Rocket® Visual COBOL®

Hi everyone,If you’re interested in exploring a new GenAI capability that helps plan, generate, and analyze unit tests for COBOL, the AI Unit Testing for COBOL beta is a great opportunity to try it firsthand. Feel free to sign up or share this post with colleagues who may benefit. COBOL applications weren’t originally designed with unit testing in mind, which has made adoption notoriously challenging. In this beta program, you’ll gain hands-on experience with GenAI-driven unit testing and learn how to adopt it without making any changes to your production code. Learn more and register here: linkIf you have any questions, please reach out. I’d be happy to help. 

My company currently uses Net Express 3.1 and will be migrating to Visual COBOL within the next several months.  We use the SPZERO compiler directive on majority of the programs we migrated off the mainframe several years ago.  This is due to having spaces in numeric fields on the old mainframe data files.  At the time of migration, it was better to use SPZERO than to modify the files/programs.  I read in the Visual COBOL documentation that SPZERO has been deprecated and is not supported in Visual COBOL.  Is there an alternate way to accomplish the same behavior as SPZERO in Visual COBOL? Thanks,Ben#VisualCOBOLautoscalemodescreenresolution#COBOL#netexpress

Hi everyone,We’re excited to welcome you to the first video in a new series COBOL in Action, launching in 2026. This series is all about short, highly technical sessions packed with hands-on product demos and practical insights.In this episode, we’re diving into the Rocket COBOL Visual Studio Code extension. We’ll walk through key capabilities such as source control integration and AI features that can enhance your development workflow.We want to make this sessions as valuable for you as possible so please share your questions and feedback in the comments. If there’s a specific topic you’d like us to cover in a future session, let us know. Your input will help shape what we tackle next.Thanks for joining us, and we hope you enjoy the video!

HI,I am reading the book Visual COBOL. In my opinion the book is horrible. There is no punctuation in the code.  Since I am a beginner at this and Fortran, I’m not sure where it should go. So, I am putting periods at the end of every sentence. If you have read the book I am on page 14, doing the first program with Rental Agency. Also, there is no Capitalization in the text. S0, I am capitalizing words that I think are keywords.I have no idea if this is going to work.  I have another book Intro to COBOL. It  is better since it has done Cobol correctly. But I would like some help, please.Thanks for any help you can give me. Wow this site is very aggravating I keep getting post a public tag. I have 3 tags and it still is asking me for more tags, public ones.Mark

Hey everyone,As we step into 2026, one thing is certain: GenAI will remain a major topic this year. That raises an important question — how can you leverage GenAI to accelerate COBOL modernization?This question inspired our latest insights article:✅ When generative AI delivers real value in COBOL modernization, and when it can lead to dangerous hallucinations✅ How to address the skills shortage and improve knowledge transfer using GenAI✅ What makes Rocket Software’s approach to GenAI different, ensuring you get insights you can trust for your modernization projectsRead the full post here: The Role of Generative AI in COBOL Modernization | Rocket SoftwareIf you have any questions or want us to dive deeper into any of these topics, let us know in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!

Hi everyone,Thank you again to everyone who joined the State & the Future of COBOL webinar.  If you missed it or would like to share it with your colleagues, here is the recording: The State & The Future of COBOL | Rocket SoftwareStay tuned and turn on the Rocket Forum notifications so you don’t miss the next event. Here are the quiz winners:Marc C.Sebastian S.Thibaut C.Elsabe A.Frank B.Jebastin K.Paul M.Jonathan S.Juan U.Florian G.And then Allan L. who guess the author of the COBOL quote.We'll share the gift details with everyone next week.Best,Rocket COBOL team

This all works correctly with a Linux host of Centos 7 and Rocky Linux 8 but not with Rocky Linux 9. Host: Rocky Linux 9.4, docker 28.2.0 and MF Visual COBOL 6.0 When /var/microfocuslicensing/bin/startboth.sh is run as the docker image starts, lserv starts correctly and mfcesd seems to start but hangs so mfcesdchk fails to communicate with the license server.  A pstack of mfcesd shows: On a Rocky Linux 9 docker image:#0  0x00007fe3acf7c1f7 in close () from /lib64/libc.so.6#1  0x000000000040ab11 in daemonize ()#2  0x000000000040e7b5 in main () It takes over 10 minutes to actually start so that mfcesdchk returns correctly. I am just trying to debug if this is a docker on Rocky 9 issue or inside the mfcesd daemonize code.  Any ideas or trace info that can be turned on while mfcesd is starting up to determine where it is hanging?------------------------------Eric HardestyRocket Software Forum Member------------------------------

