Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  18 August 2011 Problem: When using the compiler directive CALLFH(ACUFH) you receive the following error message after building the project:DUMP-UG.obj : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol _ACUFHobj\\x86\\Debug\\Menu.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals Resolution: To resolve this issue you will need to souround the ACUFH option string in quotes (").  For example:CALLFH("ACUFH") Incident #2532915 Old KB# 34339#COBOL

Created On:  19 August 2011 Problem: When compiling a program after an upgrade the error "Bad magic number for shared library" is obtained. Everything seems to be in order. For instance, the system is 64-bit, the cobmode setting is 64-bit, and the library being referenced is 64-bit. The database is an Oracle database and it is also 64-bit. Resolution: In this case check the procob executable (it may be on a client system) to see which format (32-bit or 64-bit) it is. To find this on a UNIX or Linux system, execute:    file procobThe file format will be returned telling you if the procob executable is 64-bit (explicitly stated) or 32-bit (won't explicitly state 64-bit). If you are using 64-bit and the procob executable is not 64-bit, obtain the 64-bit procob executable (Oracle may have to be contacted for that). Incident #2523812 Old KB# 34342

Created On:  23 August 2011 Problem: I am having a problem linking 'C' lib content in Visual CCOBOL.  In the Visual COBOL solution where linking to C libs is being specified, e.g. Links Settings had "diskcopy.lib" specified. When building the solution errors where returned such as:  unresolved external symbol _open referenced in function _diskcopy_open. Resolution: The words 'open', 'close', 'read' and 'write' in diskcopy.c were not compatible with the latest VISUAL STUDIO 2010 build and have to be amended to '_open', '_close', '_read' and '_write'. Try to rebuild and it should complete without further problems. Incident #2524182 Old KB# 34348

Created On:  10 August 2011 Problem: The error message "can not create temporary directory" appears when compiling a program, or when executing a utility (such as Micro Focus's mfsupport utility). Resolution: Here are a few items to check in resolving this problem:Is the TMPDIR environment variable set?  Micro Focus follows the value of this environment variable when creating temporary files. If TMPDIR is set, does the directory pointed to by TMPDIR exist?  If so, do you have permission to write in that directory?  You can test this by using a UNIX command to create or "touch" a new file in that directory.If TMPDIR is not set, Micro Focus uses default locations of /tmp or /var/tmp.  Is there a permissions problem, or a disk space problem, in these locations?To solve the problem, you could set the environment variable TMPDIR to a location having adequate permissions and disk space. Old KB# 34324

Created On:  26 July 2011 Problem: The problem occurs on the Windows 7 64-Bit platform using AcuBench V9.0 Screen Designer when creating a new AcuBench product. When using screen designer and adding a GRID, Notice its completely blank and has no grid patterns etc. This issue is only linked to this platform configuration. Resolution: You simply create a separate Windows .bat file to execute AcuBench .Within this you just set PATH=(Setting the PATH to nothing and executing AcuBench - the grid (columns and rows) displays). Old KB# 34275#GRIDBLANKACUBENCH

Created On:  01 August 2011 Problem: Users have the utility called CHKLOG to periodically clear the event.log, but there is no utility to clear the connect.log file.  How is this done? Resolution: You can go ahead and delete the connect.log as it will create a new one for the next log entry. If you receive an error message when trying to delete it you will need to stop the server first. You can disable the creation of the connection log by deleting the "InstallDirectory" entry from the [SimbaServer] section of the odbc.ini file, which is located in the Relativity Data Server installation directory. Incident #2530278 Old KB# 34296

Created On:  08 August 2011 Problem: Users have both data files, with and without extension. Using AcuXDBC, there is a file-suffix variable they can set into the configuration file, but it will not find any that do not have a suffix. Needs to be able to see both. Resolution: Multiple suffixes are not support by AcuXDBC; but there are two workarounds that users with the same issue have implemented: a) Use multiple acuxdbc.cfg configuration files and point these in separate DSN's. b) Setting Up File Aliases, as we mentioned in our AcuXDBC User's Guide: Chapter 5:Installing AcuXDBC; 5.5 Loading the System Catalog with Your XFDs; 5.5.1 Setting Up File Aliases. In this last approach you do not have to use the FILE-SUFFIX variable in the acuxdbc.cfg fil; but you will need to add the files to the System Catalog using the following syntax: xfdname#tablename#filename.dat (or whatever is the suffix you are using or none). This way AcuXDBC will link the table name with the fi

