Rocket® COBOL

Created On:  26 October 2010 Problem: When a server is restored from backup, a "license database corrupt" message will often be encountered. In that case, the development license database must be recovered, and the licenses reentered, and the license manager process manually restarted.These tasks must be performed from the operative LMF directory. If the system administrator has not kept a record of this location, then the operative LMF directory must somehow be located. Resolution: One way of discovering the location of the operative LMF directory, is by invoking the command "lmfgetpv" from within $COBDIR/lmf.  For example, enter: $COBDIR/lmf/lmfgetpvIf the License Manager is running, lmfgetpv will produce output similar to:   License Manager version 129    Loaded from /opt/microfocus/mflmfThe "loaded from" location is the operative LMF location.  In the above example, "/opt/microfocus/mflmf" was di

Created On:  13 October 2010 Problem: During installation of Server Express, I am asked "Do you want only superuser to access the License Admin System"?What happens if I say Yes?   Is this irreversible? Resolution: Saying "Yes" invokes a chmod 700 on the directory in which the License Management System is installed. Since the install script is executed with root permissions, root will be the owner and will have sole permissions to the directory. To reverse this, simply chmod the mflmf directory to meet your permissions requirements. Old KB# 32007

Created On:  14 October 2010 Problem: I am installing a new version of Server Express. Should I update the License Manager? Resolution: The answer is yes. The lmfinstall utility will locate the directory the License Manager process, mflm_manager,  is running from, and determine the level of the version of the License Manager that is installed.  If a newer or same level version is already installed the lmfinstall utility will identify and report accordingly, and you will not need to update the utility. If an older version is installed, reply "Yes" to updating the utility. The License Manager daemon will be stopped, and the license management system updated. Afterward, navigate the mflmf directory the License Manger is installed in and restart the service using the ./mflmman from that directory.If an older version of the License Manager is installed and not updated, then license errors may be encountered when attempting to compile

Created On:  11 October 2010 Problem: When running AppTrack the error message "../aslmf/asadmin.X not found." is displayed. Resolution: This means the environment variable COBDIR is not set correctly.  Before running apptrack, you must set the COBDIR environment variable.More than one installation of MF COBOL might exist on a machine.  Pick a particular installation directory and set COBDIR to that directory, for example:COBDIR=/opt/microfocus/cobolexport COBDIRAfter setting the variable, remember to export it.If you are using apptrack for the purpose of installing runtime licenses, remember the licenses will become associated with the COBDIR location specified in the environment variable, so choose the value of COBDIR accordingly.Be sure that other environment variables which refer to COBDIR, such as PATH, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, LIBPATH, or SHLIB_PATH, contain correct corresponding values as well -- use the "echo" command to check their values,

Created On:  10 October 2010 Problem: We are receiving an error when trying to create a line sequential file bigger than 2GB. Why is this? Resolution: Since version 6.0.0 it is possible to access to sequential and relative files larger than 2GB on UNIX and Windows ports where such access is permitted by the OS.Some UNIX ports will not be able to use this functionality either because the operating system just doesn't support it, or because the functionality was not detected at port time.  To see if any given port has this functionality compiled in, the SYSTEM-INFORMATION structure (returned by ACCEPT FROM SYSTEM-INFO) in samples/def/acucobol.def has a new field, HAS-LARGE-FILE-SUPPORT.  If the value of this field is "Y", the port supports this feature compiled in; "N", it doesn't.Even if HAS-LARGE-FILE-SUPPORT is "Y", the underlying system must also support access to files larger than 2GB in order for this feature to work prope

Created On:  10 October 2010 Problem: When writing XML files (either with AcuXML or C$XML), ISO-8859-1 characters were being written incorrectly. They were being written as ISO-8859-1 characters, not UTF-8 characters, even though the encoding of the XML file was UTF-8. Resolution: This problem affects version 8.1.2 and later and is fixed inversion 9.0.0 by ecn4039.  There is an available patch for version 8.1.2 and for version 8.1.3, however the patch needs to be requested to Support Line. Incident #2475976 Old KB# 31922

Created On:  10 October 2010 Problem: While attempting to load the XFD files to the System Catalog, we get the “ERROR: VISION: Cannot open 'SYSTEM%DUAL',File not found” error message. Resolution: You need to do the following in this sequence:                genxconf                 ainit                       The genxconf command creates the configuration file with the correct file prefixes.The ainit command runs the cview.sql command which creates the table dual which is intended to be used as a single table for commands such as "SELECT USER() FROM DUAL".After that users can load the XFDs to the System Catalog. Incident #2474764 Old KB# 31921

