Tips: Visual Studio IDE Equivalents to IDE Features in Earlier Products
The following table shows Mainframe Express and Net Express IDE features and their corresponding equivalents and locations in Visual Studio.
| Functionality | In Mainframe Express | In Net Express | In Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project Control | |||
| Project filename | *.MVP | *.APP | *.cblproj |
| Add file to project | To create a new file from the supported types in the project directory, click File > New, specify the type of file to create, and click OK. Click Project > Add Files to add existing files to the project. | To create a new file from the supported types in the project directory, click File > New, specify the type of file to create, and click OK. Click Project > Add Files to Project to add existing files to the project. | Right-click the project in Solution Explorer. Choose Add > New Item to create a new file from the supported types in the project directory. To add an existing file, choose Add > Existing Item and browse to the location of the file to select it. This adds a link in the project to the file and by default moves it to the project directory. To add existing COBOL files, choose Add Existing COBOL Items. |
| Copybook path | Via Workgrouping | Click Project > Properties, then click IDE and specify the COBCPY environment variable. | Choose Project > projectProperties, click the Dependency Paths tab, and set Type to COBOL Copybook Paths. |
Build settings for the project:
|
ALT+F7 or click Project > Build Settings for Project and select the corresponding tabs | ALT+F7 or click Project > Build Settings and select the corresponding tab | Click Project > project Properties, go to the COBOL tab and choose a configuration in the Configuration field. To create a new build configuration or to edit one, click Build > Configuration Manager. |
Execution environment settings:
|
Click Project > Project Settings and then click the Execution tab | The execution environment is Micro Focus Server | The execution environment is Enterprise Server. |
Debug settings:
|
|
|
Specify debug settings in the project's properties - click Project > project Properties and click the Debug tab. |
| Editing | |||
| Suggest Word/Content Assist | CTRL+G | CTRL+G | Press CTRL+Space or, if specified in the IDE options, IntelliSense suggestions are displayed automatically as you type. |
| Locate | F12 (or context menu Locate) | F12 (or context menu Locate) | F12 |
| COBOL Find | CTRL+Shift+F12 (or context menu COBOL Find) | CTRL+Shift+F12 (or context menu COBOL Find) | Shift+F12 |
| Compress | Tool bar compress
 (or context menu
Compress)
|
Tool bar compress
(or context menu
Compress)
|
Check the Breakpoints window (click Debug > Windows > Breakpoints) to see a list of all breakpoints. |
| Bookmark | CTRL+F2 | CTRL+F2 | CTRL+B, T |
| Compiling | |||
| Single file Compile |
CTRL+F7 (or click
check mark )
|
CTRL+F7 (or click
check mark)
|
In
Solution Explorer, right-click the file you want to compile and click
Compile.
Note: This applies to native code only.
|
| Build |
F7 (or click
build )
|
F7 (or click
build)
|
F6 |
| Build All | ALT+B A | ALT+B A | Click Build > Build <project> |
| Debugging | |||
| Start Debugging | Alt+D A | Alt+D A | Choose Debug > Start Debugging or press F5 |
| Stop Debugging | Shift+F5 | Shift+F5 | Choose Debug > Stop Debugging |
| Restart Debugging | Ctrl+Shift+F5 | Ctrl+Shift+F5 | Choose Debug > Restart |
| Run | F5 | F5 | F5 |
| Step |
F11 (or click
step )
|
F11 (or click
step)
|
F11 |
| Step All | Ctrl+F5 | Ctrl+F5 | No IDE equivalent. Keep pressing F11 to continue stepping through the code. |
| Run Thru | Run > Run Thru | Run > Run Thru | Click Debug > Step Over. |
| Run Return | Run > Run Return | Run > Run Return | Click Debug > Step Out. |
| Run to Cursor | Shift+F10 (or context menu) | Shift+F10 (or context menu) | While debugging, choose Run To Cursor from the editor context menu or press Ctrl+F10. |
| Skip to Cursor | CTRL+Shift+F10 | CTRL+Shift+F10 | No IDE equivalent. You can use Set Next Statement from the context menu. |
| Skip Statement | ALT+D, I or click Debug > Skip Statement . | Debug > Skip Statement | F10 or Debug > Step Over |
| Skip Return | ALT+D, K or click Debug > Skip Return | Debug > Skip Return | No IDE equivalent. You can use Set Next Statement from the context menu. |
| Examine data item' | Shift+F9 | Shift+F9 | Shift+F9 |
| Breakpoint set | F9 | F9 | Double-click in the left margin of editor next to the a line of code, or right-click the line and choose Breakpoint > Insert Breakpoint, or press F9. |
| Conditional Breakpoint | Click Debug > Breakpoint > Set Advanced. | Click Debug > Breakpoint > Set Advanced. | Right-click a breakpoint in the editor or in the Breakpoints window and click Condition. |
| Break on Data Change | Via list view | Via list view | You can break on data change in native COBOL projects, by right-clicking and choosing Add COBOL Watchpoint |
| Attach to Process | No equivalent. | Click Debug > Debug settings and enable Attach to running process | Click Debug > Attach to Process, or Ctrl+Alt+P |
| Just-In-Time Debugging | Click Options > Debug and set Error handling when running programs outside of the IDE to Just-In-Time Debugging | Click Options > Debug and set Error handling when running programs outside of the IDE to Just-In-Time Debugging | Click
Tools > Options > Debugging > Just-In-Time Debugging, and check
Micro Focus Native Debugger.
Note: This applies to native code only
|