Mainframe Express Functionality That Works Differently in Enterprise Developer for Eclipse

Some features of Mainframe Express work differently in Enterprise Developer or are superseded by features provided by the new IDE. The following list shows some of these differences:

Feature in Mainframe Express Feature in Enterprise Developer
Analysis Option Enterprise Developer offers integrated code analysis functionality.
AppMaster Builder (AMB) and Structured COBOL (S-COBOL) source code AppMaster Builder is integrated into Enterprise Developer. The functionality is available when you install the Micro Focus AppMaster Builder AddPack. For details, see AppMaster Builder in Eclipse IDE vs. AppMaster Builder in Mainframe Express IDE.
Automatic Catalog Import Available through the MFA Drag and Drop interface as well as the option to catalog from the command line. Data connect functionality is being checked.
CICS resource definitions You can reuse any existing CICS resource definitions in Enterprise Developer after executing the caspcupg command.

Cut-down resource definitions (PCT, FCT, PPT) are not supported.

Command line utility (MFECL) The equivalent to MFECL is not available in Enterprise Developer; however, command-line options for much of the tooling are available. In addition, you can use the standard facilities of the IDE. For example, you can use Ant scripts to compile the code.
Database Access If your application running under Enterprise Server accesses a database but contains no explicit connection logic, you must define the database as an XA resource (XAR) in your enterprise server instance.
Easytrieve

Mainframe Express provided integrated support for Easytrieve through an add-on option which allowed Easytrieve applications to be edited, compiled and tested within the Mainframe Express IDE.

Easytrieve is now available. Contact Micro Focus SupportLine for details.
Editor Autofix The editor in Enterprise Developer includes an AutoCorrect feature. Other editor features that can help increase your productivity in writing code are Content Assist proposals and code templates.
Interactive AMS Not available.
IMS TM Enterprise Developer does not support the following IMS TM and communication features:
  • The IMS Message exit
  • The IMS MFS Display exit
  • The Mainframe Express IMS to CICS LU6.2 Bridge
  • IMS86ALT
MAS SDK

a collection of utilities to automatically compile downloaded source and provide reports on the outcome. These are part of Mainframe Express and Studio 6.0 (Net Express) and were developed for Windows.

Not available.
MFA Server A newer version of MFA Server is available with Enterprise Developer.
MFENTMAP, the Entry Point Mapping facility Run-time system support for MFENTMAP is available and any existing configuration files will work.
Outline View Includes an Outline view that shows the program structure. Copybook dependencies are shown in the COBOL Explorer as well as in the Copybook Dependency view.
PL/I PL/I application development is fully supported within Enterprise Developer, and PL/I applications are supported using CICS, IMS or JCL.

The PL/I language, Micro Focus Open PL/I, is fully integrated.

Regions Enterprise Developer provides support for full, multi-tasking enterprise server regions.
Source code control systems

Mainframe Express used the Microsoft Common Source Code Control (SCC) Interface to enable you to use the functions of a SCC-compliant source control manager with your IDE.

Enterprise Developer comes with an industry-standard integrated development environment that provides access to any SCC tooling with the appropriate plugin. For example:
  • Enterprise Developer provides integration with Micro Focus Enterprise Sync, a change management system for mainframe development.
  • Enterprise Developer provides integration with Endevor, a full-function change control system for the mainframe with signout controls and extensive user customization.
  • A number of plugins are available that integrate the IDE with the version control system you are using - for example, subclipse for connecting to SVN, or eGIT for connecting to git.
Template projects In Enterprise Developer, you can create templates from both projects and regions and distribute them to your developers.

Export and import commands for regions are available from Server Explorer inside the IDE.

Note: To distribute projects created with Enterprise Developer, you need to provide users with all content contained in the entire project folder in the Eclipse workspace. Users then import the project into their own Eclipse workspace.
Third-party preprocessors You can embed Third-party preprocessors in Enterprise Developer in a manner similar to how this was done in Mainframe Express. See Additional Preprocessors for details.

Syntax checking is supported for ECMs and for COBSQL.

Time-Sharing Option (TSO)

Mainframe Express supported the use of TSO commands, CLISTs and REXX execs, which could be run in TSO interactive (or foreground) sessions or in TSO batch (or background) sessions, using the IDAEFT01 (IKJEFF01) utility.

Enterprise Developer supports TSO batch (IKJEFTxx).

You can emulate TSO interactive in Enterprise Developer. To do this, you need to use AWM to model an action calling a tool from the ISPF function package. This action would accept a REXX procedure or some CLIST plus parameters and execute them as a TSO batch job or online in the server.

WinRunner

A screen capture utility that was supplied with some versions of Mainframe Express.

You can now use the products from the Micro Focus Silk portfolio.
Workgrouping Workgrouping behavior can be emulated. See Emulating workgroups in Eclipse for details.
XDB tooling Fully supported as a Start option, and can also be accessed from within the IDE.
Tip: After upgrading, we suggest that you start with the Getting started with Micro Focus Enterprise Developer tutorial to help you become familiar with the new IDE. Afterwards, move on to the tutorials that provide details for using Enterprise Developer to develop mainframe applications, such as the CICS, JCL, and IMS tutorials.