Rocket® COBOL

This article addresses how to perform manual installs on client machines, specifically a silent install using the Windows group policy. Problem: It can be tedious to perform manual installs on client machines. Using the group policy it is possible to "push" the runtime to client machines silently, without prompts. Resolution: Follow these instructions to use the Windows group policy to perform a silent install: Put the runtime.msi and the liant.lic file on a network share available to the users who are supposed to get the software. E.g. \\\\<servername>\\NETLOGON (this is actually C:\\WINDOWS\\SYSVOL\\sysvol\\<domainname>\\scripts) Apply read rights for those users. Start the Group Policy Management program from the Administrative Tools in the Configuration Panel. Expand Domains. Expand your domain. Expand Group Policy Objects. Create a new Policy or select the policy you like to edit. Select Edit... from the Action menu

This article describes how to record in a trace file, which keys are hit by the user while the application is running. Problem: Is there a way to record in a file, the sequence of keys hit by the user while the application is running? Resolution: There is an ACUCOBOL-GT library routine called W$KEYBUF that can be used to record keystroke sequences. To activate keystroke sequence recording and save in a text file, simply run this code in your application: CALL "W$KEYBUF" USING 7, FILE-NAME To stop the recording, use this code: CALL "W$KEYBUF" USING 5 W$KEYBUF can also be used in Thin Client mode. The W$KEYBUF library routine is documented in the ACUCOBOL-GT Appendices manual, Appendix I. Incident Number: 2114758 Old KB# 14347

This article describes the message received when Application Server is unable to open a licensing file. Problem: What does the following error message mean? ASLM: Errno -301002 when running COBOL application Resolution: The message means that Application Server licensing is unable to open a licensing file (/var/mfaslmf/aslmodf), which is shipped with the product (Server Express 4.0). The reason given in the error code is that the file does not exist. The aslmodf file has to be present in the /var/mfaslmf directory every time that a COBOL application runs. A re-installation of the Application Server Licensing system should solve the problem. Old KB# 14319

If an .adb file is corrupt the user will receive a Segmentation Fault error when running a program in debug mode. Problem: When trying to run an ACUCOBOL-GT application in debug mode the user may receive a “Segmentation Fault” error. Resolution: The debugger saves state information in a ".adb" file which is used when the debugger is executed in another run. This information includes window placement and breakpoint settings. The segmentation fault may be caused by a corrupt .adb file. Delete the .adb debug file (username.adb). The "--no-save-debug" option provides a way to eliminate this behavior as well by not creating a .adb file. Incident Number: 2265685 Old KB# 14295

This article describes how to configure Ericom's PowerTerm emulator. Problem: Ericom's PowerTerm is a terminal emulator that is shipped with Micro Focus's Net Express product. It can also be purchased separately from Ericom. PowerTerm is used to create a telnet connection to UNIX or LINUX environments. When executing Micro Focus's "sde" (Integrated Development Environment) or Micro Focus's License Administrator utility, "mflmadm," the screen drawing lines are displayed as a line of "Ä"s: ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿ instead of as a graphic line: ______________________________________________ As with any emulators, th

This article resolves an ASLM error due to underlying permissions. Problem: This error occurs when trying to run a COBOL program. ASLM COBDIR not set or inadequate permissions An "ls -ld" on the directory while the file system is mounted shows the appropriate permissions and owner/group identities. Resolution: The error occurs due to the underlying permissions on the volume mount point being more restrictive than on the actual directories. To fix a current problem with the underlying mount point, the only viable option is to follow these steps: Stop the processes that are running on the mounted file system and any file systems that are mounted on it. Un-mount the file system (this will require un-mounting file systems, if any, mounted in its path). Use the "ls -ld" command to inspect the mount point directory. Change the owner/group/permissions of the mount point directory. Mount the file system back onto the directory.

