Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  22 November 2011 Problem: A client found an issue during the migration of an application into Visual COBOL managed code that uses character based screen displays in the SCREEN SECTION. In previous versions of Micro Focus COBOL (eg Net Express) if they had a single DISPLAY statement that was required to straddle 2 lines of code in the COBOL source, they were able to use the continuation character (-) in column 7 of the 2nd line to string both lines to be displayed as one. For example, note the following code, which has a continuation character in column 7 in the 2nd line of the text to be displayed:       *        SCREEN SECTION.       01  SCR-DISPLAY.      05  LINE 23 BLANK LINE.      05  LINE 23 “We need to string this line with the next line a       -       &nb

Created On:  24 November 2011 Problem: In order to install the runtime license in the products Server for COBOL and Server Enterprise Edition you have to use a license management system tool called "apptrack".  There are two possibilities of installing the runtime license:1) During the installation of the product itself you are prompted to enter both the serial number and license key.  However, it is possible to skip this step and insert the license after the installation process is complete.2) If you choose the latter, then in order to start up the license administartion tool, you simply run "apptrack" from a Microsoft DOS command prompt.  You don't have to run it from any particular directory or path.Sometimes apptrack does not start up.  If this is the case, the first thing to check is that both the environment variables COBDIR and PATH are pointing to the BIN directory of the Server product installation.  If, after having verified these settings

Created On:  10 November 2011 Problem: Using runtime 9.0.1, the tool Alfred returns the following error trying to open a Vision file: "The file system does not support requested operation".Using runtime 8.1.0 Alfred works correctly. Resolution: The error is caused by a known issue that concerns I$IO library and runtime of version 9.0 and 9.0.1.  A fix has been developed and released in version 9.1.0.  Be sure to upgrade to the new version of runtime. Old KB# 35199#901#91#90#ECN-4101

Created On:  10 November 2011 Problem: AcuBench 9.1.0 returns the following error while trying to create a new project or generating the source code: Cannot find required library ccbldll.dll Resolution: The ccbldll.dll located inside the AcuBench directory is not working as expected and therefore is not recognized.Add the full path of the BIN directory (i.e. C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl910\\AcuGT\\bin) to the user's environment variable PATH.  If this variable contains paths related to old ACU or Micro Focus installations, remove them or put the 910 string at their left so that it may be read as first.This issue has been reported to Micro Focus developers team who will fix it in the future release. Incidents #2545029, #2545826 Old KB# 35198

Created On:  28 November 2011 Problem: The user has noticed an accumulation of hundreds of Runtime log files on the server in the working directory of their Thin Client application.  There are no errors noted in any of them, only several lines of what appears to be connection information. Why are the log files there?  Is it possible to prevent them from being created? Resolution: When the Runtime detects that it was invoked via Thin Client it automatically creates a trace file in the working directory.  Normally, setting “A_REMOVE_EMPTY_ERROR_FILE ON” in the Runtime configuration file causes those automatically generated trace files to be deleted.  This prevents the accumulation of zero byte files. However, in Version 8.1.2 there was a bug which caused handshake entries to be written to that trace file and they are not empty as they should be.  This is already fixed in version 8.1.3.1, and upgrading is the recommended solution.  Make sure to a

Created On:  29 November 2011 Problem: Using ACUCOBOL-GT version 8.1.2.1 when pasting text into certain entry fields the Runtime crashes.  Before crashing it sometimes repeatedly gives the message “Too many lines”. Resolution: This is a known issue that was fixed in Version 9.0.0.  Upgrading to version 9.0.0 or newer will resolve the error. The underlying cause is when a single-line entry field has the MAX-LINES property set. MAX-LINES is intended for use only with multi-line entry fields and should not be used with single-line entry fields.  Removing the MAX-LINES property or setting MAX-LINES to 0 will also resolve the error. Old KB# 35284

Created On:  09 November 2011 Problem: In a managed code Visual COBOL program for .NET you can specify DBMAN=ADO as a directive which will cause ADO commands to be generated for embedded EXEC SQL and EXEC ADO statements in your COBOL application.In Visual COBOL how does one produce a trace file containing all commands that are executed by the Oracle Data Provider for .NET during the run of an application? Resolution: Debug TracingODP.NET provides debug tracing support, which allows logging of all the ODP.NET activities into a trace file. Different levels of tracing are available. The provider can record the following information: Entry and Exit information for the ODP.NET public methods. User provided SQL statements as well as any SQL statements modified by the provider. Connection Pooling statistics such as Enlistment and Delistment. Thread ID (entry and exit). Registry Settings for Tracing Calls The following registry settings should be configured under HKEY_LOC

