Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  13 April 2012 Problem: While trying to execute a program sitting in a Windows server from a client machine through AcuServer, the execution fails showing in the  AcuServer trace file the following error messages: Cannot search (READ/EXECUTE) all parent directories Cannot create files in the directory Error like no such file? errno: 2 Even the user is part of the "Local Admin Group, and the "admin Group" was already on all the locations, also the user added the "Local Account " directly into the security of all the folder that is needed access to and gave him "Full Control". Resolution: This is a frequent problem that checking permissions in a Windows server, users circumvent the permissions of the root directory. Even the user is a local admin with full access to the files and directories, the problem in those cases is that the user who has being mapped in the AcuAccess file is not able to access the files at the top leve

Created On:  03 April 2012 Problem: I am using MS SQL Server 2005 and Database Connectors (within MicroFocus' Studio Enterprise Edition 6.0). After creating a solution in Visual Studio 2008, I attempted to connect the Visual Studio solution (DBC.sln) to the SQL database tables through the debugging steps. I received a "File Error: 9T" in the debugging window. How do I resolve this issue? Resolution: For Studio 6.0 SP2 (and later), a 9.0 license for Connector for MSSQL is needed. It needs to live in %ALLUSERSPROFILE%[\\Application Data]\\Micro Focus\\ConnectorForMSSQL 9, and be named acufh.mlc. The “\\Application Data” part is included in the directory name if the version of Windows is less than 600. Another way to look at this is that the acufh.mlc either needs to be in \\ProgramData\\Micro Focus\\ConnectorForMSSQL 9, or in \\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\\Micro Focus\\ConnectorForMSSQL 9, depending on which pathway exists.To obtain the license, a S

Created On:  10 April 2012 Problem: I am using Visual COBOL for Eclipse R4 Update 2 under Windows and I am trying to create a project that contains COBOL programs that need to be precompiled using Oracle's Pro*COBOL precompiler.  Do you have an example of how to do this? Resolution: The following are the steps necessary to setup a Visual COBOL for Eclipse native COBOL project so that it can interact with the Oracle Pro*COBOL precompiler.There are a few prerequisites to running with this sample.1.  If you are using Oracle's Pro*COBOL then the appropriate Oracle client software including Pro*COBOL has to installed on your computer and must be accessible within the PATH.2. You must be able to connect to the Oracle database using Oracles SQL Developer, etc. from your development computer.3. The sample program assumes that the Oracle Sample database is installed and is accessible from the user account SCOTT/TIGER. Please change the username/password to one that is

Created On:  02 April 2012 Problem: Some customer have encountered performance issue when migrating an application from Server Express to Visual COBOL. So, rather than taking seconds to run, in Visual COBOL the same process may take up to 40 seconds. Resolution: The issue was determined to be within the licensing system for which there is a simple workaround until a permanent fix is made.In the directory /var/microfocuslicensing/bin folder there is a file called ces.iniEdit this file by adding the line:  CacheCPULicenses=1 Old KB# 35742

Created On:  13 April 2012 Problem: Reading a large table with Acu4GL in a SQL Server Data Base accessing the records by alternate key, the performance decreases dramatically compared with a VISION file. Resolution: It is a fact that accessing a data base table instead a VISION file, the performance decreases due to VISION files are the native file system handled by Extend runtime with no translations at all. This performance hit increases if the program is accessing the tables using alternate keys; data bases don’t have and don’t know the alternate key’s concept. In Cobol, the two most expensive statements, in terms of performance, are OPEN and START; accessing a VISON file this  impact is not noticeable but it is when we are working with a data base. Using the above COBOL statements extensively in the same program or in the same runtime unit will decrease the performance of the runtime. Said that, there are some guidelines described in Chapter 9 Performance and Trou

