VisualAge COBOL updates

• On most networks, throughput is improved when you use VisualAge COBOL to work with MVS files. FFS now uses fewer (but larger) TCP/IP transmissions to communicate between the client and the server.
• If you edit the FFS system definition file, ffs_sys.xml, and add subsystem tags (<subsys-name> and <subsys-parm>) to the file, the changes will be preserved if you later update the information through the MVS connections manager.

• The program editor no longer locks if an empty file is saved on MVS.

• Improved performance
• Improved behavior of the Selected menu
• Improvements in the reuse mechanism
• Memory leak fixes
• Better command-line handling
• Improvements in breakpoint setting for a particular thread
• Better behavior of text fields in combination boxes
• Improved accelerator keys for setting breakpoints
• Support for display of local variables in the Locals pane for any stack selected in the Stack pane
• Improved monitoring of variables and expressions:
  • Arrays with any combination of constant and variable subscripts and any number of dimensions can now be monitored; for example, X(I), where I can be any integer variable (zoned, packed, or binary) or index-name.
  • Monitoring an array name now displays the highest-level parent that contains an OCCURS clause, with all its occurrences shown. Any subordinate arrays can be expanded to show their occurrences.

• Migrated data sets will now appear in directory listings. They will have a file extension of <*migrat*>. For example: seq.a00.<*migrat*>
  Note: Only project actions apply to migrated data sets. For instance, you cannot edit, copy, or delete a migrated data set.
• You can now specify up to 100 qualifiers for each drive letter. The previous limit was 25.
• Support has been added for accessing data sets that reside in a Librarian subsystem. To use it, you must edit the FFS system definition file, Application Data\IBM\FFS\ffs_sys.xml. For each qualifier that requires a subsystem specification, add <subsys-name> and as many <subsys-parm> tags as required. For example:

  <qualifier>
          <qualifier-name> MYID </qualifier-name>
          <qualifier-type> MVS </qualifier-type>
          <directory> MYID </directory>
          <transfer> text </transfer>
          <subsys-name> ZZZZ </subsys-name>
          <subsys-parm> p1 </subsys-parm>
          <subsys-parm> p2 </subsys-parm>
  </qualifier>

  Changes that you make directly to the XML file might not be preserved if you later update the information through the MVS connections manager. (This limitation was removed in Version 3.0.5.)

  Restrictions: Directory information will not be available for a Librarian (subsystem) data set. You cannot write to a Librarian data set. Thus, for example, you cannot include a Librarian data set in a project or look at its member list through Windows Explorer.

• Migrated data sets can be recalled from a Project window. Right-click on the data set, and then select Recall. Alternatively, from a command prompt, use the command FFSRECALL. For example:

  FFSRECALL M:\HLQ.IWZ.COBOL

  Enter FFSRECALL with no arguments for more information.

• File filtering is changed such that filters are applied to the file name only (not to the path), unless the filter contains a drive or directory specification.

• Window size, position, and properties are saved and restored when the Job Monitor window or TSO Commands window is closed and reopened.
• When both the Job Monitor window and the TSO Commands window are open, exiting either one does not close the other one. Exiting the second window closes that window and terminates the program.

  If only one of the two windows is open:

  • Clicking File -> Close closes that window but keeps the process active.
  • Clicking File -> Exit (or the X in the upper right corner) closes that window and terminates the program.
• Both the Job Monitor window and the TSO Commands window restore the last-used host when they are reopened.
• The Starting Core Services progress bar displays the progress as the percentage of completion: 0 - 25 - 50 - 75 - 100%.

• Host job return codes are shown correctly as either Sxxx (hex) or Unnnn (decimal).
• User-defined filters are saved and restored when the Job Monitor window is closed and reopened.
• SYSOUT file-size limit is saved and restored when the Job Monitor window is closed and reopened.
• The position of the split-bar is saved and restored when the Job Monitor window is closed and reopened.
• Delete filter is now on the menu bar and the Filter pop-up menu.
• Filtering by job name now works correctly.
• In the Submit JCL dialog, the active system is preselected.
• When you change filter properties and then click Save, the job list is automatically refreshed.

With Version 3.0.2 and before, FFS required that the environment variable FFSPATH be added to the .envvars file of the HTTP server. With Version 3.0.3 and later, this requirement is removed.

• Resize the individual column headers.
• Resize the MVS Connections Manager window.

1. Double-click the graphic variable in the Source pane. Right-click the variable and select Add to Program Monitor.
2. Double-click the value in the Monitors pane.
3. Remove the old value completely and then enter the new one.
4. Add a G in front of the first single quote (for example, G'X Y Z ') to indicate that this is a graphic value. Press Enter.

