OverviewFor COBOL development, re-use or modernization, Micro Focus offers the mostpowerful, robust and functionally rich environment on the market. Micro Focus COBOLprovides a choice of productive Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) for thedevelopment of COBOL applications. Existing code can be extended for modernizationto the internet and integration with other applications through .NET, COBOL/J2EE,COBOL/XML, SOA and Direct COBOL Web services.

Micro Focus COBOL is the technology at the heart of leading Micro Focus developmentenvironments such as:

• MMiiccrroo FFooccuuss NNeett EExxpprreessss which provides a powerful highly productive Windows basedCOBOL development and extension environment for applications deployed onWindows, .NET, Unix and Linux

• MMiiccrroo FFooccuuss SSeerrvveerr EExxpprreessss which provides an accessible COBOL developmentenvironment based on UNIX and Linux for applications deployed on UNIX and Linux

• MMiiccrroo FFooccuuss SSttuuddiioo which combines the power and productivity of Net Express withthe platform availability of Server Express to provide a complete developmentsolution for Windows, .NET, UNIX and Linux

• MMiiccrroo FFooccuuss MMaaiinnffrraammee EExxpprreessss EEnntteerrpprriissee EEddiittiioonn which provides a productive highlyIBM compatible COBOL and mainframe application development environment forapplications deployed back on an IBM mainframe

HighlightsState-of-the-Art COBOL Compiler

Micro Focus COBOL includes a state-of-the-art compiler that builds on COBOL’straditional strengths by providing:

• High-performance native code that is optimized for peak performance on specifichardware like the leading IBM, HP, Intel, and Sun platforms

• Extensive COBOL dialect support, simplifying reuse of existing applications andCOBOL programming skills

• Scalability, ranging from workstations to multi-processor UNIX/Linux server systems

• A portable execution format for easily deploying applications on leading serverplatforms utilizing Micro Focus Server

• Fully portable multi-threading capabilities, leveraging modern operating systemthreading features to provide optimum application performance

• Full support for object oriented COBOL (including ISO2002 Syntax) and COBOLdevelopment/debugging

• UNICODE support for global applications

data sheet

Micro Focus COBOL is afully functional, highperformance, cross-platform COBOLdevelopment technologyfor Windows, .NET, UNIXand Linux. Micro FocusCOBOL combines supportfor multiple COBOLdialects withstandardization andinnovation in the COBOLlanguage delivering bothcompatibility andproductivity within thesame toolset.

COBOL

data sheet

Micro Focus

• Compilation to Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL)with support for managed or verifiable code.

Object Oriented COBOL

Both traditional (procedural) and Object Oriented COBOLcan be combined in an application to combine the reuse ofexisting assets with, if required, an OO paradigm and theuse of OO to interface with other languages andenvironments. Micro Focus includes both a Micro Focuscompatible Object COBOL implementation and ISO 2002COBOL Standard Conforming OO Syntax. A rich ObjectCOBOL implementation is complemented by an extensiveClass Library across Windows, UNIX and Linux

Object COBOL Extensions under Microsoft .NET

Micro Focus COBOL elevates the COBOL language to a “FirstClass Citizen” within the .NET Framework. Existing COBOLbusiness logic and data access can be reused under the .NETFramework opening up the capabilities of .NET to existingCOBOL assets. Since COBOL applications can be compiled tomanaged or verifiable code, once under the .NETFramework code can be extended to utilize .NET Frameworkclasses and features. Micro Focus has extended the COBOLlanguage to deliver concise and natural .NET syntaxincluding:

• Pre-defined classes matching .NET data types

• Inline INVOKE Syntax

• .NET arrays in COBOL

• Automatic conversion of Method Parameters

• TRY … CATCH Exception Handling

• PERFORM … VARYING … THROUGH Collection Class

• Custom Attribute that can be used in web programming

• .NET Generics

• Condition Value

• Partial Classes

• Cross-language inheritance

COBOL/XML Support

Micro Focus COBOL has extended standard COBOL FileHandling Syntax allowing you to OPEN, READ, WRITE andREWRITE XML documents in a familiar and trouble-free way.Specific syntax extensions provide mechanisms to handledynamic XML documents, map XML tags to COBOL datanames, and process XML concepts such as name spaces andattributes. A W3C compliant XML Schema can be mappedand narrowed to and from a COBOL interface using theCOBOL/XML conversion tool (CBL2XML).