Created On:  28 July 2011 Problem: What is the difference between system time and total user time? Resolution: Total user time: This is the total number of seconds used by all the programs in the executed run. It is shown under the Program Summary in the report. System time: This is the number of milliseconds of CPU time spent processing system code on behalf of the profiled process. Incident #2529788 Old KB# 34288#SystemTime

Created On:  05 August 2011 Problem: In which version of Acu4GL for Oracle was Oracle 11G R2 supported? Resolution: Although Oracle 11G has been support by Acu4GL for Oracle since version 8.1.0, support for Oracle 11G R2 did not begin until version 8.1.2.1. Incident #2526126 Old KB# 34311

Created On:  02 August 2011 Problem: Using runtime 8.1.1 or earlier on Windows 7, no Font dialog box opens when called. A CALL "W$FONT" USING WFONT-CHOOSE-FONT returns value -1. Resolution: Windows 7 manages the Font dialog box in a different way than Windows XP. It is now mandatory for it to call the native API comctl32.dll. However, setting WIN32_NATIVECTLS to 0 (the default value) causes the exclusion of the said dll. So, a workaround may be to turn WIN32_NATIVECTLS configuration variable ON, using runtime 8.1.1 or earlier.  From runtime 8.1.2, this is no longer necessary and the Font dialog box is shown correctly, regardless of the value of WIN32_NATIVECTLS.See ECN-3976 for further information about this issue. Incident #2530193 Old KB# 34299

Created On:  04 August 2011 Problem: When running a Visual COBOL Windows Forms Application and clicking into a textbox control a space appears in the first character of the textbox. How do I get rid of this leading space character? Resolution: This most likely has to do with how you are intializing the text box text property. Are you initializing the field using something like:set textbox1::text to " "This is different than initializing it to the empty value which is two quotes without a space separating them.  Instead, try using:set textbox1::text to "" Incident #2530929 Old KB# 34305

Created On:  05 August 2011 Problem: Beginning with version 8, unlike previous versions of the ACUCOBOL-GT Runtime, when the bin directory is copied to another Windows machine or a client PC is mapped to the bin directory on a server one of the following or similar errors may occur. ACUCOBOL-GT Runtime initialization errors such the following are usually corrected by copying the Microsoft redistributables, Microsoft.VC80.CRT and Microsoft.VC80.MFC, into the bin directory as discussed in articles 2731, 14870, 14931, and 31750. "The system cannot execute the specified program."“This application has failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect.”"The application failed to initialize properly."The directions provided in those articles were followed, however, the error below continued to persist."The application failed to initialize properly." Resolution: It was discovered that the installation had been done from a net

Created On:  26 July 2011 Problem: Using CBL_DELETE_FILE for large and small files on Windows and UNIX. It successfully removes files less than 2GB on both Windows and Solaris, and removes files larger than 2GB on Windows. But it is failing (with status code 1) to remove files 2GB or larger on Solaris. Resolution: This should be resolved by setting the environment variable below:USE_LARGE_FILE_API=1  export USE_LARGE_FILE_APIOn UNIX systems, this variable allows you to turn on or off file system API support for very large files (greater than 2 gigabytes). Support for large files is enabled when USE_LARGE_FILE_API is set to "1" (on, true, yes). Some UNIX systems do not support files greater than 2 gigabytes in size. In those situations, setting this variable to the default of "0" (off, false, no) causes the runtime to use the standard 32-bit file system API. This variable has no effect on Windows platforms. Old KB# 34282#deletelarge2GB

