The following features are available for developing COBOL applications on UNIX, although this is not an exhaustive list:
The Application Configuration System enables programs to use a standard configuration technique to control their behavior. This program is extensively used by Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX itself and enables you to configure many of the tools described here.
The Class Library is a set of predefined objects which you can use as a foundation for building your own applications using object-oriented programming.
The COBOL Editor is an editor designed for COBOL programmers. It is tailored for the creation of COBOL source programs, but can also be used for creating documentation and other text files.
You can invoke the Compiler and Animator from within the COBOL Editor, so it is an integrated environment for processing source code. You also have access to COBOL Source Information for more information about your programs, and the On-line Reference for more information about the COBOL language and system.
The COBOL Source Information (CSI) functions let you perform a static analysis of your program source. The information provided includes extensive information about data items, copyfiles, sections and paragraphs in your program. These functions allow you to find your way around your source very quickly and are particularly useful for maintenance of existing programs. This information is available from within the COBOL Editor and Animator.
The COBOL system library routines can be called directly from your program, providing many operations not available in the COBOL language itself.
Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX has additional routines. The extra routines provide features needed for cross-system compatibility, such as generic screen attributes.
Client/Server Binding is a simple and effective way to connect a client to a server. You can create distributed applications without having to write any communications code.
Dialog System creates character-based user interfaces for your COBOL applications. All handling of the interface is done for you, leaving your program free to concentrate on processing the data.
DBCS Transparency is a level of DBCS support that supports creating native language applications using DBCS code sets. You can use it under system locales such as, for example, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean provided you have them on your system. It enables you to use single- and double-byte character strings, using tools such as Animator and Editor to create and maintain application programs that support your native language.
Many demonstration programs are provided to supplement the documentation of certain components and to demonstrate features in Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX. The demonstration programs and any accompanying documentation can be located using Infomgr.
Device Handling and Terminfo Support enables you to use UNIX devices with the run-time system and the run-time support modules.
The Directory Facility is used by Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX whenever you are prompted for a filename. It provides directory lists, listings of library files and file contents, deletion and renaming functions. You can call it directly from your program using CALL statements.
The Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX system provides support for EBCDIC data on UNIX systems, making the behavior of applications on your computer highly compatible with that on IBM mainframes. When you use this option, the program stores all data in EBCDIC, and operations such as comparisons and sorts use the EBCDIC collating sequence.
Filename mapping enables you to alter the physical filename accessed by your program at run time, assign files to UNIX pipes, assign the index and data files of indexed files to different directories, and assign a file to a printer.
The File Handler is a module providing run-time support for COBOL files.
The File Handler includes an interface that enables you to call it from your program using CALL statements. This gives you low-level control over files of all COBOL organizations, so you can write sophisticated file and database handling programs. You can also use it to access COBOL format files from other languages, such as C or Assembler.
Fileshare provides rapid network I/O by compressing I/O requests into packets and sending them across network lines, so that the file processing is done on the server that contains the files. It can also link several files together into a logical database. You can set up a recovery log when accessing that database, providing a high level of data integrity.
Fileshare has transaction logging which allows your user to delay writing changes to files until all the information is complete. You can secure these changes with a COMMIT or cancel them with a ROLLBACK.
The Header-to-COPY utility translates C-language header files into their equivalent COBOL copyfiles. Its main use is to simplify COBOL programming when using system libraries whose basic definitions are provided only for C programs. Examples are interfaces to UNIX TP systems and various relational databases on UNIX.
Help provides information about the function keys on the menu you are using. It is present as F1=help on every menu.
Infomgr enables you to locate and read demonstration programs and their associated readme files.
The Integrated Preprocessor is an extension to the Compiler. It allows the Compiler to invoke a user-defined language processor to convert non-COBOL syntax to COBOL syntax.
When using Animator you see the original source, as it is before statements are altered by the preprocessor.
Library is a utility that groups individual files into one file, making them easier to administer.
You can use Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX to create non-threaded or multi-threaded applications. Multi-threading exploits the power of your processor by enabling applications to run in a true multi-process environment.
You specify whether a program is multi-threaded or single threaded using Compiler directives. Execution support is provided by multi-threaded versions of commands; for example, cobrun_t is the multi-threading equivalent of cobrun.
National Locale Support (NLS) enables your program to adapt itself automatically at run time to the character set, currency symbol, and editing symbols appropriate to your user's country. It also ensures correct collation and folding of national (for example, accented) characters, and provides library routines to fetch messages in the appropriate national language from a message file.
The COBOL language in Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX has language extensions to enable you to use object-oriented programming methods in COBOL. Object-oriented programming is explained in your Object-oriented Programming with COBOL book.
You can of course use traditional COBOL programming instead of the object-oriented style if you prefer.
The Profiler gives you detailed statistics on the run-time performance of a COBOL program.
Run-time Configuration Support consists of environment variables and tunables in a run-time configuration file, which you can configure to affect certain run-time behavior.
The SCP program provides a standardized interface between the Net Express UNIX Option and the UNIX operating system and COBOL product. It is essential that SCP is installed for the Publisher to work. SCP is installed when you install Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX.
The SCP program is executed by the Net Express UNIX Option using the UNIX Remote Shell (RSH) protocol. Since nearly all UNIX systems have the RSH server program enabled by default, you do not need to install or configure any other special server software. However, to use the UNIX Option you must either ensure that the RSH security configuration enables you to execute the SCP program from your PC or configure SCP to run as a daemon.
For full information about configuring SCP, see the chapter Configuring SCP to Run as a Daemon and Configuring SCP in your Net ExpressUNIX Option Guide.
The screen and keyboard configuration tools are utilities you can use to configure screen and keyboard handling to your own environment and requirements, or to be compatible with other COBOL systems.
The Screen and Keyboard Handler, often known as Adis, is a module that provides run-time support for the enhanced (full screen) ACCEPT/DISPLAY verbs and Screen Section features available with this system.
The Session Recorder enables you to record all keystrokes and screen images during the execution of your COBOL program. These screen images and keystrokes can later be replayed for demonstration use or compared with previous sets for use in the regression testing of interactive applications.
The Session Recorder provided with Studio Enterprise Edition for UNIX can only be used for character mode sessions.
The Sort Module is a stand-alone sort routine which enables you to sort and reorder data files. It is faster than the default COBOL sort mechanism. The interface provides greater flexibility in sorting data and enables you to substitute alternative sort modules.
Windowing Support consists of COBOL syntax which enables you to draw lines and boxes on the screen and create virtual windows on a physical screen. The syntax also allows underlying displays to be kept and restored. It is compatible with ACUCOBOL.