Developer: My Application Uses IMS

IMS is a hierarchical database and database management software with transaction processing. It consists of IMS DB (Database Manager), IMS TM (Transaction Manager), and a number of system services. IMS runs on z/OS and on zSeries hardware.

IMS programs can be written in Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, Enterprise PL/I for z/OS, IBM Assembler, among others. For example, your application can use:

  • IMS DB with an IMS TM - DB/TM environment
  • IMS TM with DB2 and IMS DB
  • IMS DB with CICS (transaction management)
  • JCL with IMS BMP, batch
  • DB2 (to store the data) with IMS TM

The best way to become familiar with using Enterprise Developer to develop IMS applications is to start with the IMS Support tutorial. In this tutorial, you use the Visual Studio IDE to create, configure, compile, and debug a sample IMS application.

This topic provides a brief summary of how to get up and running with an IMS application in Enterprise Developer. For a more in-depth discussion, check out Migrating Existing IMS Applications.

The following steps provide general guidance on how to create mainframe projects in Enterprise Developer for your COBOL applications that use IMS, and how to test them using the debugger. The assumption is that your COBOL or PL/I source code and IMS data is downloaded to the PC, and that you are adding these existing application sources and data to an Eclipse project.

  1. Set preferences for the COBOL editor - see the options available for COBOL and for PL/I.
  2. Create a Mainframe Subsystem Application Project:
  3. Add COBOL or PL/I source files to the project - see how for COBOL or for PL/I projects.
  4. Add PSB, DBD, and MFS source, and your IMS stage 1 definition file to the project.
  5. Configure the project's properties:

    For example, for COBOL:

    • Application page - specify what the output type should be and any environment variables
    • Dependency Paths page - specify the paths to your copybooks
    • IMS page - specify IMS output and build settings
    • COBOL page:
      • Specify the appropriate Character Set used in your source files - the default is EBCDIC
      • Specify a COBOL dialect - Enterprise COBOL for z/OS is the default

    For PL/I projects, click here.

  6. Optionally edit your source files - see some tips for COBOL and PL/I.
  7. Build your application.
  8. Load the IMS database.

At this point, you can deploy and then debug the application in Enterprise Server. See Deployer: Deploy and Debug a Mainframe Application with IMS Support for details.

Further, to get familiar with the process of developing IMS applications in Enterprise Developer, Micro Focus recommends that you check the following:

Parent topic: Where do I start: Developing Mainframe Applications in Enterprise Developer