WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining factory data
Use the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
in the DATA
DIVISION
of the FACTORY
paragraph to describe
the factory data that a COBOL class needs, that is, statically
allocated data to be shared by all object instances of the class.
The FACTORY
keyword, which you must
immediately precede with an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
declaration,
indicates the beginning of the definitions of the factory data and
factory methods for the class. For example, the definition of the
factory data for the Account class might look like this:
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Factory.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 NumberOfAccounts pic 9(6) value zero.
. . .
End Factory.
You can initialize
simple factory data by using VALUE
clauses as shown
above.
COBOL
factory data is equivalent to Java™ private
static data. No other class or subclass (nor instance method in the
same class, if any) can reference COBOL factory data directly. Factory
data is global to all factory methods that the FACTORY
paragraph
defines. If you want to make factory data accessible from outside
the FACTORY
paragraph, define factory attribute (get
or set) methods for doing so.