Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  30 October 2012 Problem: Entered: cobsje -v -J /usr/java130 Received error message: Exception in thread "main" java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: WhatJavaVersion (Unsupported major.minor version 48.0) Resolution: You need a Java Runtime Environment (JRE) on any machine that is going to execute Java applications. If you are going to develop mixed Java and COBOL applications, you also need a Java Development Kit (JDK).  To add the Java support to the COBOL environment, you must run the cobsje script The cobsje script does several things including:1) Runs $JAVA_HOME/bin/java WhatJava to obtain the Java version 2) Checks that the version of Java is supported Your COBOL development system currently supports several Java versions. To find the version that is supported, read $COBDIR/docs/env.txt The UnsupportedClassVersionError will list what version of java it needs (note the example requires version 48) Major Class Versions of Java JDK--------------

Created On:  26 October 2012 Problem: Customer has managed code Windows Form application that is doing a COBOL sort:     SORT SORT-FILE       ON ASCENDING KEY sort-key       USING TMP-FILE       GIVING TMP-FILEThe statement is being executed from within an object method.When the sort is executed the following exception occurs:   "Index was outside the bounds of the array." Resolution: This was determined to be caused by using SORT with USING/GIVING directly within a managed code object method. The problem has been fixed by development and the fix will be available in a future release of Visual COBOL (after initial 2.1) A workaround is to move the SORT statement to a procedural COBOL program and call this program from within the method instead of doing the SORT directly in the method. Incident #2596409 Old KB# 36519#VisualCOBOL#COBOL#Enterprise#Ente

Created On:  08 November 2012 Problem: The main program calls by the data-item a module that is created into .DLL. This main program is generated with LITLINK . The error 173 is all times displayed . Resolution: The issue is with Net Express 5.1WS5 and has been fixed in Net Express 5.1WS6. Incident #2586639 Old KB# 36592#COBOL

Created On:  26 October 2012 Problem: I am having trouble setting up my Visual COBOL Solutions and Projects so that I can make calls from programs residing in one project to programs residing in different projects. Is there a Tutorial available which will familiarize me with the steps neccessary to do this? Resolution: Attached to this article is a tutorial called Visual COBOL CALL - PInvoke Tutorial.pdf. There are a number of KB articles in this tutorial, one for each type of call:1.  Native to native2.  INT/GNT to INT/GNT2.  Managed to managed3.  Native to managed4.  Managed to nativeThis article covers Managed code to Native code. Problems with Calling Programs Located in Different Projects Each project specifies an output folder into which its generated output files will be stored. The default name of this folder varies depending on the project CPU settings and which build type you are using such as DEBUG or RELEASE. The default location is i

Created On:  26 October 2012 Problem: Customer used the Visual COBOL Net Express import wizard to import a number of Net Express projects that existed in the same physical folder location.  Some of the projects were .INT/GNT projects and some were .DLL projects.The DLL projects build fine and the INT/GNT projects build fine if they are built prior to any .DLL project being built.  If the INT/GNT project is build after a DLL project that resides in the same folder then the following error occurs:   "Could not copy the file "obj\\x86\\Debug\\Program1" because it was not found. Microsoft.Common.Targets line 3364. Why is this happening? Resolution: This problem is caused by using the same root folder for multiple projects that are imported where some projects are .dll projects and some are .int/.gnt.Because the projects are in the same folder they share a common obj\\x86\\debug folder which is where the build places the temporary .obj files when linking.The

Created On:  26 October 2012 Problem: I am having trouble setting up my Visual COBOL Solutions and Projects so that I can make calls from programs residing in one project to programs residing in different projects. Is there a Tutorial available which will familiarize me with the steps neccessary to do this? Resolution: Attached to this article is a tutorial called Visual COBOL CALL - INT-GNT Tutorial.pdf. There are a number of KB articles in this tutorial, one for each type of call:1.  Native to native2.  INT/GNT to INT/GNT2.  Managed to managed3.  Native to managed4.  Managed to nativeThis article covers INT/GNT code to INT/GNT code. Problems with Calling Programs Located in Different Projects Each project specifies an output folder into which its generated output files will be stored. The default name of this folder varies depending on the project CPU settings and which build type you are using such as DEBUG or RELEASE. The default lo

Created On:  23 October 2012 Problem: Customer installed the Visual COBOL 2.1 product over an existing install of Visual COBOL 2.0.Now applications that used ACU or RM File handler previously do not run correctly as the ACUFH.DLL and other related files appear to be missing from the Visual COBOL\\bin folder.How can this be resolved? Resolution: The problem occurs because of an internal versioning number problem with the Vision file support.  The Visual COBOL 2.0 product has a version number for these files which is greater than the version number in the VC 2.1 product so they are being left out of the install.To correct this, open up Control Panel-->Programs and select Visual COBOL and choose Repair.You can also uninstall the product and then reinstall using the Visual COBOL 2.1 installer only. Old KB# 36485