Created On:  01 August 2011 Problem: Commencing on version 9.0.0, there is a new location of the installation and the licenses on Windows platforms. Resolution: New Installation location on Windows:The Windows installation directory structure for all extend products has changed. In particular the former directory "Acucorp" has been renamed to "Micro Focus". For example, version 8.x of ACUCOBOL-GT is installed here: C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl800\\AcuGT Now, version 9.0.0 and higher is installed here: C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl900\\AcuGT Windows license file location changes:Version 9.0 now follows the Microsoft guidelines for license file locations. When using a standard ACUCOBOL-GT installation and License Activator you should see no change in behavior. However, license files are no longer created in the installation directory (C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl900, by default on Windows XP). Instead, license files are created in an a

Created On:  04 August 2011 Problem: I have a Visual Cobol Solution, that contains two projects each with a Windows Form. One Windows Form has a button and the other a textbox control.How can a value (string) be sent across projects, for example, if I click on Button on Form1 I want it to populate the textbox1 on Form2 with some text.Would the line of code look something like the following for the btnSend_Click method:        set form2::textbox1::text to "this is a test". How can I reference components on other forms that are in other projects but in the sane solution? Resolution: Add a reference in the Form1 project to the Form2 project.Form 1 needs to define a data item to hold the instance of Form2.In this example Form2 will be instantiated from within Form1.       class-id testtextspace.Form1 is partial                 inherits type

Created On:  29 July 2011 Problem: There is a problem with the Visual COBOL R4 documentation for using the RM compatible C$RERR routine.The documentation states:Configuring the RM/COBOL File Handler  In acurmfm.cfg, set the file handler. DEFAULT_FILESYSTEM RMFMTo retrieve RMFM file status codes or call C$RERR in your COBOL programs: In acurmfm.cfg, set the following environment variables. set CONVERTSTATUS=rmstatset COBCONFIG=cobconfig.cfg  *> cobconfig.cfg is your MF COBOL run-time configuration file.In cobconfig.cfg, set the following environment variable: set ACU_LIBRARY=TRUE-------------------------------------------------------This does not work. Resolution: The COBCONFIG and CONVERTSTATUS environment variables must actually be set in the computers environment instead of in the acurmfm.cfg file.  If you follow the instructions in the documentation you will get a Runtime Error 173 on the call to C$RERR.If the COBCONFIG and CONVERTSTATUS envir

Created On:  02 August 2011 Problem: Is it possible to do the following:- Move the cursor between entry-fields, using events- Return to the main screen and show the cursor on a new screen control- Move focus between grids Resolution: The attached samples show how to do this.Program1.cbl shows:- how to move between entry-fields;- how to open a new screen, close it and return to a third entry-field.Grid.cbl shows how to move from Grid1 to Grid2, using events and exceptions.Both samples are provided standalone and within an Acubench 9.0.1 project. Incident #2530249 Attachments Grid.cblProgram1.cblaccept-control-4.zip Old KB# 34300

Created On:  09 August 2011More Visual COBOL results at kb.microfocus.com Problem: While attempting to install Visual COBOL 2010 you receive the top message below or while attempting to install COBOL 2010 Runtime you receive the bottom message below:What does this mean? Resolution: These error messages are correct in that Visual COBOL for Visual Studio and COBOL 2010 Runtime products cannot be installed on the same computer.  Visual COBOL is the development environment which integrates into Visual Studio 2010. It has all the components of the COBOL 2010 Runtime product installed with it so that you can test your applications on the development computer without the requirement of a production runtime license. The COBOL 2010 Runtime product is for production use and it contains all of the files necessary to run the developed applications on a computer where Visual COBOL is not installed.  These products each are licensed separately.  Where you might h

Created On:  01 August 2011 Problem: Working with AcuBench projects that are sitting in a server where they can be reached from several developers, there are occasions when we will get the following message: “AcuBench has detected a corruption in one of your Project's files. Acubench will restore your project from your most recent Auto-Save.” It points to a temporary file, which does not exist. This results in not being able to work at all with the project. The project can be opened from other machines without any problems. Resolution: As the normal procedure when working with AcuBench, it generates some temporary files and registry keys related with those temporary files. When AcuBench closes a project, it removes those files and registry keys. When it starts over, it checks those registry entries and if the value is different to 0 it is when it sends this message. The registry key in question is: \\\\CurrentUser\\\\SOFTWARE\\\\CASEMaker\\\\AcuBenchxxx\\\\Tem

