Veryant Supports DB2/400 with COBOL-Java IDE

Published: May 26, 2009

by Alex Woodie

Veryant recently delivered a new release of isCOBOL, its Eclipse-based IDE aimed at COBOL developers who are looking to modernize their applications with Java. With isCOBOL 2009, the company is now enabling Java programs to directly access data residing in COBOL applications, which should streamline the application modernization process. The new release also introduces full support for DB2/400, and new language localizations.

Veryant's approach to application modernization is a unique one. The company develops the isCOBOL IDE that provides a COBOL compiler and other COBOL development functionality, all within the comfortable confines of the Eclipse framework, which is heavily tilted toward Java development. In this way, Veryant says, organizations can retain their COBOL programmers and maintain their COBOL investments, while simultaneously offering a path forward on Java.

With isCOBOL 2009, Veryant has taken that pledge a step forward. The new IDE enables COBOL programmers to automatically generate Java classes that let Java programs talk directly to COBOL apps and access their data. This approach enhances productivity between COBOL and Java camps, Veryant says, while avoiding proprietary middleware and re-engineering projects.

"Many businesses rely on a combination of language environments and want greater value from their existing COBOL investments," says Alfredo Iglesias, vice president of Veryant, in a press release. "Our newest release makes it easy to expose core applications and data to SOA, Web Services, and other initiatives without sacrificing functionality, retraining staff, or adding complexity."

The new release of isCOBOL also features better support for DB2/400 (or DB2 for i as it is sometimes called), including the capability to utilize DB2/400 features such as record locking and optimization. This will be of particular interest to the few shops that run COBOL applications on the integrated i OS platform. (Most i OS shops, as we know, run RPG applications, but some of the biggest i OS shops run COBOL.)

The new release also introduces support for IBM's DB2 for Linux, Windows, and Unix, and MySQL. It also features a new GUI screen designer, an event integrator, and an import facility for bringing COBOL from alternative IDEs, such as AcuBench, into isCOBOL. This release also supports the inclusion of Javadoc comments in COBOL source code.

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