cobol

COBOL bridge for NodeJS which allows you to run COBOL code from NodeJS.

Can I use this on production?

Of course, you can! It's production ready! If you ever did such a thing, ping me (@IonicaBizau). 💥 💫

Installation

Currently GnuCOBOL is required. If you are using a debian-based distribution you can install it using:

$ sudo apt-get install gnucobol
# outdated systems: sudo apt-get install open-cobol

💡 It would be interesting to fallback into a COBOL compiler written in NodeJS. Contributions are welcome! 😄

Then, install the cobol package.

$ npm i cobol

📋 Example

// Dependencies
var Cobol = require("cobol");

// Execute some COBOL snippets
Cobol(function () {/*
                   IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
                   PROGRAM-ID. HELLO.
                   ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
                   DATA DIVISION.
                   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
                   PROGRAM-BEGIN.
                   DISPLAY "Hello world".
                   PROGRAM-DONE.
                   STOP RUN.
                   */}, {
                       compileargs:{
                           free: true
                       }
                   }, function (err, data) {
    console.log(err || data);
});
// => "Hello World"

Cobol(__dirname + "/args.cbl", {
    args: ["Alice"]
}, function (err, data) {
    console.log(err || data);
});
// => "Your name is: Alice"

// This will read data from stdin
Cobol(function () {/*
                   IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
                   PROGRAM-ID. APP.
                   *> http://stackoverflow.com/q/938760/1420197
                   ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
                   INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
                   FILE-CONTROL.
                   SELECT SYSIN ASSIGN TO KEYBOARD ORGANIZATION LINE SEQUENTIAL.
                   DATA DIVISION.
                   FILE SECTION.
                   FD SYSIN.
                   01 ln PIC X(64).
                   88 EOF VALUE HIGH-VALUES.
                   WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
                   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
                   DISPLAY "Write something and then press the <Enter> key"
                   OPEN INPUT SYSIN
                   READ SYSIN
                   AT END SET EOF TO TRUE
                   END-READ
                   PERFORM UNTIL EOF
                   DISPLAY "You wrote: ", ln
                   DISPLAY "------------"
                   READ SYSIN
                   AT END SET EOF TO TRUE
                   END-READ
                   END-PERFORM
                   CLOSE SYSIN
                   STOP RUN.
                   */}, {
    stdin: process.stdin,
    stdout: process.stdout
}, function (err) {
    if (err) {
        console.log(err);
    }
});
// => Write something and then press the <Enter> key
// <= Hi there!
// => You wrote: Hi there!
// => ------------

❓ Get Help

There are few ways to get help:

Please post questions on Stack Overflow. You can open issues with questions, as long you add a link to your Stack Overflow question.
For bug reports and feature requests, open issues. 🐛
For direct and quick help, you can use Codementor. 🚀

📝 Documentation

`Cobol(input, options, callback)`

Runs COBOL code from Node.JS side.

Params

Function|String|Path input: A function containing a comment with inline COBOL code, the cobol code itself or a path to a COBOL file.
Object options: An object containing the following fields:
cwd (String): Where the COBOL code will run (by default in the current working directory)
args (Array): An array of strings to pass to the COBOL process.
compileargs (Object): Use to specificy cobc compiler options
stdin (Stream): An optional stdin stream used to pipe data to the stdin stream of the COBOL process.
stderr (Stream): An optional stderr stream used to pipe data to the stdin stream of the COBOL process.
stdeout (Stream): An optional stdout stream used to pipe data to the stdin stream of the COBOL process.
remove (Boolean): Should the compiled executable be removed after running, default is true.
precompiled (Boolean): Run the precompiled executable instead of re-compiling, default is false.
Function callback: The callback function called with err, stdout and stderr.

📰 Press Highlights

This project has become more popular than I expected. 😄 If you wrote or found an article about this project that is not in the list below, please add it.

😋 How to contribute

Have an idea? Found a bug? See how to contribute.

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