Hi. We are trying to setup a COBOL project, originally setup with Enterprise Developer (Micro Focus) for Eclipse, within VSCode using the Rocket COBOL extension. This project uses multiple folders, each of one hosted within different Git repositories. At first, we just imported the main folder, containing the main .cobolProj file from the original Eclipse project. However, no copybooks or other COBOL files referred from this .cobolProj file seems to be discovered by the extensión. We get COBCH0008 errors showing  "unknown copy file filename" for example, on COBOL files using the COPY directive. We then tried to import additional folders containing these copybooks into a VSCode workspace, but to no avail. Our question is :  Does the Rocket COBOL extension for VSCode work as expected, with a multi-folder project ? Just as an example, the <copybook> section of the main .cobolProj file looks like this: <copybook-paths xsi:type="copybookPathsSettings">         <path enab

Hello COBOL Community! Last week, we brought together over 50 passionate COBOL enthusiasts right next to the iconic London Eye, and what a day it was! The event was packed with learning, experience exchange, and networking. While every modernization journey is unique, many of you face similar challenges. That's why being part of a community matters. It gives us a chance to learn from each other, find inspiration, and grow together. A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed with insightful questions, ideas, and feedback. You made the day truly special. Here's a quick look at the key topics we explored: Rocket COBOL: Edge of TomorrowWe discussed COBOL's continued relevance and evolution, highlighting how modern tools including AI are expanding its capabilities and integration potential. How to Drive New Business Value with New Features in Rocket Visual COBOL and Rocket COBOL AnalyzerA showcase of the latest enhancements and functionalities across our product

What to do? As you do not get a lot of Patch Updates for Visual COBOL 7.0 for Visual Studio 2019 these days, help links still point to somewhere on microfocus.com It would be nice if they could work with the new home https://docs.rocketsoftware.com/bundle/visualcobol_dg4_70_html/page/GUID-CBF8DCDC-1F63-4C02-AC0C-7FABBE6A04AD.html I know help can be installed locally, but this is an additional support burden we would like to avoid if possible. Since this version is still supported, any plans to fix this in a PU? Kind regards, Robert------------------------------Robert de Mander CEORocket Forum Shared AccountSweden------------------------------

Is someone able to advise when the Visual COBOL Personal Edition for V11 will be available? The download form is still returning a link for the v10 installation zip.------------------------------Dominic EveRocket Software Forum Member------------------------------

Hi. We have few developers using licensed Enterprise Developer for Eclipse products (Micro Focus). They all have the same installation paths. Now they are trying to migrate to Visual Studio Code using the Rocket COBOL extension. However, one of them is having problems with the activation of the Language Server. Despite having configured the install location of the licensed product exactly in the same way as the others, the COBOL Language Server is not enabled. (Language Server Autostart setting is also set to true) When opening a COBOL file, VSCode detects it as a COBOL file,  but when checking the brackets on the VSCode status bar, (next to the COBOL file type) there's no information about the Language Server being used or enabled. If we type anything into any COBOL file, no errors are raised by VSCode. We have checked the output of  the Rocket COBOL extension, but there is no clue about what is going on. There's basically no information about any activity of the extension. So th

In our system, the FILE NAME is with an underscore.The PROGRAM-ID is listed in the middle lineWhen performing a CALL, it is performed with an underscore.When I perform a search for a connection between programs, the connection is not found because of the differences in the lines.How can I configure this issue?------------------------------Efrat RogowayBank Of Jerusalem LtdJerusalem IL------------------------------

Hello, I'm working on a Visual COBOL application that connects to a relational database via ODBC. I want to know: What ODBC driver properties or attributes does Visual COBOL expect for proper functioning? Are there specific cursor types, transaction settings, or character set requirements? Any known limitations or recommended configurations for ODBC drivers with Visual COBOL?. Any guidance or references from Micro Focus / Rocket documentation would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!------------------------------Divya KoduriEngineerUnisys CorporationBanglore IN------------------------------