Created On:  12 April 2012 Problem: On submitting a JCL, the following error is seen in the log:JCLCM0187I JOB65040 ZLO10DN0 JOB SUBMITTED (JOBNAME=ZLO10DN0,JOBNUM=65040) 14:38:08 JCLCM0172E JOB65040 ZLO10DN0 JOB FAILED - JCL ERROR 14:38:08 JES000050E JCL parsing error: Job: 065040 RC = 8 14:38:08 Processed "/appl/mfocus/wrapper/jcl/copy/ZLO10DN0.JCL"and in the spool o/p  53 //JLO4M    EXEC ZPLNIMS,MBR=IKJEFT1B,COND=(4,LT) **** JCLCM0406E PROCEDURE NOT FOUND **** JCLCM0414E INVALID OR UNKNOWN OR UNEXPECTED OPERAND Similar errors also seen in the console log:JCLCM0187I JOB65088 ZLFG0DNP JOB  SUBMITTED (JOBNAME=ZLFG0DNP,JOBNUM=65088)JCLCM0172E JOB65088 ZLFG0DNP JOB  FAILED  - JCL ERROR 12:49:46JES000050E JCL parsing error: Job: 065088 RC =    8 12:49:46 JCLCM0187I JOB65089 ZLFG0DNP JOB  SUBMITTED (JOBNAME=ZLFG0DNP,JOBNUM=65089)JCLCM0172E JOB65089 ZLFG0DNP JOB  FAILED  - JCL ERROR 13:13:34JES000050E JCL parsing e

Problem: Errors such as "corrupt license database" are occurring, and prior efforts to fix them have failed. Resolution: Here is a thorough and comprehensive way of recovering from "corrupt license database" errors if other efforts have failed, for example if the "lmfdbrecover" or "aslmdbrecover" utilities don't exist or didn't work for some reason.  This requires root credentials.  Also, you must have your licenses available at hand (including, for each license, both the serial number and the license key) because during this process you re-install the licenses. 1. Login with root credentials 2. Change directories (cd) to the directory where the COBOL product is installed.  This is by default /opt/microfocus/cobol, but the person originally installing may have specified any location.  It is possible that more than one COBOL product is installed on a given machine.  If you do not know the location (or the locations) where COBOL is installed, use this com

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: The following command line has embedded quotes, and X’91’ Function 35 fails to execute it: CMD /K "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\TestData\\Bin\\TestProg.exe" -i"aData" -o"aData" Resolution: When a command line requires quotes, additional quotes are required as follows: CMD /K ""C:\\Program Files (x86)\\TestData\\Bin\\TestProg.exe" -i"aData" -o"aData"" Incident #2542130 Old KB# 35708

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: When calling the COBOL library routine PC_READ_DRIVE the drive letter is sometimes returned in upper-case while other times it is returned in lower-case.  How can I make this consistent so that the drive letter can successfully be used in comparisons? Resolution: This is actually a Windows issue in that the underlying API call can return the drive in either upper-case or lower-case depending opn how the system was setup and some other factors.To ensure consistency in your application please use the appropriate intrinsic function to convert the drive letter returned to either upper-case or lower-case as show below:MOVE FUNCTION UPPER-CASE(DRIVE) to DRIVE Incident #2565230 Old KB# 35696

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: Installation Wizard prevents Net Express 5.1 to be installed without installing the following prerequisite software first: Microsoft .NET Framework v3.5 Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Resolution: When installing Net Express 5.1, the Installation Wizard takes the user to the Custom Setup screen where several features can be selected to be installed. The first feature listed in the Custom Setup screen is "Net Express support for .NET", which enables the user to use Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to develop both native and managed (or .NET) COBOL applications. If the user does not wish to use this feature, then the install will not require MS Visual Studio 2008 to be installed first. To disable a feature from the Custom Setup screen, the user needs to click on the icon, which is left to the feature, and click on "This feature will not be available". Incident #2547192 Old KB# 35706

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: I have upgraded my version of Server Express, now I have this XFHLOG file that gets created.  It did not happen in the previous version. Why is this and how do I turn it off? Resolution: The LOG option is documented as follows: When LOG is set to ON, any unusual file-related situations, such as corrupted files, or automatic file recovery, are noted in a log file for later examination. This option used to be OFF by deault. You can turn it off in the extfh.cfg file:[XFH-DEFAULTS]LOG=OFF The XFHLOG file that gets created is in binary format, you can display the text version of it using the cobfhprint command. Old KB# 35700