Created On:  25 November 2011 Problem: In thie example, two AcuCOBOL prgrams are called A and B. When verified in Modernization Workbench, A and B get verified into programs A and B - correctly. In program B there is a CALL “A.COB”. Logically, the parser searches for an entry “A.COB”, which does not exist. By putting an entry “A.COB” into the procedure division of A, the unresolved reference report show the missing .COB program entries. Without changing the source code, so that CALL “A.COB” is changed to CALL “A”, how can this situation be corrected and the programs successfully verified for analysis? Resolution: Create an Alternative Entry Point for all COBOL programs. Make sure the "Create an Alternative Entry Point" option in Workspace Options > Verification > Cobol > Settings, is set. Enter the value “=(.*)=\\1.COB” (no quotes required) This will generate a second entry point for all COBOL programs that will have .COB appended. Re-verification will be su

Created On:  29 November 2011 Problem: Main program has data items defined with the EXTERNAL clause as follows:01  FIELD-1   PIC X(10)  EXTERNAL.The main program calls a subprogram which has the same data item defined as EXTERNAL. When the main program and subprogram are both .ints or .gnts then this works correctly.When the main program is an .EXE and the subprogram is a .DLL then the EXTERNAL data items are not being shared. The value of the data item in the subprogram is not the same value as the data item defined in the main program.  Why is this? Resolution: The problem is most likely that either the main program .EXE or the subprogram .DLL is being linked as static.  This causes the programs to each use their own copy of the COBOL run-time system and thus they each have their own copy of EXTERNAL data items.When using EXTERNAL data items all modules must be linked to the Shared run-time system so that they share the same copy of

Created On:  13 October 2011 Problem: The Manual Authorization method (via the cesadmintool.sh) was used to install a license string(s).  However, on checking the License Status, no licenses are displayed. -   Verify that the license string(s) is populated into either the "lservrc.stn" or "lservrc.net" file:     Eg:          [root@/var/microfocuslicensing/bin]$ cat lservrc.stn          10 COBOLforEclipse 5.1 LONG TRIAL 30 STANDALONE EXCL 1 INFINITE_KEYS 1 JAN 2008           NEVER SLM_CODE CL_ND_LCK 805CE00C 5 z:e5RkXYZTgZEVek7SmZLZeSghiZBtbBGflKTlBapp3C          Qz3UwEEdHVRGCsdN9:nffv:86kw9FCJNN1R:5:WE3UVyfDRe:wTXpTYsgVyIiisSfnM1qzyzKNG31KgF          iSl2LMV,Sn4ftNcGVnaSOur8u06yLI -   Login as root.

Created On:  29 November 2011 Problem: Is it possible to access EBCDIC sequential files in a Visual COBOL program if the files contain data items which are defined as other than USAGE DISPLAY like COMP, COMP-3, etc.?The CODE-SET clause can be used to equate a sequential or line sequential file with an alphabet-name like ASCII or EBCDIC as follows:$SET MF  program-id.  testebc.  environment division.  special-names.     alphabet EBC is EBCDIC.  input-output section.  file-control.       select test-file assign to "testfile.dat"           organization is line sequential.  data division.  file section.  fd test-file      code-set is EBC.  01 test-record.       05 test-name   pic x(30).       05 test-company  pic x(30).&nb

Created On:  18 November 2011 Problem: While attempting to access Vision data using AcuXDBC Server version 9.1.0 on Unix/Linux the error below was encountered with both 32- and 64-bit versions. The error occurred whether using AcuXDBC client on Windows or UNIX/Linux and also using utilities like asql.ERROR: DLLLOAD: xvision, /bin/xvision.so: undefined symbol: ShowLicenseError Resolution: The behavior is corrected by ECN-XD071 in version 9.1.1. Install the new version when it becomes available.  In the interim, a patched version of AcuXDBC Server version 9.1.0 may be available by contacting SupportLine. Incident #2545001 Old KB# 35252

Created On:  01 November 2011 Problem: When using Visual COBOL for Eclipse to create and connect to a remote COBOL Project how can I specify the port of the remotedaemon, if the remotedaemon had to be started with a different port number (other than the default 4075)? Resolution: The port can be changed using the remote project creation wizard, when going through the wizard to create your remote project, click on the new connection button > select dstore.files >  in the available Services section expand DStore Connector Services > expand Remote Server launcher > Select Launcher Properties > Now you will be able to specify the port the remote daemon is using by using the Daemon Port Textfield. Click Next or Finish to go through the Wizard. Incident #2541417 Old KB# 35140

