Compile and Link the Programs

The files for this demonstration are supplied with the product samples and two projects are installed by default in the %PUBLIC%\Documents\Micro Focus\Enterprise Developer\Samples\PLI-VS\CICSDemo folder.

You need to build the Visual Studio solution for this demo in order to create the executables and the debug information needed for this demo:

  1. In Visual Studio, click File > Open > Project/Solution.
  2. Browse to the %PUBLIC%\Documents\Micro Focus\Enterprise Developer\Samples\PLI-VS\CICSDEMO\CICS folder, select the CICS.sln file, and click Open.

    This loads the CICS solution in Solution Explorer. The solution contains the three projects - CICS, CICS-Includes and Subroutines.

    Important: The supplied projects are configured to compile for 64-bit. For the purposes of this tutorial, we are going to change the projects to compile for 32-bit.

    If you want to compile the application for 64-bit, ignore any instructions about changing the platforms of the solution and the projects to x86 and do not change the output folders from what they are configured in the sample projects. Also, you must import and use the 64-bit server supplied with this demonstration as described in the previous topic, Configure an Enterprise Server.

  3. In Solution Explorer, right-click the CICS solution (not the CICS project) and click Configuration Manager.
  4. In the Configuration Manager dialog box, set the Active solution platform to x86.
  5. Also set the Platform field for the two projects to x86, then click Close.
  6. Right-click the CICS project in Solution Explorer, and click Properties.

    This opens the project's properties pages.

  7. Click the tabs in the left-hand side to view all of the configuration details:
    • On the Application tab, you can see that the project produces .dll files for each PL/I program it contains.
    • On the Dependency Paths tab, there are no folders specified for the include paths. This indicates that the project searches for PL/I include files in its root folder, the CICS subfolder in the solution directory.
    • On the PL/I tab, ensure Platform is set to x86.

      You can see that the build is set to produce the output files (check the Output Path field) in the bin\Debug\ subfolder in the project directory. The CICS and Macro preprocessors are enabled and various Compiler directives and options are set.

    • On the PL/I Link tab, you can see that the project links the executables to a subroutines.lib file which is produced by the other project in your solution.
  8. Right-click the Subroutines project in Solution Explorer, and click Properties.
    • On the Application tab, you can see that the project produces a single .lib file.
    • On the Dependency Paths tab, you can see that the project searches for PL/I include files in the CICS subfolder in the solution directory.
    • On the PL/I tab, ensure Platform is set to x86.

      You can see that the build is set to produce the output files (check the Output Path field) in the bin\Debug\ subfolder in the project directory and see which Compiler directives and options are set.

    • The PL/I Link tab shows that the project does not link to any other files.

To build the application:

  1. Click Build > Build Solution.