cics-java-liberty-springboot-transactions

Overview

This sample project demonstrates how a Spring Boot application deployed to a Liberty JVM server can use different techniques to integrate with CICS transactions. The application uses a web browser front end and makes use of the Java™ Transaction API (JTA). The three techniques demonstrated are: Java EE User Transaction, Spring's @Transactional annotation, and the Spring Transaction Template.

Key Features

• JTA Integration: Demonstrates Java Transaction API usage in CICS
• Multiple Transaction Techniques: Shows three different approaches to transaction management
• Spring Boot Integration: Uses Spring's @Transactional annotation and Transaction Template
• Java EE User Transaction: Demonstrates programmatic transaction control
• Recoverable TSQ Operations: Shows transaction commit and rollback with CICS temporary storage queues

Table of Contents

• Overview
• Key Features
• Prerequisites
• Reference
• Downloading
• Building the Sample
• Deploying to a CICS Liberty JVM server
• Running the Sample
• License
• Additional Resources
• Contributing

Prerequisites

• CICS TS V6.1 or later
• A configured Liberty JVM server in CICS
• Requires Java 17 or later. on the workstation
• An Eclipse development environment on the workstation (optional)
• Either Gradle or Apache Maven on the workstation (optional if using Wrappers)
• A CICS TSMODEL resource with the attribute Recovery(ON) for the TSQ called EXAMPLE.

Reference

More information about the development of this sample can be found in the blog Spring Boot Java applications for CICS, Part 3: Transactions

Downloading

• Clone the repository using your IDEs support, such as the Eclipse Git plugin
• or, download the sample as a ZIP and unzip onto the workstation

Tip: Eclipse Git provides an 'Import existing Projects' check-box when cloning a repository.

Check dependencies

Before building this sample, you should verify that the correct CICS TS bill of materials (BOM) is specified for your target release of CICS. The BOM specifies a consistent set of artifacts, and adds information about their scope. In the example below the version specified is compatible with CICS TS V6.1 with JCICS APAR PH63856, or newer. That is, the Java byte codes built by compiling against this version of JCICS will be compatible with later CICS TS versions and subsequent JCICS APARs. You can browse the published versions of the CICS BOM at Maven Central.

Gradle (build.gradle):

compileOnly enforcedPlatform("com.ibm.cics:com.ibm.cics.ts.bom:6.1-20250812133513-PH63856")

Maven (POM.xml):

<dependencyManagement>
    <dependencies>
      <dependency>
        <groupId>com.ibm.cics</groupId>
        <artifactId>com.ibm.cics.ts.bom</artifactId>
        <version>6.1-20250812133513-PH63856</version>
        <type>pom</type>
        <scope>import</scope>
      </dependency>
    </dependencies>
  </dependencyManagement>

Building the Sample

You can build the sample using an IDE of your choice, or you can build it from the command line. For both approaches, using the supplied Gradle or Maven wrapper is the recommended way to get a consistent version of build tooling.

On the command line, you simply swap the Gradle or Maven command for the wrapper equivalent, gradlew or mvnw respectively.

For an IDE, taking Eclipse as an example, the plug-ins for Gradle buildship and Maven m2e will integrate with the "Run As..." capability, allowing you to specify whether you want to build the project with a Wrapper, or a specific version of your chosen build tool.

The required build-tasks are typically clean build for Gradle and clean verify for Maven. Once run, Gradle will generate a WAR file in the build/libs directory, while Maven will generate it in the target directory.

Note: When building a WAR file for deployment to Liberty it is good practice to exclude Tomcat from the final runtime artifact. We demonstrate this in the pom.xml with the provided scope, and in build.gradle with the providedRuntime() dependency.

Note: If you import the project to your IDE, you might experience local project compile errors. To resolve these errors you should run a tooling refresh on that project. For example, in Eclipse: right-click on "Project", select "Gradle -> Refresh Gradle Project", or right-click on "Project", select "Maven -> Update Project...".

Tip: In Eclipse, Gradle (buildship) is able to fully refresh and resolve the local classpath even if the project was previously updated by Maven. However, Maven (m2e) does not currently reciprocate that capability. If you previously refreshed the project with Gradle, you'll need to manually remove the 'Project Dependencies' entry on the Java build-path of your Project Properties to avoid duplication errors when performing a Maven Project Update.

Gradle Wrapper (command line)

Run the following in a local command prompt:

On Linux or Mac:

./gradlew clean build

On Windows:

gradlew.bat clean build

This creates a WAR file inside the build/libs directory.

Maven Wrapper (command line)

Run the following in a local command prompt:

On Linux or Mac:

./mvnw clean verify

On Windows:

mvnw.cmd clean verify

This creates a WAR file inside the target directory.

Deploying to a CICS Liberty JVM server

Prerequisites

Ensure you have the following features defined in your Liberty server.xml:

• <feature>pages-3.1</feature> (which itself contains servlet)
• <feature>cicsts:security-1.0</feature> if CICS security is enabled

---

Method 1: CICS Explorer SDK Deployment

1. Copy the built WAR from your build/libs or target directory into an Eclipse CICS Bundle Project
2. Create a new WAR bundlepart that references the WAR file
3. Deploy the CICS Bundle Project from CICS Explorer using the Export Bundle Project to z/OS UNIX File System wizard

---

Method 2: Direct Liberty Application Deployment

1. Manually upload the WAR file to zFS
2. Add an <application> element to the Liberty server.xml to define the web application with access to all authenticated users:

<application id="cics-java-liberty-springboot-transactions-0.1.0"
    location="${server.config.dir}/springapps/cics-java-liberty-springboot-transactions-0.1.0.war"
    name="cics-java-liberty-springboot-transactions-0.1.0" type="war">
    <application-bnd>
        <security-role name="cicsAllAuthenticated">
            <special-subject type="ALL_AUTHENTICATED_USERS"/>
        </security-role>
    </application-bnd>
</application>

---

Running the Sample

1. With the application installed, the root URL for the sample application can be found in messages.log e.g. http://myzos.mycompany.com:32000/cics-java-liberty-springboot-transactions-0.1.0/.

2. Visit the URL from the browser to review the 'Usage' guide. Note: The trailing "/" is required to display the Usage Guide.

3. To demonstrate the @Transactional container managed transaction, drive the /transactionalCommit end-point. You should see hello CICS from transactionalCommit() at the browser and a corresponding entry in the TSQ 'EXAMPLE'. You can browse the contents of the TSQ using the CEBR transaction in CICS.

4. Now try the same TSQ write operation /transactionalRollback. This time the application is designed to write to the TSQ then throw an exception causing Spring Boot to rollback the transaction. If you have not installed a TSMODEL resource to make the EXAMPLE TSQ recoverable, you will see a second entry in the TSQ! If you have already made the TSQ recoverable then there should be no such entry due to rollback of the CICS UOW.

5. Next, try the Spring Transaction Template and Java EE User Transaction demos at /STcommit and /JEEcommit respectively. Along with their rollback counterparts /STrollback and /JEErollback.

6. For confirmation of the behaviour, you can run the sample before your TSQ is designated as recoverable (through a TSMODEL) and again afterwards. Observe how the entries to the TSQ are either committed, or written - then rolled back.

License

This project is licensed under Eclipse Public License - v 2.0.

Additional Resources

• CICS TS for z/OS Documentation
• Spring Boot Java applications for CICS, Part 3: Transactions
• IBM Java Transaction API (JTA)
• Spring Transaction Management

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please read our contributing guidelines for details on our code of conduct and the process for submitting pull requests.