Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: Is Server Express certified on AIX 7? Resolution: There is a UNIX/Linux product matrix but AIX 7 is new and so does not feature: http://supportline.microfocus.com/productreleaselevels/unix.asp.  When installing Server Express 5.1 on AIX 7, you will receive a message stating that it is not supported. Micro Focus has in fact tested this version and does indeed certify Server Express 5.1 WrapPack 5 on AIX 7. We are currently repacking the product so as to remove the message during installation. Incident #2500847 Old KB# 33282

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: This process needs to be done in the case where a user has a 32 bit COBOL program, on which a service interface was based, and it was decided that the program would be recompiled as a 64-bit program instead. The program was originally 32-bit and now it has been moved to 64-bit. Resolution: The following procedure describes what needs to be done to get the service interface metadata to recognize that the end user COBOL program is now a 64-bit program.  To change all programs in a solution or project: 1. Open the Visual Studio solution that contains one or more service interfaces based on 32-bit COBOL programs.2. From the Solution Explorer, right-click the solution name; then click Configuration Manager from the context menu.3. Do one of the following: To change the COBOL programs in all projects in the solution from 32-bit to 64-bit,    change the value in the Active Solution Platform field by selecting x64 from the drop-

Created On:  10 February 2011 Problem: When compiling a COBOL program that uses the DB2 directive on a Windows 7 computer, the following error occurs:         COBDB0006S Required DB software: 'db2agapi' could not be found.This occurs even though the location of db2agapi.dll, C:\\program files (x86)\\IBM\\SQLLIB\\BIN is specified in the system PATH.  The same program works fine on a Windows XP computer. Resolution: This problem occurs when the Net Express project file resides on a mapped network drive instead of on the local drive.  Try the following:1. Open the project in the Net Express IDE and select Project > Properties and click the IDE button2. Add the environment variable PATH with the following value:        c:\\program files (x86)\\ibm\\sqllib\\bin;%PATH%3. Do not place quotes around the value4. Try to rebuild againNote: If your DB2 installation is in a different fol

Created On:  11 February 2011 Problem: The Micro Focus COBOL SORT provides a status indicator capable of returning detailed and meaningful error codes.  It is useful for catching situations like running out of disk space during a SORT operation.   This Knowledge Base article provides example code showing correct usage of the SORT STATUS. Resolution: The SORT STATUS data item operates in much the same way as the FILE STATUS for regular COBOL I/0.  It is a two-byte field where success is indicated if the first byte is zero, but a serious error is indicated if the first byte is 9.  Also, when the first byte is 9, the second byte should be interpreted as a usage COMP-X.You specify the SORT STATUS in the SELECT statement for the sort file, and you can check its value after each SORT operation (such as RELEASE and RETURN).The following sample programs show correct usage of the SORT STATUS, and can serve as a template for writing SORTs with input proc

Created On:  09 February 2011 Problem: The OPEN I-O statement results in a file status 35, file not found, if the file does not exist.  The expectation is that OPEN I-O should create the file if it does not exist. Resolution: OPEN I-O will create a file only if the File Control entry for that file (the SELECT statement) includes the OPTIONAL phrase, or if the IO_CREATES Runtime Configuration is turned on. Adding the following in the Runtime configuration file should resolve the error:IO_CREATES ON Old KB# 33311

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: Thin Client fails to connect to the server with the error "connection to server refused". Resolution: This error is generated on all platforms for a variety of reasons, including setup, permissions and firewall issues. On UNIX servers, check that the server name is specified in the hosts file, located in the /etc/hosts directory. The UNIX command "uname -a" will identify the server name (e.g. AIX rs6000 3 4 000168871000) and the hosts file should contain an entry for "rs6000". Ensure that version of the runtime, AcuRCL and Acuthin are the same. Follow the diagnostic steps outlined in the Connection Failed Error. If you suspect a firewall problem, refer to the General Socket Error. Old KB# 33297

