Features Added in 2.2 Update 1

This release provides enhancements in the following areas:

Micro Focus Heartbleed Update

This product includes OpenSSL version 1.1.1c.

Compare and Synchronization Monitor

With the release of Visual COBOL 2.2 Update 1, the Compare and Synchronization Monitor has been updated to version 2.

Version 2 is greatly improved in terms of performance, especially during initial checkout of partitioned data sets or when synchronizing a large number of members. Also, the user interface has been improved, and some of the functions available in the old version have now changed or become obsolete.

Compiler Directives

The following Compiler directives have been added in this release:
ILPARAMS
Determines the way in which you call a method that contains an array as its last receiving parameter.
INIT-BY-TYPE
Initializes Working-Storage Section data items to a default value, according to their type.
  • Alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric edited, and numeric edited items are initialized to spaces.
    Note: For an OSVS dialect, numeric edited items are initialized to zeroes.
  • Numeric items are initialized to zero.
  • Pointer items are initialized to null.
  • Index items are initialized to the value 1.

Enterprise Server Integration in the IDE

You can now use the context menu for the servers in Server Explorer to enable the display of the Enterprise Server log information in .

Environment Variables

The following environment variable has been added in this release:
strictvsam
strictvsam enables strict mainframe emulation when processing VSAM files.
When set to ON and running under mainframe emulation, file status 37 is returned for an existing VSAM file when opened for OUTPUT if the file has data or previously had data written to it, or if the file is of a different format to the file on disk. When set to OFF, file status 0 is returned and a new file is created when an existing VSAM file is opened for OUTPUT. This variable is set to OFF by default.

Fileshare Recovery

Recovery of Fileshare data files has been enhanced.

Rollback recovery is a faster process that aims to fix the files from their failed state.

This process cannot be used in all scenarios, but a new user exit has also been introduced that allows you to programmatically control which files you wish to recover with this process.

Hot backups are also a new introduction, which allow you to perform a backup without having to shut down Fileshare.

Managed COBOL Syntax

This release includes the following enhancements to the managed COBOL syntax:

Specifying parameters in the method signature
You can now specify passing parameters and returning items in the method signature, instead of using a Procedure Division header. This applies to methods, indexers, iterators, constructors and delegates.
CONSTANT keyword
Use the CONSTANT keyword on a field to protect it from being altered.
Operations on string fields
You can now use the STRING, UNSTRING and INSPECT statements on fields of type string.

Terminfo Files

The following terminfo files have been added:

  • ansi80x25 - this is based on the old ansi file. A newer version of ansi exists in this release that has no function key support, which is consistent with ansi terminfo files on various other UNIX platforms. If you currently use ansi and require function key support, you should instead set the TERM environment variable to ansi80x25 to continue previous behavior.
  • xterm-color and kterm-color - these are now available on all UNIX platforms - previously, they were only available on Linux.
  • aixterm-old (AIX systems only) - this has similar capabilities to the AIX OS terminfo file of the same name. It differs from the existing aixterm file, because it has no line drawing capability. Line drawing is only possible with aixterm if it is displayed on an appropriate display (X server).
  • vt220-w - this is the wide (132-column) version of the vt220 file, and is based on the vt100-w file. For more information, see Wide Terminal Mode in the documentation referenced at the bottom of this section.

There have been a number of additions and fixes to existing terminfo files; refer to the Terminfo Database and Terminal Devices section of the documentation for full details.

There have also been a number of terminfo files that have been removed; refer to the Backward Compatibility section for a complete list.

XA Switch Modules

This release provides the following new functionality:

  • New two-phase commit module for SQL Server based on Microsoft's XA switch. This provides support for xa_recover.
  • Support for DB2 LUW version 10.5.
  • Support for Oracle version 12.1.
Parent topic: New Features