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New to RM/COBOL

  • March 5, 2018
  • 5 replies
  • 0 views
D

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare

5 replies

Juan Urraburu
  • Juan Urraburu
  • Participating Frequently
  • March 5, 2018

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare
Hi Kevin,

Using a current RM/COBOL Runtime System, like current 12.14 will let you run on Windows 10, both 32bit and 64bit.

Then, in the future, if you want to access the COBOL database without using COBOL, you can use Relativity to build Tables Definitions on top of the Cobol File Descriptions, and then access COBOL data from any ODBC or JDBC tool, including web based options.

Sincerely,
D

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare
The ghost of Grace Hopper is going to visit you at mid-night and tell you that you will be visited by three spirits: The ghost of programming languages past, the ghost of programming languages present, and the ghost of programming languages future...

(Not knowing what COBOL is, is really blowing my mind.)

<<The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10>>

OK, not surprising. I would ask what version it is, but at this point it's not important. You need to contact Micro Focus customer support and purchase the latest version of RM/COBOL, which is 12.14, and install it.

<<Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?>>

RM/COBOL does not have an actual database. Instead it uses proprietary keyed index files, similar to C-ISAM. So, I'm afraid that you'll need a new RM/COBOL.

I guess the thing that I'm worried about is if the application is a "character mode" application. Character mode was dropped a long time ago and essentially runs within a command window. If you run this with a newer version of RM/COBOL, the presentation is going to look more graphical, which may confuse your users. However, the application should still work. (Of course, the graphical model has been around for a while too, so there's a good chance they're already using it.)
D

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare
if you are using a version that is not installed because you have moved them from a computer you should use the CMD command called RUNCOBOL / regserver. Now you should be able to use the runcobol command in the cmd and if the cobol still does not work you should check the compatibility if it is a runtime 11 or lower you must change the compatibility to winxp sp3
D

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare
Do you know what version of RM/COBOL your current system uses? You mentioned XP, so you could potentially be using a 16-bit version, which won't run on any 64-bit version of Windows and is difficult to run on 32-bit versions after XP.

The current version, 12.14, can run your programs and access your data files as long as there aren't any non-COBOL programs involved -- even then, it will work unless you have a really ancient version (v6 or earlier). You'll definitely have to upgrade to the current version of RM/COBOL by obtaining a new license.

As Juan mentioned, Relativity will allow you to access your RM/COBOL data files as a database, but t you'll need the original COBOL source code for the record layouts. It's probably easier for you to continue accessing the files by running the COBOL programs.
D

Good afternoon.

 

I am the IT Admin for a hospital in Maine.

Two years ago we retired our Electronic Medical Records system and opted into a new Web based one.

The older system was called "Hi-Tech" and RM/COBOL was a component we had to install on each PC prior to accessing the database.

That's the extent of my knowledge on COBOL. I literally have no idea what COBOL does other than it needed to be installed first and THEN we could get into our database (well, that and I think I've heard rumors that COBOL has been around forever and 'just works').

We are now on Windows 10 (we were on XP and W7 Pro) and we are trying to test access to the old EMR system.



Here is what I know so far...

The company who built & provided service for the old EMR system is out of business (2 years now).

The version of RM/COBOL that they provided us (and that we still have on file) will not work with Windows 10

 

What I think I need...

A version of COBOL that will install on W10 and allow us access to our old EMR.

Possibly another way to access this database *without* COBOL?

 

I'm flying blind here. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I feel confident that with the instructions we still have on file and a compatible version of RM/COBOL, I think we can make this work.  

 

Fortunately we still have staff that know how to use the old EMR system once it is accessible to them.

 

Any and all advice greatly appreciated.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Waterville, Maine

 


#Hi-Tech
#RMCOBOL
#Maine
#healthcare
Kevin,

BTW, sorry for being snarky.

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