Before You Begin

This guide helps you to get started with Pro*COBOL release 8.1.5 and 1.8.50 for Windows NT and Windows 95/98.

Specific topics discussed in this preface are:

Prerequisites

This guide assumes that you:

can use a COBOL compiler in the Windows NT and Windows 95/98 environments
are familiar with Windows NT and Windows 95/98 commands such as deleting and copying files
understand the concepts of the search path, configuration files, and directory structure
are able to use a text editor to make changes to an ASCII text file

Intended Audience

This guide is necessary for anyone who wants to use Pro*COBOL release 8.1.5 and/or 1.8.50 for Windows NT and Windows 95/98.

How This Guide Is Organized

This guide is organized as follows:

Chapter 1, "Introduction"

Introduces you to Pro*COBOL release 8.1.5 and release 1.8.50 for Windows NT and Windows 95/98.

Chapter 2, "Using Pro*COBOL"

Provides an overview of how to use Pro*COBOL release 8.1.5 and 1.8.50 for Windows NT and Windows 95/98.

Chapter 3, "Sample Programs"

Describes the sample programs that are provided with Pro*COBOL release 8.1.5 and 1.8.50 for Windows NT and Windows 95/98.

Documentation and Code Conventions Explained

The following conventions are used in this guide:

Convention Example Meaning

All uppercase plain

MAXLITERAL
C:\ORACLE\ORA81\PRECOMP\LIB
SAMPLE1.PCO

Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords.
All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.

Italic

FILENAME
Pro*COBOL Precompiler Programmer's Guide

Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type FILENAME, you must type the actual name of the file.
Italic is also used to indicate the titles of other guides.

C:\>

C:\ORACLE\ORA81>

Represents the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working.

Backslash (\) before a directory name

\PRECOMP

Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.

ORACLE_BASE and ORACLE_HOME

The ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\PRECOMP\LIB directory contains....

In previous releases of Oracle8, all subdirectories were located under a top-level ORACLE_HOME directory.
In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top-level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is a new top-level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\ORACLE. If you install Oracle8 on a clean computer (in other words, there is no other Oracle software on the computer), the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\ORACLE\ORA81.

Symbols

period .
comma ,
hyphen -
semicolon ;
colon :
equal sign =
backslash \
single quote `
double quote "
parentheses ()

Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Convention	Example	Meaning
All uppercase plain	MAXLITERAL C:\ORACLE\ORA81\PRECOMP\LIB SAMPLE1.PCO	Indicates command names, SQL reserved words, and keywords. All uppercase plain is also used for directory names and file names.
Italic	FILENAME ProCOBOL Precompiler Programmer's Guide*	Indicates a value that you must provide. For example, if a command asks you to type FILENAME, you must type the actual name of the file. Italic is also used to indicate the titles of other guides.
C:\>	C:\ORACLE\ORA81>	Represents the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 command prompt of the current hard disk drive. Your prompt reflects the subdirectory in which you are working.
Backslash (\) before a directory name	\PRECOMP	Indicates that the directory is a subdirectory of the root directory.
ORACLE_BASE and ORACLE_HOME	The ORACLE_BASE\ORACLE_HOME\PRECOMP\LIB directory contains....	In previous releases of Oracle8, all subdirectories were located under a top-level ORACLE_HOME directory. In this Optimal Flexible Architecture (OFA)-compliant release, all subdirectories are no longer under a top-level ORACLE_HOME directory. There is a new top-level directory called ORACLE_BASE that by default is C:\ORACLE. If you install Oracle8 on a clean computer (in other words, there is no other Oracle software on the computer), the default setting for the first Oracle home directory is C:\ORACLE\ORA81.
Symbols	period . comma , hyphen - semicolon ; colon : equal sign = backslash \ single quote ` double quote " parentheses ()	Symbols other than brackets and vertical bars must be entered in commands exactly as shown.

Documentation Library

This guide is part of a larger library of Oracle documentation. The Oracle documentation library consists of two types of documentation:

Documentation Type Describes...

Operating System-specific

Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle products in a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.

Generic

Oracle database, Oracle networking, and Application Programming Interface information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating systems.
To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in your operating system documentation, see the index of this guide for the following entry:
generic documentation references
All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.

Documentation Type	Describes...
Operating System-specific	Installation, configuration, and use of Oracle products in a Windows NT or Windows 95/98 environment. Operating system-specific documents are occasionally referred to in the generic documentation set. These documents are easy to identify because they always mention their specific operating system in their title.
Generic	Oracle database, Oracle networking, and Application Programming Interface information that is uniform across all operating system platforms. The majority of documents in your documentation set belong to this category. While reading through the generic documentation set, you are occasionally asked to refer to your platform (or operating system) documentation for procedures specific to the Windows NT or Windows 95/98 operating systems. To easily identify where these generic documentation references are described in your operating system documentation, see the index of this guide for the following entry: generic documentation references All generic documentation references described in this guide appear under this index entry.