IBM Mainframe Compatibility

Micro Focus COBOL includes extensive support forapplications created on an IBM mainframe including:

• EBCDIC and ASCII Support

• IBM OS/VS COBOL Syntax (Release v2.3 and later)

• DOS/VS COBOL (Release 3.1)

• VS COBOL II and COBOL/370 syntax (all releases)

• COBOL for MVS and COBOL for OS/390

• Enterprise COBOL for z/OS

• Mainframe and PC style PERFORM handling

• Mainframe Arithmetic Support

• Mainframe Pointer Support

• Mainframe Compatible file-status codes

• Negative subscripting

• Protect program linkage during calls

• ACCEPT from SYSIN/DISPLAY (EXHIBIT) to SYSOUT

COBOLMicro Focus

• Accessing data in a cancelled program

• IBM Format Hexadecimal Floating Point Data

• Language Environment (LE) Support

Micro Focus Studio for Mainframe Migration also addssupport for IBM CICS and Job Control Language (JCL).

Internationalization SupportUNICODE Support

Micro Focus UNICODE support allows you to create anapplication for global deployment, or to share data withother languages and systems that are UNICODE based.

• PIC N USAGE NATIONAL Unicode fields

• Intrinsic Functions NATIONAL-OF and DISPLAY-OF forconversion to/from Unicode

• Transparent support of UTF-8 in native fields

• ISO 2002 Compliant syntax

Double-Byte Character (DBCS) Support

DBCS Support allows you to create applications that containDBCS only data for use with Japanese, Korean, TraditionalChinese and Simplified Chinese encodings.

• PIC N USAGE NCHAR supports DBCS only fields while DBCScan also be used in standard character fields

• PIC G supports IBM Mainframe compatible DBCSimplementation

National Language Support

Micro Focus COBOL National Language Support enables youto develop a single internationalized application that can beexecuted in any supported language. Using the “NLS”compiler directive, programmers can access:

• Alternate Character sets

• Alternate Collating Sequences

• Currency Signs

• Decimal/thousands separators

• Comparisons

Flexible CompilerExtensive Complier Directives

Micro Focus includes more than 100 behavior controllingcompiler directives, allowing the compiler defaults to bepersonalized to match the nature of the applications used.Compiler directives include control over:

• Error and flag messages

• File listings

• Input/Output files

• Directives locations

• Object and debugging file formats

• Dialect Conformance

• Size and speed optimization

• Compatibility details

• Reserved Words

• SQL database usage

• Run-time behavior

• File handling

and much more …

COBOL Development with Micro Focus Net Express

Conditional Compilation

This feature allows the use of $IF … $ELSE … $END stylesyntax to selectively compile portions of the source code.Code can be included or excluded from compilation bychanging compiler constants at the beginning of theprogram or by supplying the required control parameters asdirectives to the compile stream.

Integrated Preprocessor Support

The Micro Focus COBOL compiler supports an interface thatpermits preprocessors to be invoked by the compiler. Thiscan be especially useful to create simplified COBOL syntax toaccess an external system.

Data AccessOpenESQL

OpenESQL provides a cross-platform ANSI based COBOLEmbedded SQL implementation. OpenESQL transparentlytranslates embedded SQL statements into ODBC API calls,allowing you to easily develop applications that accessdifferent database systems. This means that you can use anydata source for which an ODBC driver is available. NetExpress includes an OpenESQL Assistant tool providing apoint and click interface for the creation of COBOLEmbedded SQL code.

