isCOBOL Evolve

Upgraded isCOBOL IDE Remote Projects

The isCOBOL IDE 2021 R1, now based on Eclipse 2020-06 (4.16), offers a new feature to easily work with remote projects. Remote projects are defined by having local source code, but needing remote compilation and execution. The IDE now allows you to manage such projects, allowing development on a desktop Operating System (Windows, MacOS or Linux), but actions such as compile, run and debug are executed remotely on a target server.

Better IBM COBOL compatibility

IsCOBOL 2021R1 release enhances the compiler improving compatibility with the IBM COBOL compiler, simplifying the migration process from IBM machines to Open systems. Additionally, the ESQL syntax has been enhanced for better IBM DB2 compatibility allowing for migrations without needing to use the db2prep pre-compiler

Improved WebClient feature

isCOBOL WebClient has been removed from the isCOBOL EIS suite of products, and is now a separate product that can be purchased as an add-on to the runtime system. The new version is much improved over the previous, and supports Java 11 in addition to Java 8, has much better handling of mobile devices and high-dpi screens, and a redesigned dashboard.

The admin application is now a separate application, running on a dedicated port and can manage multiple WebClient servers at once, a useful feature when deploying in a clustered environment.

Even though WebClient comes with an embedded Jetty server, it is possible to deploy it to an external servlet container like Tomcat. Other J2EE servers can work as well, as long as they support the Servlet 3.0 spec.

C-Tree RTG v3

isCOBOL Evolve 2021 R1 comes with a new C-tree major release, providing a series of features and improvements.

The replication technology is now part of the C-Tree server, and data replication can now be either synchronous or asynchronous.

New browser-based tools, in addition to their .NET and Java versions, allow using the SQL Explorer, Monitor, and ISAM Explorer utilities can be used wherever a browser is available, such as mobile devices.

GUI enhancements

Many improvements to GUI controls have been implemented in this release.

The tab control has been enhanced allowing customization of colors and borders. Check-box, Push buttons and Radio buttons can now have rollover and disabled colors. All the container controls can now use a background image or gradient colors. Additional properties have been added in the supported GUI control syntax to allow a richer user interface.

isCOBOL Compiler

Starting from isCOBOL 2021R1, the compiler supports Lambda expressions through the new operator " -> "

To improve the compatibility with the MicroFocus COBOL dialect, and to offer additional syntax to isCOBOL users without the need to use any compiler option, isCOBOL compiler now has expanded support for LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION. A new File Connector has been released to allow full access to existing RM/COBOL indexed files.

isCOBOL Runtime

isCOBOL 2021R1 improves runtime performance across the board, new runtime configurations have been added to customize the behavior when running applications, and now there is support for Oracle Tuxedo.

Sort operations, very common in COBOL programs, are now much faster than in the previous release.

Oracle Tuxedo (Transactions for Unix, Extended for Distributed Operations) is a middleware platform used to manage distributed transaction processing in distributed computing environment, and now isCOBOL Evolve 2021R1 is qualified for Tuxedo 12 on all supported platforms.