Overview

You can use COBOL and Java together, by coding the calls using the supplied support libraries. Java itself provides access to other technologies, such as Remote Method Invocation (RMI) and Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI) which enable you to distribute objects across different machines.

You can use COBOL and Java together by:

• Calling procedural COBOL from Java, using the support provided in the com.microfocus.cobol.RuntimeSystem class. This class is extended to provide the CobolBean class. This RuntimeSystem class support also enables you to call Java from procedural COBOL, through the Java Native Interface (JNI). This is ideal for use with Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE).
• Calling Java from OO COBOL, using the Java object domain for OO COBOL. This is ideal for use with Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE).
• Calling OO COBOL from Java, creating a Java wrapper class that provides a function for each method in the OO COBOL class. This is ideal for use with Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE).

You use Server Enterprise Edition for running the other types of applications that use both COBOL and Java programs.

The Java language defines its own data types, which are different to the ones used in COBOL. The COBOL run-time system automatically converts between COBOL and Java types whenever you call Java from COBOL or COBOL from Java. Where a COBOL data type cannot be translated directly (for example, edited fields), it is under some circumstances translated to a string.