Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Byte stream I/O routine CBL_OPEN_FILE failes with error 194 when the file is large Resolution: Setting ACCESS-MODE = 65 corrects the problem - the call will fail if the underlying operating system does not support large files Byte Stream IO calls work with files up to 4 Gb,  Over 4 Gb there is a requirement  to set 1 of 2 flags to get the open to work: - bit h"40" of the open-mode field (second parameter) or; - bit h"10" of the sharing mode field (third parameter). Using method 1 you will get an error if the open is attempted on a system which does not support 64 bit file systems (e.g. Windows 95). Method 2 will give you a successful open in all operating systems, but tells the run-time that no locking calls will be attempted on the file.  Any call to e.g. CBL_GET_LOCK will result in an error if the file has been opened with this bit set. Old KB# 7184#netexpress#RMCOBOL#ServerExpress#COBOL#AcuCobol

Problem: Net Express Release 4.0: The XML-Wizard may generate a data structure like: 04 xml-act identified by "act" count in xml-act-count.       05 xml-MyName PIC X(90) identified by "MyName" .   .......... 05 xml-more identified by "more".                                          06 xml-MyName PIC X(90) identified by "MyName". When coding   MOVE "Harry" to xml-MyName of xml-act. The following compiler error message is returned: COBCH0005S     User-name XML-MyName not unique Resolution: The identifier xml-MyName at the 05-level cannot be used in the COBOL-program, because there is no way for a proper qualification of thi

Problem: Using either cob -ivt db2test.cbl -C "DB2(DB==SAMPLE)" or cob32 -C nolist -ivt db2test.cbl -C DB2(DB==SAMPLE) results in * Micro Focus Server Express         V2.2 revision 000           Compiler * Copyright (C) 1984-2003 Micro Focus International Ltd. URN RXCAI/AA0/00000 * Accepted - verbose * Accepted - reentrant * Accepted - nolist * Rejected - DB2(DB=SAMPLE) * 155-U 155     Illegal command line Resolution: One may see this error if 1. the DB2 ECM is not present- that means that the product does not support the precompiler on the specified platform. UDB isn't available on all UNIX platforms. Therefore, we only provide the DB2 ECM module on platforms where UDB is available, and IBM supports precompiling COBOL. Check to make sure that the platform supports UDB. 2. If the LIBPATH is not set correctly. Che

Problem: tar command reports a error while trying to extract COBOL product components: Resolution: This error occurred due to a lack of space in the target install directory. create a new, larger file partition and the problem is solved. Attachments: Relativity launch error 2009-02-19.doc Old KB# 7156

Problem: Load error 164 on cobdirect.so.2 Resolution: Set COBMODE=64. Old KB# 7176

Problem: cob64: bad magic number error when linking application cob32: bad magic number error when linking application Resolution: When using COBOL in conjunction with third party software, ensure that the COBOL working mode matches the environment settings for the third party software. For example, Oracle installations on UNIX typically provide both 32-bit and 64-bit shared objects in $ORACLE_HOME/lib and $ORACLE_HOME/lib64 . You would therefore need to ensure that LIBPATH/LD_LIBRARY_PATH/SHLIB_PATH was set correctly. See Knowledge Base article #22062 for further details. Old KB# 7183

Problem: /usr/lib/cmplrs/cc/ld: Can't locate file for: -lclntst8 Just upgraded from Oracle 8 to Oracle 9 and trying to compile program with embedded Oracle SQL Resolution: The system loader (ld) is looking for libclntst8.so in $ORACLE_HOME/lib. The client-side library has a different name for each major release of Oracle, i.e. libclntst8.*, libclntst9.*, libclntst10.*. Update the cob command line accordingly for the Oracle client version in use. Old KB# 7210

Problem: Dialog System  screensets are not found or loaded at run time Resolution: In order to use directories other than the directory containing the application program, the user needs to set COBDATA to point to the location containing the screensets - ie Dialog system treats the screenset files as data files to be read when the screenset is initialized. COPYFILES can be placed in other directories and the COBCPY variable is used to point to the locations to be searched by the COBOL compiler and Animator Old KB# 7164

Problem: When selecting "open" files in the IDE - showing the list alphabetized backwards. Resolution: Net Express displays listing topics the same way as it is set in Windows. Go to Windows Explorer, then go to the same directory as you are listing in the IDE. Click on the "name" title bar - this will sort - if it sorts backwards then click again until it is in the desired alphabetic order. Go to tools - folder options - view tab - click on button that reads "set like current folder" and click ok - get out - close Net Express and then reopen Net Express. Old KB# 7147

