LegacyJ FAQ

How can I access Micro Focus COBOL data from a COBOL program compiled with PERCobol?

PERCobol datatypes for memory and disk are different from that of Micro Focus by default. The PERCobol  '-Dcm' switch enables access to Micro Focus style data; assigning files to "mf:filename" will store and retrieve data on disk in Micro Focus native format. The PERCobol IDE allows the datatypes to be selected in the PERCobol Properties under Datatype.

PERCobol supports access of data from several different data sources and when you are accessing non-LegacyJ data sources it is important that you specify the source type.

In the Micro Focus case, you have the ability to store data in a couple of different formats and care should be used to specify the proper method. You will notice that PERCobol supports both byte "-Dcm:b" and word "-Dcm:w" storage methods.