Rocket® COBOL

This article provides a solution for the device name not displaying in the status bar of an OnWeb Web-to-Host 5.3.1 pro client session. Problem: The associated device name is not displayed in the status bar when an OnWeb Web-to-Host 5.3.1 pro client session is launched in the browser. How is this resolved? Resolution: An OnWeb Web-to-Host session can be configured to use a specific device name or a system variable from which a device name can be generated. This device name is then displayed in the status bar after the session is established with the host. However, an OnWeb Web-to-Host 5.3.1 pro client session does not display the device name in the status bar after the session is connected. This has been fixed in OnWeb Web-to-Host version 5.3.2. We recommend that customers upgrade to version 5.3.2 if they have a need to display the device name in the status bar. Note: The device name may also be referred to as an LU name, a session name, or a user locator name in y

This article explains how the Server Express licensing works when using a clustered file system. Problem: Within a clustered file system, when the host falls over, will the Server Express runtime license broker (aslmf) automatically recover? Resolution: At the time this article was written (March 2009) Server Express is not cluster aware so if you fail-over to another machine, some interaction is required to ensure the licence database (mflmfdb) is licensed. This can be automated to a point by using aslmdbrecover, then apptrack in batch mode to populate the database. Note: Micro Focus does not test on clustered systems. Old KB# 14580

This article explains why copybook names with trailing spaces receive message 8-S Unknown COPY file "xyz.cpy" specified. Problem: When a copy statement appears in quotes with trailing spaces, for example: Copy file "xyz.cpy ", the compiler issues an error "Unknown COPY file "xyz.cpy " specified. Once the trailing space is removed, the compile works fine. Because the spaces are within the quotes, the compiler assumes that the spaces are part of the copy file name. This did not occur in previous versions of Server Express, why is it happening now? Resolution: This was a bug in previous releases of Server Express. Compile should never have resolved to the file xyz.cpy. The correct behavior is for the space to be considered part of the file name. The defect has been corrected in Server Express version 5.0 and all future releases. Incident Number: Old KB# 14520

This article explains how to create an XML file which has include files. Problem: Can an XML file have include files? Is it possible to create an include instruction using COBOL XML-I-O? Resolution: Yes, this is possible. The include instruction for XML files look like: The DOCTYPE declares a file which then is included with the newly defined entity name testing: <!DOCTYPE wrapper [<!ENTITY testing SYSTEM 'testing.xml'>]> The include is done as: &testing; <wrapper> &testing;</wrapper> The include instruction can be written as PLAIN-TEXT: write frame-tag KEY PLAIN-TEXT"<!DOCTYPE wrapper [<!ENTITY testing SYSTEM 'testing.xml'>]>" For more information, see the demo attached to this article. Incident Number: 2285017 Old KB# 14518

This article explains why a dialog box presents in the background rather than foreground. Problem: PC_PRINTER_OPEN will display a dialog box allowing the user to choose a printer. In some circumstances the dialog box is displayed behind another window. Why is this, and can it be forced to the foreground? Resolution: The PC_PRINTER_OPEN accepts a handle (HWND) that is made the parent of the dialog box. The box can be forced to the front by using the GetForegroundWindow API call to retrieve HWND of the current window and passing that to the PC_PRINTER_OPEN routine. Incident Number: 2353637 Old KB# 14573

This article explains what to do if you receive an error -119 during installation. Problem: During installation, an error -119 indicates that the installer was unable to register a control or process necessary for the product to function properly. Resolution: Most frequently, this occurs when a virus protection program determines that a process is trying to alter the registry of the machine when it should not be doing so. The solution is to temporarily disable the virus protection program for the duration of time it takes to install the product. Remember to reactivate the virus protection software once the product is properly installed. Old KB# 14534

This article describes a work around to help Rumba users open a URL on a green screen. Problem: Rumba doesn’t open URL on an AS/400 display screen. Is there a way to do this? Resolution: Yes, there is a workaround to help you open a URL on a green screen. Follow these steps: Download and save the attached script to a desired location. On a Rumba AS/400 display click on Options > API and enter session short name “A” and press the OK button. Now click on Tools > Edit Power Pad to bring up the Power Pad editor. Click on the New button to create a new key. Under the caption section enter text for the new key. For example: “Open URL”. Change size and color as per your requirements. Under the When clicked section, select the Play Script option and click on the browse button to select the script. Browse to the location where you saved the attached script. Select the script and press Open. Then press OK and then press Save. Click on the T

