and accept pages (we used to call them screens) of information, you need to create an XSL file for each page that will be displayed/accepted. The XSL file is mostly standard HTML, with some special XSLT syntax for handling the COBOL data. BIS-Express will automatically generate pages, and the associated COBOL WS copy files, for you based on your specification of what data should be on the page and how it should be represented. The generated page will be fully functional, and will have default formatting, but you can tailor it further after it is created. After you have created all the pages you need in your application, you can generate the program that will process them.

If you want your web application to provide SOAP based web services, you need to create a description of the data the web service expects as input and provides as output for each method the web service provides. From this information BIS-Express will generate a COBOL WS copy file. Later, when the program itself is generated, the method descriptions will be used in multiple ways. After you have created all the methods you need in your application, you can generate the program that will process them.

With your pages and/or methods defined, you are now ready to generate your application. With the names of your pages and methods, and a little more information, BIS-Express will generate a complete, fully functional application. This will include an XML interface program, the application program, scripts to build programs and style sheets, copy files, the .srf file, and for SOAP web services the wsdl file and an html page for testing. It can even compile them automatically so the application is immediately ready to execute. After the application is generated, you can modify the application program to add your specific business logic and file handling.