Software provides COBOL support for z/OS®.

Press Release Summary:



Enterprise COBOL v3.3 delivers needed COBOL function to continue integration of COBOL and Web-oriented business processes. It includes support for XML and DB2® V8 and functions in IBM Debug Tool for z/OS® v4. WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS offers COBOL support for Enterprise Beans; run-time support and initial development tools in WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer enable COBOL programs to be dynamically loaded into WebSphere Application Server for z/OS regions.



Original Press Release:



IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS V3.3 and Preview: Enhanced COBOL support for Enterprise Beans in IBM WebSphere Application Server for z/OS



Overview

Enterprise COBOL V3.3 enables developers to leverage more than 30 years' worth of applications in new endeavors. It delivers needed COBOL function to continue integration of COBOL and Web-oriented business processes.

New in V3.3

· Enhanced XML support
· Support for the new functions in IBM Debug Tool for z/OS® V4
· Support for DB2® V8

Preview: Enhanced COBOL support for Enterprise Beans in WebSphere® Application Server for z/OS

IBM announces the technical preview of enhanced run-time support and initial development tools in WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer that will enable COBOL programs to be dynamically loaded into WebSphere Application Server for z/OS regions. They can be accessed from Enterprise Beans running in those regions.

Previews provide insight into IBM plans and releases. Availability prices, ordering information, and terms and conditions will be provided when the program is announced. IBM plans and intent are subject to change without notice.

Key prerequisites

One of the following:

· z/OS V1.1 (5694-A01), or later
· OS/390® V2.10 (5647-A01)

Depending on the function used, certain levels of other programs may be required. Refer to the Software requirements section for details.

Planned availability date

February 27, 2004

For ordering, contact:
Your IBM representative, an IBM Business Partner, or the Americas Call Centers at 800-IBM-CALL Reference: LE001

Description

V3.3 compiler enhancements

XML processing enhancements: V3.3 builds on existing compiler XML capabilities to provide set-level operations between XML documents, represented as character strings, and COBOL elementary or group data items. The new XML GENERATE verb generates XML from a data item.

Support for DB2 for z/OS V8: V3.3 has been enhanced to take advantage of new SQL support that is planned to be available with DB2 for z/OS V8. Using the DB2 coprocessor support (SQL compiler option), you can now use new DB2 V8 SQL features such as multiple-row FETCH, multiple-row INSERT, and longer names for SQL identifiers, table names, and column names.

Support for debug tool: Enterprise COBOL is enhanced in V3.3 to support the new level of debug tool included in either the V3.3 Full Function offering or as the separate, new IBM Debug Tool for z/OS V4 product. Included is support for the following new debug tool features:

· Improved performance with COBOL debug side files
- Performance is improved when using COBOL debug side files. Changes were made to only read the debug information from a COBOL debug side file for the programs that the user wants to debug.

· Enhanced debugging of programs using unicode support:

- When national data is displayed using the Debug Tool LIST command or is part of a formatted dump, is automatically converted to EBCDIC representation using the code page specified in the CODEPAGE compiler option when the program was compiled. The output of a successful conversion may be a string containing mixed SBCS and DBCS characters, including SO and SI characters, depending on the code page used.
- The Debug Tool MOVE command now supports assigning values to national data items. A national data item may also be moved to or from a group data item.
- Debug Tool conditional commands such as IF and EVALUATE may specify national data as comparands.

· Support for object-oriented COBOL syntax - Programs containing object-oriented COBOL syntax can be debugged with Debug Tool.

Full Function vs Alternate Function offerings

The mainframe interactive debug tool is offered with the Enterprise COBOL compiler in the Full Function offering. This debug tool is a common facility that supports:

· Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
· Enterprise PL/I for z/OS
· COBOL for OS/390 & VM
· COBOL for MVS(TM) & VM
· VisualAge® PL/I for OS/390
· PL/I for MVS & VM
· z/OS C/C++ optional feature
· OS/390 C/C++ optional feature

Only one Full Function offering is required for debugging applications written using any of these programming products. An Alternate Function offering is available for customers who do wish to receive the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS compiler but not the debug tool.

Debug Tool for z/OS V4 is also offered as a separate product. For more information about the function offered in the debug tool, refer to Software Announcement 203-237, dated September 16, 2003.

Preview: Enhanced COBOL support for Enterprise Beans in WebSphere

This technical preview includes enhanced run-time support and initial development tools in WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer that will enable COBOL programs to be dynamically loaded into WebSphere Application Server for z/OS regions. They can be accessed from Enterprise Beans running in those regions. The tools will generate a session Enterprise Beans "wrapper" that represents the procedural COBOL program in the WebSphere region, enabling the business logic in the COBOL program to be accessed in the same way as any other Enterprise Bean. Support will include management of an IBM DB2 connection, so that the COBOL program may access DB2 databases using EXEC SQL statements.

After January 27, 2004, visit

http://www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/cobol/zos/

· For detailed information about availability dates, terms and conditions, COBOL programming restrictions, and prerequisite software levels of WebSphere Studio Enterprise Developer, DB2, and WebSphere Application Server for z/OS

· To participate in the technical preview to gain early experience with this COBOL Enterprise Beans support

Hardware and software support services

SmoothStart(TM) /installation services: SmoothStart and Installation Services are not provided.

Trademarks

MVS and SmoothStart are trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both.
z/OS, DB2, WebSphere, OS/390, and VisualAge are registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States or other countries or both.
Other company, product, and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

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