This article describes what you can do if an error occurs when attempting to run a program with the Server Express run-time. Problem: An executable file cannot be run using Server Express; a load failure caused by a missing shared library is reported. Resolution: The dependency on library liboops.2.0.so indicates that this executable was built using Object COBOL Developer Suite. Recompiling/rebuilding the executable file under Server Express will resolve the error. Old KB# 14330

Some legacy programs use a technique that involves defining tables with minimum values for ‘OCCURS’ and addressing items beyond the defined value; the special options required to make this technique function properly under Server Express and Net Express are explained in this article. Problem: Legacy programs sometimes use the following technique to handle large numbers of items in a table. Consider the following example code: WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 01 CNT PIC 9(5) VALUE 1. 01 BIG-AREA PIC X(1000). 01 BLLS-TABL PIC S9(8) COMP-5 VALUE 0. 01 PLLS-TABL REDEFINES BLLS-TABL USAGE IS POINTER. LINKAGE SECTION. 01 TABLE-RECORD. 02 T-ID OCCURS 3 TIMES INDEXED BY T-INDEX. 03 TD-ENTRY-NUMBER PIC 9(5). 03 TD-FIELD PIC X(10). PROCEDURE DIVISION USING TABLE-RECORD. 0000-START.. ** Set the address of Big-area to the TAB

This article describes how to use OLE automation to interact with Excel from COBOL. Problem: Exporting data from COBOL and loading into Excel is possible by simply writing to a line sequential file with comma separated values and then performing a CALL “SYSTEM”. However, a more elegant and powerful solution is to use the OLE automation interface. Resolution: Please see the attached ACUCOBOL-GT v8.1 example included in the excel-ole.zip file. In essence you can do the following: 77 excel-app handle of application. 77 excel-doc handle of workbook. 77 excel-sheets handle of sheets. 77 excel-worksheet handle of worksheet. 77 excel-range handle of range. ****************************************************************** PROCEDURE DIVISION. Main Section. * Create the OLE interface create @Application of @Excel handle in excel-app.

The AcuBench drag-and-drop paged list-box has the incorrect page-size set for it. Problem: After adding a paged list-box to a screen using AcuBench’s drag-and-drop mechanism the generated code does not work properly. At runtime the resulting list-box displays the data beginning with the second record. The first record is not seen until the list is paged down then paged up. Resolution: The first record is missing because the page-size for the control is incorrect. It is one record too large for the physical size of the control. Thus the first record scrolls off the top and isn’t seen until the user pages the control down then up. The page size generated by AcuBench for a drag-and-drop paged control (grid or list-box) is an approximation. This should only be considered a starting point. The programmer must verify and adjust the value in Working-Storage so the number of records is precise. Open the program’s working-storage section in AcuBench’s Working-Storage editor, locate the co

This article explains why symbol errors occur with COBOL executables. Problem: The following errors were encountered during execution time: 0509-023 symbol XFH_CLOSE in [filename] is not defined 0509-023 symbol regetblk in [filename] is not defined 0509-026 system error: can not run a file that does not have a valid format Resolution: Verify the COBOL version (Product Reference Number) of the failing environment compared to the version (Product Reference Number) of the COBOL development system which was used to create the executable. The versions must be the same, executables built using older versions of the Development System will not execute under a mismatched run time environement. COBOL executables are built/linked using UNIX shared libraries. At execution time, the system dynamic loader verifies that all symbols present when the executable was built are still present in the same libraries used at compilation time. If symbols are removed or relocated

This article tells you how to associate a function key with a button so that it executes the same code whether you press the function key or click on the button. Problem: Once a push button is defined, it is necessary to associate the appropriate code with the button so that when a function key (such as F7) is pressed, or when a mouse clicks on the push button, the proper response results. Resolution: Associating the exception value of the function key to be used with the push button enables the proper response when the key or button is pressed. For example, the value to associate with F1 is "1", and for F2 is "2", and so on. When using AcuBench, you make this association by modifying the exception value property for the button.  If you are not using the AcuBench IDE, you'll need to add the following code (with "7" representing a value) to the button definition: EXCEPTION-VALUE 7 Here's an AcuBench co

This article shows you how to run multiple products on the same machine. Problem: Many users are now running or would like to run multiple versions of Micro Focus COBOL products on the same machine. It doesn't matter whether you want to test a patch or test a new version before putting it into production: it is easy to run multiple versions of Server Express and older versions of Micro Focus Object COBOL Developer Suite on the same machine without any problems. Resolution: Let's take the example of running Server Express v5.1 and Server Express v4.0 SP2 on the same machine. First, they must be installed in separate directories. The directory structure would look something like: Next, you must ensure that the environment variables COBDIR and LD_LIBRARY_PATH — LIBPATH for AIX and SHLIB_PATH for HP/UX — are set correctly. Then set the PATH environment variable so that the first entry is pointing to $COBDIR/bin. This will guarantee that the correct drivers are used with the

