Configuring the IDE for PL/I Development

You can configure various aspects of PL/I development in Visual Studio.

Transferring settings to other instances of Visual Studio

If you have configured Visual Studio with some non-default Micro Focus settings, you can use the available import and export Visual Studio mechanisms to export these settings as a file and import them info other instances of Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio installed on other machines.

With Visual Studio 2015 and later, you can avail of the automatic settings synchronization feature inside the IDE. Make sure you're logged in with your MSDN account to all instances of Visual Studio you are working with in order for any changes to the IDE settings on one machine to be automatically applied to instances of Visual Studio on other machines.

Exporting the Micro Focus settings

To export the Micro Focus-specific IDE configuration settings to a file:

  1. In Visual Studio, click Tools > Import and Export Settings.
  2. Click Export selected environment settings and then click Next.
  3. Enable the check boxes for the settings you want to export and click Next.

    The Micro Focus settings are available under the Micro Focus node and in Options > Text Editor.

  4. Specify a name and location for the settings file and click Finish.

    This creates a settings file with a .vssettings extension in the specified location.

Importing Micro Focus settings

To import any Micro Focus-specific IDE configuration settings available as a Visual Studio .vssettings file:

  1. In Visual Studio, click Tools > Import and Export Settings.
  2. Click Import selected environment settings and then click Next.
  3. Specify whether you want to save the current settings to a file and click Next.
  4. Click Browse to navigate to and select the .vssettings file that contains the settings you want to import, then click Open.
  5. Ensure the settings you want to import are selected and then click Finish.

Settings Synchronization

Enterprise Developer supports synchronization of some of the COBOL settings in the IDE. If you're logged in to Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio on multiple machines using your MSDN account, changes to some of the IDE-related settings on one machine will automatically be applied to the Visual Studio instances on the other machines. The following settings will be synchronized:

  • All of the settings under the Tools > Options > Text Editor > Micro Focus COBOL pages.
  • The settings on the Tools > Micro Focus > Directives > COBOL page.
  • The settings on the Tools > Micro Focus > Directives > PL/I page.
  • The settings on the Assembler, BMS, IMS, JCL and the PL/I tabs under Tools > Options > Text Editor.

For information about how settings synchronization works, refer to the Visual Studio help.

Parent topic: Tips and Tricks with the IDE for PL/I