Created On:  26 March 2012 Problem: Installing new product SX5.1 produces the following error message: cobgetmsg: Can not find message file install.lng Resolution: This problem is normally related to the Product File not being binary copied to the UNIX Directory or Untarred incorrectly.  Uninstall SX5.1 and re-copy the Product zip file to the desired directory before untarring/unzipping the Product file. Incident #2547310 Old KB# 35690

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: Customer was getting the following error while compilation of below BMS Map code Snippet.  ====================================================         LCLA  &L                                                       *                                                                    &nbs

Created On:  29 March 2012 Problem: I have developed an ASP.NET Web Site using Visual COBOL running locally on my development computer. I now wish to deploy it under IIS on a production machine on which Visual COBOL is not installed. How do I do this? Resolution: The following are instructions on how to deploy a Visual COBOL ASP.NET web site onto a production server running Windows 7 and IIS 7.This includes web sites that call native .dlls that are using the ACU/RM file handler:Deploying COBOL ASP.NET Web Services and Web Sites developed with Visual COBOL under IISBecause the COBOL 2010 Runtime product does not include the COBOL compiler the following steps must be used when deploying the web site to a Production server.In this example the web site is in folder C:\\testwebsite and the name of the web site is also testwebsite.1. On the target computer, install the COBOL 2010 Runtime product.2. Open the Micro Focus License Manager and install the authorization code for the CO

Created On:  23 March 2012 Problem: AcuConnect fails to start its service. The error popup shows this message on an English Operating System:"AcuConnect - StartService: %1 is not a valid application of Win32."And this on an Italian Operating System:"AcuConnect - StartService: %1 non è un'applicazione di Win32 valida." Resolution: Verify the value of the Registry Key:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\services\\AcuConnectIt may be useful to modify the value of the key "ImagePath" from: C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl901\\AcuGT\\bin\\acurcl.exe -startserviceto"C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl901\\AcuGT\\bin\\acurcl.exe" -startserviceDouble quotes may be useful to avoid any issue with paths which contain spaces. Incident #2543888 Attachments 35683-error.jpg Old KB# 35683

Created On:  28 March 2012 Problem: Installing just Acuserver 64bit trying to execute the Control Panel it fails with the message “The program can’t start because acme2.dll is missing from your computer”. Resolution: The problem is that the acme2.dll for 64bit is downloaded just when the runtime is installed. The solution is either to install the runtime or copy that dll from the installation media at: DISK1\\Program Files 64\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl910\\AcuGT\\bin. Incident #2561691 Old KB# 35718

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: Although EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC statement is present in the source code and mode=ANSI is set among the other COBSQL directives, the precompilation process flags the "SQLWARNING" keyword below with "Must include SQLCA when mode=ANSI and WHENEVER SQLWARNING used":  EXEC SQL   WHENEVER SQLWARNING     CONTINUE  END-EXEC. Resolution: The problem occurs due to the CP preprocessor that will by default expand any copybook definitions to ensure that a single source file gets passed to the precompiler. This includes the "EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC" statement. This means that when the processed source gets passed to Pro*COBOL, it sees the expanded SQLCA. As results, Pro*COBOL reports the error. To prevent CP from expanding the SQLCA copybook, specify the SY option between P(CP) and ENDP. Incident #2544813 Old KB# 35709

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: Using Visual COBOL in 32-bit native application although problem also occurs in Net Express 5.1. After executing select into with array fields the fields appear to be populated corrected and no error occurs. But on the very next SQL statement a RTS 114 error will occur. Here is a sample which uses the Oracle sample EMP table.  The 114 error occurs on the cursor open after the select into array.       $SET SQL(DBMAN=ODBC)  sourceformat(variable)        WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.        EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA  END-EXEC.        *> -------------------------------------------       *> DECLARE TABLE for EMP       *> -------------------------------------------          EXEC SQL DECLARE EMP TABLE &

