New Features in Visual COBOL 7.0

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The new Micro Focus COBOL extension for Visual Studio Code is available on the Microsoft Visual Studio Marketplace. This provides edit, compile and debug support for Visual COBOL and Enterprise Developer users in Visual Studio Code.

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Support has been added for creating, building and running .NET Core projects using the dotnet command.

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Improvements have been made in the following areas:

• Modelling support for tool process logic under an action:
  • You can now model loops and conditional execution of tools under an action, making the modeling of complex tool logic under an action easier and more transparent. See Action Descriptor for more information.
• Icon support:
  • Icons can be specified to consist of several layers which, for example, enables you to model icons with decorators. The decorators can be displayed depending on conditions. See Relationship Element Has Icon, Relationship Action Has Icon, and Relationship Filter Has Icon for more information.
  • Additional icons have been added to AWM. See Icons for the AWM Function Package for more information.
  • You can now specify and use your own icons.
  • You can now specify icons for filter definitions. See Relationship Filter Has Icon for more information.
• Filter definitions view:
  • You can now export and import filter definitions to and from another workspace.
  • The filter definition view's structure has been changed to a tree design enabling you to group corresponding filters.
• "Micro Focus z/Server" connection type:
  • Now supports drag & drop of a data set from the connection to an enterprise server instance's catalog entry.
  • You can now compress a z/OS PDS data set.
• New Micro Focus DevHub connection type function package:
  • Provides a tool to send commands to a Micro Focus DevHub connection and receive the output returned by the command so that it can be processed by other tools. See Micro Focus DevHub Connection Type Function Package for more information.

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This release includes the following enhancements:

• Get Direct References command - you can use this command to see if changing a file will affect the other files in your project as well as the files in the whole application. In Eclipse, you can access this from the context menu or from the Analysis Server Explorer.

• Import points of interest - the Code Analysis view now includes a new button, (Import points of interest).

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The following Compiler directives are new in this release:

• PANVALET-INCLUDES-IN-COMMENTS - This directive controls whether ++INCLUDE statements in comments are actioned or not.
• EXECSQL-FLAG - This directive defines whether syntax reporting should emulate that of the DB2 preprocessor, the DB2 coprocessor, or to allow all syntax variations of both.
• RM-FILE-ERRORS - This directive generates run-time system errors for certain file conditions, even when a FILE STATUS clause is present; this is to emulate RM/COBOL behavior.

The following Compiler directive option has been deprecated:

• ILCLR(2) - this is as a result of deprecating support for versions 3.0 and 3.5 of the .NET Framework. Applications that have this option set will produce an E level message when compiled in this release of Visual COBOL.

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This release provides the following enhancement:

• New OpenESQL TRACELEVEL=5 option - native OpenESQL applications can now trace ODBC calls to the database vendor’s ODBC driver, recording the start and stop times of each call’s execution. OpenESQL tracing can now provide more detail on where an SQL application is spending execution time, in the OpenESQL layer or the underlying ODBC driver layer.

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This release includes the following enhancements in the Data File Editor:

• New Data Explorer for working with data sets - a new Data Explorer enables you to connect to either an ESCWA service or directly to an enterprise server region to access a catalog when working with data sets in the editor.
• Multiple record selection- you can select multiple records and, where appropriate, can perform certain actions on more than one record at once.
• Cut, copy, and paste functionality - traditional cut, copy, and paste functionality (including the standard Ctrl+X, Ctrl+C, and Ctrl+V shortcuts) is now available throughout the editor.
• New filter creation - a new process for creating filters has been introduced. A filter consists of one or more sets of conditions, and the resulting filter can include or exclude those records selected. The previous filter process is still available, but has been marked as deprecated.
• Remote filtering - functionality has gone into Fileshare Server which allows filtering to occur server side when opening data sets on remote enterprise server regions. The filter process results in only those filtered records being downloaded to the data file editor client.
• Find/replace functionality - you can search records in a data file to identify specific strings, and then if required, replace them.

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Developing applications on remote machines with Eclipse has the following enhancements:

• New remote connection type: Micro Focus DevHub SSH Only - this new connection type utilizes the built-in SSH daemon on the remote machine, and so very little configuration is needed from the Visual COBOL Development Hub point of view (that is, there is no reliance on the RDO daemon/servers). This option can also relieve the burden on using an X Server implementation when running/debugging remote projects, as the 'SSH only' connection type can direct program output to the IDE's Console view.
• New remote connection diagnoses: firewall - the client-side and server-side connection diagnosis reports now include enhanced details for potential firewall problems, for certain platforms (Red Hat 7.2 and later, CentOS 7.2 and later); see Remote connection troubleshooting. A new configuration file and utility is also available to help with configuration/troubleshooting issues; see Configuring the firewall.
• Remote source files and debug symbol files - within a debug configuration for a remote project, you can now specify source files and debug symbol files that reside on a remote host other than the one containing the remote project.

