Problem:

When using XML Syntax Extensions, the COBOL output does not include the <xml version="1.0" > header.

Resolution:

The <?xml version="1.0"?> header is actually an XML Processing Instruction so you need to output it using the Syntax for Processing Instructions. For example:

      $set preprocess(prexml) o(foo.pp) warn endp
       select xml-stream assign "out.xml"
             organization  is xml
             document-type is omitted
             file status is xml-bookdb-status.
       xd xml-stream.
       01  xmls-group                identified by "group".
           05  xmls-Number pic 9(18)
               identified by "elementNumber" is attribute.
           05  xmls-Alpha  pic x(80)
               identified by "elementAlpha".


       working-storage section.
       01  xml-bookdb-status         pic s9(9) comp.


       procedure division.


           move 1235                     to xmls-Number
           move "Alpha value"            to xmls-Alpha
           open output xml-stream
           write xmls-group key is all xmls-group
           start xml-stream key is xmls-group
           write xmls-group key is processing-instruction
                     'xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"'
           write xmls-group
           close xml-stream


       stop run.

Outputs the following XML stream:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<group elementNumber="1235">
    <elementAlpha>Alpha value</elementAlpha>
</group>