From the docs - it appears the 32-bit Java install is in fact a prereq.

Software requirements

Eclipse requirements

•Visual COBOL only supports the 32-bit Eclipse IDE and requires a 32-bit Java installation.

•Though Visual COBOL does not support the 64-bit Eclipse, you can use the 32-bit Eclipse to create both 32-bit and 64-bit applications.

•Visual COBOL ships with Eclipse 3.8. After the installation, you can install the Visual COBOL plug-in into other instances of Eclipse available on the same machine. The supported versions are 3.8, 4.2 and 4.3 for the 32-bit Eclipse only. See Installing Visual COBOL into other instances of Eclipse for instructions.

You can download the JDK for free  from here

www.oracle.com/.../index.html

i downloaded and installed the JDK and i am still getting the 32-bit java installation error, i have 64-bit win7 installed so can i have 32-bit & 64-bit java installed at the same time? or am i going to have to install 32-bit win7 in a virtualbox and run visual cobol from that instead?

You can install both 32 and 64 bit versions of the Oracle JVM on Windows and non Windows Machines. You can specify which JVM to start Eclipse with by specifing the -vm value in eclipse.ini such as

-vm  

C:\\jdk1.7.0_21\\bin\\javaw.exe  

The Eclipse.ini file is located in the Eclipse version of the installation, By default, the Visual COBOL for Eclipse installer places that in C:\\Users\\Public\\Micro Focus\\Visual COBOL\\eclipse on Windows 7 and 8 machines. You can right click the Windows Menu icon, or the Task Bar icon for Visual COBOL for Eclipse to note where the eclipse.exe icon is located. The eclipse.ini will also be located in that directory.

i have removed the 64-bit version of java so only the 32-bit(x86) version is installed, i am still getting the error when trying to install the vce_22.exe package.

What is the exact error message you recieve during the install? If you would, please attach a screen shot of the error. Also, which exact version of the JDK have you installed?

"The application requires 32-bit Oracle Java 1.6 or later. Please install Oracle Java and then run the installer again"

got the latest JDK off the oracle website, 8u45 i think it is

Unfortunately, Visual COBOL for Eclipse 2.2 (the vce_22 you've referenced) does not recognize Java 8u45. If you uninstall Java 8u45, and instead install Java 6u27 (1.6.0_27), the install with vce_22 succeeds.

hi

i assume i get 6u27 from the archives,doi need the JDK as well or just the runtime?

Eclipse has its own built in java compiler.