Created On:  22 October 2012 Problem: Customer is converting an application from Net Express 5.1 to Visual COBOL 2.1 but they still need to maintain their existing Net Express application.  Both Net Express and Visual COBOL products are installed on the same development computer.Each version of the application must maintain its own set of sources and copybook files in separate folders.How can the environments be setup so that the COBCPY environment variable points to the correct copybook folder for the product being used? Resolution: You can set COBCPY and other environment variables in the computer's environment to point to the default Net Express folders.You can then create a .bat file that is executed to start Visual COBOL that will set the desired environment variables prior to starting the Visual Studio IDE. Setting COBCPY in a .bat file prior to executing devenv.exe will override the value set in the control panel as long as you don't include the %COBCPY% as part

Created On:  25 October 2012 Problem: This article explains how to display the value of a configuration variable from within the ACUCOBOL-GT debugger. Resolution: To display the value of a variable set in the environment or in the cblconfi, the name of the variable must be preceded by a %. For instance, to inquire the value of CODE_PREFIX, this is the command line to use: d %CODE_PREFIX Incident #2281877 Old KB# 36506#COBOL#archive

Created On:  17 October 2012 Problem: It is already known that Net Express 5.1 version is compatible with IBM DB2 v9.7. How about IBM DB2 v10? Resolution: It is up to the database vendor, in this case IBM, to determine what version of the Micro Focus products is compatible with their database products.According to their Support for Database Application Development in COBOL page, Net Express 5.1 is supported with IBM DB2 version 10.1 for Windows. Here is the link to the IBM page: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/db2/10.1.0?topic=compilers-cobol Incident #2590932 Old KB# 36452#netexpress

Created On:  25 October 2012 Problem: Using AcuConnect Thin Client 9.1.2, whenever the load of the traffic increases, acuthin crashes with the following message:"Communication socket closed unexpectedly".The issue occurs even running acurcl and acuthin on the same machine.  It is not present with previous 9.1.x versions. Resolution: When large amounts of data were transferred from the thin client to the application host, or vice versa, the socket could fill, causing an error in the function used to send data. This could cause the socket to close unexpectedly, forcing a disconnect.This is now been fixed in version 9.1.2.1, soon available for download.  Check the Product Updates page of SupportLine Web Site. Incidents #2596321, 2596329 Old KB# 36504#COBOL

Created On:  22 October 2012 Problem: By default, Xcentrisity BIS uses the lowercase form of the COBOL names from the --Method-Parameters data group in WORKING-STORAGE in order to generate the external SOAP web service method and parameter names.  However, it is possible to change the default, external, method and parameter without changing the COBOL WORKING-STORAGE names. Resolution: In order to define alternate names for web service's methods and parameters you will need to use an XSLT stylesheet, along with an XML conversion dictionary, that convert the original names to the new ones that you wish to implement.  The spelling dictionary is a simple XML document that can be edited by hand.  It contains entries that define the "cobName", internal COBOL data name, and the "publicName", the external SOAP element ,or method, name. Attached to this Knowledge Base Article is a zip archive containing modified XBIS SOAP stylesheets that enable the use of a dictiona

Created On:  24 October 2012 Problem: The following error was encountered whenever customer starts the VISUAL COBOL for Eclipse in Windows: Failed to load the JNI shared library “c:\\Program Files\\Java\\jdk1.7.0._03\\bin\\..\\jre\\bin\\server\\jvm.dll” Customer previously installed the 64-bit version of Java J2EE IDE for Eclipse and the latest 64 bit Java SDK on a Windows 7 64 bit machine. He is able to start the Java IDE for Eclipse but not the Visual COBOL product. Resolution: This is an issue on the Eclipse IDE and it is due to 32/64 bit compatibility between the java virtual machine installed on the customer’s machine and the version of Eclipse.  The Eclipse version shipped with Visual COBOL is running in 32 bit and customer has 64 bit JDK. As seen in the error displayed, Eclipse in 32-bit is trying to execute the program in a 64-bit java installation.   The fix for this Eclipse issue is taken from this link: http://wiki.eclipse.org/Eclipse.ini   In