Created On:  28 October 2011 Problem: Neither the menu items for Find Next/Previous or the hot keys function after the after the initial "Find" to locate matching strings in source code editor. Resolution: This is a known issue with the CodeWatch IDE included in the RM/COBOL Development System v12.06.  To resolve this issue, you will need to obtain the CodeWatch IDE 12.06 Patch available on the "Product Updates" page of the SupportLine Web Portal at http://supportline.micorofocus.com.If you do not have access to the SupportLine Web Portal, you can obtain the patch by contacting a Micro Focus SupportLine representative through email, supportline@microfocus.com, or by phone, (800) 632-6265. Incident #2502706 Old KB# 35102#CodeWatchFind

Created On:  31 October 2011 Problem: XDBC Server 8.1.3 can be started, but the connection from the client is raising this error:Connection failed:SQLState: 28000[TOD] [ODBC Driver] DLLLOAD: acuxdbc04, This application has failed to start because the application configuration is not working properly. For troubleshooting, you should reinstall the application. Resolution: Some Visual Basic 2008 RT-Files got corrupted or deleted. Reinstalling those files solves the issue. Incident #2543749 Old KB# 35115#SQLState-28000#AcuXDBC

Created On:  07 November 2011 Problem: A client was testing an existing legacy application using Visual COBOL in Visual Studio 2010 for the first time. In their code there were a substantial amount of comments in the area after column 72. The comments were not preceded with an asterisk in column 73. What they found was that this area was treated as code rather than as comment. They were wondering if there were any compiler directives/settings etc so that code in column 73 or greater could be treated as comment, regardless of whether they had an asterisk or not. Resolution: One thing to be aware of is that SOURCEFORMAT”FREE” is the default in Visual COBOL for Managed projects. For Native projects the default is still SOURCEFORMAT”FIXED, as it was for Net Express, Server Express a Studio EE. SOURCEFORMAT”FREE” means the IDE doesn’t adhere to the standard COBOL format of columns 0-7, 8-72 and 72 and beyond. To test, manually set the SOURCEFORMAT”FIXED” compiler directive

Created On:  09 November 2011 Problem: Customer has a Visual COBOL managed console application in Visual Studio that looks like the following:When the program invokes the MessageBox::Show method using the PIC N(2) field it does not display the Chinese characters. Why is this?$set ilusing"System.Windows.Forms"program-id. Program1 as "testchinese.Program1".       data division.       working-storage section.       01 chinesetext    type Byte[] value x"E58F91E7A5A8".              01 wsEncoding     type Encoding.              01 codePageValues type Byte[].     &nbsp

Problem:   In order to generate an Activation Code for a Liant product license, you can use the Activation Web Form(http://activate.liant.com).  Unfortunately, upon completing and submitting this form, you might receive an error message, or, it may not, correctly, send an Activation Code email.What do I do if I get an error from the Activation Web Form?   Resolution:   If you are unable to receive an Activation Code email from the RM/COBOL License Activation Web Form it is possible that the site is down for routine maintenance.  This maintenance usually lasts around thirty minutes and can occur a few times a day.  In this situation, we recommend waiting half and hour and trying the Activation Web Form again.If you are still unable to generate an Activation Code email using the Web Form after waiting thirty minutes, or, you require an immediate response to your Activation request, please contact Micro Focus SupportLine through the Web Portal (https://port

Created On:  28 October 2011 Problem: Print To File option is not present in the General Tab of Mainframe Printers Page SetUp dialog box. Without this option, the users are not being able to print Mainframe based data to text files. How can you make a text based print? Resolution: It works slightly different with Rumba 8.1/Web to Host 6.1.  You will need to use Operating System Generic / Text Only Printer. See attachment: PRINTERTEST4PRINT2FILE.DOCX Attachments Print to File Issue.docPrinterTest4Print2File.docx Old KB# 35092#Rumba

