The Runtime Framework has a number of properties which can affect the behavior of isCOBOL. These allow the user to specify runtime actions such as authenticating passwords, customizing remote debugging, and specifying file systems. Properties can be set in the configuration file or dynamically changed by the application. A complete list of properties and their definitions is located in the Configuration section below. Here are a couple of examples of commonly used options.

The -c option allows you to pass an additional configuration file:

The -coverage option generates a report of the code actually executed in the runtime session. See isCOBOL Code Coverage for more information.

The -d option runs the program in debug mode:

See Debugger for more information about debugging.

The -info option displays information about the isCOBOL application. For example:

The returned information contains:

The -iut option activates the Unit Test feature, allowing you to check if the programs are behaving as expected. It generates a report of the result at the end of the run unit. See isCOBOL Unit Test for more information.

The -joe option allows you to start JOE’s CobShell. There are two usages:

The -license option displays information about the isCOBOL license.

It’s good practice to use this option along with -c, if applicable, in order to have the runtime looking in every possible configuration to find the active license code. For example:

The -profile option profiles the runtime activity and generate a report:

See Profiling COBOL programs for details.

The -t option runs in terminal mode:

See Using CHARVA for details.

Using the -update option causes the runtime to look for updates through ISUPDATER (Update Facility) before starting.

The -uc option allows you to specify a custom isUpdater configuration file. If the -uc option is not used, the runtime looks for a file named isupdater.properties in the Classpath.

The configuration file must contain the setting to connect to a update server through HTTP. This setting is swupdater.site. The HTTP server should be properly configured to provide an update of the isCOBOL SDK. See Setup of an update server for the isCOBOL SDK for details.

The configuration file could contain also additional settings (see Update Facility’s Client Configuration (isupdater.properties) for details).

If the configuration file includes only swupdater.site, the runtime uses a default configuration built according to the isCOBOL installation directory on the local PC, for example it sets swupdater.version.iscobol to the build number of lib/iscobol.jar, swupdater.directory.iscobol to the path of the lib folder and swupdater.directory.iscobolNative to the location of native libraries (bin folder under Windows, native/lib folder on other platforms).

The need of updating is determined by comparing the build numbers specified by the swupdater.version properties used by the runtime with the build numbers specified by the swupdater.version properties in the server side swupdater.properties file.

The -utility option allows you to run a utility:

UtilityName can be any of the following (case insensitive):

The -v option displays version information about isCOBOL.

The --system option forces the current system Look and Feel for the GUI (default if none of the next four options is used):

The --metal option forces the Metal Look and Feel for the GUI:

The --motif option forces the Motif Look and Feel for the GUI:

The --GTK option forces the GTK Look and Feel for the GUI (not available on Windows):

The --nimbus option forces the Nimbus Look and Feel for the GUI:

All the above options except for -v and -info can be combined and appear in any order in the command-line. For example, if you want to debug your program using a specific configuration file and forcing the Motif Look and Feel, you use:

It’s not possible to use -coverage and -profile together.