Creating Projects from Single Files

The recommended way to work with Visual COBOL is to include all source files in a project because this enables full support for the IDE editing, compiling and debugging features. There is limited support in the IDE for single files, such that are not part of a project and Visual COBOL provides a path to create projects for these files in order to enable full editor, build and debug functionality.

To create a project from a single COBOL file:

1. Open the file in the IDE using File > Open > File command or by double-clicking the file in Windows Explorer.
2. Right-click in the editor and click Create COBOL Project.

   This starts the Create COBOL project wizard.

   Alternatively, if the single file is visible in Solution Explorer (Show Miscellaneous files in Solution Explorer must be enabled in Tools > Options > Environment > Documents page), you can also right-click the file in Solution Explorer, and click Create COBOL Project.

3. Specify a name and output type for your project, and whether to create a project that compiles to .NET managed COBOL.
4. Click OK.

   This creates a new project that contains your file. The new projects has the properties specified in Tools > Options > Micro Focus > Directives > Single File Compile.

5. To add any other files to your project, right-click the project in Solution Explorer and use the Add > Existing Item command.