This release provides enhancements in the following areas:
Integration with the Visual Studio IDE
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This release provides the following enhancements in the integration of Micro Focus COBOL with the Visual Studio IDE:
- A new menu command
SQL Option for DB2 on the
Tools menu enables you to access all the SQL Option for DB2 utilities.
- It is now possible to specify options for compiling native resource files (.rc) by accessing the file's properties from within the IDE.
Editor improvements:
- Support for showing the margins and the ruler is now available for mainframe subsystem files: Assembler, BMS, JCL, and IMS.
- Colorization of the code in the ToolTips for collapsed regions in the COBOL editor has been added.
- The Time and Date Warp options are now available on the
Run-Time Configuration tab when editing an application configuration file for native COBOL projects.
- Go To Next Method and
Go To Previous Method editor context menu commands are now available for native Object-Oriented and for managed COBOL code.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Building applications
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It is now possible to use the 64-bit version of MSBuild to build COBOL projects.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
CICS Web services (Early Adopter Program)
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Attention: This feature is in Early Adopter Product (EAP) release status. We intend to provide the finalized feature in a future release. Please contact
Micro Focus SupportLine if you require further clarification.
The CICS Web Services feature is EAP for development and testing usage. It should not be used for production deployment in this product release.
This release provides an initial support for CICS Web services (CWS) using an SOAP-based provider and requester modes and using HTTP or MQ as the transport mechanism. CICS Web services support the Coded Character Set Identifier (CCSID) and configuring the CCSID is a prerequisite for CWS in all environments.
Restriction: Security and Web Service Atomic Transactions (WSAT) are not currently supported.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
COBOL language enhancements
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Numeric, edited and external floating point items can now specify USAGE NATIONAL when the NATIONAL"2" Compiler directive is in effect. Signed numeric items must be specified with the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Classic Data File Tools
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A new command line utility is available which enables you to initiate the following actions: open data files, create or open record layout files, create or open segment layout files, and open IMS databases using a DBD or PSB file. Note that although you can initiate these actions from the command line, you must complete them from within the IDE.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Compiler directives
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The following Compiler directives are new in this release:
- COMMAND-LINE-LINKAGE - enables you to call a program and pass the command line to the main program as a parameter to be accessed via the Linkage Section. This offers equivalent functionality to the command_line_linkage tunable, which has now been deprecated.
- EBC-COL-SEQ - controls the behavior of an EBCDIC collating sequence, specified in a NATIVE"EBCDIC" program. EBC-COL-SEQ"1" (the default) maintains use of the long-standing fixed (platform-independent) EBCDIC collating sequence. EBC-COL-SEQ"2" prompts use of the latest CODESET table, which varies according to platform and user-controlled MFCODESET environment variable setting.
- NATIONAL - enables you to specify numeric, edited and external floating point items as USAGE NATIONAL.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Database access - DSNREXX
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Note: This is a technology preview feature only. It is being made available to allow you to test and provide feedback on this new capability; however, this feature is not intended for production use and it is not supported as such.
DSNREXX support is available for use with Enterprise Server using DB2 LUW and SQL Server. See
DSNREXX Support for more information.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Debugging applications
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- You can configure the debug tooltip for subscripted OCCURS items to either display the elements of arrays or to display the value of the current expression. To do this, right-click in the editor, click
COBOL Debug Tooltip Style and either enable or disable
Show COBOL OCCURS or reference modification value.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Dialog System GUI
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Installing the version of the
Compatibility AddPack for Visual COBOL provided with this release adds a new menu item,
Micro Focus Dialog System, to the
Tools menu of Visual Studio for starting the Dialog System GUI from within the IDE.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Enterprise Server for .NET
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This release provides enhancements in the following areas:
- Dynamic configuration of running regions using a new seesys command-line utility for re-cycling AppDomains such as when new versions of programs have been deployed. seesys enables you to replace any previously loaded programs without having to restart the region, or remove any unused SEPs.
- Performance improvements - it is now possible to configure JES regions to reuse AppDomains that were previously used to run a job's steps. The default behaviour is to unload the AppDomain at the end of each job. Reusing AppDomains improves a job's throughput by eliminating assembly reloads.
- JES security support equivalent to that of the native Enterprise Server (i.e. external security managers (ESMs)). Customers can now secure their JES regions using mechanisms similar to the native enterprise server.
- JES spool housekeeping - you can now use the MVSSPLHK utility to archive JES spool output file data.
- Share catalog/spool between JES regions - A JES catalog and spool file can now be shared between JES regions.
- Improvements to the system administration capabilities using the Microsoft Management Console (MMC):
- A seemmcconfig command-line utility that enables you to configure regions.
- A number of enhancements in the spool view such as additional filters and columns, sortable columns.
- Shared catalog configuration and security configuration
- JES program aliases
- Public class library enhancements - it is now possible to interact with the region to access the spool functions and the security options.
- FTP and sFTP support for JES jobs that enables you to perform FTP functions from job steps, with or without a secure layer.
- Support for IDCAMS DEFINE CLUSTER SHAREOPTIONS - provides improved mainframe emulation of sharing VSAM files between tasks or jobs.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
File handling
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MFJSORT ICETOOL now supports the USING parameter in the SELECT operator.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
IMS support
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This release supports the PROMPT keyword in MFS source files.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Library routines
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The following library routine contains new functionality:
- CBL_GET_PROGRAM_INFO - a new function (function 10) has been added for native COBOL which returns the path and program name, or the program name only of a particular program.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
PL/I support
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This release provides the following enhancements:
- New built-in functions - support has been added for the ONCONDID() and SAMEKEY() built-in functions.
- Support for strings declared with the VARYINGZ attribute - the Open PL/I compiler and run-time system now support the use of VARYINGZ strings as variables, parameters, and targets for built-in functions. This provides an improved compatibility with IBM's mainframe compiler, and the ability to more easily interact with other languages such as ANSI C.
- Improved PL/I macro preprocessor compatibility - the Open PL/I compiler now supports all macro preprocessor built-in functions used by IBM's PL/I Macro Preprocessor.
- Improved compatibility with IBM's Structure Alignment rules - the
-zalign option of the Open PL/I compiler now maps structure elements of the BIT data type that do not consume a full byte to the same boundaries as IBM's PL/I compiler. This helps make the migration of mainframe data files to a distributed platform easier and improves the program execution compatibility.
- Improved floating point support - the Open PL/I Code Generator now utilizes the newer Intel floating point operands for improved speed. In addition, the Code Generator now provides improved compatibility with passing parameters between C and COBOL.
- PL/I editor improvements:
- The drop-down list of types and members in the Visual Studio editor now shows the PL/I types and members.
For more information see
Related Information at the end of this topic.
Tutorials
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The product help includes the following new tutorial:
- Tutorial: DSNREXX, that walks you through the process of executing DB2 LUW queries using DSNREXX.
