As well as an HP-UX Unix version of its Magna X server application generator and support for the Informix database, New York City transaction processing development house Magna Software Corp is promising to put its lesser-known clientware into the public domain this week. It has an Open Client Interface application programming interface which it says will benefit any organisation building applications for the Tuxedo transaction processing monitor. The interface will sit between the client development tool and the low-level Tuxedo libraries. The application programming interface enables developers using PowerBuilder, Visual Basic or SQL Windows to build applications without requiring intimate knowledge of Tuxedo or its C constructs, simply the name of the services required and where messages are to be sent. The interface invokes Tuxedo services, whether generated by Magna X or not. The company hopes that the application programming interface will gain Magna some name recognition and generate business for its Cobol-based Tuxedo applications generator. The company’s promised Encina version of Magna X will be a little later than anticipated, due, according to Magna, to the development being Encina’s first Cobol tryout. Magna has a first cut of a working Encina service and promises the implementation late next quarter. It is also working on support for Sybase and Solaris, both also due next quarter. Other database and Distributed Computing Environment relationships are tied up in legal departments, says the company.
