Role of the COBOL copybook

A COBOL copybook contains a section of code that defines data structures of COBOL program. You can generate a copybook from an existing Java™ rule project.

If you have rule projects containing rules that you want to execute in a COBOL application, you can convert a Java BOM so that data structures, class types, and characters become compatible with Enterprise COBOL code. When a COBOL-enabled BOM is created, you can generate a copybook that corresponds to the ruleset parameters.

Note: If the BOM is derived from an XML schema, you cannot use it to generate a COBOL copybook.

The BOM data structures and class types translate into corresponding COBOL structures and types in the copybook. For example, if you have a BOM class that has three attributes, the generated copybook has a corresponding structure, such as a group item that has three data items.

The generated copybook contains a default mapping for the Java types and COBOL data items. You can make minor changes to the default mapping by changing the values in the COBOL Picture column.

You can define BOM classes by using the data types that COBOL supports.

You might need to redefine Java data structures in the BOM where there is no equivalent structure in COBOL.