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PowerBSORT

 

 

PowerCOBOL for Windows


Contents

PowerCOBOL™ is a visual, object-oriented development environment that allows you to create graphical user interface (GUI) applications on current Window® operating systems. PowerCOBOL’s graphical development environment lets you use your COBOL expertise to efficiently build and execute complex GUI applications in the Microsoft® Windows® environment. PowerCOBOL simplifies the process of programming for Windows by abstracting Windows APIs to a higher level.

 

 
Highlights
  • Abstracts low-level programming to a higher level
  • Uses COBOL as the language for responding to events and invoking other methods
  • Follows the object-oriented COBOL syntax model for interacting with GUI objects and their properties
  • Provides COBOL-edited data definitions using standard PICTURE clause syntax
  • Supports calls to standard COBOL programs
  • Offers guided development – pop-up menus let you know exactly what events, methods, and properties apply to a selected object
  • Provides a WYSIWYG development environment
  • Supports the import of ActiveX® controls, still using COBOL interfaces, so that PowerCOBOL applications can benefit from the latest and best gadgets available
  • Provides controls for interfacing to many popular data stores such as Excel spreadsheets, ODBC data bases, and ActiveX Data Objects.

With PowerCOBOL you get all the standard controls such as text fields, buttons, tabs, sliders, lists, toolbars, tabs, and tree structures. And PowerCOBOL is COM compliant so you can include ActiveX controls built using other products, or create and export ActiveX controls using PowerCOBOL. This allows you to take advantage of the rich libraries of ActiveX controls that are available.

Code in COBOL
PowerCOBOL uses COBOL as the GUI scripting language to handle application objects, events, and their properties or methods. This makes it easy for COBOL programmers to develop GUI applications. For example, the MOVE statement is used to set control properties. The PowerCOBOL development environment provides context-sensitive lists of events, properties and methods making it easy to know what can be done at different points in the interface.

Develop Multimedia Applications
Now you can build complex multimedia applications using audio, video, and animation with PowerCOBOL’s support for a wide range of Windows controls. The media control interface (MCI) control gives you direct access to the Windows MCI string application programming interface, which is used to control a wide array of multimedia devices.

Database Support
PowerCOBOL provides controls for accessing data directly in ODBC databases or through Active Data Objects. You can focus your COBOL applications on handling the business logic while taking advantage of other data handling packages for the data input and manipulation.

PowerCOBOL ships with sample applications that cover a wide array of PowerCOBOL controls. Additional samples can be downloaded from the Download Center.

PowerCOBOL Advantages
The advantages of the PowerCOBOL approach will be quickly apparent to experienced COBOL programmers:

  • You don't have to learn a new scripting language to work in a GUI environment
  • You don't have to search through hundreds of pages of low-level documentation to figure out what events might happen, which calls you can make or what properties apply to a given control
  • You don't have to compile and execute your code to see if your GUI looks just as you intended it to look
  • You can immediately put your COBOL knowledge to work
  • You can integrate your existing application code with your new GUI code
  • You can continue to write your code in the language designed for readability and maintainability

Detailed Features and Benefits

PowerCOBOL contains tools and utilities covering the full spectrum of GUI programming needs. The table below lists key features and benefits of PowerCOBOL.
New: Feature Summary Detail of Feature Benefit of Feature

COBOL for GUI

In PowerCOBOL you:

Handle events using COBOL.

Invoke GUI methods using COBOL.

Reference properties as COBOL data items.

Can include COBOL subroutines

Your COBOL skills apply immediately and naturally to the GUI event-driven model.
V5   Can select OO COBOL as the primary scripting mode.  
V6.1   Can use the special POW-COBJECT class to access other objects.  
V6.1   Can execute multiple instances of PowerCOBOL applications.  
V6.1   Can create Unicode applications  
V6.1   Can configure build behavior using environment variables.  
V9   Supports Windows Vista  
+V4 WYSIWYG design

PowerCOBOL Provides:

Drag and drop objects onto forms.

