Features Added in Enterprise Developer 2.2 Update 2

This release provides enhancements in the following areas:

Eclipse

Enterprise Developer provides the following new functionality and improvements:

  • Support for Eclipse 4.2 and 4.3 - Enterprise Developer ships with Eclipse 3.8 but also supports Eclipse 4.2 and 4.3 (the 32-bit IDE only). To use Enterprise Developer with a newer version of Eclipse, you need to install Enterprise Developer first and then use the installeclipseplugins.bat script in %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Micro Focus\Enterprise Developer\installer (UNIX). See Installing into other instances of Eclipse for more details.
  • Remote JVM COBOL projects - this release provides enhanced support for remote JVM COBOL projects.
  • Remote project connections - the diagnosis tool for remote connection issues has been improved. There is now a client-side diagnosis tool and a server-side diagnosis tool for diagnosing connection problems to remote projects and connections to your Micro Focus Enterprise Developer UNIX Components. You should run both tools for a complete diagnosis.

Character Set Enhancements

The following character sets, available using the MFCODESET environment variable, have been enhanced or added in this release:

  • Thai Extended (0066) - new
  • Korean (0082)
  • Simplified Chinese (0086)
  • Traditional Chinese (0886)

There are also a number of double-byte character sets that are now capable of mixed single-byte and double-byte character conversion; see the definition of MFCODESET in Environment Variables in Alphabetical Order for more information.

Code Analysis

This release of Enterprise Developer provides Dead Code analysis for COBOL programs that enables you to find unreferenced items or any piece of code that can't be reached .

AppMaster Builder

The AppMaster Builder Database View and maintenance support (known as Data Views) is now provided within the Eclipse framework for Enterprise Developer, rather than relying on invoking the AMB database view interface that was part of Mainframe Express Enterprise Edition. You must install the AMB Eclipse plug-in to be able to use this feature.

Data Views enable you to create and maintain database views, as well as add and compile PSB and DBD sources in a COBOL project, all while working within the Eclipse framework.

Database Access

The following new features are available in database access support:

COBSQL
In Eclipse, the new KEEPCOMP directive resolves COMP/COMP-5 issues with Oracle applications on little-endian platforms.
HCO for DB2 LUW
This release introduces GEN-HV-FROM-GROUP - a new DB2 ECM compiler directive option, that generates host variables for all elementary data items when a multiple-level group variable is used in a FETCH or singleton SELECT DB2 statement.
HCO for SQL Server (HCOSS)
This release provides the following new HCOSS features:
  • DATE/TIME formatting - the OpenESQL Configuration Utility now supports DATE/TIME formatting for HCOSS batch utilities.
  • Multi-row INSERT - supports a multi-row INSERT statement.
OpenESQL
This version provides the following new OpenESQL features:
  • Support for SQL Server 2014.
  • New SQL Compiler directive options:
    • DETECTDATE=SERVER - resolves host variables alignment with column data types in an SQL table.
    • GEN-HV-FROM-GROUP - generates host variables for all elementary data items when a multiple-level group variable is used in a FETCH or singleton SELECT SQL statement.
  • Sample applications - the following native COBOL SQL sample applications are new with this version:
    • Get Diagnostics - demonstrates how to use GET DIAGNOSTICS EXEC SQL calls to get diagnostic information from various DBMSs.
    • LOB Data Types - Demonstrates how to INSERT and SELECT LOB data in a native application using various DBMSs.
SQL Option for DB2
Support for the following has been added in this version:
  • DSNUTILB LOAD LOG=NO option
  • RID scalar function
  • XML data type via XDB Link to mainframe DB2
XA switch modules
The following XA switch module updates are available in this version:
  • Oracle switch module - Windows and UNIX platforms :
    • Supports User Impersonation when statically registered.
    • Enables you to specify which XA resource definitions use User Impersonation.
    • Now compiled with one source file, rather than two.
  • SQL Server switch module - Windows platforms only:
    • Enables you to specify which XA resource definitions use User Impersonation.
    • Now compiled with one source file, rather than two.

Enterprise COBOL 5.1 compatibility

There have been a number of enhancements to make this version of Enterprise Developer more compatible with Enterprise COBOL 5.1.

Note: These enhancements are available under both DIALECT(MF) and DIALECT(ENTCOBOL).
  • The following phrases have been added to the XML GENERATE statement:
    • NAME
    • SUPPRESS
    • TYPE
  • The following intrinsic functions have been added:
    • ULENGTH
    • UPOS
    • USUBSTR
    • USUPPLEMENTARY
    • UVALID
    • UWIDTH
  • A number of reserved and context-sensitive reserved words have been added; see the topics Reserved Words Table and Context-sensitive Words Table for complete lists.

External Call Interface (ECI)

Enhancements to the ECI include:

  • The ECI for Java clients is no longer restricted to the 32K Commarea. You can now transfer virtually unlimited containers of any size in a channel to a CICS server program. See ECI Java Interface for more information.
  • Java support for IBM's implementation of ECI, which, in turn, uses the Micro Focus implementation.
  • A ECI RA for WebSphere; however, in this release, no IMTK tooling is provided for servlets or JSP.