Created On:  10 October 2010 Problem: When a program passes items to a sub-program via the LINKAGE SECTION the sub-program is directly affecting the memory location of the previous program.  If the space that has been declared in the linkage section is more in the sub-program than in the main program then there is potential for bad memory corruption in your program.  (It is allowed to pass a linkage section that is larger than the sub-program because this will not cause any memory errors.) If the program writes to these "extra" bytes they will be entered into memory that could be anywhere in the run stack causing memory corruption.  Instead the runtime displays this error message advising  that there is a size mismatch.  In general, the runtime displays the error message "Passed USING item (#1) smaller than corresponding LINKAGE item" to indicate that there is a potential problem in the program. Resolution: There is a configurat

Created On:  06 October 2010 Problem: A converted Express mainframe display session doesn't connect to the host after upgrading to version 6.0. The following information is displayed in the session: CINIT error (Server code is 08210000). Error restart. Application name. Resolution: Express client sessions are no longer supported in Web-to-Host version 6.  The solution is to create a new Web-to-Host version 6.0 Pro client session.  Pro client sessions contain all of the functionallity of the previous Express sessions, and include addtional features to enhance user productivity. Incident #2443128 Old KB# 31850#Web-to-Host#Rumba

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: Compiling the .net sample program provided in the ACUCOBOL-GT installation fails.  The compile command line is:ccbl32.exe --netdll:2.0  nettocobol.cblWhich produces the following compile output error:CreateProcess failed for C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727\\AL.EXE /target:lib /v:1.0.0.0 /embed:"nettocobol.acu",AcuNet /out:"C:\\Acucorp\\Acucbl810\\AcuGT\\bin\\nettocobol.dll" "C:\\Acucorp\\Acucbl810\\AcuGT\\bin\\nettocobol.NETModule"RC = 2Error occured storing the COBOL program into the DLL's manefestThe Windows PC involved does have the Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 installed. Resolution: The Microsoft .NET framework does not include AL.EXE which is necessary for producing the proper DLLs for .NET to call your COBOL program.  The resolution is to install the Microsoft .NET SDK which is a free download that includes AL.EXE.  Note that if Visual Studio is installed then

Created On:  01 October 2010 Problem: When trying to install Net Express a message appears indicating "Not enough disk space on target drive while attempting to copy files" although there is sufficient disk space.  How can this be resolved? Resolution: Follow these steps to resolve the installation issue:1.  Use Regedit to open the Registry and open these keys: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>SOFTWARE>Micro Focus2.  Delete the "Micro Focus" key. 3.  Close Regedit. 4.  Determine where the TEMP and TMP environment variables are pointing and delete all of the contents in this location.5.  Attempt the install again.Note: You must be an Administrator and the Net Express run-time must not be in use. Incident #2449770 Old KB# 31816

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: Can the activator be executed from a command line, and without the GUI interface or user intervention? Resolution: The activator does have options and can be executed from the command line.  Use the following format:activator /DESTINATION= /PCODE= /PKEY= /DIALOG=NO Old KB# 31899

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: There is a need to have the program determine the time zone where it is running.  How is this done with ACUCOBOL-GT? Resolution: While AcuCOBOL-GT has no native ability to determine the timezone it is accomplished fairly easily with a call to the kernel32.dll GetTimeZoneInformation method.  The attached program demonstrates this, and how to parse the result into usable pieces.Note that if the program is running on a server via AcuConnect Thin Client it is possible to determine the Client PC's timezone with the same method.  It is a simple matter of using the @[display] notation to tell the runtime to call the dll on the client PC.  Complete information about that is found in the AcuConnect user's manual, Section 7.2.6.1 "Calling client-side DLLs." Attachments timezone.zip Old KB# 31898

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: We are getting an “*** Internal error #110 ***” during compilation.  Why is this and how can it be resolved? Resolution: Using the compiler option --oldarc (that is dash dash oldarc) solves the problem. Incident #2447715 Old KB# 31916

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: I am unable to access an AcuXDBC table named with the reserved word, and there is no way to change the name of the VISION file because it is part of the main application.It always returns “ERROR: (pos: 15 '.... syntax error”. Resolution: It is possible to work with files named with reserved words defining file aliases using the following syntax:For example let’s say that the VISION file is called GROUP, which is an AcuXDBC reserved word. addfile xfdfilename[#[tablename][#filename]], where:xfdfile is GROUPtablename must be something different, like GROUP1 and  filename is also GROUP.User will use GROUP1 table name in the queries:SELECT * FROM GROUP1; Old KB# 31918

Created On:  08 October 2010   Problem:   After completing the installation the user attempted to test the installation using the asql utility. However, asql returned the following error:$ ./asql.sh                  VORTEXsql - Simple Interactive SQL.                        Version 2.0.2.4 - Production.Copyright © 1989-2008, Trifox, Inc., California, USA.                       All Rights Reserved Worldwide.***** asql ERROR: DLLLOAD: acuxdbc04, acuxdbc04.so: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory   Resolution:   In versions of AcuXDBC prior to 8.1 and as noted in the documentation the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable required th