Objects shown as they appear at execution time.

You don't have to write code to position, size and style GUI objects.

You can focus your efforts on delivering the function and appearance desired by your users.

+V4 Guided development

Context-sensitive pop-up menus provide lists of available functions. For example:

Most frequently used design functions (cut, copy, paste, object properties)

Events that apply to the selected control

Methods that apply to the selected control name (in the code editor)

Properties of the selected control name (in the code editor)

Inserts skeleton code where appropriate.

You immediately know the events, methods, and properties for your selected control. You do not have to tackle hundreds of pages of documentation to retrieve this information.

By using skeleton code you make fewer typos and coding errors.

V4 COM compliant PowerCOBOL is a COM (Component Object Model) compliant system. You can mix and match PowerCOBOL objects with objects created with other COM compliant products.

V4

 

 


V6.1

ActiveX® support

With PowerCOBOL you can:

Include ActiveX controls in its forms.

Create ActiveX controls to include in other language applications.

Use a special POW-COBJECT class to access other objects.

 Your applications can take advantage of the rich sets of ActiveX controls that are available.

+V4


+V4.2

Basic controls PowerCOBOL includes the following controls, CheckBox ComboBox CommandButton DriveList FileList FolderList Graph GroupBox ListBox OptionButton Print ScrollBar Table TextBox Timer These controls cover the basic needs of most applications.
+V4
+V4.2
+V5
+V6.1
V7 		Extended controls and objects The following controls have been added to PowerCOBOL
Version 4: Custom, ListView, Menu, ProgressIndicator, Shape, Slider, StaticText, TreeView
Version 4.2: Tab, Toolbar
Version 5: Frame
Version 6.1: ADODataSource, Controls collection object
Version 7: Edit (lightweight version of TextBox but also adds support for data binding); Label (lightweight version of StaticText) 		Controls added in response to customer requests.
V6.1   Improves performance of ListView control.  
+V5 Text and Date formatting The RenderText object provides text formatting for many controls including the ability to format dates and have the input format match the display format. You can present your data in the most suitable manner for your users.
  Multi-media support

PowerCOBOL includes multi-media support through the controls:

Animation – time varying bitmaps

Image – includes bitmaps, Kodak Photo CD, Jpeg, icons and metafiles.

MCI – Media Control Interface, supporting sound, video and other media forms.

You can enhance your applications with pictures, sound and video.
+V4 ODBC support The DBAccess control provides access to ODBC compliant databases from PowerCOBOL applications.

Your PowerCOBOL application can access data from a wide variety of sources.

(Note: PowerCOBOL can call standard COBOL subroutines so all the data access features of COBOL are available to PowerCOBOL applications.)

V6.1 ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) support The ADODataSource control gives access to databases using Microsoft's ActiveX Data Objects. You can take advantage of the rich set of functionality provided with ADO.
    Subroutines to support the use of ADO by converting COM object references to object references that can be used by the ADODataSource control.  
   

Supports third party controls that use ADO (e.g. Microsoft Rich TextBox)

  
    Provides a DataBinding object for binding data of ADO controls.  
  DDE support The DDE control provides properties, methods and events for DDE (Dynamic Data Exchange) client functions. You can take advantage of DDE in your PowerCOBOL applications.
  Excel connection The ExcelConnection control provides properties and methods for: Opening, Retrieving, Updating, Saving, Closing ... Excel spreadsheet data. You can tightly integrate Excel spreadsheet data into your applications.
V6.1   SaveAsBook method has option to display the Save As dialog.
CloseBook method has options to close all books connected to the application and whether to save the book connected to the control. 		You can offer your users more control.
+V4 MS Transaction Server The MTS (Microsoft Transaction Server) control provides properties and methods for working Microsoft Transaction Server. You can take advantage of the transaction supporting functions of MTS.
V4
+V4.2 		Menus The Menu Editor provides straightforward creation and maintenance of menu bars and pop-up menus. You can create a key part of many applications quickly and easily.