Created On:  23 March 2012 Problem: Trying to code an embedded OpenESQL call to a function in an Oracle database which returns a VARCHAR2 result.Using Oracle ODBC driver 11.2.They get sqlcode -10000 on the call but the same call seems to work for SQL Server database. ORACLE stored procedure function call: create or replacefunction function1 return varchar2 as begin  return 'some value';end function1; COBOL:        identification division.       program-id. Program1.        environment division.       configuration section.        data division.       working-storage section.           EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC.           EXEC SQL BEGIN DECLARE SECTION END-EXEC.  &nb

Created On:  27 March 2012 Problem: While compiling COBOL code with embedded SQL statements with COBSQL, Visual Studio JIT Debugger pops up with a message "Unhandled win32 exception occurred in procob.exe [2432]". The number in the [ ] keeps changing each time the error message is popping up. Resolution: The exception actually occurs when the source code contains hex ‘1A’: 123456   05    DFHERROR  PICTURE X   VALUE  IS  ''.were the above literal or the value between '' is actually hex ‘1A’ In the Net Express editor, the above line will be displayed in two lines as shown below: 123456   05    DFHERROR  PICTURE X   VALUE  IS  ''.Hex '1A' is in fact an end of file mark. In Notepad, this character is displayed as a box, which is commonly used for displaying non-printable characters. This end of file mark is the real cause of the exc

Created On:  28 March 2012 Problem: In Visual COBOL, is there a way to have a user click on a button in a .NET Windows Form application and have it automatically print the current form to the default printer? Resolution: Windows Forms Screen PrintThis sample program demonstrates how to use the System.Drawing.Printing class to both provide a means of doing a Print Preview via Dialog Box for the current Form and provide a means to print the form to the default printer. The attached program displays two buttons that can be clicked,one to invoke the print preview function and one to print the current form. Incident #2566324 Attachments screenprintvc.zip Old KB# 35713

Created On:  22 March 2012 Problem: Which port does the Micro Focus License Server use when a client requests a  license using the License Administration on their PC? A customer needs to open up the port on their firewall as currently they have access blocked when requesting a new key. Resolution: The default port is 5093.   Old KB# 35676

Created On:  28 March 2012 Problem: Is there a way for one program (Program A) to open files, accept input from a screen, then call a second program (Program B) for file processing without Program A closing the files and Program B reopening files? Resolution: Declaring the file FD as external in both programs accomplish the desired task: FD custom-file external. 01 custom-record ....etc This way the file can be opened and closed in ProgramA and read, write, etc. in ProgramB. ProgramB can not open again the file because it will generate an error. Incident #2191524 Old KB# 35719

Created On:  28 March 2012 Problem: I'm trying to get an F4-key exception from a Combo Box control it seems that doesn’t work. Any other F1-F9 keys generate an exception, but an F4-key won’t. Is this a limitation? Or what needs to be done to make this happen? Resolution: There is a configuration variable called WIN_F4_DROPS_COMBOBOX This configuration variable applies only to programs running under Windows. Its default value is "1" (on, true, yes), so, combo boxes use the standard Windows handling for the key. Pressing while a combo box is active causes it to drop its drop-down list, and the COBOL program is not notified of an exception. When this variable is set to "0" (off, false, no), pressing with a combo box active causes the COBOL program to get the exception, but the combo box does not drop its drop-down list. Incident #2191737 Old KB# 35720

Created On:  30 March 2012 Problem: Visual COBOL R4 was installed on a new computer on which older applications developed with Net Express also existed.  Visual COBOL starts OK but when attempting to create a new or open an existing COBOL project the following error is displayed: “Runtime DLL ‘CBLRTSM’ version 1.3, entry point mf_id_dynlink_lib_check not recorded in registry, not found or incompatible with requirements of dynamically bound COBOL program. Dynamic binding of RTS required Any Runtime DLL, at least Version 3.0” What does this mean? Resolution: This particular problem occurs because Visual Studio is trying to load one of its system .DLLs but it is finding and loading a .DLL that was compiled with Net Express 3.0 which was linked for dynamic binding. This is why this particular .DLL is trying to load the COBOL run-time "cblrtsm.dll" for Net Express 3.0.Since the COBOL run-time system "cblrstm.dll" from Visual COBOL is already loaded into