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: Thin Client fails to connect to the server with the error "connection failed" or "connection to server undefined". Resolution: This message is seen when AcuRCL is not started correctly or when the client has not specified the correct port. If you are not using the default port, ensure the port is specified in the acuthin command (e.g. "acuthin server:port alias"). Verify that you are using the correct IP address or server name. Ensure that the Windows service or UNIX daemon is executing on the server by performing "acurcl -info". On Windows servers, ensure the service is installed by performing "acurcl -query servername". Verify that the client can communicate with the server by doing "ping servername" or "acuthin -p servername:port". If this fails, it would indicate a network configuration problem. Verify that the client can communicate with AcuRCL by performing &qu

Created On:  10 February 2011 Problem: A Visual COBOL solution exists which contains several COBOL managed code projects.The solution build fine when the build is done from within Visual Studio 2010 or when done through the msbuild utility run from a Visual COBOL 2010 32-bit command prompt.However when the same solution is built using Team Foundation Server 2010 (TFS) it fails with errors that reference the assembly 'MicroFocus.COBOL.CompilerUtil. The error shows that MSBuild could not find the above said assembly. The build errors will look like the following:C:\\Program Files (x86)\\MSBuild\\Micro Focus\\Visual COBOL\\v1.0\\MicroFocus.COBOL.targets (533): The "CobolDependencies" task could not be instantiated from "MicroFocus.Cobol.BuildTasks, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=0412c5e0b2aaa8f0".  System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for 'MicroFocus.COBOL.BuildTasks.BaseTask' threw an exception. ---> System.IO.FileNotFoundExc

Created On:  11 February 2011 Problem: The NetEvents.ini is a text file with that name and for example this content:C:\\AcuSupport\\FDP\\netdefgenC:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl811\\AcuGT\\sample\\dotnet\\amortcontrol\\eventsIt has to be a text file which contains paths to directories which contains you .net DLLs.  The number of paths is limited to 64.Would using the FILE-PATH statement in the CREATE command and a .xml file be a vaild alternative? Resolution: Yes. However, it is not recommended or tested to use multiple paths (although it may be possible).  FILE-PATH needs the whole path the file name, while NetEvents.ini asked just for the directories paths. Incident #2501150 Old KB# 33334

Created On:  09 February 2011 Problem: A particular file in the AcuXDBC database can be accessed without error from MS SQL Server but with MS Access there is an error "Record is too large". Resolution: Microsoft Access has a limitation of 255 columns and the file in question has more than that. You may work around that limitation in two ways:1. Create views in AcuXDBC which are 255 columns or less, and then query those views.2. Execute queries that return 255 columns or less. Old KB# 33312

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: Unable to start a server runtime and are receiving the warning message "exceeded licensed number of users". Resolution: Diagnostics: This error indicates a licensing restriction or an orphan runtime condition.To determine the maximum number of licensed AcuRCL users, perform "acurcl -v". To determine the maximum number of licensed runtime users, perform "wrun32 -v" in Windows environments or "runcbl -v" in UNIX environments. On UNIX, AcuShare will identify the number of runtime users currently on the system. AcuRCL handles its user count internally. Suppose you own a license for 35 users of the runtime and 15 users of AcuRCL. If you reach the AcuRCL limit with Thin Client connections and perform an "acushare -info" you will see 15 users. In this situation, you are correctly receiving this error due to reaching AcuRCL's license limit, although 20 runtime instances are still available.

Created On:  08 February 2011 Problem: Thin Client fails to connect to the server with the error "connection to server refused, error 267". Resolution: Diagnostics: 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# 33287

Created On:  04 February 2011 Problem: When using Net Express 6.0 in Studio Enterprise Edition 6.0, Net Express crashes when trying to use the options (Get, Check Out, Check In, Undo Check Out, Add to Source Control, and Remove from Source Control) listed under the ‘Source Safe’ menu. Resolution: Turn off the multi-threading option for Source Control. This is accomplished by going to Options > Source Control > and deselecting ‘Use multi-threading’ checkbox. Incident #2498853 Old KB# 33162#Studio#Enterprise#COBOL#AccessViolation#netexpress#StudioEnterpriseEdition