V4

 Project view and Development Environment

PowerCOBOL provides a tree view of the modules, forms, code, and controls that make up PowerCOBOL projects. PowerCOBOL represents each object in the tree view with the object's icon.

Alongside the tree view are the properties and their values for the item selected in the tree view.

The project view menus provide the build, rebuild, execute functions common to the Fujitsu development environments.

The project view gives you a structural/textual view of the PowerCOBOL application, and a compact view of object properties. These complement the WYSIWYG view helping you understand and manage your applications.
V4.2  

Version 4.2 adds:

  • Global find and replace
  • Up to 60% smaller project files
V5   Version 5 expands the project tree when the project is opened and gives access to the Run-time Environment Setup tool.
V6.1   The Runtime Environment Setup Tool is invoked from the Project window.  
V6.1   Provides online help for all dialog boxes and property pages.  
V6.1   Can control compiler behaviors using environment variables.  
V6.1   Converts projects created with PowerCOBOL V1 and V2 to PowerCOBOL V6.1.  
V6.1   Converts Group items to Frame or GroupBox controls when converting V3 or earlier projects.  
V9   Online help converted to Microsoft Compiled HTML Help format (.chm) which is compatible with Windows Vista  

+V4

 Built-in debug connections

The PowerCOBOL debug function displays:

Project tree view

Active code list

Data monitor list

Active code windows

Command window

It gives you control of the event and subroutine code with the usual debug functions of:

Stepping into and over statements

Running

Setting breakpoints

Watching data

Helps you debug your PowerCOBOL application code quickly.

 
V4.2   Version 4.2 adds:
The useful NetCOBOL (previously called Fujitsu COBOL) datatips feature that displays data values when you hover the pointer over a data item. Leaves application window on top when a breakpoint is encountered.		 You can check window contents before viewing code
V6.1   Debug toolbars provided in the PowerCOBOL Editor  
V6.1   ESC key can be used to break execution when debugging.  
+V4 Properties Version 4 introduces over 600 properties, replacing the 120 "items" of earlier versions. The properties give you access to, and control over, many different aspects of the graphical controls and their contained data.
V4.2   Version 4.2 adds another 16 properties, including tooltips for all controls and fully configurable date formats.

V5

 

Version 5.0 adds 16 more properties, including HotImageList for flat buttons on toolbars. Execution time access for many properties has been upgraded.
V6.1  

Version 6.1 adds 23 more properties, including:
ActiveControl for the object that has the focus within a form.
Container with a pointer to the container object.
DisplayText of the TextBox control provides the text as it is actually displayed.
Properties supporting the ADODataSource control and custom controls.

  
V7   Version 7 adds 5 new properties primarily to support the new Edit and Label controls and tunes behavior on several other properties.  
V8  

Version 8 adds 3 new properties that provide control of:
- whether to set focus to the CommandButton control when the assigned function key is pressed
- whether an OptionButton’s Click event is generated on the mouse button down or mouse button released events
- whether to restore focus when the Enabled property of a Form is changed to true.

  
V6.1   Provides "POW-xxxx" constants for setting and testing properties.  
V6.1   When the Icon property is set, the icon is also displayed on the task bar.  
V4 Methods

Version 4 adds 30 methods covering functions to:

  • Dynamically move controls
  • Refresh control displays
  • Support new controls
The methods give you the functions you need to use the graphical controls.
V4.2  

Version 4.2 adds another 6 methods covering control of:

  • Modal and modeless dialogs
  • Pop-up menu display
  • Zorder
V5   Version 5 adds methods for clearing tables and forcing window messages to execute.
V6.1  

Version 6.1 adds methods for:

  • Closing and Saving Excel books
  • Displaying the Select Folder dialog
  • Inserting ListItem objects
  • Inserting strings in ComboBoxes and ListBoxes
  • Executing an application synchronously
V6.1   Provides "POW-xxxx" constants for setting and testing parameters.
V7   Makes minor adjustments to the ExecuteSync and UpdateRecord methods.  
V8   Adds the CallForm2 and DoModal2 methods which add a ModalStyle parameter to the CallForm and DoModal methods. The ModalStyle parameter indicates whether just the parent form or all forms in the same thread are inactive while the invoked form is open.
  
