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 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.
*/ }, 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!
// => ------------

📝 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.
• free (Boolean): Use free option while compiling with GnuCobol
• 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.
• Function callback: The callback function called with err, stdout and stderr.

📰 Press Highlights

This project seems to more popular than I expected. 😄 If you wrote or found an article about this project which is not added in this list, add it.

• Calling 1959 from your Web code: A COBOL bridge for Node.js (ArsTechnica, by Sean Gallagher)
• Cobol -- yes, Cobol -- gets a bridge to Node.js (InfoWorld, by Paul Krill)
• Ein COBOL-Plug-in für Node.js (Heise Online, by Alexander Neumann)
• Dit krijg je als je Node.js met COBOL kruist (Webwereld, by Chris Koenis)
• COBOL for Node.js (I Programmer, by Kay Ewbank)
• Nagyon durva: Már COBOL-ból is lehet programozni a Node.js-t (prog.hu, by Sting)
• Micro Focus Updates COBOL for Visual Studio 2015 (eWeek, by Darryl K. Taft)
• Sur GitHub, un projet relie Cobol et Node.js (LeMondeInformatique, by Maryse Gros avec IDG News Service)
• 3 open source projects for modern COBOL development (OpenSource.com, by Joshua Allen Holm)

😋 How to contribute

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

💫 Where is this library used?

If you are using this library in one of your projects, add it in this list. ✨

• cobol-promises—COBOL bridge for NodeJS with promises support.

✨ Related

• node.cobol—Node.js bridge for COBOL which allows you to run Node.js code from COBOL.
• fortran—Fortran bridge for Node.js which allows you to run Fortran code from Node.js.
• node.fortran—Execute Node.js in your Fortran programs.

📜 License

MIT © Ionică Bizău