Created On:  26 July 2011 Problem: When running Thin Client from a Windows XP machine, you get the message "Connection failed. Server failed to start remote process. Check message on server."The trace file on the server (Windows 2008 server) shows a message "Trying to create Process" ... and at end of message "failed: 267). Resolution: The Error 267 in Windows environment means Invalid Directory.  An invalid directory path/name or inadequate permissions on one of the directories or sub directories causes this error.  Ensure the working directory specified in the Alias entry is correct. Check the permissions for all leading directories to both the runtime and object files.  Check the AcuRCL configuration file (acurcl.cfg) to ensure the correct path specification is set for SERVER-RUNTIME.  This must be set if the remote runtime is installed in a different directory than AcuRCL. Old KB# 34286

Created On:  22 June 2011 Problem: When attempting to compile the Server Express demo program $COBDIR/demo/c-cobol/cobsub1.cbl, the module "cmain1.cpy" cannot be found in any of the demo directories. Resolution: Copy the $COBDIR/demo/c-cobol directory contents into a working directory and then run the script ccob1.sh. This should create cmain1.cpy. Incident #2508072 Old KB# 34184

Created On:  16 June 2011 Problem: What are abstract classes in managed Visual COBOL and how do I use them? Resolution: Abstract classes are used for creating base OO classes that contain both Abstract methods and implemented methods.Abstract classes cannot be instantiated directly but instead they must be inherited by a derived class in order to be used.The Abstract methods defined must be implemented by the derived class much like in an Interface.Methods that have been implemented in the Abstract class itself can be called directly when the derived class is instantiated.Example:  program-id. Main.       data division.       working-storage section.       01 calculate type DerivedClass.       01 added     binary-long.      &nbs

Created On:  05 July 2011 Problem: In Visual Studio 2010 there is a setting to specify which extensions should be treated as COBOL copy files, like .cpy, .cob, .cbl etc.How does one specify that a file without any extension should be treated as a COBOL copy file? Resolution: From the Visual Studio 2010 IDE menu navigate to Tools-->Options-->Text Editor-->COBOL-->Miscellaneous-->Copy file extensions.Add a comma to the front of the list of extensions, by default this looks like:.cbl,.cpy,.cobchange it to look like:,.cbl,.cpy,.cobThe "," means that a file with no extention will also be recognized as a copy file extension. Incident #2525900 Old KB# 34229

Created On:  24 June 2011 Problem: When using Rumba without a 'foreign' (non-english) keyboard sometimes you need to know how to type a certain foreign character without having to change or create a keyboard.map file.  How do you do this? Resolution: All the different foreign letter types are available with the keystroke ALT nnn where nnn represents the 3 digits that creates the character by holding the ALT key down.There are numerous websties available where you can find these key combinations but here is one of them that seems to be particularly useful:http://ml.hss.cmu.edu/mlrc/links/keyboardhelp.html Old KB# 34192#Rumba

Created On:  28 June 2011 Problem: This article applies to licensing in Visual COBOL R4 and other Micro Focus products which use the latest CES version. Resolution: We have introduced a licensing daemon (mfcesd), primarily to support single threaded  applications but with some other benefits, such as cleaning up licenses if  a crash occurs. The product  talks to the daemon and the daemon talks to Safenet. If the daemon is not running you may see an error ‘Cannot communicate with licensing daemon’. There are two new scripts to start/stop the new daemon startmfcesd.sh and stopmfcesd.sh. If we want to shutdown the licensing completely then we should stop the daemon first then lserv and then vice versa when starting up again.stopmfcesd.shstoplserv.shstartlserv.shstartmfcesd.shThese scripts are in /var/microfocuslicensing/bin and should be run as root.There is a new utility mfcesdchk which will check if the daemon is running and report the version number.mfcesdchk