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: The protected entry-field (read-only), shows a different background than version 7.x.  Why is this? Resolution: In version 8.1.0 we introduced the ECN_3699 which has the following effects:Once an AcuCOBOL program changed either the foreground or background color of an entry field, the background stopped graying out when the control was subsequently set to READONLY.This is no longer the case.  In version 8.1.2 we introduced ECN_3848. As of version 8.1, read-only entry fields were changed to conform to standard Windows behavior in that the background color is always gray regardless of the background color setting.  However there is now a configuration variable to let the customer decide which behavior desired.  The default behavior will match Windows operating system. read-only entry fields will have gray backgrounds.  To change the background color of a read-only entry field, set the runtime configurati

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: Due to automatic Windows updates, sometimes, some of the components such as Internet Explorer, change their default settings causing that some graphical controls, as the Web Browser control, suddenly stop working as before. Resolution: Either install the latest IE version or if it is already installed, reinstall it. Incident #2438804 Old KB# 31911

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: While compiling programs, the compiler produces a "Buffer overrun detected" error. Resolution: The working directory has a lot of temporary files created by the compiler, therefore deleting all those temporary files fixes the problem. Incident #2439391 Old KB# 31912

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: The -m and -z runtime options are necessary to aid in debugging the program which is running via AcuConnect Thin Client.  Adding them to the command line in the AcuConnect alias has no effect.  How can these options be used to debug the program? Resolution: Only certain options can be used in the AcuConnect Alias command line:  -c -d -l -x -e are accepted.  Other options will be ignored. The solution is to add those options in the AcuThin command line on the client PC:acuthin server:port -m -z alias Old KB# 31902

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: When executing an ACUCOBOL-GT program it abends with an "Illegal Sort" error. Resolution: The "Illegal Sort" error indicates that there is a problem in initiating the SORT operation. The following circumstances will cause an "Illegal Sort" message:1. A previous SORT is still executing when the current requested SORT operation is attempted.   The ACUCOBOL-GT runtime limits one SORT at a time.2. A previous SORT terminated prior to completion, i.e. EXIT PROGRAM, or explicit GO TO statement.3. During the previous SORT, the input procedure found no records, therefore the output procedure is never executed.  Hence the SORT is still open.Troubleshooting the above conditions will usually reveal the cause and resolution. Adding a 'CANCEL SORT' prior to the SORT request can be a workaround which will prevent the error.  It has no effect if no previous SORTs have occurred.  *

Created On:  08 October 2010 Problem: The application has a need to alert the user when a timeout has happened or when it otherwise needs user intervention.  Is there a way to flash the window and taskbar icon? Resolution: While there is no native way for ACUCOBOL-GT to cause a GUI window to flash, it is a simple matter of calling the flashwindow method of the Windows user32.dll. The attached zip file contains a sample program, flashingwindow.cbl, demonstrating this method. Attachments flashingwindow.zip Old KB# 31907

Created On:  10 October 2010 Problem: Issuing a query in the MSSQL Query Analyzer in the form: select * from [linkedserver]..[owner].Results in the error:Table 'owner.table' undefined,Record not foundThe openquery format works fine with no error:select * from openquery(linkedserver, 'select * from owner.table')Why doesn't the fully qualified format work? Resolution: The information in the AcuXDBC system catalog is stored in upper case.  This makes no difference with the openquery but the fully-qualified format is sensitive to this. The resolution is to use uppercase for the owner and table names:select * from [linkedserver]..[OWNER].For a specific example, using the demo database, this fails:select * from [acuxdbc813]..[public].[accounts]This works:select * from [acuxdbc813]..[PUBLIC].[ACCOUNTS] Old KB# 31905#linked-server#fully-qualified

Created On:  07 October 2010 Problem: I have multiple installations of MF COBOL (i.e. multiple COBDIRs) on my machine, and I am troubleshooting a runtime license issue.  How can I tell which COBDIR my Model 1 runtime license is associated with? Resolution: 1. cd to any $COBDIR/aslmf on the system.2. Run the apptrack utility.3. Select option 1, “License List”.4. Licenses are listed in sequence by a 5-digit number in the upper-left-hand-side for each.  Directly below the sequence number is either a blank space or a path.A blank space is shown for "Developer Usage" runtime licenses, which are not associated with any particular COBDIR.A path is shown for production runtime licenses, and the path denotes the COBDIR with which that license is associated.5. Find the license of concern in the list (you will see the complete serial number, but the key itself will be truncated after the first 22 characters) and you can then see its associated COBDIR.Model 2 licens

Created On:  09 October 2010 Problem: When running a Thin Client app, the runtime was making log file entries during the start of communication to the client even if tracing was turned off. This would leave a small but unwanted file on the server every time a tc program was run. Resolution: This problem affects exclusively version 8.1.2 and has been fixed in version 8.1.3.  There is already an available patch for 8.1.2, however an easy workaround to avoid this behavior is to change the alias to include "-e /dev/null" for Unix or "-e nul" for Windows. Incident #2466377 Old KB# 31919