Getting started with the COBOL Editor

To open a file in the COBOL Editor, select the file and click Open with > COBOL Editor.

To set the COBOL Editor as the default editor for COBOL file types, click General > Editors > File Associations. When you make this association, you can double-click a file to open it in the COBOL Editor.

If one of the following conditions is true, the file opens in read-only mode:
Note: Saving an MVS file when some of the line lengths exceed the record length limit opens a file truncation warning. Continuing with the save results in truncated lines.

Customization of the editor

To customize the COBOL Editor to suit your preference, choose Window > Preferences > COBOL. For more information about setting preferences for the COBOL Editor, see Setting COBOL Editor preferences.

Editor presentation toolbar

You can control several aspects of the appearance of files in the editor by using the editor presentation toolbar:

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of the workspace provides the following information about files that are open in the editor:
  • The read/write indicator displays Writable or Read-Only.
  • The edit mode indicator displays Insert or "Overwrite.
  • The line:column indicator displays the line and column position of the edit cursor.
  • The toolbox icon displays the status of tooling.
    • Tooling enabled - blue toolbox indicates that tooling is enabled. All COBOL Editor functions are enabled.
    • Tooling disabled - gray toolbox indicates that tooling is disabled. These functions can be disabled by user preference, because a file is unavailable, or because of an invalid file extension. Tooling is not available for copybooks (that is, files with a .cpy extension). The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable when tooling is disabled: hover information, Refactor actions, Open Declaration, Open Perform Hierarchy.
    • tooling out of sync - blue toolbox with warning icon indicates that tooling is out of sync because of a syntax error in the file. This warning is displayed when syntax errors are introduced into an open file. This warning icon is subject to change frequently as you edit a file. The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable or have limited function: hover information data might be out of sync; Refactor actions are unavailable; Open Declaration might work, but the location you jump to might be out-of-sync; Open Perform Hierarchy is unavailable.
    • Tooling failed - blue toolbox with error icon indicates that tooling is still initializing or failed to initialize because of a syntax error. This error occurs when a file that contains syntax errors is opened. The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable: hover information, Refactor actions, Open Declaration, Open Perform Hierarchy.

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