HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
Component List
The following is an alphabetical list of all of the major components of
the COBOL system.
Animator
The Animator is a testing tool. It displays your source code on the
screen and allows you to step through your program or execute it at a
controlled speed. It highlights each statement as it is executed. You
can start and stop execution, reset the position in the program, set
breakpoints, query and change data items, monitor several data items at
once, enter COBOL statements to execute, and interact with your program
in many different ways.
See also the entry for Base Animator.
Base Animator
The Base Animator is for use when you do not have enough memory to use
the full Animator. It has all the same basic facilities, but some are
restricted; for example, you can monitor only one data item at a time,
and information such as the values of data items is displayed on the
bottom line of the screen instead of in windows.
See also the entry for Animator.
Callable File Handler
The Callable File Handler is an interface to the File Handler enabling
you to call it from your program using CALL statements (see the entry for
the File Handler).
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.
cob command
The cob command invokes all stages of compiling, generating and linking a
COBOL application, including COBOL programs, C routines, assembler
routines, and system libraries.
cobrun command
As an alternative to linking, you can have the Compiler produce your
object code in a .gnt or .int file. You run this file using the cobrun
command, which loads run-time support modules as necessary.
COBOL System Library
The COBOL system library routines can be called directly from your
program, providing many operations not available in the COBOL language
itself.
Communications Module
The Communications Module, also known as the Message Control System, is
the logical interface between a COBOL program and the consoles to be
controlled by the program.
Compiler
The Compiler translates your program into optimized native machine code,
in an .o file for linking. Alternatively it translates it into
intermediate code for running under Animator. It also checks that your
program is valid COBOL, displaying error messages for any invalid COBOL
it finds.
DCE Support
Support for the Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) is included for
certain UNIX environments; see your on-disk documentation for details.
To use the support you must have DCE already on your system.
DCE simplifies the development of seamless distributed applications in a
heterogeneous environment such as a network including machines using
different operating systems. It is a set of tools and services that have
been defined by the Open Software Foundation (OSF).
The Micro Focus DCE support provides:
* Tools to automate the development of DCE client/server
applications written in COBOL
* Support for Remote Procedure Call (RPC) for COBOL applications
* A simple interface for COBOL programs to call the DCE RPC and
Security APIs
* An additional Micro Focus API which groups together several of the
DCE API functions, thus making it easier to write DCE applications
in COBOL
Device Handling and Terminfo Support
Device Handling and Terminfo Support enables you to use UNIX devices with
the run-time system and the run-time support modules.
Dialect Compatibility Tools
The Dialect Compatibility Tools are file conversion programs and
documentation to help you convert source programs and files from other
COBOL systems to work on this system. They cover Microsoft COBOL V2.2,
RM/COBOL, DG Interactive COBOL, and Micro Focus COBOL for DOS prior to
Micro Focus COBOL/2. They are documented in the Compatibility Guide.
External File-name Mapping Support
File-name mapping enables you to alter the physical file-name 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.
File Handler
The File Handler is a module providing run-time support for COBOL files.
File Handler Utilities
The File Handler Utilities provide various functions for supporting COBOL
files. There are utilities to: convert a file to a different type;
inspect a file for consistency; build an empty indexed file; add or
delete indexes; access file and index information; reindex a corrupt
file; and reorganize an indexed file.
Forms-2
The Forms-2 utility enables you to design, create and edit interactive
screen layouts for use with application programs that use Enhanced
ACCEPT/DISPLAY syntax.
Generator
The Generator produces optimized native machine code from the
intermediate code created when your program is compiled.
Header-to-copy
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 OS/2
Presentation Manager, Windows API, UNIX TP systems and various relational
databases on UNIX.
Integrated Preprocessor Support
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.
National Language Support
National Language 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.
This facility depends on operating system support.
On-line Reference
The On-line Reference (OLR) is a quick reference guide that you can
display on your screen. It contains quick-reference information such as
directives and COBOL syntax, extracted from the printed books for the
COBOL system.
The On-line Help System used to display the On-line Reference enables you
to find information directly or via context menus, and to browse through
the information or follow cross-references.
Panels
Panels is a set of routines that your application can call to use
windowing on a character-mode screen. It allows overlapping windows,
separate or synchronized updating of text and attributes, scrolling of
text in a window, and the creation of popup or pulldown menus.
Profiler
The Profiler gives you detailed statistics on the run-time performance of
a COBOL program.
Run-time Configuration Support
Run-time Configuration Support consists of environment variables and
tunables in a run-time configuration file, whihc you can configure to
affect certain run-time behavior.
Sample Programs
Many sample programs are provided to supplement the documentation of
certain components and to demonstrate features in the COBOL system.
Screen and Keyboard Configuration Tools
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.
Screen and Keyboard Handler
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.
Windowing Support
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.