Rocket® COBOL

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:  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:  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:  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:  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:  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:  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:  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:  29 June 2011 Problem: When using Pro*COBOL with Oracle in Net Express it was possible to pass COBOL arrays as parameters to a stored procedure by using the EXEC SQL EXECUTE ...END-SQL construct. Pro*COBOL is not supported in a managed code environment so how can I still pass arrays as parameters to an Oracle stored procedure when using ADO.NET? Resolution: This is currently not supported directly using embedded EXEC SQL or EXEC ADO statements as these only work with generic ADO classes that are not bound to a particular database vendors product.It is however supported by using the .NET Framework classes along with the Oracle Data Provider class Oracle.DataAccess as shown below.The source for the stored procedure appears after the sample program and it must be run using Oracle PL/SQL or some other tool before the application can be run.The following is source code for a Visual COBOL 2010 managed console project:       $set ilusing"S

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:  20 June 2011 Problem: Server Express includes utilities such as Animator, sde, dfed, and mflmadm.  These are full-screen character-mode graphic utilities.  Sometimes they appear garbled or unreadable, and function keys or cursor keys may not work as intended.  These problems can be fixed by setting up the terminal emulation. Resolution: 1) Download the PuTTY terminal emulator from http://www.putty.org.   It's free.  Specifically, download the Windows installer for everything except PuTTYtel and install it on your PC.2) Start PuTTY and configure it as follows:Type the name of your Unix/Linux machine in Host name, and select either Telnet or SSH.  Also type the name of your machine in Saved Sessions, then press Save.Then on the left side under Category: Under Terminal, click Keyboard, then under The Function Keys and Keypad: If you using Linux: click LinuxIf you using AIX, Solaris, HP/UX, and SCO: click SCOClick Window,

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

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:  30 June 2011 Problem: Trying to install Server Express on Solaris gives an error message as follows:Enter the absolute path to the directory where Server Express should be installed.   Press return to use (/opt/microfocus/cobol)/home/support/products/opt/microfocus/cobol Installation directory /home/support/products/opt/microfocus/cobol does not exist.Do you want to create it? (y/n): y Installing into /home/support/products/opt/microfocus/cobol Do you want to continue? (y/n): yCopying files. This can take several minutes. Please wait....tar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular filetar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular filetar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular filetar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regular filetar: ././@LongLink: typeflag 'L' not recognized, converting to regu

Created On:  29 June 2011 Problem: With Visual COBOL for Visual Studio you can tell what version is installed by clicking on Help-->About Microsoft Visual Studio from the IDE and then clicking on the Visual COBOL product in the list of installed products.Version numbers will show as:Visual COBOL 2010 R4 Version 1.3.00046.So how does one tell what version of the COBOLRuntime 2010 product is installed on a production computer under Windows where Visual Studio 2010 in not installed? Resolution: You can tell what version of the COBOLRuntime 2010 product is installed by using Windows Control Panel-->Add/Remove Programs and clicking on Micro Focus COBOL 2010 Runtime in the list.Then click on the link for: Click here for support information:Version information will appear as 1.n.nnnnn where:1.1.nnnnn = R2 release1.2.nnnnn = R3 release1.3.nnnnn = R4 releaseetc. Old KB# 34208

Created On:  16 June 2011 Problem: For certain programs, it may be desirable to use the CHAINING phrase as part of the PROCEDURE DIVISION header. While the AcuBench documentation discusses the automatic generation of the USING phrase, there does not appear to be a way to incorporate the CHAINING phrase. Resolution: AcuBench does not have a way to automatically insert the CHAINING phrase into a generated program. This can be worked around with a manual modification and changing one of the settings in AcuBench.The two AcuBench tags below in the .cbl file are removed then the CHAINING phrase is inserted with the parameter desired as shown below.*{Bench}linkpara <---- remove     PROCEDURE DIVISION CHAINING MY-PARAMETER. *{Bench}end      <---- removeBefore regenerating, AcuBench must be configured not to regenerate the tags that were removed. From the Tools menu, select Options, Code Generator, check the Regenerate tagged a

Created On:  01 July 2011 Problem: When running an ACUCOBOL program, can you get the name of the configuration file that was passed to the runtime? Resolution: With ACU, there are a number of ways for the runtime to pick up the configuration file that it will use, so it can be useful to get the name of the configuration file that is being used. The name of the configuration file is stored within the runtime, but is not directly available to the programs in the run unit. As part of the information that is put into the runtime log file, which is generated by the –lex option, is the name of the configuration file together with the options that were used. The line that holds the configuration file name is of the format:                  Configuration file = '' Within a Cobol program it is possible to define a line sequential file and open up the log file to get the name of the configuration file. T

