To create COBOL applications in Visual Studio

These are the basic steps for creating COBOL applications in Visual Studio:

1. Create a COBOL project:
   1. Click File > New > Project.
   2. Expand COBOLor PL/I in the Installed Templates pane.
   3. Click a category in the Installed Templates - for example, Native, Managed, or Web.
   4. Click one of the available project templates.
   5. Specify a name, location, and solution name, and click OK.
2. Either create new files for your project, or import existing ones:
   1. Right-click the project in Solution Explorer and click Add > New Item or Add > Existing Item.

      You can choose Add Existing COBOL Items if you'd like to IDE to scan your COBOL source files and determine and set Compiler directives on them.

3. Configure the project's settings:
   1. Click Project > MyProject Properties.
   2. Click the tab on the left-hand side to set build and debug Compiler directives and specify the output file type and location.
4. Optionally, configure any file settings - right-click a file in Solution Explorer and click Properties.
5. Build your project or the entire solution - click Build > Solution or Build > Build MyProject.
6. If your application needs an enterprise server to run, create a server instance and associate the project with it:
   1. In Server Explorer, expand Micro Focus Servers, and then expand localhost.
   2. Right-click the enterprise server you are going to use with your application, and click Associate with project > MyProject.
7. Debug the project - click Debug > Start Debugging.