Created by James Hurrell, last modified on Sep 08, 2022
This documentation is not maintained. Please refer to doc.castsoftware.com/technologies to find the latest updates.

Global support

Technology / framework supportedFunction Points
(transactions)		Quality and SizingCommentsSupported by

Cobol ANSI 85

(tick)(tick)

The Mainframe Analyzer is based on the Cobol 85 standard but it does not take into account all specific Cobol extensions to this standard.

Supported Cobol Extensions

  • Terminal Format
  • Pointer Variables declaration
  • Level-78 variables (Micro Focus)
  • Command mode EXEC CICS
  • Command mode EXEC SQL
  • Command mode EXEC DLI
  • Floating comments tag ("*>")
Please ensure you check the list of Cobol dialects and their level of support as listed below.

Copybook pre-processing

In addition to the standard COPY directive, the following specific directives are supported:

  • Panvalet (++INCLUDE)
  • Librarian (-INC)
  • OpenVMS (<copyDir>:<copyName>)


Replacement rules used in COPY REPLACING directives are:

  1. Replacements can be applied to words or parts of word.
  2. Patterns used to replace parts of words must be delimited by the following characters: :, (, ), \ or "
  3. Patterns that are not delimited by the above characters are considered as being used to replace entire words.
  4. LEADING and TRAILING clauses mean that the replacement will be applied on parts of words and as such, patterns must respect the rule 2 (first character and last character will be removed from the pattern).
Mainframe Analyzer (embedded in CAST AIP and as an extension)
JCL z/OS(tick)(tick)- Mainframe Analyzer (embedded in CAST AIP and as an extension)
IMS/DB(tick)(tick)

The Mainframe Analyzer takes into account IMS/DB (DBD, PSB, CBLTDLI calls and EXEC DLI macros).

Non-relational mainframe DBMS other than IMS/DB are not supported (ex: DATACOM, IDMS, IDS2, DMS2, ADABAS...). However, DB2 and Oracle (ProCobol) are supported.

From 8.3.12, AIBTDLI call is taken into account.

Mainframe Analyzer (embedded in CAST AIP and as an extension)
IMS/DC(tick)(tick)

IMS/DC is taken into account. Support for:

Note that IMS/DC is supported in CAST AIP ≥ 8.3.19 only.
Mainframe Analyzer (embedded in CAST AIP and as an extension)
CICS(tick)(tick)-Mainframe Analyzer (embedded in CAST AIP and as an extension)

Detailed support

COBOL

Platform / OS

COBOL dialect

Support

Comment

IBM z/OS

Enterprise COBOL for z/OS - up to v6

High

  • No problem

IBM Cobol for OS/390

VS COBOL II		Medium
  • Source code implemented with these compilers can be analyzed with the Mainframe Analyzer

IBM i

COBOL/400

High

  • Some constructs related to screens and transactions are not taken into account but this does not cause problems for the Mainframe Analyzer nor the Metric Assistant.

Unisys A Series

Unisys Cobol

No

  • Copybook inclusion mechanism is not supported.
  • Program calls are not correctly managed.

Bull DPS7 (GCOS7)

Bull DPS8 (GCOS8)

GCOS Cobol

Low

  • DML is not supported.
  • Screens are not supported.
  • Transactions are not supported.
  • Some constructs must/should be removed from the source code because they can cause parsing problems.

Tandem NonStop

HP COBOL for TNS/E Programs

Medium

  • Transactions and screens are not supported.
  • Some constructs must/should be removed from the source code because they can cause parsing problems.
  • CAST rules specific to CICS/IMS (DL/I), file descriptors and SORT/MERGE may produce false violations.

Unix, AIX, Windows

Microfocus 

High 

  • Definition and statements associated to screens are not support but this does not cause problems for the Mainframe Analyzer nor the Metric Assistant. 
ACUCOBOL-GTMedium

Windows

Cobol .NET

No

  • Object COBOL is not supported.
  • It is possible to use a Universal Analyzer profile to extract some information.
OpenVMSHP Cobol for OpenVMSMedium
  • Copy directive is supported
  • COBOL 85 syntax is supported
Stratus VOSVOS CobolMedium
  • Some constructs must/should be removed from the source code because they can cause parsing problems.