+V4 Events

Version 4 increases the number of supported events to over 30. Key events added:

Mouse events

Keyboard events

Change event for editable items

Got and lost focus events

Events supporting new controls

The events give you points at which you can tailor the behavior to the needs of your application.
V5   Version 5 adds DropDown events for DropDown buttons on Toolbars and events to support short-cut keys.
V6.1   Version 6 adds nine methods to support the ADODataSource control notifying changes of data and when the changes are completed.
V6.1   Provides "POW-xxxx" constants for setting and testing parameters.
V7   Makes minor adjustments to the Edit, KeyDown, KeyPress, KeyUp and Return events.  

+V4.2

 

 

V6.1

 PowerCOBOL Editor

Version 4.2 adds:

  • MDI
  • Undo
  • Print event procedures

Version 6.1 adds:

  • Debug toolbars.
 Makes it easier for you to edit your PowerCOBOL procedure code.
V4 Configurable editor You can customize PowerCOBOL to use your favorite editor. You can edit with your preferred editor.

"+Vn" in the "New in:" column indicates a feature that contains new or improved elements as well as existing elements. When "+Vn" is in Italics, it refers to the italicized detail items. The number n indicates the release in which the new feature was introduced. V9 features are shown in red.

An In-Depth Look at Fujitsu PowerCOBOL

The following sequence of screen captures lets you see the features of Fujitsu PowerCOBOL at work.

Project Tree-view
Form Editor
Adding ActiveX Controls
Selecting Events
Coding Events
Referencing Methods
Referencing Properties
Debugging Applications (1)
Debugging Applications (2)

Points to watch for in the Fujitsu PowerCOBOL walk-through include:

  • High-level view of projects in the project tree-view
  • Drag and drop form design
  • Easy ActiveX control inclusion
  • Guided coding of events, references and methods
  • Automated generation of source code
  • Automated build process
  • Debugging with control and visibility




Project Tree-view
At the center of PowerCOBOL is the project tree-view which uses icons that match the icons used in the form design. It lets you:

  • See all the constituent parts of a PowerCOBOL project.
  • See how these parts are combined to make up forms and modules.
  • Use property list on right hand side for an overview of property values.
  • Edit property values using the property list.
  • Use pop-up menus to start relevant functions.


Form Editor
The Form Editor provides:

  • Drag and drop design using the Tool Box (shown on left-hand side).
  • An optional alignment grid (made visible in the screen capture below - see the dots).
  • Access to all the form properties and supporting code (see later screen captures).
  • A preview function to quickly check your design's run-time behavior.



 

Adding ActiveX Controls
Add any registered ActiveX control by displaying the Custom Controls dialog and checking its box.
For example, the Microsoft Access Calendar Control is selected below.
Check the Form Editor screen capture below to see that the calendar icon ( ) is added at the bottom of the item box.






Selecting Events
In the Form Editor you find and access the events for each control by using pop-up menus.

In this example the form (the whole window) is the selected control. The right mouse button has been clicked to bring up the larger pop-up menu and "Edit Event Procedures" clicked to display the smaller menu that lists the events that apply to the form. Note:

  • You immediately know the list of events that apply to the form.
  • Events have meaningful names.
  • An asterisk by an event indicates code has been written for that event.
  • No asterisk indicates there is no code for that event (so no special actions will be taken).
  • Clicking on an event in the pop-up opens the code window for that event. (See Coding Events below)
  • For a form, you can create global code (such as data definitions) and common sub-routines by accessing COBOL sections within the ENVIRONMENT, DATA, and PROCEDURE DIVISIONS.