Problem: Message comes from linker (ld) command near end of cob -x or cob -z Resolution: It is not possible to link 32 bit objects to 64 bit code and vice-versa.  Make sure all  dependent modules are compiled under the same COBMODE setting.  Make sure any compiled Cobol code is consistent with any object modules supplied by a third party.   Old KB# 7167

Problem: Cannot load CMDLINE.SAV Resolution: If the COBDATA environment variable is set, this error can be resolved by unsetting COBDATA or adding a colon (:) to the end of the contents of the COBDATA variable. Old KB# 7182

Problem: Compiler errors reported becuase of * in first 6 columns of the source program Resolution: An asterick in column is treated as a comment compile using the directive NOMFCOMMENT Old KB# 7160

Problem: Using byte stream file handling and cbl_read_file is not returning any data. Return-code = 0 on  the cbl_open_file and receives Return_Code = 0 on the cbl_read_file but no data is received into his input buffer- Resolution: One of the parameters for the cbl_read_file is flags. This parameter can take the following values:           0 Standard read       128 Return the current file size in file-offset Need to make sure after the initial read to obtain the size of the file that the flags is set to 0 to do a standard read. Setting the flags to 0 resolved the no data returned in the input buffer issue. Old KB# 7148

Problem: Adis error messages are displayed at line 24 in Animator, Resolution: Issue caused by the fact that the Animator uses the  MFDEBUG  terminal description entry and this entry contains the definitions LINES=#24 this then limits the usable screen to 24 lines. This is not a defect and is documented as follows: Here is the information extracted from the Server Express documents; 2.2.6 Specifying Screen Size for Screen-swapping When Animator executes a program, the program might need to use the terminal for input and output. If you only have access to a single terminal, and both Animator and the executing program need access to it, Animator keeps a virtual image of the program's output in the background. This image is displayed, and Animator swapped to the background if you press F2=View, or if Animator itself displays the program's output (during Step or Zoom operations, for example). By default, the size of this virt

Problem: When Animator is invoked, the screen clears, some escape sequences are written including a 'bell' (this can be captured by redirecting stdout and stderr) then the process immediately exits back to the command prompt instead of animating as it should.  This happens for all programs including the most simple "hello world" program (use $COBDIR/demo/debug/tictac.cbl to demonstrate).  It occurs no matter how animator is invoked, including: regular "anim" From within tbox cross-session with "animsrv" cross-session with dynamic attachment CBL_DEBUGBREAK COBSW= A Animator is the only feature that's broken:  tbox and dfed work fine, and any program can be compiled successfully and will execute successfully, as long as animator is not used. The COBDIR, LD_LIBRARY_PATH, and PATH environment variables are set correctly.   The LMF and ASLMF licensing systems are working correct

Problem: 198 load Failure with MQ Series Programs Resolution: Need to create a non-threaded verion of the MQ series module using the command:   cob -z -e "" -Q -bE:mq.exp pgm.cbl -lpthread -L/usr/lpp/mqm/lib -lmqmcb to create a callable shared object for MQ series. Old KB# 7161

Problem: In the course of Cobol program execution, it would be desirable to issue a command to the Unix shell for processing and to work with the command's output.  Is it possible. Resolution: The procedure division statement is: CALL 'SYSTEM' USING MY-COMMAND. where MY-COMMAND is:   01  MY-COMMAND.         10  MY-COMMAND-LINE       PIC   X(2048).         10  FILLER                             PIC  X   VALUE LOW-VALUES. MY-COMMAND-LINE may contain any valid system command line, e.g. ls -l > lsout.txt It is recommended that command output be redirected to a file if the Cobol program needs a

Problem: What is the 'mfdebug' terminal setting? Resolution: When running under the control of the Animator any screen output is cached in memory. If you swap to the user screen (i.e. by pressing F2 or by executing an ACCEPT), the contents of the cached screen are displayed. The program has no terminal of its own because it's under the control of the animator. So, when the program writes to the terminal, it is actually passing terminal sequences to the animator to be decoded and cached. The Animator uses a generic terminal definition called 'mfdebug', which defines all the capabilities required. Because of this it is not recommended that the screen-swap Animator be used if a non-COBOL sub-program is performing a lot of screen I/O. A better solution is to use cross-session animation. This is documented in  the Debugging Handbook. Old KB# 7173