COBOL remains a cornerstone of global business operations powering 70% of the world's business transaction processing across industries such as banking, insurance, travel, retail, and government. However, running COBOL that has not been modernized – combined with outdated engineering tools and practices – can slow innovation, increase operational risk, and expose systems to today's security threats. Organizations with COBOL at their core can no longer afford to operate on outdated applications and systems or take unnecessary, expensive risks with application rewrite projects.  However, for many people, COBOL's reputation is clouded by a number of persistent myths and misunderstandings – even those familiar with COBOL may still judge it based on how it looked and operated over 30 years ago. Join us for a LinkedIn Live event on COBOL modernization without myths and outdated perception. Learn why COBOL remains vital to global businesses and how Rocket Software products enable modernizatio

Hi everyone, Thanks to everyone who joined us for your activity and questions. To those who couldn't make please feel free to watch it on demand. The recording of the COBOL x GenAI Insights: Meet Rocket® Visual COBOL® 11.0 webinar is available. You can watch the recording anytime and share it with your team. Some useful materials: Webinar recording Webinar deck Rocket Visual COBOL 11.0 Documentation Supported platforms Rocket Enterprise Suite 11.0 Webinar Recording for IBM Z Application Modernization COBOL in 1 Day Course Thank you to everyone who actively participated in the quiz as well! Five winners will receive gifts from Rocket Software. The team will contact you individually: Andrew B. Joel F. Brian C. AJ A. Simon S. Please look forward to our next event: LinkedIn Live Event: COBOL Modernization Without the Myths, Sep 30, 11 a.m. ET Join us for the event on COBOL modernization: Without myths and outdated perceptions. Learn why COBOL remains vital to global businesses and how

Hi everyone!   Tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET / 4 p.m. CET, we're bringing you the biggest Rocket Visual COBOL update of the year -- with GenAI Insights, new supported platforms, and an exclusive roadmap preview! We'll also be answering your questions about COBOL modernization, so make sure to join us.    Sign up now so you don't miss it: COBOL x GenAI Insights: Meet Rocket® Visual COBOL® 11.0 | Rocket Software   Can't join us live? No problem, we'll send you the webinar recording afterward.   See you tomorrow------------------------------Sava KovalenkoPMMRocket Software Forum Member------------------------------

I've not ventured back to VS Code for a fair while, so have some questions and things that need clarification.My understanding for searching through the community posts what when you start vs code (such as from the command line 'code . ') if an existing .cblproj file exists it is read and the compile directives used, SQL directives and copybook paths.I seem to find this isn't true. To locate my copybooks I ended up creating a cobol.dir file and used COPYPATH(C:\\MF\\COPY;C:\\MF\\CPB)I also configured tasks.json: {     "version": "2.0.0",     "tasks": [         {             "type": "COBOL-MSBuild",             "command": "C:\\\\Program Files\\\\Microsoft Visual Studio\\\\2022\\\\Enterprise\\\\MSBuild\\\\Current\\\\Bin\\\\amd64\\\\MSBuild.exe",             "buildTarget": "${workspacefolder}/MyProg.cblproj",             "problemMatcher": [                 "$COBOLMSBuild"             ],             "group": "build",             "label": "COBOL: MSBuild (Compile Current File)",            

We are in the process of converting a native application to COBOL .NET and I would like to know a couple of things Is the use of SQLDA supported in COBOL .NET? If so then do I still need to set the address of sqldata(n) to a group entry as per below and process in 64k chunks or is there a better (easier) way? 01 obj-entry.    03 obj-len     pic s9(9) comp-5.    03 obj-str      pic x(65535). Ideally I would like to utilise a type String field but, as I have learnt, you cannot use ADDRESS OF on a native managed type so hoping for alternatives Thanks------------------------------Peter Restorick------------------------------

