Automation Programming Overview

In addition to our DDE, scripting, and HLLAPI interfaces, the QWS3270 Secure emulator also exposes functionality through the use of COM libraries.  This makes it possible for an application program to manipulate objects in the QWS3270 emulator.

Starting with version 4.5, we have introduced a second COM DLL, developed in C# for enhanced .NET compatibility.  If you are planning to create an application to interact with QWS3270 programmatically, the choice of which interface to use will probably depend on the extent of the tasks to be performed, and your programming language preference.  For newer applications, especially using managed code, we recommend using the new .NET DLL, which will also work with unmanaged code and scripting languages due to the provided type library.  For backward compatibility, the older QWS3270 Automation DLL can still be used, though it provides slightly less functionality.