PRIMA News - what's going on at PRIMA


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PowerCOBOL Migration - Now with Web options as well as WinForms!  It's here...!!!


* - The major PRIMA Migration Tools, MigTSet and PC2N have been updated and enhanced!

MigTSet gets you from legacy COBOL to OO COBOL (in accordance with best practice for the Network),
analyzes your indexed files and creates one or more optimized Relational Database(s) [RDB] in 3NF,
writes load programs to move your flat file data to the new database, generates a separate Data
Access Layer that can be used by ANY modern Programming Language (including OO COBOL), then scans
your existing Legacy codebase and refactors all the indexed file access into method invokes of
the new DAL. This is all FULLY AUTOMATIC and you do not have to write ANY code!
To see it in action take the 5 cent tour (video 0), click here!

PC2N (PowerCOBOL2NET) is the tool that moves PowerCOBOL into .Net. Your existing PowerCOBOL sheets
are analyzed and an equivalent Windows Form is created. The scriptlets that drive the sheet are extracted
from the PowerCOBOL Project and refactored into a single OO COBOL class that works as code-behind for the
new Windows Form. The Tool automatically wires up the events on the new Form to invoke methods of the new
OO COBOL code-behind Class (each former scriptlet is now a method of this class) and automatically ensures that the new
Windows Form behaves exactly as the old PowerCOBOL sheet did.
For more information, click here!

To see the tool in use and the new features in it, click here!


The problem of migrating PowerCOBOL forms and scriptlets has been addressed and the new tool is available. If you are interested, contact us.

All of the previous "pre-release" information is now superseded and a complete set of new videos will be released during the coming months.

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

(The PowerCOBOL Migration Tool (PCOB2NET) can AUTOMATICALLY take your PowerCOBOL Projects and turn them into 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 product.)

* - 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.


* - The option to generate Data Access Layer objects in C# and LINQ has been developed and tested. This functionality is available as a separate tool and can be purchased as an option with the Toolset. This layer uses exactly the same interface as the existing COBOL/ESQL objects and can be invoked from COBOL or any other language that supports the Component Object Model (COM). Using LINQ removes the requirement for COBOL to access RDBs with ODBC and tests have shown the LINQ DAL objects perform up to 5 times faster than the ESQL objects.  You can try it for yourself; details here...

Here are some current items on the site:

For PRIMA

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. A full set of videos showing all aspects of the Migration approach are now available for viewing or downloading online. The video presentation has been streamlined and simplified, some videos have been changed. [see the videos] This is ongoing and we hope to get ALL the videos updated or replaced by the end of 2021.

As well as the Migration Toolset, 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 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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