Created On:  01 February 2011 Problem: COBOL source modules that originally worked successfully in a different environment, would not work under Server Express and Oracle 10g.   Characters in columns 69 through 72 were being ignored, whereas the COBOL compiler from the original environment would see and parse these characters. Resolution: SupportLine wrote a COBOL program capable of scanning source files and reporting lines having characters (other than space characters) in columns 69 - 72.   The problem was solved when the customer used this program to identify, and then modify, those lines of code.  The program, named "check69-72", as well as a Readme.txt file, is attached to this Knowledgebase article. Incident #2196977 Attachments Readme.txtcheck69-72.cbl Old KB# 33118#netexpress#ServerExpress#COBOL#EnterpriseServer#StudioEnterpriseEdition#VisualCOBOL#Enterprise

Created On:  31 January 2011 Problem: Uninstalling Visual COBOL R3 does not remove the Visual COBOL R3 online documentation. If you continue to use Visual Studio, the online documentation for Visual COBOL R3 is still displayed even though Visual COBOL R3 is no longer installed. Resolution: To resolve this issue you need to manually remove the online documentation for Visual COBOL R3.Note: The following steps are for Windows 7 and will differ slightly for other versions of the Windows operating system.To manually remove the online documentation for Visual COBOL R3:1. Use the Run as administrator option to run Start > All Programs > Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 > Visual Studio Tools > Manage Help Settings - ENU.        The Help Library Manager is displayed.2. Click Remove content.    3. Click Remove in the Actions column of the Visual COBOL R3 row, then click the Remove button.   &nbsp

Problem: When requesting a license from Micro Focus License Server 4.0, a prompt to download the TM1.TMP file.  Once downloaded, the license is not installed on the product that requested it. Resolution: The license server may be installed on a Windows Server 2008 environment with IIS 7.5 or 7.0 installed.  In order to resolve the issue, please perform the following: Log into the License Server machine as a local administrator. Navigate to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Internet Information Services (IIS) Manager. Within the IIS Manager, navigate to alias created for the License Server and double click on the "Compression" icon. Make sure that "Enable dynamic content compression" is unchecked. Open a command line and type "iisreset" to reset the IIS.   Old KB# 33079#Windows2008#7.0#TM1.TMP#IIS#LicenseServer#7.5

Created On:  03 February 2011 Problem: Cannot install Visual COBOL / Net Express products due to Orphaned Registry entries, this issue usually occurs in Windows Vista or Windows 7. For example, the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Micro Focus exists but you cannot change permissions or do anything with those keys, access is denied. Even when logging on with the local Administrator account you cannot see these keys or even change the permissions. This key could already exist due to other or older products but where removed. Resolution: 1. Download and install SubInACL: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e8ba3e56-d8fe-4a91-93cf-ed6985e3927b&displaylang=en2. From an Administrators command prompt, run:>cd /d “c:\\program files (x86)\\Windows Resource Kits\\Tools”>subinacl.exe /subkeyreg “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Wow6432Node\\Micro Focus” /grant=administrators=f3. On 64 bit machines using regedit, check that the key

Created On:  31 January 2011 Problem: Uninstalling a pre-GA version of Visual COBOL R3 does not remove the Visual COBOL R3 online documentation and prevents the online documentation from being updated by subsequent installations of Visual COBOL R3. As a result, if you perform the following steps: 1. Install a pre-GA version of Visual COBOL R3. 2. Uninstall the pre-GA version of Visual COBOL R3. 3. Install the GA version of Visual COBOL R3. The online documentation for Visual COBOL is as it was after you performed step 1. Resolution: To resolve this issue you need to manually remove the online documentation for the pre-GA version of Visual COBOL R3 then update the GA version of Visual COBOL R3 to include the correct online documentation. Note: The following steps are for Windows 7 and will differ slightly for other versions of the Windows operating system. To manually remove the online documentation for the pre-GA version of Visual COBOL R3: 1. Use the Run as administrator