Problem: When trying to update the Net Express product it states that the DSY (Dialog System) Websync cannot be run because Dialog System is not installed. Resolution: During the initial install of Net Express if "Custom install" was not choosen, then the Dialog System option does not install. The installation CD can be reinserted and run again - choose custom and it will determine which components have not been installed and let you choose them. After installation is complete the websync can be run again. Old KB# 7146

Problem: If you are linking a Cobsql application with the Cobsql CSTOP option specified, the following error will be returned : ld: 0711-317 ERROR: Undefined symbol: .oraprot Resolution: The CSTART and CSTOP Cobsql directives are not supported on UNIX. More recent versions of Server Express will reject these options at compile-time. Old KB# 7204

Problem: Why don't the keys ALT CTRL work when pressing them? Resolution: Unfortunately most UNIX terminals, by default, simply do not send a key sequence when the Alt or Ctrl key is pressed.   You can see that no key sequence is sent from the ALT key by trying the following: > cat > test Then try pressing ALT, you will see that nothing appears in test, then try pressing ESC and you will see the key sequence  ^[ being shown as this is what is sent when the ESC key is pressed.   As nothing is sent when the ALT key is pressed then there is nothing for Server Express to respond to, therefore this is not a Server Express software issue, but a keyboard/Unix issue.  In order to get around this to use our software, we recommend using /a for alt and /c for ctrl. To get a full list of key mappings you can use /m or see the COBOL User's Guide Appendix for Unix key usage chart Otherwise maybe

Problem: Earlier COBOL products for both Wiindows and Unix products contained a family  of Call-by-number routines to read and write characters and attributes to and from the screen. These are not available in Server Express Resolution: A lot of the call-by-number routines were replaced by call-by-name routines many years ago, but the call-by-number routines were kept in the product to assist migration.  They've now been removed entirely.  The replacements for x'B7' and x'B8' are as follows: B7 0 cbl_read_scr_chars B7 1 cbl_write_scr_chars B7 2 cbl_read_scr_attrs B7 3 cbl_write_scr_chars B7 4 cbl_write_scr_n_char B7 5 cbl_write_scr_n_attr B8 0 cbl_read_scr_chattrs B8 1 cbl_write_scr_charrts Refer to the product documentation for full details of how to use these calls. Old KB# 7187

Problem: When executing a database client application, an error about libpthread, or thread-local storage appears, such as : * /usr/lib/dld.sl: Can't shl_load() a library containing Thread Local Storage: * OpenESQL Error: You must execute your application using  the threaded COBOL run-time. * RTS198 (load failure) Resolution: Recent versions of database software are built using threaded C libraries. It's therefore imperative that user applications are compiled and executed with the threaded run-time, i.e. :     * Compile, generate, and link the application using the -t cob flag     * Ensure that you execute the app using cobrun_t, rather than cobrun On some Operating Systems, such as HP-UX PA-RISC, if you attempt to execute a database application with the non-threaded COBOL run-time, you will see an error from the dynamic loader : > cobrun myapp /usr/lib/dld.sl: Can't shl_loa

Problem: The only reason a process would continue to run when a terminal session is ended is when the terminal session is not shut down correctly, for example if a client machine is switched off unexpectadly or the network connection is lost.   When a telnet session is 'killed' i.e. not shut down cleanly, it does not send any signal back to any child processes (cobol, C or vi for example) and therefore the child processes have no reason to die and they continue running.    Resolution: The best option is to always close the Cobol application cleanly.  The other option is to use the exec command so that the cobol process is not a child process. When you don't use "exec" you effectively have two processes running, the first one is the shell invoked from the telnet session  the second is "cobrun xxxx". If you then switch off the PC or the connection is lost, only the shell is ki

Problem: Sometimes in COBOL applications there is a requirement for pausing execution of an application before continuing.  Most techniques for doing this involve tying up the processor (e.g. performing a large 'perform varying'), to the detriment of other users. Resolution: One method worth trying is to use  call "SYSTEM" and call a UNIX script containing a sleep statement.  e.g. working-storage section. 01 w-call-sleep.     03  filler pic x(7) value "sleep 5".     03  filler  pic x value x"00". procedure division.    ..........     ...........     call "SYSTEM" using w-call-sleep     ............    ............. The parameter for sleep is in whole seconds, and there may be OS discrepancies of up to one second