External Security Facility (ESF)

The Enterprise Server External Security Facility (ESF) now supports caching the results of some security queries. This can improve the performance of enterprise server instances and of the MFDS when they are configured to use external security.

To enable caching, you need to set non-zero values for the Cache limit (maximum size of the cache) and Cache TTL (Time To Live, or how long before a cached result expires) settings on the MFDS Security tab, the Default ES Security tab, or on the Security tab for an individual enterprise server. (Currently, the cache settings for Security Managers have no effect; you need to set cache parameters on one of the three Security pages mentioned earlier.)

For more information, see http://supportline.microfocus.com/examplesandutilities/doxygen/caching.html.

IMS Connect

This release now supports Java IMS Connect messages except when also using the IBM-supplied HWSJAVA0 I/O exit, excluding customizations to that exit.

PL/I General Enhancements

Enhancements are provided in the following areas:

  • Attributes - the PL/I DECLARE statement now supports the OPTIONAL attribute as part of the parameter-descriptor list or as an attribute in a parameter declaration. This provides an improved functionality and a greater language compatibility for customers looking to migrate applications from z/OS environments.
  • Built-in functions - the PL/I Compiler and run-time system now support the PRESENT and OMITTED built-in functions which provides an improved functionality and a greater language compatibility if you are looking to migrate applications from z/OS environments.
  • CodeWatch - this release includes the following enhancements:
    • CodeWatch is now supported in native 64-bit environments which ensures that the CodeWatch debugger runs properly in native 64-bit mode. This enables the PL/I debugger to take advantage of faster speeds and to debug larger programs which have access to larger amounts of storage.
    • Notifications for the CodeWatch conditions - you can use the command line and the UI to turn notifications on or off for all of the currently documented PL/I conditions. The use of notifications enables you to investigate the state of programs and optionally set breakpoints before continuing program execution.
  • Compound operators - the PL/I macro preprocessor now supports the compound operators += , -=, *=, and /= within macro assignment statements.
  • Error handling - you can now use the EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND check which provides a consistent error handling technique for PL/I programs running under CICS that is consistent with error handling on the mainframe. EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND determines error handling for programs running under CICS. Conditions detected by CICS cause an abend if established using EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND, and PL/I ON units do not get control. If EXEC CICS HANDLE ABEND is not established, CICS defines that the action taken will be as defined by CICS, which normally leads to a transaction abend.
  • PL/I data structures - this release provides enhanced support for PL/I data structures in the Data File Tools. You can now easily generate a PL/I structure map (.str) from within the IDE, and the Data File Tools can then use to generate a formatted layout for a PL/I data file. This enables you to see what is in each field within a PL/I Data File Record, and to modify the records in a logical way without having to know the offset, length and raw format of the data item.

PL/I Editor Enhancements

This release provides a new and improved PL/I editor within Eclipse. Features include:

  • Configurable background syntax parsing.
  • Syntax error reporting - uses red squiggles to denote errors in the code.
  • Configuration settings for the editor - you can hide or show the horizontal ruler, turn on or off visible lines for the margins (at columns 2 and 72 for Mainframe Subsystem projects, and only at column 72 for native projects), and configure the syntax coloring and the smart edit mode.
  • Smart edit mode - defines the word wrapping behavior when breaking lines or around margins, moving the cursor using the Home and End keys.
  • Folding - support for collapsing and expanding regions for procedures and blocks within procedures.
  • Content Assist - provides assistance with inserting PL/I keywords, variables and syntax templates.
  • Syntax templates for the most commonly used PL/I statements.
  • Block selection - use the button from the toolbar to toggle the mode.
  • Breadcrumbs navigation - enables you to quickly navigate between source programs and the dependent include files.
  • Outline view - shows a structure of the procedure and structure declarations within a program. Clicking on an item in the Outline view positions the cursor on that item in the code and vice versa.
  • Include Dependency View - shows where in the source file's structure the INCLUDE statements appear, and which include files they reference.
  • Opening include files directly from the editor using F3.
  • Task creation - inserting a TODO or a FIXME in a comment in the code automatically creates a task that appears in the Task view.

Rumba 9.2

This release of Enterprise Developer includes Micro Focus Rumba 9.2 which you can optionally install as part of the setup process. The license for Enterprise Developer will license all components of Rumba.

Transaction classes (Technology Preview)

Transaction classes provide a mechanism to limit the number of CICS® tasks in your system. By spreading your tasks across a number of transaction classes and configuring the maximum number of tasks that can be dispatched within each transaction class, you can control resource contention between tasks and limit the number of tasks that CICS considers eligible for dispatching at task attach.

Tunables

This release includes the following new tunable:

  • reduce_java_signals - specifies the options that are passed to a JVM when mixing Java and COBOL.