Created On:  01 February 2010 Problem: Enterprise Server is trying to connect to a database via XA.  The following error message appears:CASXO0002S Switch Load Module for resource UDB failed to loadThis occurs even though a valid ESDB2XA.dll was generated and does exist.  Resolution: After stopping the service named MFDS, the customer was entering:casstart /r in a Net Express Command Prompt.  The console log showed a successful start.The trouble was caused by MFDS not having sufficient authority to run the Enterprise Server.The solution in such cases is to modify the properties of the service named MFDS, assigning it to an administrator account. Incident #2285214 Old KB# 33119#VisualCOBOL#StudioEnterpriseEdition#netexpress#COBOL#Enterprise

Created On:  20 January 2011 Problem: We are unable to start animating our program in Net Express.  What should we do? Resolution: This problem is due to permissions set in the registry. These have to be checked and compared with the following:In Windows 7 run REGEDIT and navigate to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Wow6432Node\\Micro Focus\\NetExpress\\5.1\\COBOLThe permissions should be by default:CREATOR OWNER: Allow - Special PermissionsSYSTEM: Allow - Full Control and ReadADMINISTRATORS: Allow - Full Control and ReadUSERS: ReadIn Windows XP run REGEDIT and navigate to:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Micro Focus\\NetExpress\\5.1\\COBOLThe permissions should be by default:CREATOR OWNER: Allow - Special PermissionsSYSTEM: Allow - Full Control and ReadADMINISTRATORS: Allow - Full Control and ReadUSERS: Read Incident #2494468 Old KB# 33036

Created On:  19 January 2011 Problem: The extfh.cfg looks like this:[/mf/MicroFocus/data/FILE]Striping=onMaxStripeSize=2000000000MaxStripeFiles= 30[/mf/MicroFocus/data/FILEStriping=onMaxStripeSize=2000000000MaxStripeFiles= 30 Resolution: As you can see in the extfh.cfg there is a space in between the '=' sign and value after ( 30) in MaxStripeFiles. Removing this space will result in the correct behavior. Old KB# 33020

Created On:  01 January 2011 Problem: The large file support has been enabled by the configuration setting:USE_LARGE_FILE_API 1When running the program and the large file is accessed a file error 30,22 occurs.  On HP-UX error 22 means "invalid argument", which doesn't make sense. Resolution: The issue occurs on systems that do not support full 64-bit file addressing on some file system types (HP-UX is an example).  The problem is that by default Vision places file locks at the end of the file address space, and on those systems that address may be invalid.  The resolution is to add the follwing setting to the Runtime configuration file:LARGE_FILE_LIMIT_2TB 1,This forces the file access locks that Vision usually places at the end of the file address space to be placed within the 2TB boundary.  If this does not resolve the error then the boundary for locks must be further limited.  Do that by adding:LARGE_FILE_LIMIT_1TB 1

Created On:  28 February 2011 Problem: Is it possible to change the orientation and docking behaviour of the tool box? Resolution: It is possible to change the orientation and docking behaviour of the tool box.   The following shows you how to undock a landscape tool box then redock it with a portrait orientation.First if it’s docked then you need to undock it, double click the toolbar as shown here:The toolbox will then be floating, simply drag it’s frame to change it's size.Then you can redock it, drag it to the right hand side of the screen so that part of it protrudes from the edge of the WOW window, it will auto dock: Old KB# 32915#WOWDesignerToolbar

Created On:  20 January 2011 Problem: Web.config files can be greater than 250kb when creating web projects in Visual Cobol but IIS shows an error indicating that it cannot read a config file beyond 250kb. Resolution: The link below provides information on how to chage the default size of a web.config file:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954864By applying the changes indicated in the Microsoft forum you will be able to run your web application with web.config files greater than 250kb. Incident #2487425 Old KB# 33037

Created On:  21 January 2011 Problem: When the "acurcl -start" command is performed on a Windows server, the error "AcuRCL Service Error: 3" is displayed and AcuRCL fails to start. Resolution: This error is encountered when upgrading to a newer version of AcuRCL without removing the prior service. Perform "acurcl -remove" to remove Windows service from memory and then start the new version "acurcl -start". If not using the default port, indicate the port number when removing and starting the service: "acurcl -remove -n portnumber" and "acurcl -start -n portnumber". Incident #2183038 Old KB# 33057