PRIMA News - what's going on at PRIMA


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We are re-directing the Company!

* - Instead of providing tools and bespoke software for Migration, we are providing a full service at a fixed price, which is calculated for each individual case. There is no 'one size fits all' for Migration; we consider YOUR particular case and you get a bespoke solution at a very fair price which will be much less than if you do it yourself.

The tools development has reached its end point and our tools are now more powerful than they have ever been. BUT, the processes required to effect Migration to .NET and Relational Database are not simple, and that means that the tools incur a learning curve when people are new to them. PRIMA and our associates are not new to them and it therefore makes sense for us to simply run the tools on behalf of our clients, as an outsourced service.

You will be able to select the Migration functions you need from a "Shopping List", provide some quantification data, and our online calculator will give you a "ballpark" quote. The Shopping List covers ALL functions for both Legacy COBOL and PowerCOBOL, including migrating from Indexed files to a modern Relational Database and migrating a COBOL GUI system, like PowerCOBOL, into the .NET or WebForms environment, with 100% salvage of all legacy COBOL and the Business rules encapsulated in it. You can try different selections and quantities in the calculator and get an immediate idea of what it will cost you to migrate, if you let us do it for you.

Use the Calculator to assess whether you need full migration outsourcing or whether you just need some of the load off-loaded. ALL of the tasks involved in Migration/Conversion are in the Shopping List.

Click the image to access the Migration cost calculator..!

IF YOU USE POWERCOBOL YOU SHOULD CHECK HERE FOR GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT MODERNIZING IT!

Use our new online calculator to get a ballpark quote for the cost of Migrating your PowerCOBOL projects to Windows Forms which run in .Net, OR into ASP.NET Web Forms that run on your web server. ALL of your existing COBOL Scriptlets are salvaged and refactored into full COBOL code-behinds that drive the new Forms. You can also mix code in other languages with the COBOL, or replace the COBOL if you want to.

If you currently use Fujitsu PowerCOBOL and are looking for a modernization path, you really should check out this service.

See a quick video with before/after comparison of a PowerCOBOL application, converted using our migration service. Click here.

* - This PRIMA Web Site is being refurbished and there will be ongoing changes to it. The web site is a COBOL friendly place for developers, analysts, and IT management. It has been secured using the https: protocol, there is NO advertising, NO permanent cookies, NO tracking of your browsing, NO attempt to acquire you or your address as a marketing resource, and you can remove yourself from our registration database any time you want to.

The PRIMA side of the site is aimed at raising awareness of our company and our products, while the COBOL21 side of the site is intended as a place for people who may be dealing with COBOL, to get tips and information and to meet and share thoughts. Check out the Lounge, which has a Blog and a Bar where you can chat.

* - Remote Application Validation (RAV) has been integrated into all our package products. If you develop software for sale to others you should take a look at RAV as a product to protect and monitor the use of your software. It is deployed all over the world and has never failed.


Here are some current items on the site:

For PRIMA

The Migration Tools are no longer on offer to clients. Instead we will run the tools for you. This saves considerable time for all concerned. The Migration Toolset (brings Legacy COBOL into .Net and replaces indexed files and access with optimized RDBMS) has been extended and enhanced. The original limited DAO technology has been upscaled and replaced with SMO, so much larger (and more complex) COBOL record definitions can be handled. The "Preferred" RDBMS is still SQL Server but PRIMA will quote for any RDBMS you prefer.

As well as the Migration service, PRIMA provides a number of other software packages and services. Click this link to see descriptions of the software and services we are offering.

For COBOL21

The COBOL21 site was originally developed to encourage and inform COBOL programmers about salvaging Legacy COBOL by refactoring it into objects. It covers things of interest to COBOL people and it provides free tools, components, tutorials and overviews, plus code samples. You are freely invited to contribute your thoughts and comments about any aspect of this site, or anything else in general, by using the Blog or the chat facility available from the Bar in the Lounge.

The COBOL21 part of the web site is closely connected with the comp.lang.cobol Usenet Newsgroup and is intended to be used by anyone having to deal with COBOL code. Everything on the COBOL21 pages is FREE!

Right now!

Work is proceeding on refurbishing and extending this web site and new facilities are being considered, designed and built.

(If you have trouble reading ANY page on the site, try switching themes with the 'Settings' wheel on the top right of the page...)

You should see a date on each page at the bottom. This will tell you pages which have been changed in 2021.

Investigation and design has now completed for the option to replace PowerCOBOL "grid based" controls (ListView, Tables, ListBox) with a single (much more powerful) Grid control, using the new Windows DataGridView, that can support icons, check boxes, numeric columns, and other features, some of which are not available in PowerCOBOL.

The DataGridView (DGV) option is now part of PCOB2NET version 4.1+. The DGV can do any of the functions that current PowerCOBOL grid controls can do and it makes a lot of sense to have ONE control that can bind and auto load data into a live grid, if required. Rather than divert resources to support 3 controls, we are concentrating our efforts on the ONE control. You can see how easy it is to replace a current PowerCOBOL List Box with DGV if you watch the end-to-end video on PC2N.

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