RM/Panels

RM/COBOL's RM/Panels is a graphical user interface that uses panels (screens) and controls defined in a Panel Library file. The RM/Panels application interacts with the panels and controls through a RM/COBOL program runpan2.cob. The runpan2 application has been converted to be compatible with Micro Focus COBOL, so that RM/COBOL applications that use RM/Panels can be converted to run in Visual COBOL, when compiled with the Dialect"RM" Compiler directive.

An RM/Panels application has the following:

• Panel Library: The panel library file is a binary file. It is loaded at run time by the runpan2 program. Each panel definition within the file includes information on sizes, background text, attributes, and controls. The name of the library file is passed to runpan2 by setting the value of RMP-LIBRARY. The RM/COBOL library file is used without any modifications because runpan2 expects the file format to be in RM/COBOL format. Refer to your RM/Panels Reference Manual for information on the RM/Panels Designer and the creation and editing of the Panel Library.
• Working Storage definition for each panel: Generally, each panel will have a <panelname>.ws file associated with it. The fields in the file represent the data for the controls defined on the panel. This file should not be edited manually; the fields are generated by the RM/Panels Designer.
• Procedural code for each panel: Each panel will also have procedural code in a <panelname>.prc file that defines the functions for interacting with the panel. This file can be edited manually, if necessary.
• rmpanels.ws: This copybook contains the fields for controlling the panels and controls, such as the current and next field values. This file also specifies the name of the program that loads the library file. The RMP--RUNTIME field value should be set to either:
  • runpan2.dll on Windows; or
  • cobrunpan2 (32-bit), or cobrunpan264 (64-bit) on UNIX

In addition to these elements taken from the original RM/COBOL application, the following additional elements are required for the application to run correctly in Visual COBOL:

• ADISCTRL: This file specifies a number of settings that control how ADIS handles ACCEPT and DISPLAY commands. The instance of the file in the application's path needs to have the RM-Panels configuration selected.
• The Dialect"RM" Compiler directive: This directive will most likely already be set as part of the conversion process from RM/COBOL. If this is not set, some features of ADIS and runpan2 may not behave as expected.

For more details on the actual conversion process, see Conversion Example.