Runtime Options

The Runtime Framework has a number of properties which can affect the behavior of isCOBOL. These allow the user to specify runtime actions such as authenticating passwords, customizing remote debugging, and specifying file systems. Properties can be set in the configuration file or dynamically changed by the application. A complete list of properties and their definitions is located in the Configuration section below. Here are a couple of examples of commonly used options.

-v

The -v option displays version information about isCOBOL.

iscrun -v

-info

The -info option displays information about the isCOBOL application. For example:

iscrun -info ProgramName

The returned information contains:

•	the class location

•	the list of options that were used to compile the program

•	the version of the Compiler (build number) that compiled the program

•	the minimum runtime version (build number) necessary to run the program

-c

The -c option allows you to pass an additional configuration file:

iscrun -c myApp.cfg ProgramName

The properties found in the configuration file are appended to the existing configuration.

-license

The -license option displays information about the isCOBOL license.

iscrun -license

It’s good practice to use this option along with -c, if applicable, in order to have the runtime looking in every possible configuration to find the active license code. For example:

iscrun -c myApp.cfg -license

--system

The --system option forces the current system Look and Feel for the GUI (default if none of the next four options is used):

iscrun --system ProgramName

--metal

The --metal option forces the Metal Look and Feel for the GUI:

iscrun --metal ProgramName

--motiv

The --motif option forces the Motif Look and Feel for the GUI:

iscrun --motif ProgramName

--GTK

The --GTK option forces the GTK Look and Feel for the GUI (not available on Windows):

iscrun --GTK ProgramName

--nimbus

The --nimbus option forces the Nimbus Look and Feel for the GUI:

iscrun --nimbus ProgramName

-t

The -t option runs in terminal mode:

iscrun -t ProgramName

See Using CHARVA for details.

-d

The -d option runs the program in debug mode:

iscrun -d ProgramName

See Debugger for more information about debugging.

-update

The -update option makes the runtime looks for updates through the Update Facility before starting.

iscrun -update ProgramName

The runtime looks for a file named isupdater.properties in the Classpath. Such file must contain the setting to connect to a update server through HTTP, so swupdater.site. It could contain also additional settings (see Update Facility’s Client Configuration (isupdater.properties) for details), otherwise these defaults are used:

Default configuration for Windows runtimes	Default configuration for Linux/Mac OS runtimes
swupdater.version.iscobol=<runtimeBuildNumber> swupdater.version.iscobolNative=<runtimeBuildNumber> swupdater.directory.iscobol=<isCOBOLInstallDir>/lib swupdater.directory.iscobolNative=<isCOBOLInstallDir>/bin	swupdater.version.iscobol=<runtimeBuildNumber> swupdater.version.iscobolNative=<runtimeBuildNumber> swupdater.directory.iscobol=<isCOBOLInstallDir>/lib swupdater.directory.iscobolNative=<isCOBOLInstallDir>/native/lib

The need of updating is determined by comparing the build numbers specified by the swupdater.version properties used by the runtime with the build numbers specified by the swupdater.version properties in the server side swupdater.properties file.

a.	If the server is down or no update is necessary, the runtime execution continues normally

b.	If some updates were executed, the runtime is automatically restarted.

-utility

The -utility option allows to run a utility:

iscrun -update UtilityName

See Utilities for the list of available utilities.

Multiple options on the command-line

All the above options except for -v and -info can be combined and appear in any order in the command-line. For example, if you want to debug your program using a specific configuration file and forcing the Motif Look and Feel, you use:

iscrun --motif -d -c myApp.cfg ProgramName