Thanks for your help!! I will try your approach!
On Jul 18, 2:53 pm, Michael Moore <[email protected]> wrote:
> Start with a complete understanding of the types of structures that PL/SQL
> does:
> Package spec / Package body/ Package Global declarations / blocks /scope etc
> etc. The take a look at the structure of your COBOL programs. I.E do you use
> 'common-coupling' or is everything passed through parameters. I would not
> try for a direct conversion, but go with a complete re-write once you
> understand the business logic.
>
> As for user input, consider using something like APEX to collect the input
> data into a holding table. The schedule your PL/SQL process to run by using
> the DBMS_SCHEDULER package. You batch jobs would then read from the holding
> table.
>
> If I were a COBOL coder (which I was for about 10 years) I'd just be happy
> for the opportunity to learn PL/SQL.
>
> Mike
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 6:36 AM, jmoore <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > On Jul 17, 8:49 am, Rob Wolfe <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > On Jul 17, 6:35 am, jmoore <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > It certianly wasn't my idea to convert programs to pl/sql. We have
> > > > plenty of Cobol programmers here. It was somebody's bright idea way
> > > > above us that we are going to convert everything to pl/sql procedures
> > > > and packages. I guess they do not want to have to pay for micr-focus
> > > > anymore. A few of us Cobol programmers have voiced our concerns, but
> > > > to no avail. They have not set any kind of standards yet, its more of
> > > > the owner says do it. We have pl/sql programmers in India that work
> > > > for this company, but there isn't much standardization in what I have
> > > > seen. Also, I do not believe it will increase performance when Oracle
> > > > is having to load so many porcedures at once. I am just looking for
> > > > some good examples of how to use for while loops etc. Being a cobol
> > > > guy I am used to structure and from what I have seen these are not. I
> > > > need some good logic where 1 table is read and it has to pass by some
> > > > exceptions (if not go back read next record) then takes the key and
> > > > gets info from table 2, passes some exceptions maybe table 3 and than
> > > > it would write out to a sort file. The return would be to create a
> > > > file or printfile. The batch programs we have ask the users things
> > > > like
> > > > Enter from date
> > > > Enter thru date
>
> > > > Enter dept
> > > > 1. all
> > > > 2. specific
> > > > Uses these variables to read the tables to create the sort file.
>
> > > > On Jul 16, 11:51 pm, Rob Wolfe <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > > On Jul 16, 2:10 pm, jmoore <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > > > > > Does anyone have any example code of Cobol programs that were
> > > > > > converted to PL/sql procedures/packages? Our company is trying to
> > > > > > convert programs to pl/sql and they really haven't addressed many
> > of
> > > > > > the challenges. First being batch programs that display/accept data
> > > > > > from the user. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I certianly
> > hope
> > > > > > there is at least one dinosaur like me in this forum.
>
> > > > > Big Dino-roar from here. Can I ask why you would want to do such a
> > > > > horrible thing to yourself? Seriously, why would you convert cobol to
> > > > > PL/SQL of all things? There are lots of perfectly good cobol
> > compilers
> > > > > out there and Oracle plays quite nicely with them.
> > > > > I know that if someone came up to me with the idea of rewriting a
> > > > > bunch of cobol programs in pl/sql I would want a very convincing
> > > > > business case for the project.
> > > > > Even if you are rehosting from a mainframe to (for instance) a linux
> > > > > VM there is still no good reason to do what you are thinking about
> > > > > unless someone has a religious aversion to cobol. If you are short on
> > > > > cobol programmers then I would suggest that training one of your
> > > > > existing ones would be cheaper than converting anything but the most
> > > > > trivial program to pl/sql.
>
> > > > > I would like to hear more about the thinking behind this project
> > > > > because you have bitten off some nastiness. I do have to say that I
> > > > > don't understand one thing ... in my experience users don't interact
> > > > > with batch programs, that is kind of the point of them. Or am I
> > > > > missing something?
>
> > > You will find as much or more structure in PL/SQL than you will in
> > > cobol. Honestly, you will be best off working through a good pl/sql
> > > tutorial/cookbook (there are a bunch on amazon.com). I do have to
> > > reiterate that this is simply a dumb idea (I know it isnt yours) and
> > > someone has to grow a pair and tell management that they are going to
> > > spend more rewriting (this isnt a conversion project, it is a rewrite)
> > > the code than they are going to save on licenses (back it up with
> > > numbers, MF Cobol isnt THAT expensive, if you can afford Oracle...).
> > > As soon as they see a negative ROI for the project, if they are
> > > competent, they will back off on it. Certainly as new functionality is
> > > added you can use PL/SQL to implement it but you have the makings of a
> > > disaster here.
>
> > > Sorry I can't sound more positive about this but I have participated
> > > in the aftermath of top down technical decisions and they are nearly
> > > uniformly a result of someone being sold something or reading
> > > something and half understanding it. It should be VERY easy to do a
> > > quick ROI on this and I would be shocked if it comes out positive. I
> > > think that it is the duty of professional development staff to push
> > > back hard on really dumb ideas with as much business related
> > > information as they can muster.
>
> > > Rob- Hide quoted text -
>
> > > - Show quoted text -
>
> > Unfortunately, someone in product design took a pl/sql class or
> > something and sold this bill of goods to the president. Everything
> > here is needed yesterday w/o much forethought. So I just have to do
> > what I have to do. The job market is quite bleak at the moment. But I
> > whole-heartedly agree with everything you have written- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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