Files

If you mean the files you define in your COBOL program using file-control entries, etc, then no, they aren't in an Access or Excel format. Access and Excel are Microsoft applications and they use multiple file formats, none of which are suitable for COBOL indexed files. (At least that's true of the Excel file formats. I'm not sure what Access uses, but given its reputation, I'd be leery of it.)

If you need to write a COBOL program that can use Access and Excel files, you should probably use COM objects provided by Microsoft for that purpose. There are alternatives (MS Office APIs, CSV files with Excel), but they're more complicated.

Regarding your second question, no, you don't use SQL for file access. Embedded SQL is only used for operations against DBMSes. For file operations, COBOL provides various statements (OPEN, READ, etc), and MF COBOL also supplies library routines (CBL_OPEN_FILE, etc) for low-level file access. Or you can call OS or third-party APIs, directly or through interfaces like COM.

There's a chapter on file handling in the product documentation:

documentation.microfocus.com/.../GUID-50FC4716-ADA2-41F1-AA48-7694E03ED62B.html

Here is some extra information for you

When you first start out, select New Project

In the New Project window, on the left side, under COBOL, select NATIVE

In the centre area of the window, select Console Application

In the lower part of the window, type in a Name: (it is defaulted to ConsoleApplication1)

The Solution Name field attracts the same name as you type

Set the Location field - e.g. C:\\Users\\jeswoope\\Documents\\ProjectX\\

In the Solution field select Create new solution

Now you will have a project to work with

Then a Program1.cbl sample/skeleton program will appear and the Solution Explorer window on the right side

What you can do here is to go to the actual project folder on your machine and put another program in there - it doesn't matter what it is for the time being

Call it ABC123.cbl - use the .cbl extension (note: it will attract the .txt file icon under Windows Explorer but when you use Properties you will see it's a .cbl file)

And, when doing this step, use the left side of the Windows Explorer window which will expand the project without trying to start it

Dbl-click ProjectX and another ProjectX appears as subordinate to it

Dbl-click that subordinate one and you will see the Program1.cbl file (notice the icon is as for a .txt file), a Projectx COBOL Project file and a ProjectX.dep file

Copy your ABC123.cbl into there - it can be anything because you will replace the contents in the next few steps

Now go back to MF VC and the Solution Explorer window on the right side (if the Solution Explorer window is not there you can select VIEW from the second top line on your screen and select Solution Explorer from there)

Expand ProjectX so you see Properties and Program1.cbl

Right click the ProjectX line then select Add then select Existing Item

A little directory of your project will pop up on the left side of your screen

You can see ABC123.cbl there - select it and click Add

ABC123.cbl is now part of ProjectX and an Output window pops up to give you some status info - read it and then close it

Back in the Solution Explorer window on the right side right-click Program1.cbl then select Exclude from Project

Program1.cbl is no longer part of ProjectX but it's code is still in the ProjectX folder on your machine and you can keep it or delete it - whatever you want to do

Assuming ABC123.cbl is a valid COBOL program you can now compile it

Right-click ABC123.cbl and select Compile

An Output window pops up - read the info in that window to get an idea of what it did, then close it

Thus far, you have a project called ProjectX with program ABC123.cbl in it that has been compiled and at this point we assume it compiled clean

Now you must Build the project

Select BUILD on the second top line on your screen

9 options appear

For now, just concentrate on options 4, 5 & 6

Select the 4th option - Build ProjectX

Another Output window pops up - read it then close it

From here you will probably just use Rebuild ProjectX and occasionally use Clean ProjectX

At this point you will need to do the COBOL programming part

Using the inbuilt (automatic) editor, modify your COBOL code so it does what you want

Then select Rebuild ProjectX from the BUILD menu and keep doing that until you are happy with it

To establish a stock standard flat file in your program, use this:

      ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.

      CONFIGURATION SECTION.

      INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.

      FILE-CONTROL.

          SELECT ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES

              ASSIGN TO "C:\\SAMPLE\\ABC123.DISPLAY.MESSAGES.TXT"

              ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL

              ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL.

      DATA DIVISION.

      FILE SECTION.

      FD  ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

      01  ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD      PIC  X(100).