COBOL ADO.NET Support

Under .NET Micro Focus COBOL also provides:

• Managed code ADO.NET data access without source codechange to existing Embedded SQL COBOL application

• The ability to rapidly and easily build ADO.NETapplications in COBOL, using OpenESQL’s EXEC ADOsyntax. EXEC ADO statements mimic the standardembedded SQL statement format, making theconstruction of a robust, flexible ADO.NET program inCOBOL simple and effective

• Capability to share ADO.NET datasets across languagesusing the new EXEC ADO syntax. These capabilitiessubstantially enhance data exchange across compositeapplications.

Pre-Compiler Support

Micro Focus COBOL provides native access to DB2 as well asintegrated support for the latest pre-compilers from Oracle,Sybase and Informix.

COBOL File Handling

COBOL Data Files provide an important means of dataaccess for COBOL applications and Micro Focus supportsCOBOL data file sizes in the terabytes for large serverapplications. Through scalability and a highly tuned filehandler and run-time system Micro Focus COBOL alsofocuses on delivering industry leading performance forCOBOL file handling. The Fileshare component addsadditional features such as COMMIT … ROLLBACKtransactional support and roll forward data recovery.Should a file require reorganization the REBUILD facilitiesenables the reconstruction of files while in Net Express andServer Express Data File Editing tools support themanipulation of COBOL data files.

COBOL Run-Time System The Micro Focus COBOL compiler technology is supported bya run-time system for the deployment of COBOLapplications. Micro Focus Server provides an infrastructureto deliver the functionality, performance, portability andscalability required by COBOL applications.

Portability

Micro Focus COBOL also creates intermediate code forapplications that are operating system independent. TheMicro Focus Run-Time System (RTS) engine provides theprogrammer with full intermediate code portability from asingle set of COBOL source code. This is the COBOLequivalent of Java byte code with the RTS performingsimilar functions of the Java Virtual Machine or the .NETCommon Language Runtime. In this way, we achieve the‘write once, run anywhere’ characteristic that has been anintrinsic part of Micro Focus COBOL since its inception.

Performance

Micro Focus COBOL leverages a heritage of 30 years

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combined with the most modern methods to build native code generators that producecode highly optimized to the target platform on which it is going to execute deliveringindustry leading COBOL performance on 32-bit and 64-bit systems.

.NET Support

For applications that are to be deployed into the Microsoft .NET Framework Micro FocusCOBOL creates Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). COBOL applications can bebuilt as either managed or verifiable code and deployed in conjunction with thecombination of Micro Focus Server for .NET (a managed code version of the COBOL run-time system) and the Microsoft Common Language Runtime (CLR). COBOL applicationshave access to .NET Framework classes such as Windows Forms or Webforms and COBOLcode can be easily combined with Microsoft .NET languages such as C#, VB.NET or C++to build composite applications.

COBOL/Java and J2EE Integration

COBOL applications can be integrated with Java and J2EE. Micro Focus Server for SOAincludes a Java Resource Adapter that provides J2EE compliant access to COBOL assetswrapped as Enterprise Java Beans

Direct COBOL Web Services

Micro Focus Server for SOA includes the ability to deploy COBOL assets as Web serviceswithout the use of third party non COBOL software. By exposing COBOL assets as Webservices they can be accessed by other systems regardless of their language or platform.Additionally using COBOL client support COBOL applications can access Web servicesdeployed with .NET, J2EE and other Web service environments.

About Micro Focus Micro Focus provides innovative software that helps companies to dramatically improvethe business value of their enterprise applications. Micro Focus Enterprise ApplicationModernization software enables customers’ business applications to respond rapidly tomarket changes and embrace modern architectures with reduced cost and risk. Formore information please visit www.microfocus.com.

© 2007 Micro Focus. All Rights Reserved.Animator, Micro Focus and Net Express areregistered trademarks, and ApplicationServer, Dialog System, Enterprise Server,Fileshare and Server Express and Unlockingthe Value of Legacy are trademarks ofMicro Focus. Other trademarks are theproperty of their respective owners.

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