Coding Events
When you select an event, PowerCOBOL displays the code for that event. A program, referred to as a "scriptlet" in PowerCOBOL, handles each event. The example below shows code that is invoked when the form is closed.

  • Scriptlets can be a few lines or many lines.
  • You enter the COBOL code using normal editing functions.
  • See Referencing Methods and Referencing Properties for labor and error-saving code generation functions.
  • You can declare local data or you can use global data.
  • Code is colored to aid readability.




Referencing Methods
When editing code you can check on available methods and generate the invoking code by using pop-up menus.

In the above example the programmer has entered, or pasted, the name of a control - in this case the CmMCI1 MCI control. The name has been selected and the right mouse button clicked to bring up the left-hand pop-up menu. Selecting "Insert Method" displayed the right-hand menu containing all the methods that apply to the selected control.

Note: You immediately know what methods are available:

  • Methods have meaningful names.
  • Selecting the method from the pop-up menu prompts PowerCOBOL to generate the appropriate code to invoke the method: the text 'CmMCI1' in the program is replaced with 'INVOKE CmMCI1 "SetMCICommand" USING Command RETURNING ReturnValue'.




Referencing Properties
When editing code you can also check on available properties and generate code to reference properties using pop-up menus.

In this example the programmer has selected the text "CmMCI1" and right-clicked to bring up the pop-up menu. This time the Insert Property sub-menu has been selected to display a list of all the properties of the CmMCI1 MCI control. Note:
  • You immediately know what properties apply to the selected control.
  • Properties have meaningful names.
  • Selecting the property from the pop-up menu prompts PowerCOBOL to generate the appropriate code to reference the property.





Building Applications
PowerCOBOL creates executables for you using the Build function.

  • The Build window shows the progress and results of the latest build.
  • The Build window provides functions for checking errors, and building all or part of the project.



Debugging Applications (1)
PowerCOBOL's Debug window displays project and debug information in four panes.

  • The top pane contains the project tree-view.
  • The left middle pane indicates the active programs and the current program.
  • The right middle pane contains the list and values of data items being monitored.
  • The bottom pane communicates major execution actions and displays error messages.



Debugging Applications (2)
The PowerCOBOL Debugger lets you:

  • See the overall structure and execute line by line - at the same time.
  • View the executing form while watching the code.
  • Watch and change data item values.
  • Set breakpoints.


Platforms Supported

  • Microsoft® Windows® Vista®
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP
  • Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003
  • Microsoft® Windows® Server 2005



Frequently Asked Questions

Choosing PowerCOBOL

  1. How quickly can I apply my COBOL knowledge to Windows programming?
  2. What is the difference between PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL?
  3. How do I get started using PowerCOBOL?
  4. How long will it take me to use PowerCOBOL effectively?
  5. What languages do I need to know or learn to use PowerCOBOL?
  6. Can I create software that runs on Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003?
  7. What are the resource requirements for NetCOBOL and PowerCOBOL under Windows 98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003?

Using PowerCOBOL

  1. How do I debug a mixed PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL application?
  2. What packaging options are available for NetCOBOL and PowerCOBOL applications? Are there any guidelines for packaging in client/server environments?
  3. Does PowerCOBOL support the European date format?
  4. Can I import Version 3 projects into Version 9 of PowerCOBOL?
  5. Does PowerCOBOL Version 9 support Version 3 syntax?

Using PowerCOBOL with Databases

  1. Can I access SQL databases?
  2. Can I access Oracle and other databases with native SQL calls?
  3. Will other databases work with Fujitsu PowerCOBOL?
  4. Where can I get the ODBC Driver for my database?

1. How quickly can I apply my COBOL knowledge to Windows programming?

Answer: Immediately. PowerCOBOL can have you creating GUI's in minutes and you will find that NetCOBOL comes with all the tools to make you feel very comfortable in the Windows environment.

