Micro Focus Studio Enterprise Edition for Windows > Welcome > New Features > New Features in ServicePack 2 WrapPack 1 - October 2011 > Update to Visual COBOL 2010 Enterprise Option

Update to Visual COBOL 2010 Enterprise Option

Visual COBOL 2010 Enterprise Option delivers functionality for developing and maintaining managed code CICS applications, and for running these applications. It also provides scale-out solution and architecture for the cloud.

Micro Focus Visual COBOL Enterprise Option consists of:

The Enterprise Server for .NET runtime environment that you use to run managed code CICS applications.
The Enterprise Server for .NET MMC snap-in that you use to configure and administer your managed code CICS environment.
A component that allows you to use Microsoft's Visual Studio 2010 to develop and maintain managed code CICS applications.

This release provides enhancements in the following areas:

User Interface

The following features are now available:

Dynamic debugging view in the MMC UI - you can enable or disable dynamic debugging for a running region and view all active debugging sessions.
An option to rename resources in the CICS resource file editor
Context-sensitive help in the MMC UI

When migrating applications, these improvements simplify the deployment and administration of scaled-out regions. Deploying files to a central database location helps minimize the risk of file version conflicts in scaled-out regions.

Improved Mainframe Compatibility

This ensures you need to make fewer changes to the code and so reduces the risk when migrating applications.

The following application programmer APIs are now supported or have been enhanced:
- SEND TEXT has been enhanced
- POP HANDLE
- PUSH HANDLE
- SEND PAGE
- PURGE MESSAGE
- GETMAIN has been enhanced
- WRITE OPERATOR has been enhanced
The following system programmer APIs are now supported or have been enhanced:
- INQUIRE TASK LIST has been enhanced
- INQUIRE TASK
- INQUIRE TERMINAL
- INQUIRE SYSTEM

Support for Windows Azure

You can now deploy CICS systems as Windows Azure hosted services and exploit the benefits of the Windows Azure platform. The original code defining existing online business processes is reused so applications behave just as they did on the mainframe.

You use the MMC UI to administer the CICS systems from on-premise machines.