Tutorials: Interface Mapping Toolkit

Assumptions

These tutorials are written from the perspective that all of the following is true. If you require specific instructions for any of these items, see the Before you begin a tutorial section that follows:

• You have installed the latest version of Visual COBOL for Eclipse on your local machine using default installation settings.
• The Enterprise Server feature is enabled for Visual COBOL.
• The COBOL environment is set up using the cobsetenv command.
  Note: You must do this step before activating ESCWA.
• The Micro Focus Directory Server service is started on your local machine.
• The Enterprise Server Common Web Administration (ESCWA) feature is activated on your local machine before starting Visual COBOL.
• Visual COBOL is started on your local machine, and the COBOL perspective and COBOL Explorer view are open..
• Eclipse options are set to build projects automatically.
• You have customized the COBOL Explorer to show files with no name prefix, and empty folders.
• You have addressed all of the items in the Before you begin a tutorial section below.

Before you begin a tutorial

Enterprise Server Security

In this release, the Enterprise Server security features are enabled by default. Tutorials that use enterprise server regions, however, assume that Enterprise Server security is not configured. To work though this tutorial unchanged, you need to disable any configured Enterprise Server security. See To Disable the Default Enterprise Server Security Configuration for details.

Important: Micro Focus does not recommend disabling the security permanently. Re-enable it as soon as possible after completing tutorials. See To Recreate the Default Enterprise Server Security Configuration. For more information, see also After Installing > Enterprise Server Security Considerations.

Set up the COBOL environment

The cobsetenv command sets up your COBOL environment in Eclipse, and sets the $COBDIR environment variable to point to your Visual COBOL installation directory.

1. At a terminal command prompt, log in as a root user.
2. Execute the following command:

   . /opt/microfocus/VisualCOBOL/bin/cobsetenv

Start the Micro Focus Directory Server service

1. At a terminal command prompt, log in as a root user.
2. Change to the following directory:

   $COBDIR/bin

3. Execute the mfds command:

   mfds

Start Visual COBOL

Start Visual COBOL using the default workspace, which is $home/workspace. If you need instructions to get Visual COBOL started on your local machine, see To start Visual COBOL.

Note: If Visual Studio prompts you on startup to select an initial action, click Continue without code.

Open the COBOL Perspective and COBOL Explorer View in Eclipse

When you start Visual COBOL for the first time, the COBOL perspective starts automatically by default, and shows the COBOL Explorer view. If this is not the case, open the COBOL perspective as follows:

1. From the Eclipse IDE, click Open Perspective .
2. On the Open Perspective dialog box, select COBOL, and then click Open.

Set Eclipse to build automatically

By default, the Eclipse Build Automatically option is turned on, which means that Eclipse builds a project automatically each time a change is made. To ensure that this Build Automatically is turned on:

1. From the Eclipse Main Menu, click Project.
2. Do one of the following:
   • If the Build Automatically menu option has a check mark to its left, it is already turned on. No further action is required.
   • If the Build Automatically menu option does not have a check mark to its left, click the option to turn it on.

Set Interface Mapper preferences

Before you begin the tutorials, you need to set the properties for the Interface Mapper to show both the Reusable Fields and COBOL Assignments panes. You use one or both of these panes while working through the tutorials.

1. From the Main Menu in Eclipse, click Window > Preferences.
2. Expand Micro Focus > Service Interfaces; then click Interface Mapper.
3. Check both Show Reusable Fields pane and Show COBOL Assignments pane; then click Apply and Close.
   Note: If a Preference Synchronization dialog box appears, click No - Preferences will be saved locally.; then click OK.

Sequence

You may do these IMTK tutorials in any order. They are not interdependent.