Note that all records in this file will be variable length, as in RECORDING MODE V on a mainframe, even though you pad out the record with spaces.

Then you can use this:

          OPEN OUTPUT ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.  or

          OPEN EXTEND ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

There is also OPEN INPUT just like a DSORG=PS flat file on a mainframe and then you can use this:

          READ <filename>

            AT END

              PERFORM ... THRU ...    {or}

              COMPUTE ...             {or}

              MOVE, SET, ADD, etc

              GO TO <filename>-END.

There is also this:

          CLOSE ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

As for the overall programming, you will find this product extremely capable and very pleasurable to use

You do not need to worry about EXTENTs or file allocations (the mainframe DD statement) as this is all done automagically for you, probably by Windows

Now, to run program ABC123 go back to the Solution Explorer window on the right side of the 'Development Environment' area

Select Rebuild ProjectX and if no errors you are ready to run it

Note that Build ProjectX for the first time and then Rebuild, Rebuild, Rebuild, etcetera

Even if you add another program into ProjectX you can just use Rebuild

Next to BUILD on the second top line there is DEBUG - select it

Options 2 and 3 are Start Debugging and Start Without Debugging

It's up to you here but if you Start Debugging then you will need to familiarise with Stop Debugging and it's pre-requisites

First, select the 3rd option Start Without Debugging

Your ProjectX will run

When a project runs it starts with the first program in the list and from there it's at your discretion of the ordering of all the other programs in the project, by way of your use of the CALL statement

This works really well

Put a DISPLAY 'PROGRAM ABC123 ENDED OK' line in there and you will see the window pop up

The sample Program1.cbl has GOBACK

I use EXIT PROGRAM. instead because you can run one of the programs stand alone or as part of a stream and EXIT PROGRAM works in both cases

If you have coded your program to include something like this

           MOVE 'Hello World from ProjectX' TO ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD.

           WRITE ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD.

you will then be able to look into "C:\\SAMPLE\\ABC123.DISPLAY.MESSAGES.TXT" and see what's in there

There is a lot of information I have not included in here but this will get you going

I must admit to taking several months of false starts to get MF VC working for me because of a lack of 'Simple Steps Documentation' to guide the user through the first steps

Finally, one of the people on the Forum who supplies lots of advice pointed me along and I was able to get traction and get going

The MOVE statement can be used like an IBM Assembler MVC or MVI statement

For example, MOVE FIELDA (004:008) TO FIELDB (020:008).

Depending on how you think and work, and on your programming background, you can use this version of MF VC in different ways, to suit your own style

It's a really good product so take the time to get started and then pick up speed later on

What I have put here is a very basic MF COBOL project and there are other more exotic ways of doing all this

Storage SORTs

As far as I know, the IBM mainframe COBOL cannot sort an array but MF VC can

Use this:

             01  WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-ARRAY-AREA.

                 03  WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-ARRAY      OCCURS 100.  

                     05  WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-KEY    PIC  X(050).

                 MOVE SPACES TO WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-ARRAY-AREA.

                 MOVE <data> TO WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-ARRAY (<subscript>)

                 SORT WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-ARRAY

                   ON ASCENDING

                   KEY WS-ABC123-MESSAGES-KEY.

Write from SPACES

Instead of moving spaces to the output record and then writing it, you can do this:

           WRITE ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD FROM SPACES.

That will write a blank line to your output file in one coded line

This is a sample program I set up:

      IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

      PROGRAM-ID.    ABC123.

      ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.

      CONFIGURATION SECTION.

      INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.

      FILE-CONTROL.

          SELECT ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES

              ASSIGN TO "C:\\SAMPLE\\ABC123.DISPLAY.MESSAGES.TXT"

              ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL

              ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL.

      DATA DIVISION.

      FILE SECTION.

      FD  ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

      01  ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD      PIC  X(100).

      WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

      PROCEDURE DIVISION.

       OPEN OUTPUT ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

       WRITE ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES-RECORD

        FROM 'Hello World from ProjectX'.

       CLOSE ABC123-DISPLAY-MESSAGES.

      EXIT-PROGRAM.

          EXIT PROGRAM.