Created On:  22 October 2012 Problem: InstantSQL requires that an ODBC Driver Manager be available, however, most Unix distributions do not come, by default, with one installed. Resolution: There are two different ODBC Driver Managers that are supported on Unix.  Below are instructions for setting up your UNIX environment for use with InstantSQL and the two different ODBC driver managers: iODBC Driver Manager: 1. Obtain iODBC Driver Manager from http://www.iodbc.org. Follow the instructions at the site to build and/or install the package. 2. Set your OS's library search path to include the directory containing the iODBC Driver Manager libraries(iodbc_lib_path): • IBM AIX - export LIBPATH=$LIBPATH:iodbc_lib_path• HP-UX - export SHLIB_PATH=$SHLIB_PATH:iodbc_lib_path• Intel UNIX System V Release 4, Linux, SCO OpenServer 5, SCO System V Release 5 (UnixWare 7.1.1 or later and SCO OpenServer 6), and Sun Solaris SPARC and Intel x86 - LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$LD_LIBRARY_PATH:iodb

Created On:  11 August 2012 Problem: How do I change the timeout for a COBOL Web Service client? Resolution: There are two timeout options, one for establishing the connection and another for other operations. The defaults can be overridden by setting the following environment variables: MFC_TIMEOUT MFC_CONNECT_TIMEOUT or editing mf-client.dat:[defaults] connect-timeout=15 timeout=30 These timeouts are set in seconds, but with a 5-second grain, so in effect they are rounded up to the next multiple of 5 seconds. Timeouts are set as follows: If the application calls MccSetTimeout / MccSetConnectTimeout on a context, that context will use the specified timeout values. Otherwise, if MFC_TIMEOUT / MFC_CONNECT_TIMEOUT is set in the environment, its value will be used. Otherwise, if a "[defaults]" section exists in mf-client.dat and it contains an entry for "timeout" / "connect-timeout", that value will be used. Otherwise, the built-in defaults of 15s for connect timeout and 30s

Created On:  17 October 2012 Problem: I want to be able to comment/uncomment blocks of code in Visual COBOL for Eclipse but cannot see any button for this.  In Visual COBOL for Visual Studio there a button to do this. Resolution: In Visual COBOL for Eclipse 2.0 you can comment/un-comment a block of code using the following technique:-First under Windows > Preferences > General > Appearance > Colors and Fonts > Under Basic make sure that the two Entries “Text Editor Block Selection Font” and “Text Font” have the same font and font size set, e.g.  Courier new 10.-Then in your Cobol Editor windows/View select a block of COBOL code, then on the Eclipse menu you will see a button called “Toggle block selection mode” (keyboard shortcut Alt Shift A), this will allow you to select a block in the editor, select column 8, once you have selected the column you can press the * and you code will be commented. You can repeat the operation but instead of pressing

Created On:  25 October 2012 Problem: In a runtime session, it is easy to obtain TMP / TEMP path by reading environment variables. Is it possible to read client machines paths from within a Thin Client session? Resolution: To obtain client machine paths, a Windows API can be used. This is a brief COBOL program that explains how to call this DLL. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. getPATH. REMARKS. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. SPECIAL-NAMES. DECIMAL-POINT IS COMMA. INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION. FILE-CONTROL. DATA DIVISION. FILE SECTION. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. COPY "ACUCOBOL.DEF". 01 WS-PATH PIC X(200). LINKAGE SECTION. SCREEN SECTION. PROCEDURE DIVISION. MAIN-LOGIC. ACCEPT TERMINAL-ABILITIES FROM TERMINAL-INFO IF IS-REMOTE SET ENVIRONMENT "DLL_CONVENTION" TO "1" CALL "@[DISPLAY]:kernel32.dll@WINAPI" CALL

Created On:  16 October 2012 Problem: We are reading in a report file for additional processing. Some numeric fields were printed out with leading spaces but when we try to process them with Micro Focus we are getting an 'invalid numeric data in numeric field' error. The runtime error is a RTS163. Our program is moving a field read in from a file into another field defined as a PIC Z type variable to suppress the leading Zeros to SPACES for our final results. We have tried various options but cannot get this to be accepted as an actual numeric data item. Resolution: Although IBM and Micro Focus say one should use valid data in processing any Cobol arithmetic statements, Micro Focus will also flag invalid data found in a MOVE statement. We have cut down your program to the following sample. Since we could not get the sample to pass an IF NUMERIC test, we needed to restore the leading Zeros to our field. The sample simulates data read in from a file by moving hexadecima

Created On:  17 October 2012 Problem: It is possible to call Cobol sub programs but in Eclipse but am not aware of how this can be done. In Visual Studio you can set the output folder for the .exe and/or Dlls from any project to the same folder so e.g. ProgramA will find ProgramB.  But under Eclipse this can´t be done, the output folder needs to be under the Project the source is created in. Resolution: Please do the following to resolve this issue:•         In your calling project (ie the one built to an exe which calls the others), right click and bring up the project properties. •         Open the ‘Micro Focus COBOL’ section•         Click on the ‘’Build Path’ item to see the build settings•         Select the tab called ‘Projects’•         Now click the ‘Add...’ b

