Creating COBOL/PostgreSQL programs with GnuCOBOL using GixSQL

NOTE: This is a "first attempt" at GnuCOBOL/PostgreSQL/GixSQL

"It works" but this is what I would call "the bare minimum" to get an application to run.

In the future, I hope to post better, more robust examples.

Running this program requires: (Versions used for this example in ()).

PostgreSQL (14)
GnuCOBOL (3.1.2)
GixSQL (1.0.20a)

For more information about creating a VM, installing the requirements and other information, go to the DSCOBOL Website

Here is the list of program names and descriptions in the code directory:

Program	Description

TSQL001A	Sample program provided by GixSQL. Returns a count of the number of records. Modified to use a .env file.

A guide to working with this repository.

I have a certain structure on my computer.

For this application:

code
│   ├───bin
│   ├───cbl
│   ├───cpy
│   ├───docs
│   ├───jcl
│   └───tcbl
database
│   ├───scripts
│   └───Makefile

Within code:

bin: the executables
cbl: the COBOL source code
cpy: the copybooks
docs: public: examples of the files needed to run the programs
jcl: the scripts used to compile and run
tcbl: not public: temporary COBOL output

Within database:

scripts: the SQL DDL code.
Makefile: Create the table and insert the data.

What's the difference between the cbl and the tcbl directories?

A convention when writing regular COBOL programs is to use the extension ".cbl".

When writing COBOL programs with embedded SQL EXEC statements with GixSQL, a convention is to also use the extension ".cbl".

In the prep step, prep will convert all the SQL EXEC statements in the .cbl program to a CALL statement and write a new file out with an extension of .cbsql to the tcbl directory.

In the compile step, the compiler will look for the "program.cbsql" COBOL program in the tcbl directory.

Creating this temporary file could be done away with but if there is an error in the compile step, it is helpful to have the "fully expanded" version of the code available to look at to find the problem.

Why are they not present?

Only the following directories are pushed to a public repository:

code: cbl, cpy, docs, jcl

database: all

The others are not public because they are either binary, temporary or they contain usernames and passwords. For examples of some of these, look in the docs directory.

Running these programs on your system

Make sure your system meets the requirements listed above and you have cloned the repository to your system.

Complete these steps in this order:

Expanded instructions for the steps follow:

Create the missing directories
Create the gixsql DB
Run the Makefile to create the table and insert data
Create the .env file
Alter the ROLE to add password
Running the program

Create the missing directories

Open Terminal, at the root of the code directory, Run:

mkdir bin tcbl

Create the gixsql DB

As the normal userid:

In Terminal, Run:

createdb gixsql

NOTE: If this is the first time you are running "psql" as the normal userid, it will ERROR with a message about: "database 'userid' does not exist".

If this is the case, In Terminal Run:

createdb xxxxxx

replacing xxxxx with your userid.

Then re-run the "createdb gixsql" command above.

End NOTE

Run the Makefile to create the table and insert data

In Terminal, cd into the database directory

Run:

make

This will create a file "build.sql" containing the Create and Insert DDL code and then pass that into the DB.

Examine the Makefile for more info.

Create the .env file

IMPORTANT NOTE: The .env file will contain the userid and password to the database. MAKE SURE to add ".env" to your .gitignore(either global or local) so when you commit changes, the .env file will NOT be included.

Copy docs/Code-env.txt to the code root and rename to .env .

Edit .env changing DB1name to the correct connection string , DB1role to your userid and DB1pswd to your password.

Alter the ROLE to add password

As the "normal" userid, Run:

psql

This will take you into the PostgreSQL database system.

Run the following SQL statement BUT replace "userid" with your userid and "'password'" with your password (note: make sure to surround your password with single quotes as seen here.)

ALTER ROLE userid WITH PASSWORD 'password';

Running the program - TSQL0001A

The "job" is divided into 2 scripts:

"prep, compile, and link"
"run".

In Terminal, cd into the code/jcl/ directory and Run:

./TSQL0001A-compile.sh

Watch the output. There should be 0 errors on the prep, press Enter to continue, and the compile should return "SUCCESS: Compile Return code is ZERO.".

If so, in Terminal, Run:

./TSQL0001A-run.sh

and the results will print on the screen.

iladin / dsc-gnu-GixSQL