Created On:  24 June 2011 Problem: This article details how to run Micro Focus LMF, ASLMF and ESLMF licensing as a non-root user.  The following instructions assume that the Server Express and Server products are being installed on a clean machine. The instructions do contain some steps to remove files if they are present from a previous installation. Resolution: LMF LicensingStep 1.Install Micro Focus product.  See product install notes that came with product for full details. During the installation you will be taken into the LMF installation.   Text will appear as….This product is protected using the Micro Focus License Management Facility (LMF). Please refer to the Development System Licensing Guide for information relating to the installation of the licensing system and licenses.If you do not have LMF installed or want to upgrade to the latest version, we recommend you install it now.Would you like to install LMF now? (y/n):yEnter the directory name

Created On:  22 June 2011 Problem: The COBOL application loops continously until an operator terminates the application.  It first connects to a database and reads transactions from a table, then goes into an idle mode wherein the application is just incrementing a counter until it reaches a specific value.   It then connects to an external database and updates an external table, goes back into idle mode, and the whole cycle begins again. During this idle period the CPU usage is very high as measured by Task Manager. The application is just counting and there is no I/O yet the CPU usage spikes during this time. Is there a parameter somewhere that we can change to lower the CPU usage without changing the code? Resolution: If the application is incrementing a counter then it is still utilizing the CPU.  You should instead call the library routine CBL_THREAD_SLEEP or the winapi Sleep function to actually relinquish the time sli

Created On:  16 June 2011 Problem: After upgrading Visual COBOL for Visual Studio R3 to the R4 release, the following error message is reported when starting Visual Studio 2010: Resolution: This error is caused when both the Visual COBOL for Visual Studio R3 and Visual COBOL for Eclipse R3 products are installed on the same computer and you upgrade the Visual Studio product to the R4 release. This leave the products in an inconsistent state as one is at release level R3 and the other is at release level R4.Uninstall the Visual COBOL for Eclipse R3 product and install the R4 version instead.  This will make the products consistent and the error will no longer appear. Old KB# 34173

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:  27 June 2011 Problem: Having the runtime installed in a primary machine, like:my-firstmachine:C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl900\\AcuGT\\bin.The .NET DLL is sitting in this same folder as well.There is a programs folder in a second machine which is been mapped as Z: drivemy-secondmachine:C:\\objectsChanging to the mapped drive and executing the following command, it works perfectly, creating the object.Z:>"c:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl900\\AcuGT\\bin\\wrun32" my-program But, doing:Z:>\\\\my-firstmachine\\c\\"Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Acucbl900\\AcuGT\\bin\\wrun32" myprogramIt executes the cobol program but when it trys to create the object it generates an error "There was a problem with one of .NET support libraries.NET assemblies cannot be loaded"This same error happens if the cobol object is copied to the /bin directory, then maping the Acu/bin directory of my-firstmachine from a third one as Y: like: &quo

Created On:  07 July 2011 Problem: The runtime produces an error when the file exceeds 2 gigabytes in size. Resolution: On UNIX systems that support large files, the USE_LARGE_FILE_API 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 runtime configuration variable has no effect on Windows platforms. This can also be set in the UNIX environment:USE_LARGE_FILE_API=1  export USE_LARGE_FILE_APIThe logutil utility supports large (>2GB) transaction log files. The host operating system must allow such large files.   Old KB# 34234#2GB#AcuCobol#LargeFile#Vision

Created On:  08 July 2011 Problem: If you have a Visual Studio Solution which contains managed code projects that call into native code projects you cannot simply step through the managed program into the native program using the debugger.You can step through the managed code but when the call is made into the native program, the native program will run at full speed and control will return to the debugger as soon as it returns from the native program.How is it then possible to debug the called native portion of the application? Resolution: The following instructions are for customers who have Visual Studio Solutions containing managed projects with Console, Winforms, WebForms and WPF front ends that call programs in native projects that are packaged in .dlls. In order to debug the called native code it is necessary to do the following: If you have a native program that you want to debug and it is NOT a web application you can: 1. Modify the start program under the debug ta

Created On:  01 June 2011 Problem: After installing Visual Cobol for Eclipse R4 the JVM project entry on File > New is not visible just after installing the product. Resolution: To fix this open the Eclipse IDE then go to > Window > Reset Perspective. If you have reused an old workspace the perspective settings would not have the new menu items. Old KB# 34134