Note that some AIP quality rules specifically target IBM style COBOL, therefore you may find that results of these rules may not be pertinent if you are using a different compiler such as Microfocus. Rules which target IBM style COBOL usually quote this in the "Reference" section of the rule documentation, e.g.:

JCL

Platform (OS)

Control Language

Support

Comment

IBM zSeries (z/OS)

JCL

High


IBM i (AS/400)

CL

No

CL/CLP is supported thanks to IBM RPG Analyzers

Unisys A Series

Workflow

No

Workflows are implemented in Algol language (yes, this language is still used) so it is difficult to analyze it with a Universal Analyzer profile/extension.

Bull DPS7 (GCOS7)

Bull DPS8 (GCOS8)

JCL

No

A Universal Analyzer profile/extension could be developed to take GCOS8 job into account. This is more difficult for GCSO7.

Tandem/HP

JCL

No

Difficult to analyze with a Universal Analyzer profile/extension.

Transaction Managers

Transaction Manager

Platform (OS)

Support

Comment

CICS

IBM zSeries (z/OS) 
IBM i (AS/400)

High


IMS/DC

IBM zSeries (z/OS)

High

TDS


TP8

Bull DPS7 (GCOS7)

Bull DPS8 (GCOS8)

No

  • Transactional calls between programs are performed via the variable NEXT-TPR defined in the LINKAGE section. The Dynamic Link Manager can draw links between programs from this variable.
  • Initialization file could be analyzed with a Universal Analyzer profile.

DBMS

DBMS

Platform (OS)

Support

Comment

Db2

IBM zSeries (z/OS) 
IBM i (AS/400)
Unix 
Windows

High

EXEC SQL … END-EXEC macros

ORACLE

Unix

High

EXEC SQL … END-EXEC macros for Pro*Cobol.

IMS/DB

IBM zSeries (zOS)

Medium

  • Access to PCBs are detected for main programs that are directly associated to a PSB.
  • For subprograms, only PCBs that are used are sent by main programs via the CALL statements and so links to PSBs and their PCBs cannot be created.

IDMS

IBM zSeries (z/OS)

No

  • Often used in conjunction with ADSO.
  • Although unsupported in CAST AIP "out of the box", there is scope to establish links between the COBOL code and the IDMS through a variety of advanced Content Enrichment tools available in CAST AIP such as Reference Patterns, CAST Transaction Configuration Center etc.

  • The IDMS statements inserted in COBOL programs may raise warning messages in the analysis log, however, these will not impact the analysis results (i.e. metamodel generation or rule evaluation).

  • A custom extension has been developed for this platform, however it is a User Community extension and is therefore not officially supported by CAST.

DATACOM

IBM zSeries (z/OS)

No

It is often used in conjunction with the IDEAL programming language.

A custom extension has been developed for IDEAL/Datacom, however it is a User Community extension and is therefore not officially supported by CAST.

ADABAS

IBM zSeries (z/OS) 
Unix 
Windows

No

A custom extension has been developed for this platform, however it is a User Community extension and is therefore not officially supported by CAST.

IDS2

Bull DPS7 (GCOS7) 
Bull DPS8 (GCOS8)

No

  • The DML verbs inserted in COBOL programs can cause problems. A Universal Analyzer profile/extension can be implemented to analyze DDL and DMCL files.
  • Some DML verbs can be parsed by using the Reference Pattern. Please note that dynamic programming is often used. As a consequence, simple analysis techniques won't deliver interesting results.

DMS2

Unisys A Series


  • This DBMS is similar to IDS2 but for the UNISYS A Series platform. See remarks for IDS2.
  • A custom extension has been developed for this platform, however it is a User Community extension and is therefore not officially supported by CAST.