This article describes how to avoid the CANCEL ALL statement from canceling DLL’s and Shared Library Objects, but still cancel COBOL programs. Problem: It is necessary to cancel everything at this point except DLLs and Shared Object Libraries. For this purpose the CANCEL ALL statement is being used in the code of the program, but it is canceling everything. Resolution: The solution is to use the configuration variable CANCEL_ALL_DLLS. The default value for this variable is “1” (on, true, yes). By setting it to “0” (off, false, no) CANCEL ALL will not cancel DLLs or Shared Object Libraries. To cancel a DLL or Shared Object Library a CANCEL statement followed by the name of the library will be needed. Old KB# 14352

This article explains the error "ProgName fails with RTS 173". Problem: A program can be executed from anywhere if its location is added in the environment variable COBDIR (if it is in .INT or.GNT and executed with the RUN command) or PATH (if it is in .EXE). However, the animator cannot find it if it is to be animated from the command line as shown below: MFNETX /DEBUG:ProgName.Ext. Where ProgName is the name of the program and Ext is the extension (INT, GNT, or EXE). The above command fails with RTS 173, which means that the program cannot be located, unless the program is in the current directory. Note: Animating a program always requires its program source and its .idy files to be available. Resolution: The command line parameter ProgName should either be the full path of the program or a program name relative to the working directory. The following precision has been added to the documentation of Net Express 5.1 with WrapPack 2, which applies

This article explains how to move License Server from one PC to another without dongles. Problem: How do I move License Server from one PC to another without dongles? Resolution: Save the ls4.arc file and the licenseserver.mdb file. Remove the software from the old machine. Install the ls4 software on the new machine, install the lsf06l40.exe fixpack available from:  http://supportline.microfocus.com/websync/ls40 Copy the ls4.arc file and the licenseserver.mdb file to the ls4 bin directory. Go to the administration pages. At this point every screen will display a message stating that the license file doesn’t belong to that machine. However, it will issue licenses for five days from that point. Set up the groups if you are using them. Then, on the administration page, click the fix hyperlink and generate a reset key. Visit the web licensing pages within the SupportLine web site at:  http://supportline.microfocus.com/licensing/LicensingHome Follow the links to en

This article describes what you should do if the Liant installer fails on Windows with the error message "The application failed to initialize properly (0x0000005)". Problem: The Windows RM/COBOL installer (setup.exe) can fail and return the following error in a Windows message box: "The application failed to initialize properly (0x0000005). Click on OK to terminate the application." Resolution: There is no single cause to these types of system configuration issues, but here is some guidance as to how you can diagnose these types of problems: Disable any anti-virus software while performing the install. Delete all of the files in your Windows temporary directories. The following link provides information on how to determine where your temporary directories are located: http://consumerdocs.installshield.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=Q108334&sliceId=1 This might be an issue with Windows Data Execution Prevention: In your Control Panel, open the

This article explains how to find the line of code that matches the PC to an RTS error. Problem: When running a program, the following RTS error occurs and we would like to know how to find out the source line from pc=2007. Execution error : file 'mr01.int' error code: 166, pc=2007, call=218, seg=0 166 Recursive COBOL CALL is illegal Resolution: To find the line of code at address 2007, compile your program with -C REF and -C LIST"". Object COBOL Development Suite (OCDS) will put the addresses against the source lines, whereas Server Express will put a table of lines and addresses at the end of the listing. Note: This facility is not avaliable in some early versions of Server Express. Here's another example: Execution error : file '/home2/support/juj/tmp/mydem.int' error code: 153, pc=3D, call=1, seg=0 153 Subscript out of range tsron:/home2/support/juj/tmp > cob -C'ref list""' mydem.cbl t

This article explains what to do if an environment variable is set incorrectly. Problem: We are attempting to use Micro Focus COBOL and receiving the following error: fatal: libcobrts64.so.2: open failed: No such file or directory Resolution: If you have set LD_LIBRARY_PATH and have exported it then there is a chance you have set the LD_LIBRRY_PATH_64 environment variable. This environment variable takes priority over the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. To resolve this, either: Unset LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 Use LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64 as you would LD_LIBRARY_PATH. That is, set LD_LIBRARY_PATH_64=$COBDIR/lib:<oracle-environment-variables>:...... Old KB# 14311