This article describes the steps to add a macro to the OnWeb Web-to-Host toolbar. Problem: Web-to-Host doesn’t have options to add a macro to the toolbar as Rumba does. How is this accomplished? Resolution: It is possible to add macros to the Web-to-Host toolbar. The trick is to add a button on the toolbar and assign a macro to it. The following are the steps to add a macro to the toolbar: On a Web-to-Host session click on View > Toolbars > Customize to open Customize window. Click the New button to display the New Toolbar window. Enter the desired name for the new toolbar and press OK. The Customize Toolbar window will appear Click the New button to bring up the Button properties window. Select Macro from the Button Type pull down. Click on the Browse button and navigate to the location where you saved your macro. Select the macro and press the Open button. You will notice that the macro path is entered for you. Enter the Description an

This article explains what to do when you get this error when loading support module librmterm.so. Problem: On Linux, the run-time reports:<install path>/librmterm.so: undefined symbol : TCSETATTRNOWRM/COBOL : Error loading support module. Resolution: Extract the attached fixed librmtc.so into the RM/COBOL installation directory. Also copy it to librmterm.so, that is: cp librmtc.so librmterm.so Incident Number: 2352024 Old KB# 14536

This article explains how to import business XML documents containing an unknown number of repeating items. Problem: Business oriented XML documents often contain an unknown number of repetitions of complex elements. For example, a web service based credit application processing system may return any number of credit acceptances, with each credit acceptance structure being complex. Another example would be a document representing a series of purchase orders, with each purchase order including any number of line items. If such a document is imported in its entirety, the COBOL data structure must use an OCCURS to describe the group data item that represents the top level repeating element. However, the OCCURS clause requires a fixed upper bound, and most XML documents of this type do not have a specified maximum number of repeating elements, thereby almost guaranteeing that some document will be presented that exceeds the maximum of the OCCURS clause. Resolution: Version

This article explains how to rename a project from the command line. Problem: How do you rename a project from the command line in EnterpriseLink? Resolution: You can rename a project from the Administrators Site > Projects > Edit page. The web browser simply executes a CGI program distributed with EnterpriseLink to execute SQL statements to modify the ELRepository. It's possible (though unsupported) to invoke these SQL statements directly. Copy the following command into a file with a .bat suffix on Windows. Note that the value for ELINSTALL should be replaced with your EnterpriseLink installation directory. @echo offremrem RenameProject old-project-name new-project-namerem renames old-project-name to new-project-namerem update ELINSTALL with the EnterpriseLink installation pathremset ELINSTALL=d:\\microfocus\\enterpriselink506echo Project %1 renamed to %2, warning="@warning", error="@error" >message.txtset PATH_TRANSLATED=message.txtecho "a=1&server=EL

This article explains the method for running a COBOL program in the background of Windows. Problem: How do you run a COBOL program in the background when using Windows? Resolution: To run a COBOL program in the background use the –b runtime flag which inhibits the terminal initialization done by wrun32. This can be useful if the program is run in the background because terminal initialization can prevent normal use of the terminal by the operating system. If this flag is used, the behavior of ACCEPT and DISPLAY statements is undefined; therefore use this flag with caution. A program can examine the ACU-NO-TERMINAL field after an ACCEPT FROM TERMINAL-INFO statement to determine whether it was started with "-b". Incident Number: 2350874 Old KB# 14586

This article describes an easy way to determine the processor level (software tier) of an iSeries system. Problem: IBM classifies its iSeries systems according to “Pnn” software tiers – P05, P10, on up to P60. It is not obvious what the “P” rating of a customer’s system is. It is not on the faceplate of the system, and may not be defined even in the system’s paperwork. Resolution: There is a simple command an operator can type that will provide the system’s “Pnn” rating directly. Bring up a RUMBA session (or whatever emulator the customer is currently using) and go to a standard menu screen and type in the command WRKLICINF. This will display the Processor Group at the top of the screen. Old KB# 14604#OnWeb#Web-to-Host#Rumba