Created On:  31 October 2011 Problem: When attempting to compile a COBOL program, execute sde, execute animator or the editor you get:Micro Focus LMF - 010: Unable to contact license manager.This product has been unable to contact the License Manager.Execution of this product has been terminated.This product cannot execute without the License Manager. Contact your license administrator or refer to the 'Information Messages' chapter of the License Management Facility Administrator's Guide. Resolution: When you received the “Unable to contact license manager” message the problem was either:-- The License Manager in mflmf was not started-- The pipe LMF-common located in /tmp or /var/tmp was deleted There is now a third option. If there is a Host Interactive Protection System (HIPS) running on the server it can cause the error. The symptoms are very strange: -- You can compile to .int code (cob –v), but cannot create native code .gnt (cob –u)-- You can execute tbox, b

Created On:  28 October 2011 Problem: When you try to execute a program that uses WOW Extensions, the program fails with one of the following termination messages:COBOL Procedure error 234 (no object file found). Error loading subprogram WF090.COBOL Procedure error 204 (program not found)...OrCOBOL Procedure error 234 (no object file found). Error loading subprogram WF093.COBOL Procedure error 204 (program not found)... Resolution: This error indicates that the WOW Runtime Library(wowrt.dll) was not loaded when the program was executed.To resolve this issue, you can instruct the RM/COBOL Runtime(runcobol.exe) to load the WOW Runtime Library(wowrt.dll) with the "L" command line option.  For example:runcobol.exe wowhelloworld L="C:\\Program Files\\Liant\\RMCOBOLv12\\WOWRT.DLL"Alternatively, you can copy WOWRT.DLL into the "RmAutoLd" sub-directory inside the RMCOBOLv12 installation directory.If loading the WOW Runtime Library does not resolve

Created On:  08 November 2011 Problem: The ‘Statistics’ page in the License Administration Services screen for the Development License System shows more running users than the number of users displayed when the ‘lmfgetpv w’ command is run. A customer had an issue where the number of developers able to use the Server Express development tool didn't match the number of users they were licensed for. To test, they made certain there was no one using a development/compiler license. They first ran ‘./lmfgetpv w’ from the /opt/microfocus/mflmf directory. It did not show any users currently using a license. But when they went into the License Administration Services (by using either the mflicense or mflmadm commands), then pressed the F6 function key twice to get to the 'Statistics Screen', it showed Licensed Users 16 and Running Users 2. Their developers had previously been denied a license even though they believed that at the time there should have still been some li

Created On:  28 October 2011 Problem: When installing Server Express and you get n error: install error: check disk space and it appears you do have diskspace then you can find out more why you got this error by doing a:sh -x installin this case it returned:Please confirm your understanding of the above reference environmentdetails (y/n): read YNy '[' y = y -o y = yes -o y = Yes -o y = Y -o y = YES ']' return 1 env_ans=1 '[' 1 '!=' 1 ']' LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/microfocus/cobol/lib: export LD_LIBRARY_PATH SHLIB_PATH=/opt/microfocus/cobol/lib: export SHLIB_PATH LIBPATH=/opt/microfocus/cobol/lib: export LIBPATH bin/cobconvstrtest -s case $? in test '!' -f etc/cobver trap 'trap  0; /opt/microfocus/cobol/./bin/cobgetmsg -s2 -p/opt/microfocus/cobol/. -e install.lng 5; exit 1' 2 3 14 15 set -e trap '/opt/microfocus/cobol/./bin/cobgetmsg -s2 -p/opt/microfocus/cobol/. -e install.lng 6; exit 1' 0 cd

Created On:  27 October 2011 Problem: For testing purposes each Server Express developer licenses automatically comes with five test runtime licenses (Developer Usage) to allow developer testing of compiled applications. So if you have one developer license, then you will automatically have five test runtime licenses.  These test runtime licenses should automatically be installed in the application server license database but this does not always happen if the license database does not already exist or there has been some sort of corruption. Resolution: It should be enough to run: $COBDIR/aslmf/aslmdbrecoverto reset the runtime license database (aslmf)However, if this does not work, you can flush the test runtime licenses in the runtime license database by doing the following: 1.  cd to /var and remove the mfaslmf directory (if it exists) 2.  cd $COBDIR/aslmf and run ./initaslm 3.  cd to $COBDIR/lmf and run ./

Created On:  28 October 2011 Problem: Using Rumba 8.1 UNIX Display trying to do anything returns straight away the error:E437: terminal capability "cm" required Resolution: Some UNIX systems are not happy with the way Rumba 8.1 displays the terminal type in capital letters.  For example the default shows up as terminal ID: VT340 but even changing the terminal type to say VT220 it still displays VT as capital letters. Changing manually in the Terminal ID: field the VT into vt and the error goes away. Old KB# 35083#Rumba