Hi everyone, The idea that COBOL is "stuck in the past" is one of tech's most persistent myths - and one of its biggest disconnects, given how much COBOL is still actively being developed. Even those once familiar with the language can struggle to see how it fits into a modern tech stack in the age of AI. Perhaps you're one of them? There's more than a grain of truth, of course - many COBOL systems do carry the weight of their history. Real-world COBOL often contains layers from different eras, as you'd expect from software that's delivered value for decades. But to examine a few lines of code written from 1980s or earlier and conclude COBOL has no place in modern IT is like dismissing smartphones because you once used a brick-sized mobile phone in the '80s. Don't let your memory of COBOL - as it once was and when you once wrote it - cloud your judgment of what it's capable of today. And perhaps most regrettably, don't let that lead you to trade it for something that's little more tha

Software used:   Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2019 Version 16.11.42   Micro Focus Visual COBOL 8.0    Operating System: Windows Server 2022 Datacenter   Problem Description:   We have few Micro Focus Visual COBOL program executables running as Windows services. These .cbl programs were created using 'Console Application, COBOL' option in Visual Studio editor. The built .exes were converted to services using NSSM (Non Sucking Service Manager). Requirement now is to eliminate NSSM and create core Visual COBOL code that runs itself as Windows services without help of any third party tool. Is this feasible with a project created with 'Console Application, COBOL' options? ------------------------------Kavitha NatarajanRocket Software Forum Member------------------------------

Using Micro Focus\\Visual COBOL\\Samples\\COBOL for .NET\\Collections sample ,  which doesn't compile, and errors on the exact problem I'm trying to resolve.Visual COBOL 10 Update 6.How do I create an IF statement so based on the type I know an action to take like:        01 TableNew type System.Collections.Generic.SortedList[string, string].       01 myType object.           set myType = tablenew::GetType().           if myType is type System.Collections.Generic.SortedList[string, string]               display "Table is sorted"               *> Go do something.          else              *> Test if its a string or dictionary etc           end-ifAlso not valid:       if TableNew::GetType() = type System.Collections.Generic.SortedList[string, string]------------------------------Neil Hayes------------------------------

In Native COBOL you can have something like this:        01 MyData.           05 MyString1        Object Reference.           05 MyString2        Object Reference.           05 MyString3        Object Reference.           05 MyString4        Object Reference.           *> This is just a simplist list, there could be 100's       01 ProgramToCall        PIC X(6).       procedure division.           *> Program Names are build dynamically and called in a variable.          move "ABCDEF" to ProgramToCall          Call ProgramToCall using MyData Now moving to COBOL .NET this has to change as Object References must be on an 01 Level. All of my programs are in separate projects. All program Names  are called inside a variable All Linkages to different programs change depending on the program being called, some might not have any Object References, others my have 100's Q1. How do I simulate the same process in COBOL .NET?Q2. Can I do it without creating a project references? (Make it mo

Serveral questions here all in regard the the RunUnit in COBOL .NET.1. In COBOL .NET you can spin up a RunUnit and do work, then suspend the RunUnit in a rununitcache (ConcurrentDictionary).A ConcurrentDictionary is stored in process, is there any way to store a suspended RunUnitin Redis or something similar?So if you are scaling out across servers you could pick up that RunUnitregardless of the server you hit via it's id or something?2. What else could I do with a RunUnit other than start, stop, dispose, SetUserData & GetUserData that might add value?3. Can you get the ID of a RunUnit inside the RunUnit? 4. Is there a limit to amount of RunUnit's you can spin up under say C# rest api? Neil ------------------------------Neil HayesSoftware Development Specialist------------------------------

Hi everyone, COBOL has powered the world’s economy for decades, delivering reliability and scalability. Yet myths and outdated views persist, even among those who have worked with it. Many still picture COBOL as it was 30 years ago, missing how much it has evolved. Let’s separate myth from reality and give you the facts to talk about COBOL with confidence.  Myth #1: COBOL is no longer in use. Reality: According to a Vanson Bourne survey, over 800 billion lines of COBOL code are active worldwide. While new COBOL applications are rare, existing systems are regularly maintained and expanded, adding more code each year. Myth #2: COBOL can’t integrate with new tech stacks. Reality: Rocket® COBOL integrates with JVM and .NET platforms, making it compatible with today’s languages and contemporary IT architectures like microservices. COBOL's portability has enabled enterprises to use their core business logic across every era of IT without requiring a complete rewrite. Myth #3: COBO