Debugging COBOL Applications

Visual COBOL provides a debugging environment, which is sensitive to COBOL and includes all the standard features, including.

• Running all or part of the program, and stepping through the program one statement at a time
• Executing the program until it reaches a specified point, such as the end of a procedure or a breakpoint that you specify
• Skipping statements you do not want to execute, such as a procedure call and the corresponding procedure
• Examining and manipulating data items while debugging

When you debug an application, the source code of each program is displayed in a separate window. Each line of the source is highlighted in turn as each statement is executed, showing the effect of each statement. You can execute the program at full speed and can interrupt execution to examine and change data items.

There are a number of ways to debug code, such as compiling the source yourself first or letting it happen automatically or making available the necessary files created during an earlier compilation. For example you can:

• Automatically start debugging when the application fails
• Debug non-COBOL programs in mixed language applications
• Debug services and applications that are running on a local or a remote enterprise server

You control the way debugging works on a global scale by setting debug options, and on a project scale by setting the debug properties for the project. See To prepare for debugging for details.

In addition to the topics appearing in this section, see the Related Concepts topics below for a list of debugging topics that appear elsewhere in this documentation, and that apply to specific Visual COBOL features.