This article explains what to do if the call to the C$SLEEP library routine is ignored when running in the debugger. Problem: When executing a program in the Runtime debugger the program’s call to C$SLEEP is ignored and the program immediately proceeds to the next statement. Resolution: The program in this case is multithreaded and the debugger was not set to run all threads. The resolution is to toggle the debugger to Run all Threads mode. This is done by entering “ra” at the debugger prompt or selecting the corresponding item from the Run menu. Old KB# 14542

Setting the 'NO-TAB' property on a graphical control can be done using 'MODIFY' and this works properly. However, it is not clear if there is a way to reverse the 'NO-TAB' setting without exiting the screen. Problem: A screen has several entry fields and some fields need to be skipped based on information contained in other fields. The 'NO-TAB' property can be set on the desired fields using 'MODIFY' and this works properly. It is not clear if there is a way to reverse the 'NO-TAB' setting without exiting the screen. There is not an 'ON/OFF' or 'TRUE/FALSE' setting for the 'NO-TAB' property. Resolution: The only way to remove the NO-TAB style from a control is to destroy the control and redisplay it without specifying the NO-TAB style. The same is true for the SECURE style available on an entry-field. A different option is to avoid the NO-TAB style and used the ENABLED property f

This article describes a possible computational error when using fractional exponents and describes a potential work around. Problem: Upgrading to version 7.x uncovered a computational error that occurs when executing iterative mathematical statements that involve exponentiation with fractional powers, such as square root. For example, executing the following statement in a loop 50 times could cause the resultant value of MY-CALC-INT-A to equal 1 instead of the correct value of 3. COMPUTE MY-CALC-INT-A ROUNDED = 9 ** 0.5 Resolution: Upgrade to version 8.x or higher. A potential work around is available, but requires code modifications to the existing COBOL program source. To utilize this work around, an ON SIZE ERROR phrase may be added to the COMPUTE statement. For example: COMPUTE MY-CALC-INT-A ROUNDED = 9 ** 0.5 ON SIZE ERROR … Incident Number: 2264802 Old KB# 14459

This article provides step-by-step instructions for setting up AcuXDBC Server on a UNIX operating system. Problem: This article clarifies the documentation with specific instructions for setup, testing, and implementation of AcuXDBC Server on UNIX systems with Windows clients. Resolution: AcuXDBC/AcuXDBCS Installation on UNIX The installation should look like this — ensure that all of these files are in the /bin directory (dates and permissions vary): $ ls -latotal 35664drwxr-xr-x 2 techsup staff 4096 May 14 06:20 .drwxr-xr-x 7 techsup staff 256 May 13 11:15 ..-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 286332 May 13 10:32 activator-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 1078462 May 13 10:32 acurcl-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 843430 May 13 10:32 acuserve-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 416882 May 13 10:32 acushare-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 667958 May 13 10:32 acusort-rwxr-xr-x 1 techsup staff 671442 May 13 10:32 acusql-r

This article provides instructions on how to extract the installation media from the downloaded UNIX gunzip tar archive. Problem: After downloading a UNIX gunzip tar deliverable, follow the steps below to decompress the deliverable and create the installation components. These instructions assume that gunzip has already been installed. The gunzip tool is available at www.gzip.org, both in source form and as executable files. This tool runs on a number of platforms, including Windows. Note that other Windows ZIP tools can also decompress a gunzip tar file; however, you should be careful when extracting files from the resulting tar file. Make sure that any tar file CR/LF conversion option is turned off. Resolution: Save the License Certificate attached to the electronic delivery email. Following the download, change the working directory to the directory that contains the deliverable. The deliverable will have a name in the form deliverable.tar.gz, w

The RM/COBOL v12.02 Linux install script fails with a cpio error: Premature end of file. This article explains what to do when this happens. Problem: The version 12.02 installation script, (install.sh), does not properly recognize the Linux 32-bit platform. Therefore, the script chooses the incorrect options for cpio. These incorrect command-line options for cpio cause the “Premature end of file” message. Resolution: The attached zip archive, install.sh.zip, contains a modified installation script (install.sh) that will detect the Linux 32-bit platform and set the proper cpio command-line options. Download this modified script and use it to replace the install.sh file contained in the RM/COBOL downloaded installation media. Incident Number: 2260814 Old KB# 14467

