Introduction to Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows

Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows is a separately-installable component of Visual COBOL that has been designed to be used in environments where you want to work with your COBOL projects but you don't want the overheads associated with the Visual Studio IDE. Examples of such environments are Docker containers and continuous integration (CI) or continuous delivery (CD) systems.

When using Visual COBOL in a traditional development environment you would access most, if not all, of its functionality through the IDE.

When working with COBOL projects in a containerized environment or a CI system you will want to carry out your tasks by running commands from scripts, batch files or Dockerfiles rather than from the IDE. You still need to be able to build, run, and debug your COBOL projects, but you want to do these things using commands rather than an IDE.

Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows includes all of the functionality that is available in Visual COBOL for building and running COBOL projects but it does not include an IDE, giving the following advantages when you use Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows rather than Visual COBOL:

Note: As its name indicates, Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows is only for use on Windows. If you need to work with COBOL projects in a containerized or CI environment on UNIX or Linux you need to use Visual COBOL Development Hub rather than Visual COBOL Build Tools for Windows.