Using Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows

Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows enables you to perform all of the compiling, linking, building, and running operations that you can perform from a command prompt in Visual COBOL.

Because Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows does not use the Visual Studio IDE you cannot use Visual Studio to debug a COBOL application with Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows in the way that you would with Visual COBOL. Instead, Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows's lack of an IDE makes it perfectly suited for use in Docker containers, a CI/CD environment, or any other automated build and test system.

To debug a COBOL application in Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows you use the remote development functionality offered in Visual COBOL to attach to and debug the application that is running in Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows.

The following sections summarize the different commands you use in Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows to carry out these operations, and provide links to other parts of this documentation where you can find detailed information on the commands available in Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows.