ILSMARTNEST

Use in conjunction with ILSMARTLINKAGE, to expose the Linkage Section items and entry points to managed code as nested classes of the program class in which they are defined.

Restriction: This directive is supported for managed COBOL only.

Syntax:

>>-.---.-.----.-ILSMARTNEST------><
   +-\-+ +-NO-+

Properties:

Default:	NOILSMARTNEST
Phase:	Syntax check
$SET:	Any
IDE Equivalent:	Check Expose group linkage items to managed code on the COBOL tab in the project's properties, click Options and check Expose as nested classes of the program class.

Comments:

By creating nested classes, programs within the same compilation unit can have linkage records with the same name.

Example:

The following COBOL program is compiled with ILSMARTLINKAGE, ILSMARTNEST, ILCUTPREFIX(lnk-b-) and ILCUTPREFIX(lnk-):

       program-id. BookLegacy.
						 ...
       linkage section.
       01 lnk-function            pic x.
       01 lnk-b-details.
          03 lnk-b-text-details.
             05 lnk-b-title       pic x(50).
             05 lnk-b-type        pic x(20).
             05 lnk-b-author      pic x(50).
          03 lnk-b-stockno        pic x(4).
          03 lnk-b-retail         pic 99v99.
          03 lnk-b-onhand         pic 9(5).
          03 lnk-b-sold           pic 9(5).
       procedure division using by value lnk-function
                                by reference lnk-b-details.

In C#, you can access the data in BookLegacy program in .NET COBOL as follows:

    BookLegacy myBook = new BookLegacy(); 
         //creates an object corresponding to the BookLegacy program
    BookLegacy.Details myDetails = new BookLegacy.Details(); 
         //creates an instance corresponding to the group lnk-b-details 
    . . .          
       myDetails.Stockno = "6666";
       myDetails.Title = "Managed COBOL";
       myDetails.Author = "Mike Focus";
       myDetails.Type = "Reference";
       myDetails.Retail = 15.50M;
       myDetails.Onhand = 20;
       myDetails.Sold = 5;
       myBook.BookLegacy("2", myDetails);
         // calls the BookLegacy method with myDetails, 
         // which corresponds to the group item lnk-b-details

See the C# WinBook demonstration in the Visual COBOL samples for more.

Note: The C# program and form needs amending, to refer to BookLegacy.Details, when compiling with the ILSMARTNEST Compiler directive set.