This article describes how to add access to the Alfred editor from the AcuBench Tools menu. Problem: Alfred is an easy-to-use Vision File Editor. It used to be available in the “All Programs” Windows menu and from within the AcuBench Tools menu. Resolution: Since version 8.0, Alfred is no longer present in the AcuBench tools menu. To recreate the Alfred link in the AcuBench Tools menu, do the following: Open the Tools menu Click "Customize.." and open the "Tools" tab. Click the green cross icon "New(Ins)" or double click inside the "Menu contents" white area. Enter "Alfred". Fill in the remaining fields like this:Command: C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl810\\AcuGT\\bin\\wrun32.exe Arguments: -c alfred.cfg alfred.acu Working Directory: C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl810\\AcuGT\\tools Context menu: Alfred Open the Tools menu > Launch Tools . Alfred should

This article describes how to enable a disabled tab page at runtime. Problem: The tab control’s TabEnabled property controls whether an individual tab (page) on the tab control can be selected at runtime.  Using the WOWGetProp and WOWSetProp functions allows the enabled state of the tab to be set or retrieved at runtime.  Before getting or setting the TabEnabled property value, the CurTab property must be set to the zero-based index of the desired tab. However the CurTab property cannot be set to a disabled tab page so it’s not possible to enable a disabled tab page using the TabEnabled property. Resolution: You can use the WOWSetIndexProp function to set the TabEnabled property to true, for example: Call WowSetIndexProp Using Win-Return tab1 "tabenabled" win-true 1. Incident Number: 2278101 Old KB# 14344

When running a UNIX script (for example acuxdcbs.sh) the user may encounter the “syntax error near unexpected token” error. Problem: When running a script in either a Linux or UNIX environment, the user may encounter the “syntax error near unexpected token” error. Example: $ acuxdbcs.sh -start /acucobol810/bin/acuxdbcs.sh: line 50: syntax error near unexpected token `' /acucobol810/bin/acuxdbcs.sh: line 50: `show_usage ()' Resolution: This is typically caused by editing the file on Windows, or if the file is transferred in binary mode rather than ASCII. Run the dos2unix command on the script and then rerun the script. Example. $dos2unix acuxdbcs.sh dos2unix: converting file acuxdbcs.sh to UNIX format ... Incident Number: 2277959 Old KB# 14294

This article descries how to change at runtime the title shown for each page on a Tab. Problem: Is there a way to dynamically change the title of each page defined as part of a Tab? Resolution: The solution is to reset the Tab and then add the new titles to be shown. Not resetting the Tab will just add pages and not rename the existing pages. Below is sample code based on a Tab called Screen1-Ta-1: modify Screen1-Ta-1, reset-TABs 1 modify Screen1-Ta-1, TAB-TO-add ("test1" , "test2") After this, the two pages on the Tab will have the titles changed to “test1” and “test2” with all their elements attached correctly. Incident Number: 99-043554 Old KB# 14351

This article explains why a “Fail to open file: ncg.ops” error occurs in a Net Express project at link time, and what to do when this happens. Problem: A “Fail to open file: ncg.ops” error occurs when rebuilding a Net Express project. The Output window shows that the error occurs when Net Express invokes the CBLLINK command to link the program. Resolution: This problem occurs when the environment variable COBDIR is overridden in the project. Net Express uses COBDIR to find its own run-time files, so users have to be cautious when setting this environment variable in Net Express. Environment variables can be set in Net Express from the Project Properties under the IDE environment. The best practice is always to append a value to the existing value of COBDIR that can be represented by %COBDIR%. If users wish to append X:\\DIR to COBDIR, they should set COBDIR with the value: %COBDIR%;X:\\DIR Incident Number: 2278384

Fileshare server is stopped immediately if started in background; this article explains what to do when this occurs. Problem: The fileshare configuration file fs.cfg contains the background switch -b. fs is submitted to the background with: fs > logfile 2>&1 & (The last "&" tells UNIX to put the program in the background.) However, fs reports "stopped" the next time a foreground command is entered or the Enter key is pressed. Resolution: Fileshare attempts to write a status message to the terminal screen as it interprets each line found in fs.cfg. The -b background swtich in the configuration file is seen only after the first console output is attempted. It is this attempt that causes fileshare to stop. The workaround is to start fileshare with: fs -b > logfile 2>&1 & Fileshare then sees the -b on the command line immediately and outputs nothing to the screen. (The -b switch in fs.cfg is