COBOL applications developed and built using previous Micro Focus products can be developed and built with Visual COBOL. However, there are some differences in behavior and in terminology.
The FaultFinder tool has been removed from the current version of Visual COBOL. This includes the removal of the following tunables:
You should either remove these tunables from your application or set the tunable cobconfig_error_report=false in your configuration file.
The main differences between the Net Express, Mainframe Express and Eclipse IDEs are:
Changes in some options and files delivered with the product include:
01 data-item pic N value "dbcs-charaters".
In Net Express, the default setting for FILEMAXSIZE was 4. With the current release of Visual COBOL, it is 8.
The following table lists some features in the Net Express IDE and gives their corresponding names and locations in the Eclipse IDE.
Net Express IDE | Eclipse IDE |
---|---|
.app file | .cobolProj file |
Add files to a project | File > Import. See To import existing files |
Break on data change | Run > Toggle Watchpoint or double-click in the left margin.
Watchpoints are set on data items and the execution of the program suspends when the data item changes. |
Breakpoints | Run > Toggle Breakpoint or double-click in the left margin.
Breakpoints in Eclipse are set in source files, not in programs (as they are in other Micro Focus products). This means that a single breakpoint may actually be set many times if the source file is used in multiple programs or used multiple times in the same program. See Breakpoints Example |
Build settings and build types | Project > Properties > Micro Focus > Build Configuration. See Project Properties and Configurations |
Build project | By default, Project > Build automatically is set. This ensures that whenever a resource changes, an incremental build starts and all resources modified since the last build are rebuilt. To build manually, click Project and uncheck Build Automatically. Then, click Project > Build or Project > Clean. |
Call stack | The Debug view shows the call hierarchy, showing where the current statement was called from or performed from, and where
previous calls and performs came from. It shows all threads. You can move the execution point, by right-clicking a thread
and choosing an option from the menu.
The Debug view is shown by default in the Debug perspective at the top left. You can show it by clicking Window > Show View > Debug. |
Compile | See Build project above. |
Compile a single file | This is not available in Eclipse. Instead, you compile the whole project. You can suppress compilation of a file, by right-clicking the file and setting Build Action > Ignore. |
Copybook paths | Project > Properties > Micro Focus > Copybook Paths. The search order here takes precedence over the COBCPY environment variable setting. To add copybook paths to this list, specify the paths as linked resources. |
Copybook expansion | COBOL Copy View expands the content of copybooks inline in the code of the main program. This view is read only view. To edit a copybook, you need to open it in the COBOL editor. |
Data item values | Hover over a data item to see its value. |
Debug | See To debug a COBOL program |
Inspect | Right-click a data item and click Inspect COBOL. |
Main program to debug | Run > Debug Configurations and then on the General tab, specify the main program file. To create a debug configuration |
Monitor a data item | Monitor changes of variables in the Variables view. The Variables view is shown by default in the Debug perspective at the top. You can show it by clicking Window > Show View > Variables. |
Project Properties | Project > Properties > Micro Focus > Build Configuration. See Project Properties and Configurations and How to |
Restart Debugging | Right-click in the Stack view of the Debug perspective and click Terminate and Relaunch |
Run-time Environment Settings | Project > Properties > Micro Focus > Run-time Environment Configuration. See Project Properties and Configurations and To build a COBOL project |
Stop Debugging | Run > Terminate. You can also click the red square at the top. See To debug a COBOL program |
Watch list |
Right-click > Inspect COBOL > Add to Expressions
The Expressions view is shown by default in the Debug perspective at the top left. You can show it by clicking Window > Show View > Expressions. |
With strict_file_locking=false, Process-B successfully opens the file.
COBOL Server now provides an execution environment capable of running applications that were each built using different development products. A consequence of this is that If your application has a main COBOL executable (.exe) that was built with a version of Visual COBOL prior to version 2.3, you should ensure that the executable is rebuilt and packaged with the new run-time system. You can rebuild from the IDE or the command line.
Other COBOL subprograms built with previous versions of Visual COBOL are not required to be rebuilt.
If the sub-program cannot be located using one of the above methods, a run-time error is produced.
For example:
set intLength to testString::Length()
must change to:
set intLength to testString::Length
Redundant variable | Replaced with |
---|---|
FILE_CASE | FILECASE configuration option |
FILE_PREFIX | COBDATA environment variable |
FILE_SUFFIX | FILESUFFIX configuration option |
APPLY_FILE_PATH | n/a |
FILE_ALIAS_PREFIX | dd_ mapping |
Setting these environment variables will have no effect.
For example, this might happen if you have Net Express or Studio Enterprise Edition installed and either COBCONFIG or COBCONFIG_ is set for it.
To work around this issue, ensure that Visual COBOL is not running and then modify the configuration file by doing one of the following:
set cobconfig_error_report=false
This happens when you edit files such as .dat that have a file association with Net Express or Studio Enterprise Edition. This can also happen when invoking a utility within the Net Express or Studio Enterprise Edition products as an external tool from Visual COBOL.
You can workaround this problem in Visual COBOL as follows:
Set COBREG_PARSED= Call [PathToUtility] %1
Where PathToUtility is the path to the Net Express or Studio Enterprise Edition utility.
This ensures that the proper environment is established when running that tool.