Text Editor Tabs Options

You specify options for the indents and for the Tab key in the COBOL text editor in the Tools > Options > Text Editor > Micro Focus COBOL, and on the Tabs page.
Indenting
None
No indentation occurs when you press Enter. In addition:
  • With Smart edit mode disabled, the cursor moves to column 1 at the beginning of the new line.
  • With Smart edit mode enabled, the cursor moves to the new line at the start of the current area. The Smart edit mode rules for indenting comments in the right-hand area apply.
Block
  • With Smart edit mode disabled, pressing Enter indents the text and positions the cursor on the new line in the same column where the preceding line starts. When you press Enter in the right-hand area, this moves the cursor to the new line in the same column where the preceding line starts - either in the A/B area or in the right-hand area.
  • With Smart edit mode enabled, pressing Enter indents the text and positions the cursor on the column matching the indent of the preceding line within the same code area. The Smart edit mode rules for indenting comments in the right-hand area apply.

With Block indenting selected, pressing Enter after an XML documentation comment (which starts with *>>comment) positions the cursor on the new line in the same column where the previous line starts, and starts the line with the tag for an XML documentation comment.

Smart
The default option.

With Smart indenting selected, the IDE attempts to determine the correct indentation for the specific area of code and code construct.

Only applies to imperative code (code in the procedure division or in a method) in the A/B area. Indenting in other areas of the program or in other COBOL areas in the editor behaves as when Block is enabled.

With Smart indenting selected, pressing Enter after an XML documentation comment (which starts with *>>comment) positions the cursor on the new line in the same column where the previous line starts, and starts the line with the tag for an XML documentation comment.

Tab
Tab and indent size
Defines the number of spaces inserted when you press Tab or Enter. When programming in COBOL, the Compiler expects the meaningful code to start from column eight. This is why it is convenient to have the tab character replaced by four spaces to reduce the risk of introducing compilation errors in the code.
Insert spaces
Replaces the tab character with the number of spaces specified in the Tab and indent size field.
Keep tabs
Inserts a tab character when you press Tab.