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This release includes enhancements in the following areas:

• Supported Eclipse versions - this release supports Eclipse 4.16 (2020-06), which is shipped and installed with Visual COBOL.

  Versions of Eclipse prior to this one are not supported.

• Micro Focus Search - the search has been enhanced to filter results on the build action: in the Limit To section, select Files configured for compilation to only include files in the search results that have a build action set to Compile. The search results also include a new column, Build Action, that shows the current action for each file.
• Formatting profiles - the formatting and clean up[2] preferences for your COBOL code are now stored in profiles. You can have many profiles per workspace, allowing you to easily switch between different sets of formatting for different projects. The profiles can also be shared between local workspaces and to other users, allowing developers to format code consistently throughout their team.
• The following new preferences have been added:
  • Force native line endings when pasting with Ctrl + Shift + V, available from Micro Focus > COBOL > Editor: this option produces line endings native to the local operating system.
  • Show Compiler directive summary in editor, available from Micro Focus > COBOL > Editor > Compiler Directives summary: this option shows a summary of the Compiler directives in effect, in the editor.

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This release includes the following enhancements:

• Multiple Network Interface support - there is improved support for multiple network interfaces in some components, including better awareness of network interfaces and control over networking. This is a partial implementation and will be enhanced in future releases.
• Extended IPv6 support - support is available in Micro Focus Directory Server (MFDS) and in the Micro Focus Communications Server (MFCS) listener for multiple IPv6 addresses.

  In release 6.0, you could only configure MFDS and MFCS listeners to listen on a single IPv6 address. In release 7.0, by default, MFDS and MFCS now listen on all configured IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, and can also be configured to listen on a combination of specific addresses.

• HTTP improvements:
  • Additional security measures for HTTP, such as security-related headers.
  • Chunking support for large HTTP messages makes it possible to retrieve very large files from Enterprise Server regions.
• Application Diagnostic Reporting for Enterprise Server - Application diagnostic reporting collects and packages a number of reports, trace, and log files into a single report file. See Application Diagnostic Reporting for Enterprise Server for more information.
• Enterprise Server now supports automatic reconnection to the standby Queue manager in an Multi-Instance Queue Manager. See Reconnecting to an MQ Server in a Multi-instance Queue Manager and Enterprise Server XA Reconnect for more information.
• The casmgr process has been optimized to improve the use of initiators when dispatching jobs across a PAC. In addition, improvements have been made to the way it manages the queue of jobs waiting to be dispatched.
• Information has been added describing the best practice and the recommended approach you should adopt when performing a Patch Update to your PAC environment. See Performing a Product Upgrade to a PAC Environment for more information.
• New operating modes, upgrade and quiesce, have been introduced for Performance and Availability Clusters (PACs). These operating modes can be used to facilitate the installation of product updates that introduce incompatibilities between PSOR data structures. You can check for incompatibilities using the new caspac utility option CheckCompat. An upgrade mode can be set when starting the first enterprise server region in a new PAC using the new casstart utility start-type option u. This upgrade mode will prevent participating enterprise server regions from processing batch workloads as part of its normal operation, and any EXEC CICS START requests will be rejected. See casstart and caspac in your product Help for more information.

  When enough enterprise server regions have been switched over to the new PAC, the old PAC can be set to operate in the quiesce mode. This prevents further batch workload and EXEC CICS START from being processed.

  The new PAC can now be switched to running mode so that batch workload and EXEC CICS START are enabled for processing again.

  Note: Before setting the new PAC mode to running, you must switch enough enterprise server regions to the new PAC to enable it to service the expected workload.
  [1]

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This release offers the following improvements:

• MFDS User Interface functionality replacement - ESCWA now replaces the MFDS inside the IDE as the engine that provides access to and management of regions. ESCWA provides all the functionality that was previously available from MFDS. This release includes the following enhancements:
  • Delete all regions.
  • Session list.
  • Renew listening addresses.
• ESMAC User Interface functionality replacement - the following ESMAC features have been implemented in ESCWA:
  • Resource Filtering. See CICS Resources for more information.
  • Millisecond support. See Threshold, Monitor, and Active PCT for more information.
  • Control the scope for all changes to timeouts, trace flags, and memory strategy when applied to regions in a PAC. See ES Control for more information.
  • Enable Application Diagnostic reporting. See ES Control and Application Diagnostic Reporting for Enterprise Server for more information.
  • Submission of local jobs from the JES Control page when CASRDO44_NEWSUB=OFF has been specified. See JES Control for more information.
  • View and reply to pending ACCEPT FROM CONSOLE statements. See Pending Replies for more information.
  • The messages after a JCL job has been submitted are now correctly JSON formatted. This page now works in ESCWA when MFJUXIT is enabled.
• Import, export, and copy regions - you can now use the UI to export and import regions in various formats, including use JSON. You can:
  • Copy regions between Directory Servers
  • Import and export regions in JSON, XML or in the .dat legacy format. The legacy format can be converted to a modern format.
• Mainframe Access (MFA) administration - ESCWA provides a modern Web UI and does not require you to use a separate terminal application. Features include:
  • Log in or off from MFA.
  • Change your MFA password.
  • View MFA server tasks.
  • Retrieve the XDBOUT log (Web UI).
  • Retrieve the JES spool files by DD Name (API).
  • Set the MFA and JES tracing level.
  • View the active MFA users.
  • Invalidate active user sessions.
  • View mainframe/MFA statistics.

  See Mainframe in the Enterprise Server Common Web Administration chapter for more information.

  The MFA API library has been exposed to enable you to test and use the requests that are provided. See MFA Interactive API Library for more information.

• Scale-Out and PAC administration - you can now:
  • Monitor Redis Sentinel and Cluster instances when used for Scale-Out Repositories.
  • Specify that all changes to timeouts, trace flags, and memory strategy can be applied to one of three options:
    • Only the local region.
    • All members of a PAC except the regions where local changes have been made.
    • All members of a PAC.

    You can configure this in ESCWA with the Apply Scope field on the ES CONTROL page. Alternatively, you can use the casutl utility with the /w option. See casutl for more information.

• Multi-Network Interface Card support - ESCWA now enables you to configure Communications Servers and Listeners to listen on multiple IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. Previously, they were limited to listen on either all IPv4 addresses, or a single IPv4 or IPv6 address. Now a combination of any of the following can be used:
  • One or more specific IPv4 addresses.
  • One or more specific IPv6 addresses.
  • All IPv4 addresses.
  • All IPv6 addresses.
• A new filter field resFilter has been added to the following ESCWA and ESMAC resource listing modules:
  • Every resource in By Type
  • Every resource in By Start L
  • Resource lists under Groups
  • Every active resource type except Locks

  This parameter will filter the list of resources displayed by ESCWA and ESMAC. In addition, a new environment variable ES_RDO_MAX_RESOURCES has been added that enables you to specify a limit to the number of records displayed. For JSON requests, the list being truncated is indicated by the addition of the JSON property "truncated": true.

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This release includes the following enhancements:

• MLDAP ESM caching - the MLDAP ESM Module now implements LDAP search-result caching. This is controlled by the existing Security Manager cache settings, so that many installations will have this activated automatically. See the product Help for details.
• Vault Hashicorp support - support is available for using a Hashicorp KV2 vault server as a local or remote vault.

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The following library routines are new:

• CBL_GET_ERROR_INFO - enables error processing routines to establish the location of the error that occurred to cause the error processing routine to execute. This is available on a restricted range of platforms.
• CBL_CREATE_STACKDUMP - generates a stackdump file.

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In this release, Micro Focus brings in the power of the in-house Micro Focus AutoPass licensing technology alongside Sentinel RMS. AutoPass has the following additional benefits compared to Sentinel RMS:

• Usage logging which enables you to monitor the product usage. You need to install the AutoPass License Server in order to do this.
• Ongoing support for all platforms that this product is available for.

Features include:

• Installing this release installs both the AutoPass Daemon and the Sentinel RMS License Manager. Both of them are available in the Micro Focus License Administration tool.
• You can have both AutoPass and Sentinel RMS licenses installed on the same machine. Optionally, you can switch off the licensing technology you do not use.
• If you are an existing user of a Visual COBOL or an Enterprise Developer product, you only need an AutoPass license if you want to utilize usage logging or if you want to use your product on a platform on which Sentinel RMS is not supported.
• If you are a new user of the Micro Focus COBOL products, you will normally be issued an AutoPass license.
• Micro Focus will continue to provide Sentinel RMS in future releases of this product.
• AutoPass licenses should be installed into the existing Micro Focus License Administration tool, and not in the AutoPass License Server.

For more about AutoPass and usage logging, and about Micro Focus License Administration, see Managing Licenses.