Calling a COBOL executable from VB.NET

[Kyle42]

I've been given the task of rewriting a small portion of our large COBOL system in VB.NET. The code that I'm rewriting happens to call a subroutine that makes massive calculations. I'd prefer not to have to rewrite that entire subroutine as well. I have the subroutine's .cbl file, as well as an EXE and an associated DLL. I know from the code I'm rewriting and the sub's .cbl file what input and output parameters I need, but I have no idea how to pass/receive them. I know almost no COBOL and have a boss who thinks this should be the easiest task in the world. Please help me.

 

[k5tm]

Which COBOL compiler?

Tom Morrison

http://www.liant.com

 

[Kyle42]

We use MICROFOCUS

 

[fredericofonseca]

Microfocus has samples on their site on how to do that. search for them.

Regards

Frederico Fonseca
SysSoft Integrated Ltd

http://www.syssoft-int.com

 

[Truusvlugindewind]

Rewrite? Why???
MF Cobol intergrates seamless in .NET.

 

[Kyle42]

Truusvlugindewind, could you please point me in the right direction of a decent tutorial/example/reference of how to do this? You say it like it's common knowledge, but I have no knowledge of COBOL and very little of .NET

 

[Kyle42]

Do I NEED Net Express in order to integrate the two?

 

[Truusvlugindewind]

Not so hard to find:

http://www.microfocus.com/000/Datasheet-NetExpress5_tcm21-8344.pdf

I've seen demo's. Despite the fact that I am personal not such a great fan of MS products, this was really impressive. You need Net Express and a plugin. With that plugin you can code & compile cobol in the MS Visual productrange. This is still optional, you can choose for the "traditional" Net Express environment as well (how time flies, in my feeling "traditional means the workbench).
Later releases will drop their own IDE and intergration with MS Visual will be the only option (yes, even when you run server express on *nix) .