In a previous article (What is an IMS Database), I discussed about IMS databases. IMS is more than a database system. It also manages online transactions. If you need to know what an online transaction is, please read my previous article ( Types of Processing on the Mainframe: Batch and Online)
Message Format Services (MFS)
While modern systems are just discovering that it is better to separate the data from the presentation layer, this concept has been implemented decades ago in IMS. In IMS, the presentation component allows a developer to define how data is to be presented on the terminal.
This component is called a Message Format Service (MFS). Since mainframe terminals are limited to text, MFS allows a developer to put labels and data on specific locations in the terminal.
