Overview
This tutorial uses the COBOL Snake game from the Samples to show how to build a native COBOL application on a local machine,
copy the application files to a remote machine and debug the application from the local machine.
The process of building the application through to debugging it remotely is as follows:
- Build the native COBOL sample on your local Windows machine.
- Copy the application and the symbols file to a remote Windows machine.
- On the remote machine, start a
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process at a specified port.
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- Configure the Firewall to allow the Micro Focus Debugger Proxy V2.
- In your Visual Studio project, specify properties for remote debugging and configure the symbols paths.
- Debug the remote application on the local machine
Prerequisites
To complete this tutorial, you need two machines with the following software installed:
- On the local machine - Windows OS and
Visual COBOL.
- On the remote machine - Windows OS and either
Visual COBOL or
COBOL Server.
Note: See
Product Information for details about the system and software requirements for
Visual COBOL and
COBOL Server.
Build the Source Code on the Local Machine
Build the COBOL Snake sample on the local machine as follows:
- Start the Visual COBOL Samples Browser. If you need instructions, see
To start the Samples Browser.
- Click
Games in the list in the left-side pane.
- Select
COBOL Snake and click
Open Sample in Visual Studio.
- In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and select
Properties.
- Click the
COBOL tab.
- Ensure
Configuration is set to
Active (Debug).
- Click
Build > Build Solution.
Copy the Application to the Remote Machine
From your local machine copy the contents of the
debug subfolder in your project directory and any data files used by the application to the remote machine as follows
- In Solution Explorer, right-click the project and choose
Open Folder in Windows Explorer.
- Navigate to the
\bin\x86\debug subfolder in the project directory.
- Copy
COBOLSnake.exe and
COBOLSnake.idy.
- On the remote machine, create a folder for storing the demonstration files such as
c:\tutorials\remotedebug.
- Copy the files to the new folder on the remote machine.
Note: Make sure you synchronize any changes you make to the application locally with the remote machine by uploading an up-to-date
version of the
.exe and the
.idy files.
Open a Port for Remote Connection
To do this, you need to start a
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process at a specified port as follows:
- On the remote machine, start a COBOL command environment by clicking
Start > All Programs > Micro Focus Visual COBOL> Tools >
Product Name Command Prompt (32-bit) or
Start > All Programs > Micro Focus COBOL Server 2019 > Tools >
Product Name Command Prompt (32-bit).
- Start the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process by typing one of the following commands at the prompt:
32-bit:
cobdebugremote port=nnnn repeat
64-bit:
cobdebugremote64 port=nnnn repeat
where
nnnn is the port number on which the daemon will listen for connection requests. It is recommended that you use a port number
greater than 1024 as numbers below this one are for system use. For example, you can use a port number such as 56789.
The console displays a message that the remote machine waits for a connection at the specified port.
Note:
- Note that
cobdebugremote uses the
repeat option. This keeps the
cobdebugremote process running and listening for another connection after you have stopped debugging. If you do not specify this option,
the process exits after the debug session has completed.
- You can start the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process without specifying a port number by entering only
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 at the command line. This opens a random port for remote connections. Check the console to see which number has been assigned
for the connection.
- Normally, after the debug session has been completed,
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 stops and closes the remote connection. The process would have to be started again to allow a new debug session. The
repeat option helps avoid doing this manually and when the debug session has been completed, the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process starts listening for another connection.
Configure the Firewall on the Remote Machine
- Ensure the Firewall on the remote machine allows the Micro Focus Debugger Proxy V2.
- Alternatively, you can open a TCP port in the Firewall for communications. The port number you add should be the one you specified
on the command line.
Prepare for Remote Debugging on the Local Machine
- Specify properties for remote debugging:
- In Solution Explorer, right-click the
Properties folder of the project and click
Open.
- Click the
Debug tag.
- Set
Launch to
Executable.
- In the
Executable field, enter the path to the application executable on the remote machine and the filename:
c:\tutorials\remotedebug\cobolsnake.exe.
- On the same page, check
Use remote machine.
- Type the name or the IP address of the remote machine in the adjacent field.
- Specify the port number in the respective field.
- Click
File > Save All.
- Configure the Symbols Paths:
- Click
Debug > Options.
- In the left-hand pane, click
Debugging > Symbols.
- Click
New Location
and enter the path to the symbols (.idy) file on the remote machine:
c:\tutorials\remotedebug.
Note: If your program includes more than one COBOL programs (and
.idy files respectively), you need to configure the Symbols Paths for each
.idy file on the remote machine.
- Click
OK.
Debug the Application
- On your local machine, click
Debug > Start Debugging or
Debug > Step Into.
Visual Studio on your local machine enters a debug session. On the remote machine, the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process displays a message in the console that a connection with your local machine has been established. The application
on the remote machine starts running.
- On your local machine, click
Debug > Windows > Modules in the IDE.
The
Modules window displays the
.dll and
.exe files that are used by the application. This can help you see whether the symbols are loaded for debugging or if the program
is using the files you expect.
- Debug the application in the usual way.
Stop Debugging
- On your local machine, click
Debug > Stop Debugging in the IDE.
- On the remote machine, if you wish to close the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process and the port, type
Q in the cobdebugremote console.
Before you can debug again, you need to restart the
cobdebugremote or
cobdebugremote64 process on the remote machine.