Capitalware Updates MQ Series Tools

August 20, 2013 Alex Woodie

IBM i shops that use WebSphere MQ (MQ Series) may be interested in the latest software out of Capitalware, the Markham, Ontario, company that develops utilities for the message queuing software. In July, Capitalware unveiled updates to several of its tools, including MQ Visual Edit, MQ Visual Browse, and MQ Batch Toolkit.

MQ Visual Edit and MQ Visual Browse are a pair of related tools designed to help developers and support professionals work with MQ messages. The Java-based software provides a graphical environment that allows users to open and work with the contents of MQ messages from multiple queue managers, including those running on IBM i and nearly every other major platform.

With MQ Visual Edit, users can copy, edit, update, or delete MQ message fields; paste contents of an MQ message into desktop applications; print or export MQ messages; backup or restore an MQ message; and open MQ messages in an XML tree, a Hex editor, or in EBCDIC format.

Capitalware also sells a sister tool to MQ Visual Edit called MQ Visual Browse. This tool allows users to open, copy, print, export, and backup WebSphere MQ queues and messages, but does not allow users to edit or modify the messages or queues, as MQ Visual Edit does. It also lacks the stress testing and monitoring capabilities that MQ Visual Edit users will find.

Capitalware, which was founded by MQ expert Roger Lacroix, made a few changes to the UIs with the version 1.6.3 releases of MQ Visual Edit and MQ Visual Browse. For example, users will now see the hostname and the port number in the title bar when connecting to a remote queue manager. In the “forward message” window, Capitalware added the “retry to original destination” option.

Several new options were added to the “message edit” window for both products, including an undo/redo feature, a new text wrap option, and a new option to show line numbers. Several bugs were also fixed, and the JVM was changed in the Windows version.

Capitalware also updated MQ Batch Toolkit, a utility that allows users to manipulate, monitor, and manage messages in a WebSphere MQ queue from a command-line or shell scripting environment. With version 2.0.3, the company changed JVMs, but only for the Windows version.

The new releases are available now. Licenses for MQ Visual Edit and MQ Batch Toolkit cost $99 per seat, while MQ Visual Browse costs $29. Enterprise licenses are also available. For more information, see www.capitalware.biz.