Sorry the link I gave to you probably isn't accessible. Here is the article:
DSRUN error 18 - How to configure Visual Studio to run Dialog System Character mode applications
Problem:
Even if you have installed the Dialog System Addpack to be able to edit Dialog System applications, Visual Studio is not able to run Character mode Dialog System applications.
You will often get DSRUN error 18 when trying to run application from Visual Studio.
Resolution:
From within a Visual Studio command prompt you need to configure the DS Char environment to be used by Visual Studio 2010/2012. To do this you need to run two .bat files:
C:\Program Files (x86)\Micro Focus\Visual COBOL for Visual Studio 2012>CreateEnv.bat
C:\Program Files (x86)\Micro Focus\Visual COBOL for Visual Studio 2012\bin>dscharenv.bat
Your environment will then be configured and you can launch Visual Studio from within the command prompt:
C:\DSChracterApplication>devenv DSChracterApplication.sln
You should then be able to run DS Char type applications.