Windows Forms Client

Restriction: This topic applies only when the Enterprise Server feature is enabled.

In addition to the default COBOL console client, you can optionally generate a Windows Forms client for Web Service service interfaces. To do so, check the Windows Forms Application option in your Micro Focus Service Interfaces options before generating the client.

Windows Forms client project

After generating a client, Visual COBOL adds a client project to the solution that contains your service interface. The name of the project is myServiceWinApp, and contains the following components:

References folder
The project references required to run the Windows Forms client application.
Helper folder
Additional COBOL programs and copybooks required to run the Windows Forms client application.
myServiceForm.cbl
A COBOL program that implements the Windows Forms interface.
myServiceForm.Designer.cbl
A Windows Forms Designer COBOL program that defines the visual presentation of the client.
myServiceForm.ico
A Micro Focus logo icon used in the visual presentation of the client.
myServiceMain.cbl
The main entry point of your Windows Forms client application.

Editing a Windows Forms client

To enhance its appearance and usability, you can optionally edit a Windows Forms client component from Visual COBOL by double-clicking a client component from the Solution Explorer.

Running a Windows Forms client

You can run a Windows Forms client directly from your project using the Visual COBOL Debugger. Before doing so, ensure that:

  • The enterprise server instance configured to run the service is associated with the project that contains your service interface (.svi) file
  • The enterprise server instance is started
  • Your service interface is deployed to the enterprise server instance
  • The Windows Forms client project is set as the startup project

When you start the Debugger, Visual COBOL automatically builds the client project and executes it.