This article explains an error that occurs if a COBOL program using XML is not linked to shared runtime. Problem: When linking a COBOL program to an EXE you can get the following error message: LNK2001: unresolved external symbol _CBL_XMLIOOr LNK2001: unresolved external symbol _CBL_XMLIO_INTERFACE Resolution: This error occurs if you attempt to link a COBOL program that contains XML syntax to the static COBOL runtime. COBOL programs that use XML need to be linked to the shared runtime. If you change the build setting for your EXE then it should link correctly. Incident Number: 2284296 Old KB# 14492

This article describes how to resolve an XML-code 201 error for XML PARSE when parsing data that contain German umlauts, French accented characters, or a charater that has an ANSI code larger than 0x79. Problem: When parsing data that contains German umlauts, e.g. äöüÄÖÜ or ß, French accented characters, e.g. àÀéèÉÈ, or a charater which as an ANSI code larger as 0x79 XML PARSE delivers an XML-code 201, which is "Miscellaneous XML document parsing errors". <ROOTELEMENT><GermanWords>Ärger Öse Übel -</GermanWords><ABitFrench>ètè means summer</ABitFrench></ROOTELEMENT> Resolution: These characters require the ISO8859-1 encoding specified in front of the root element: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO8859-1"?><ROOTELEMENT><GermanWords>Ärger Öse Übel -</

This article describes a potential solution for the error ORA-01000. Problem: A COBOL program that performs numerous file operations (OPEN, READ, WRITE, DELETE, REWRITE, CLOSE, and so on) has the potential to create a large number of cursors if no COBOL COMMIT exists in the program code. If left unmanaged, it is possible to run out of cursors and receive an Oracle error "ORA-01000: maximum open cursors exceeded" as shown in the run-time trace below. 23:35:50.384 0 MF.RTS 51 1 : "ERROR CODE = [1000]"23:35:50.384 0 MF.RTS 51 1 : "ORA-01000: maximum open cursors exceeded" Resolution: There are two ACUFH configuration variables that may be helpful in managing cursors counts. Note: Both of these variables may require some experimentation and discussion with your Database Administrator to determine what works best for your application and system. The first variable is A_ORA_MAX_FILE_CURSORS, which by default is set to “0

This article explains what the Rebuild –d option specifies when reconstructing the index of an indexed file. Problem: The –d option specifies that Rebuild should reconstruct the index of an indexed file from the data area. Any corrupt data records are skipped and logged to a file. However, if rebuild is entered at the command line you get: -d [:c] –rebuild corrupt data file What does it do, rebuild the index or rebuild data? Resolution: If the data portion of the file is intact and only the index portion is corrupt, then Rebuild can generate a new index (.idx) file from the data file with no loss of data. If the data portion of the file is corrupt then Rebuild can rebuild a complete new indexed file, both data and index portions, but there will be loss of data as Rebuild discards any corrupt data records that it encounters. Note: When you use Rebuild to generate a new index file from an existing data file, the file can grow in size. One reason i

This article explains what to do if OEM font special characters don't display correctly in Microsoft Access or Excel. Problem: When reading from a file in which data was written using OEM font information (usually from an old DOS character-based system), special characters like $ and £ do not display correctly in Microsoft Access and Excel. The special characters display correctly, however, when using the AcuXDBC utilities asql or odbcsql. Previously, AcuODBC had an option that allowed the character set to be chosen (ANSI or OEM); this option is not available in AcuXDBC. Resolution: AcuXDBC does not have the character map functionality that AcuODBC had. The resolution to this issue is to convert the OEM font data to ANSI font data, which will display correctly in Windows-based business intelligence tools. Old KB# 14512

This article describes a scenario that uses the XFD_MAP variable and provides an example for using one XFD for more than one file or table. Problem: In this scenario, the use of a single XFD is desired rather than many XFDs, one for each of several different tables. The table names have the pattern "???MYHIS" where each "?" represents a variable character in the table name. However, putting "*MYHIS=[abcmyhis.xfd]" in the ACUFH configuration file (mfdbc.conf) does not work. What values should be in the SELECT for the ASSIGN TO and the $XFD FILE= directive in the FD for this to work properly? Resolution: The following is a step-by-step explanation: The program has a SELECT for a file ABCMYHIS, with a variable assigned, something like this:SELECT ABCMYHIS ASSIGN TO WS-ABCMYHIS-NAME ... Immediately before the FD, there is an XFD FILE directive, which is required because of the variable ASSIGN:$XFD FILE= ABCMYHI