Rational Developer for System z

Getting started with the COBOL Editor

This topic provides an overview of the COBOL Editor. For help with specific tasks, see the remaining topics in this section.

Editing text

Use the following tips for editing text in the COBOL Editor:

Rulers and margins

The editor displays a horizontal ruler showing the right margin marked with the character R. You can use the COBOL > Editor preference page to also display margins A and B. The current cursor position in the file is highlighted in the ruler.

Editor Presentation toolbar

You can control several aspects of the appearance of files in the editor by using the Editor Presentation toolbar buttons:

Status Bar

The status bar displays at the bottom of the Rational® Developer for System z® workspace and provides the following information about files that are open in the editor:
  • The read-write indicator displays "Writable" or "Read-Only."
  • The edit mode indicator displays "Insert" or "Overwrite."
  • The line:column indicator displays the line and column position of the edit cursor.
  • The toolbox icon displays the current status of tooling. This icon can show the following states:
    • tooling enabled - blue toolbox indicates that tooling is enabled. All COBOL Editor functions are enabled.
    • tooling disabled - gray toolbox indicates that tooling is disabled. These functions can be disabled by user preference, because a file is unavailable, or because of an invalid file extension. Tooling is not available for copybooks (that is, files with a .cpy extension). The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable when tooling is disabled: hover information, Refactor actions, Open Declaration, Open Perform Hierarchy.
    • tooling out of sync - blue toolbox with warning icon indicates that tooling is out of sync because of a syntax error in the file. This warning appears when syntax errors are introduced into an open file. This warning icon is subject to change frequently as you edit a file. The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable or have limited functionality: hover information data might be out of sync; Refactor actions are unavailable; Open Declaration might work, but the location you jump to may be out-of-sync; Open Perform Hierarchy is unavailable.
    • tooling failed - blue toolbox with error icon indicates that tooling is still initializing or has failed to initialize because of a syntax error. This error occurs when a file containing syntax errors is opened. The following COBOL Editor functions are unavailable: hover information, Refactor actions, Open Declaration, Open Perform Hierarchy.
  • See the related topics for more information about annotations and tooling.

Obtaining help

Language-sensitive help
To access language-sensitive help in the COBOL Editor, highlight a language element and press Ctrl+Shift+H.
Help for annotations
Lines containing errors or warnings are annotated in the margin of the editor. To display the annotation text, hover the cursor over the annotation icon or over the language element associated with the annotation.

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