2. What is the difference between PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL?

Answer: PowerCOBOL is a GUI Builder that allows COBOL programmers to create Windows applications. PowerCOBOL uses an event-driven programming model like Visual Basic but all the programming is done in COBOL.

NetCOBOL is the compiler used to create batch and character mode (DISPLAY/ACCEPT and Screen Section) applications. It is possible to create mixed PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL applications. With PowerCOBOL, you can create and use ActiveX controls.

3. How do I get started using PowerCOBOL?

Answer: PowerCOBOL Getting Started is a good place to start learning about PowerCOBOL. Make sure that you install the Softcopy Documentation - this is a separate step from installing the NetCOBOL product. You will then find all the manuals can be easily accessed from the NetCOBOL Documentation Viewer. First read the overview in Chapter 1, then take the guided tour in Chapter 2.

After that you can move on to the PowerCOBOL User's Guide - Chapter 3, Developing Your First PowerCOBOL Application. Therafter you can check out the numerous sample programs that come with PowerCOBOL.

4. How long will it take me to use PowerCOBOL effectively?

Answer: If you are a proficient COBOL programmer with some familiarity with event-based programming, you can create your first interfaces within minutes, you will be creating useful interfaces within a few hours, and be highly productive within a few days.

5. What languages do I need to know or learn to use PowerCOBOL?

Answer: You only need to know COBOL to use PowerCOBOL. Properties and data are defined using COBOL data definitions, methods are invoked using COBOL syntax, and application events are coded in COBOL.

6. Can I create software that runs on Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows 2003?

Answer: Past versions of PowerCOBOL have supported the creation of applications for these versions of Windows. However, the latest version is only being tested on the operating systems listed under Platforms Supported above. We therefore only recommend using PowerCOBOL to create applications for these platforms.

7. What are the resource requirements for NetCOBOL and PowerCOBOL?

Answer:NetCOBOL for Windows will operate on any computer with at least the minimum resources required by each of these operating systems and the following available hard disk space:

610 MB to install NetCOBOL Enterprise Edition

8. How do I debug a mixed PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL application?

Answer: The NetCOBOL Debugging Guide - Chapter 3 describes debugging mixed PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL applications.

9. What packaging options are available for NetCOBOL and PowerCOBOL applications? Are there any guidelines for packaging in client/server environments?

Answer:Guidelines for packaging the NetCOBOL runtime support with your applications are provided in the NetCOBOL Runtime Installation Guide. Microsoft installation files are available for download along with tools that can help with the packaging – depending on which version of the Windows operating system you are targeting.

10. Does PowerCOBOL support the European date format?

Answer: Yes. A custom date format is provided in PowerCOBOL providing support for European date formats as well as others.

11. Can I import Version 3 projects into Version 9 of PowerCOBOL?

Answer: Yes. PowerCOBOL Version 9 has the ability to convert Version 3 projects into the Version 9 format.

12. Does PowerCOBOL Version 9 support Version 3 syntax?

Answer: Yes. For backward compatibility, Version 3 syntax is supported. However, you are encouraged to update your programs to the more object-oriented and component-based facilities in Version 9, on which future versions of PowerCOBOL will be based.

For more information on the Controls, Properties and Methods available in PowerCOBOL, including syntax descriptions and examples of each method, see the PowerCOBOL Reference and the on-line help for PowerCOBOL.

13. Can I access SQL databases?

Answer: Yes, Fujitsu PowerCOBOL and NetCOBOL support databases like Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Access, Oracle, Sybase and Informix using ODBC, and also using native EXEC SQL syntax.

14. Can I access Oracle and other databases with native SQL calls?

Answer: Yes. PowerCOBOL has been tested with various versions of the Oracle Pro*COBOL precompilers.

15. Will other databases work with Fujitsu PowerCOBOL?

Answer: Any database that can be accessed via ODBC should work.

16. Where can I get the ODBC Driver for my database?

Answer: The first place to look is with the vendor who supplied the database.