In Version 8.1, COBOL source code can now contain lines with a dollar sign ($) in the indicator area, which may be used with the IF, ELSE, END, DISPLAY, and SET statement to support conditional compiling.
The $ symbol is also a valid comment character. If a program uses $ as a comment, and it is immediately followed by IF, ELSE, END, DISPLAY an error will most likely be generated.
As of Version 8.1, read-only entry fields were changed to conform to standard Windows behavior in that the background color is always gray (regardless of the COBOL program's Color setting). If you need the ability to change the color of read-only entry fields, set the runtime configuration variable ECN_3699 to 0.