A modern Cobol IDE for Agile Mainframe Developments
At present times, when IT budgets are being arbitrated more and more severely, Open Source is considered as being an economical solution that an increasing number of IT directions find interesting and worthwhile. Mainframe environments, although widely used by large corporations, have up to now been excluded from the Open Source initiatives.
Key facts
The Cobos Project, a Metrixware initiative, appears as an Open Source alternative that is interesting from a technical and financial point of view, compared with existing closed source Mainframe solutions.
Cobos is one of the most advanced open source IDE dedicated to Mainframe application development. Based on Eclipse, it combines the best of both worlds by capitalizing on the open source community innovation and on the Mainframe best practices.
Features
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Eclipse IDE
IDE Cobol, JCL & Rexx editor
The Cobol file editor of Cobos reuses the key features of Eclipse: a quick and simple browsing into files with the Outline, syntax coloring, variable autocompletion, compilation error notifications, changes tracking… All these features have been adapted to Cobol development.
Cobos adds to these native features some very convenient features like COPY REPLACING expansion, customizable tabulations, CAPS ON, a « Word like » revision mode.
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Local compilation
OpenCobol
Compilation features provided by Cobos allows developers to check code syntax locally, without any interaction with the Mainframe server, in order to deliver bug-free applications and reduce host usages at the maximum.
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Source Code Management
CVS, SVN, Endevor, Git…
Cobos is natively integrated with any Source Code Management (SCM) tool compatible with Eclipse such as CVS, Subversion or Git. It offers to development teams the ability to easily import, export, compare or merge source files. A simplified UI makes easy the SCM use by Mainframe developers.
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Code Quality Control
SC4Eclipse Cobol
SC4Eclipse Cobol (a closed-source product extension of Cobos) allows developers to check programs conformance with Cobol best practices, while they’re coding. SC4Eclipse Cobol comes with a customizable repository of coding rules, which is the result of Metrixware’s expertise on Software Quality.
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Mainframe files editing
z/Navigator
Browsing into PDS and editing members while checking their integrity with ISPF has never been so easy !
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Mainframe remote commands
Cobos Host Interface
A simple protocol enables remote communication with mainframe’s Rexx processes from the IDE, which paves the way for powerful extensions to Cobos.
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3270 terminal emulator
Je3270
Because 3270 still remains a basic access to a mainframe server, Cobos provides users with a terminal emulator integrated to Eclipse.
Cobos is an open source solution under the MCLA license. The tool is free to use for personal, educational and evaluation purposes. For professional use, please contact us.
Download Cobos
Cobos Events
Read the Cobos blog…
jan
31
2012
Release Note Cobos 2.2.0
Metrixware Cobos, Release Note 0
Cobos is now fully tested with eclipse 3.6.2 (and with 3.4.2, of course). Meanwhile, a substantial effort of reengineering has been started to improve stability, evolutivity and quality of code. This task will continue in the future versions of Cobos as well.
oct
12
2011
Release Note Cobos 2.2.0 RC1
Metrixware Cobos, Release Note 1
Important notice: this release is a Release Candidate and therefore is subjected to some bugs. Please feel free to report us any remark via email.
sept
02
2011
Cobos 2.2.0_RC1 is coming soon !
Large improvements have been made to integration with the host by enhancing the dialogue between Eclipse and the mainframe. This new version will allow us to easily integrate with your favourite software configuration management and other centralized procedures. It contains a set of scripts and a simplified and automated mainframe installation procedure (a « zero-conf » installation on the mainframe). Cobos Eclipse plug-ins are fully compatible with Eclipse 3.6 (Eclipse 3.4.2 as well as before). A new REXX editor plug-in has been added. For this installation to go successfully, we recommend that you check the prerequisites now: – minimum System level ZOS
juil
08
2011
Release Note Cobos 2.0.4
Metrixware Release Note 0
Cobos V2 now includes the Z/Navigator view, which provides direct access to mainframe files, and allows developers to edit source files in Eclipse and save them on the mainframe. This means that installation and use of Cobos creates no upheaval for those familiar with former environments. Accompanying this advancement, the use of CVS is retained through the addition of a specific CVS menu in Cobos. Preferences that configure Cobos on the workstation are automatically downloaded from the mainframe and take into account users’ RACF profiles. Management of project characteristics can also be centralized, ensuring consistency amongst developers and their respect