gnuCOBOL questions

[W Burke Cabaniss]

I found you by Google search for a gnucobol user group. I have 
written COBOL for 60 years (really) and am considering use of cobc 
with RM COBOL source. Perhaps you can help me with two initial issues:

1. The std=<dialect> parameters include "rm". Is this Ryan 
McFarland COBOL?

2. My biggest problem is screen character attributes. My RM 
programs have DISPLAY ...... CONTROL <data name> where the data 
name specifies multiple attributes (color, highlight, etc.). The 
gnucobol manual DISPLAY options for this are multiple and verbose. 
I can think of two ways to handle this: prefix the display data 
with hex screen controls or create a called subroutine for all 
DISPLAY functions.

I actually have done the latter, successfully, with other COBOL's. 
I only need four sets of screen attributes. But I am curious if 
others have found better ways, or if there is a cobc syntax method 
I missed.

Please reply in any case. I will appreciate any advice.
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