Created On:  11 October 2012 Problem: Customer has Visual COBOL solution that was building fine.  A change was made to one of the compiler directives in the project properties COBOL tab.Now when attempting to rebuild the solution they get the following error:Unhandled Exception: Could not load file or assembly"BadImageFormatException"attempt was made to load a program with an incorrect format.Why is this happening now? Resolution: This error usually happens if the Platform target type gets changed from Any CPU or x86 to x64 or vice versa. There is a problem when editing a property page in that if you are not in a particular field and you scroll the mouse it may change the value of the Platform target field.Check to ensure that the Platform target field is set to the correct type in all of your projects. Old KB# 36435

Created On:  26 October 2012 Problem: How do you set a combo box on a Windows Form to read-only?  It is not one of the combo box properties like it is in the properties of a Textbox control. Resolution: You can disable the Combobox so that no data can be entered into the Textbox portion or the list portion of the control as follows:      set comboBox1::Enabled to false If you want your users to be able to pick from the list but not enter a value in the Textbox then change the dropdownstyle property to dropdownlist.      set comboBox1::DropDownStyle to type ComboBoxStyle::DropDownList Incident #2597108 Old KB# 36516#COBOL#VisualCOBOL#netexpress

Created On:  23 October 2012 Problem: Fileshare has been installed as a Windows service using the command fsservice -i.Although the Fileshare service was set to Automatic with Server for COBOL 4.0/5.0/5.1 or COBOL Server 1.0/2.0/2.1, the service is not started after reboot.Event Viewer reports the following two errors:"A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the Micro Focus Fileshare Service service to connect." "The Micro Focus Fileshare Service service failed to start due to the following error: The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion." Resolution: This problem occurs when Fileshare is started as a service while the CCITCP2 daemon is not running.The CCITCP2 daemon has to be installed as a service and has to be started before starting the Fileshare service. Here are the steps to set up the Fileshare service properly:1. open a Command Prompt session that is run as administrator (i.e. right-click on the C

Created On:  24 October 2012 Problem: This article discusses the "database failure" error when running $COBDIR/lmf/lmfinstallYou have recovered a corrupt LMF database using the install script:  $COBDIR/lmf/lmfinstall.Your COBOL version is prior to Server Express 2.2 Service Pack 2. Restarting licensing fails with a message: “License Key database is empty”.You attempt to install licenses into the empty database and receive the message: "database failure". Resolution: The problem is that directory $COBDIR/lmf contains database files (mflmfdb, mflmfdb.idx, mflmfdbX, mflmfdbX.idx). These database files do not belong in $COBDIR/lmf and must be removed.The lmfinstall script allows the user to create an empty database in a directory of their choosing (the default is a directory called mflmf).If the user attempts to install into $COBDIR/lmf (install over itself) then it will fail but it still create the database filesThen when the user reruns the script to create a database in

Created On:  17 October 2012 Problem: We want to be able to activate our Cobol 2010 Runtime licenses via their Proxy Server but when doing so see the following error: Error: Unable to comunicate with Micro Focus ,The remote server returned an error: (407) Proxy Authentication Required. Resolution: Please note that this issue is resolved in Visual COBOL version 2.1, if you are using a previous version of this product please try the following: To allow for safe net license activation through a proxy server you can use the following CesAdminTool.exe.config file modification, this file is normally placed in the following folder: C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Common Files\\SafeNet Sentinel\\Sentinel RMS License Manager\\WINNT\\CesAdminTool.exe.config The proxy configuration will be set in internet explorer , for further info you could read http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/sa91de1e(v=VS.90).aspx To make it work, you should modify the file with:   <> 

Created On:  17 October 2012 Problem: You can use ANT to compile COBOL Files from the command line in Visual COBOL for Eclipse, but how can this be done for individual COBOL programs? Resolution: First ensure your COBOL environment is set up and ensure the mfant and ant-contrib jar files (from the Visual COBOL bin directory) are on your classpath. Assuming your project is in c:\\workspace\\fred, your build configuration is called “New Configuration”, and you want to compile program1.cbl and program2.cbl, use the following command line: ant -f .cobolBuild New_Configuration.FileCompile -DfilesList="C:\\workspace\\fred\\program1.cbl,C:\\workspace\\fred\\program2.cbl " You can modify the entries in the -DfilesList parameter as needed. NA. Old KB# 36447#COBOL