• If a statement in the program contains a literal string with unprintable characters, you might not be able to highlight variables in that statement.
• If you try to edit the value of a variable that contains unprintable data, the boxes are replaced by the tilde character.
• You might not be able to see the end of a long string.

To check your workstation registry to ensure that no parent products are installed, do these steps:

1. Click Start -> Run, type regedit, and click OK. The Registry Editor opens.
2. Double-click the following folders:
   HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
   SOFTWARE
   IBM
   IBM Distributed Debugger
   CurrentVersion
   install
   ParentProducts
3. Check for parent products. If no parent product is installed, proceed to the next step. If a parent product is installed, do not uninstall the Distributed Debugger.

To decrement the RefCount number in the workstation registry, do these steps:

1. Double-click the install folder again.
2. Right-click RefCount and select Modify.
3. Change the number to 1 and click OK.

To uninstall the Distributed Debugger, do these steps:

1. Click Start -> Settings -> Control Panel.
2. Click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
3. On the Install/Uninstall page, click IBM Distributed Debugger in the list of installed products, then click OK.
4. Shut down and reboot your workstation.

1. Right-click the My Computer icon and select Properties.
2. Click the Environment tab.
3. In the User Variables section, add the variable COBLPATH4 and give it a value that includes the client's MACROS directory for VisualAge COBOL. For example, if the VisualAge COBOL client portion is installed in c:\Ibmcobw, then the value of the new COBLPATH4 variable would be C:\IBMCOBW\MACROS;%COBLPATH4%.

   Or, if you have administrator authority on the client workstation, you can add the client's MACROS directory path in front of the existing value for the COBLPATH4 variable in the System Variables section.

4. Click Apply and then click OK.

1. Right-click the My Computer icon, and then click Properties.
2. Go to the Environment page. (If you use Windows 2000, go to the Advanced page and then click Environment Variables....)
3. In the System Variables section, modify the PATH variable so that all the VisualAge CICS directories (usually under C:\CNT310) are at the end of the PATH. For example, if the value of the PATH variable is this:

   %SystemRoot%;C:\UTILITIES;
   C:\CNT310\RUNTIME;C:\CNT310\TOOLS\UTIL;
   C:\Program Files\IBM\VACOBOL\BIN;. . .

   then change it to this:

   %SystemRoot%;C:\UTILITIES;
   C:\Program Files\IBM\VACOBOL\BIN;. . .;
   C:\CNT310\RUNTIME;C:\CNT310\TOOLS\UTIL;

4. Reboot your system.

1. Click Start -> Programs -> IBM VisualAge COBOL -> IBM VisualAge COBOL Projects.
2. In the list of projects, find the project that you want to make the new tool available to. Write down the entire directory path, followed by the project name, followed by .iwp. For example, c:\winnt\profiles\longwell\application data\ibm\vacobol\projects\test.iwp, where test is the project name and test.iwp is the name of the project definition file.
3. Click Start -> Programs -> IBM VisualAge COBOL -> Tools -> Program Editor. In the Editor window, open the definition file for the project, using the information that you wrote down in the previous step.
4. In the project definition file, find the +toolGroup= key and its value (for example, +toolGroup=mvs). This value is the name of the ToolGroup to which the new tool must belong if it is to be available to the project.
5. In the Editor window, open the solution configuration file VACOBV3.IWS, which is typically in the c:\WINNT\Profiles\username\Application Data\IBM\VACOBOL\MainPrj folder.
6. Make a copy of VACOBV3.IWS to safeguard against errors.
7. In VACOBV3.IWS, find the definition of the tool that you added (the +title= key will match the name you gave the tool).
8. Add a line in the body of the tool definition, and enter the +toolGroup= key and the value that you found in step 4 above (for example, +toolGroup=mvs). Save and close the file. If a +toolGroup statement already exists but the value does not match the value you found in step 4 above, you can add your value after the existing value, separating the values with a blank (for example, +toolGroup=ws mvs).
9. Close the IBM VisualAge COBOL Projects window, if it is still open.

1. Right-click your desktop. Click Properties.
2. Click the Settings tab.
3. Decrease the number of colors or the refresh frequency. Click OK.

1. Click Start -> IBM VisualAge COBOL -> IBM VisualAge COBOL Projects.
2. Click the Create New Project tab.
3. Enter the information requested until you are prompted to specify the location and name of the folder that will hold your project definition files.
4. Click the Browse button to the right of the input field.
5. Click c:\WINNT\Profiles\username\Desktop.
6. Click the Create a new folder icon in the upper right corner of the Browse for a Project Definition File Folder window.
7. Enter COBOL_Projects as the name of the new folder and press Enter. Click OK to close the window. Click Yes if prompted to create the folder. Click OK when prompted to accept the new default path.
8. Click Finish. The COBOL_Projects folder is created on your desktop.