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This chapter describes how you can configure the Server Express development tools, using configuration files.
It covers the location and organization of the configuration files, but does not give details of the specific configuration options. These are described in the chapters relevant to each tool.
You can configure many of the development tools to modify their behavior or look and feel. The current configuration of a tool is held on disk so that it behaves the same whenever it is run.
The configuration information is held in two files: $COBDIR/etc/mfcobolrc and $HOME/.mfcobolrc. In both cases, the first is the global configuration file, and the second is the local configuration file. These two files contain the configuration information for many tools. To configure these tools you edit these two files, using any text editor.
Using two files enables the system to support a networked or multi-user environment. The global configuration file stores installation-wide defaults for the tools. The local configuration file for each user modifies these defaults without affecting any other user. This file must be in a directory that has write permissions.
When a tool starts, it reads its configuration information from both the global and local configuration files. The configuration details are stored in the configuration files under headings called tags. Under each tag are lines containing configuration details for each tool. A tool usually reads details from more than one tag.
See the chapter Application Configuration System in your Programmer's Guide to Writing Programs for details of the format.
The options stored in the local configuration file override those in the global one.
The global configuration file holds default configuration details and the local one holds differences from the defaults for a particular user. This enables defaults to be updated centrally and immediately affect all users, while still providing for individual preferences.
As an example, let's look at how you change the colors used by the character mode interface. This in fact affects many tools, but the principle is the same for a feature used by an individual tool.
In the global configuration file are the following tag and configuration details:
[MF-ATTRIBUTES] SYS-ATT-01 : BLACK ON BLACK SYS-ATT-02 : YELLOW ON RED SYS-ATT-03 : BROWN ON BLACK SYS-ATT-04 : YELLOW ON BLACK SYS-ATT-05 : CYAN ON BLACK SYS-ATT-06 : WHITE ON BLACK . . .
The word before -ATTRIBUTES
is called the prefix and is
the name of the tool. In this case it is MF-
because this
feature affects many tools. The tools read this to determine the colors to
use on the screen.
The tags and details used to configure a tool are described in the documentation for each tool. Look there for information on the syntax used in a tool's configuration details.
Suppose you want to change the menus to have a black background with
green text. You need to find out which SYS-ATT-
line
specifies the menu colors. Because color affects many tools, information
on configuring color is not in a chapter for a specific tool. It is in the
chapter Application
Configuration System in your Programmer's Guide to
Writing Programs.
From that chapter you find that the menu-text color is SYS-ATT-03
.
If you are a system administrator in a network or multi-user environment you change the installation-wide default colors by editing the global configuration file. Just change the entry to:
SYS-ATT-03 : GREEN ON BLACK
If you want to make the change only for an individual user you change the local configuration file, adding:
[MF-ATTRIBUTES] SYS-ATT-03 : GREEN ON BLACK
Now, after a tool reads the colors from the global configuration file,
the menu color SYS-ATT-03
will be overridden by the setting
defined in the local configuration file.
The example of color configuration above shows how you can override a single item under a tag in the global configuration file by one line from the local configuration file.
Some tools read all the lines under a tag from the local configuration
file only, or from the global configuration file only. An example of this
is the tag [EDIT-USER]
, which describes the defaults to be
used by the COBOL Editor. If this tag exists in the local configuration
file, Animator reads the menu information from that file only, and ignores
any entries under [EDIT-USER]
in the global configuration
file.
The global configuration file is called mfcobolrc. When you install the COBOL system this file is put in the directory pointed to by the environment variable COBDIR. The local configuration file is called .mfcobolrc and the COBOL system always looks for it in your home directory. The COBOL system does not create this file. To change any local configuration details, create the file $HOME/.mfcobolrc containing the details you want.
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