Mainframe Express Functionality That Works Differently in Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio 2017

Some features of Mainframe Express work differently in Enterprise Developer or are superseded by features provided by the new IDE. The following list shows some of these differences:

Feature in Mainframe Express	Feature in Enterprise Developer
Analysis Option	Enterprise Developer offers integrated code analysis functionality.
AppMaster Builder (AMB) and Structured COBOL (S-COBOL) source code	AppMaster Builder is not available in Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio 2017; however, it is fully integrated into the Enterprise Developer for Eclipse product.
Automatic Catalog Import	Available through the MFA Drag and Drop interface as well as the option to catalog from the command line. Data connect functionality is being checked.
CICS resource definitions	You can reuse any existing CICS resource definitions in Enterprise Developer after executing the caspcupg command. Cut-down resource definitions (PCT, FCT, PPT) are not supported.
Command line utility (MFECL)	The equivalent to MFECL is not available in Enterprise Developer; however, command-line options for much of the tooling are available. In addition, you can use the standard facilities of the IDE. For example, you can use the MSBUILD utility to compile your sources, and PowerShell to manage solutions and projects.
Database Access	If your application running under Enterprise Server accesses a database but contains no explicit connection logic, you must define the database as an XA resource (XAR) in your enterprise server instance.
Easytrieve Mainframe Express provided integrated support for Easytrieve through an add-on option which allowed Easytrieve applications to be edited, compiled and tested within the Mainframe Express IDE.	Easytrieve is now available. Contact Micro Focus SupportLine for details.
Editor Autofix	The editor in Enterprise Developer includes an AutoCorrect feature. Other editor features that can help increase your productivity in writing code are IntellISense suggestions and code snippets.
Interactive AMS	Not available.
IMS TM	Enterprise Developer does not support the following IMS TM and communication features: The IMS Message exit The IMS MFS Display exit The Mainframe Express IMS to CICS LU6.2 Bridge IMS86ALT
MAS SDK a collection of utilities to automatically compile downloaded source and provide reports on the outcome. These are part of Mainframe Express and Studio 6.0 (Net Express) and were developed for Windows.	Not available.
MFA Server	A newer version of MFA Server is available with Enterprise Developer.
MFENTMAP, the Entry Point Mapping facility	Run-time system support for MFENTMAP is available and any existing configuration files will work.
Outline View	Displays the copybook dependencies of projects within Solution Explorer.
PL/I	PL/I application development is fully supported within Enterprise Developer, and PL/I applications are supported using CICS, IMS or JCL. The PL/I language, Micro Focus Open PL/I, is fully integrated.
Regions	Enterprise Developer provides support for full, multi-tasking enterprise server regions.
Source code control systems Mainframe Express used the Microsoft Common Source Code Control (SCC) Interface to enable you to use the functions of a SCC-compliant source control manager with your IDE.	Enterprise Developer comes with an industry-standard integrated development environment that provides access to any SCC tooling with the appropriate plugin. For example: Enterprise Developer provides integration with Micro Focus Enterprise Sync, a change management system for mainframe development. Enterprise Developer provides integration with Endevor, a full-function change control system for the mainframe with signout controls and extensive user customization. You can use the Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) plug-in or install VisualSVN in order to access sources from SVN.
Template projects	In Enterprise Developer, you can create templates from both projects and regions and distribute them to your developers. You can use Visual Studio functionality to create custom project templates for COBOL applications. For more information, see the Visual Studio help. Export and import commands for regions are available from Server Explorer inside the IDE.
Third-party preprocessors	You can embed Third-party preprocessors in Enterprise Developer in a manner similar to how this was done in Mainframe Express. See Preprocessor Properties for details. Syntax checking is supported for ECMs and for COBSQL.
Time-Sharing Option (TSO) Mainframe Express supported the use of TSO commands, CLISTs and REXX execs, which could be run in TSO interactive (or foreground) sessions or in TSO batch (or background) sessions, using the IDAEFT01 (IKJEFF01) utility.	Enterprise Developer supports TSO batch (IKJEFT`xx`).
WinRunner A screen capture utility that was supplied with some versions of Mainframe Express.	You can now use the products from the Micro Focus Silk portfolio.
Workgrouping	Not available in Enterprise Developer for Visual Studio 2017; however workgroup emulation is available in the Enterprise Developer for Eclipse product.
XDB tooling	Fully supported as a Start option, and can also be accessed from within the IDE.

Tip: After upgrading, we suggest that you start with the Getting started with Micro Focus Enterprise Developer tutorial to help you become familiar with the new IDE. Afterwards, move on to the tutorials that provide details for using ED to develop mainframe applications, such as the CICS, JCL, and IMS tutorials.