Other Settings

Enable file nesting in EXPLORER view

You can configure the EXPLORER view to nest related files based on their names from the Visual Studio Code settings.json file. You need to specify the explorer.fileNesting.enabled setting, and provide patterns for the COBOL file extensions being used. For example:

    "explorer.fileNesting.enabled":true,
    "explorer.fileNesting.patterns": {
        "*.cbl": "${capture}.cpy, ${capture}.cpf, ${capture}.cpv, MFU*${capture}.cpy, Test${capture}.cpy",
        "*.CBL": "${capture}.CPY, ${capture}.CPF, ${capture}.CPV, MFU*${capture}.cpy, Test${capture}.cpy"
    }

On case-sensitive file systems, you might need to specify both upper-case and lower-case values, as in the example above, if files using both cases exist.

Custom colorization for COBOL words

Note: Advanced color customization of COBOL words in Visual Studio Code requires a licensed Enterprise Developeror Visual COBOL product version 10.0 or later.

Use the editor.semanticTokenColorCustomizations option in the settings.json file to customize the colors of COBOL semantic token types. The list of COBOL words has expanded to include select color customization for:

  • cobol-program
  • cobol-function
  • cobol-level78
  • cobol-level88
  • cobol-typedef
  • cobol-file-storage
  • cobol-local-storage
  • cobol-working-storage
  • cobol-thread-local-storage
  • cobol-linkage
  • cobol-section
  • cobol-paragraph.

Set the color of the token in the JSON file by specifying the hex number of the desired color or clicking the color selection square.