Rocket® COBOL

Problem: On rebuilding - after upgrading Net Express from 3.1 to 4.0 -  our web-project (FKWEB3.1) we get this error message. Do you have a hint?? Resolution: Net Express 4.0: You should check in your Net Express environment this: Project Build Settings -> Link -> Category 'Advanced' It could be that you have included at this point under 'Link with these OBJs' the 'FKWEB3.1_RTECFG.OBJ' more than once. Please ensure to have this OBJ only 1 time to build your application. Old KB# 6962

Problem: You may have run the ADISCF function to configure ADIS for certain screen/keyboard behaviour on your Net Express development environment, but found that the same behavior is not reflected in your Application Server environment in production. Resolution: The file ADISCTRL in your \\Net Express\\Base\\Bin directory in development contains the ADIS settings. Copy this file to your production machine and copy into the \\Net Express\\Base\\Bin directory on that machine. Old KB# 6976

Problem: when opening  a file in the data file editor - it is not loading the structure file that was created Resolution: if you open a file and the editor does not use the structure file automatically you can do File (form top tool bar) - datatools - load record layout if the str is in the same directory as the file with the same name - it will automatically use the str in the editor Old KB# 6958

Problem: Using different ODBC drivers resulting in an ODBC error 900 "Invalid SQL string": EXEC SQL AT DBO         PREPARE DYNSQL FROM :DB-SQL END-EXEC. Resolution: OpenESQL soes not support using the AT clause with SQL PREPARE statements, so remove the 'AT DBO' from the statement. Old KB# 7004

Problem: A .Net project reports a RTE 173 cbl_xmlio not found when executing an OPEN on an XML file Resolution: At the moment, we've only a workaround: Add the directive: $set ILPINVOKE(cblxmls.dll) to those COBOL .Net programs, which need XML You will need: $set ILPINVOKE(cblxmlm.dll) for mulit-threaded applications Old KB# 6959

Problem: There is a known issue with the "Watch the Tour" link when the help is invoked by way of the Help menu in the Net Express IDE (Integrated Development Environment).  It should work outside of the Net Express IDE however. Try starting the help from the Windows Start button, Programs, Micro Focus Net Expresss 4.0, Help menu item. Resolution: There is a known issue with the "Watch the Tour" link when the help is invoked by way of the Help menu in the Net Express IDE (Integrated Development Environment).  It should work outside of the Net Express IDE however. Try starting the help from the Windows Start button, Programs, Micro Focus Net Expresss 4.0, Help menu item. Old KB# 6957

Problem: "CGI Error: The specified CGI application misbehaved by not returning a complete set of HTTP headers." is the message the webserver will return when a web application (or cgi) cannot find or access the runtime files or other resources. Resolution: Application Server was installed on deployed workstation, application was linked with shared dynamic but no license had been installed to the Application Server License database. Entering a valid Application Server serial number and license key through AppTrack utility, found in the Application Server directory, resolved the CGI error. Old KB# 7000

Problem: Is cblfh.dll required when deploying a COBOL.Net File Handling application ? Resolution: If you are using a release prior to April2004 then it is required. From the April 2004 WebSync the COBOL File handler is now managed code and therefore does not require the unmanaged file handler to be on the system. Old KB# 6953

Problem: No, add COPYEXT"CPY,COB"  directive to the Project | Properties | Project directives. After adding this directive use the Project | Update all dependency to update the project. Be sure that you have only one semi-colon as the last entry within the Project directives %FILENAME COBIDY(%TARGETDIR) WB3 WB CSI ANIM EDITOR(MF2) ENSUITE(3) COPYEXT"CPY,COB" Resolution: Old KB# 6979

Problem: When running the Net Express 4.0 setup process directly from the CD-ROM you may get a Windows Alert : Invalid initialisation file error message causing the installation process to hang. Resolution: Copy the contents of the Net Express CD-ROM to a folder on the installation machine that does not contain any spaces. Now run the x:\\setup.exe from that folder - this will allow the installation process to run. Old KB# 6968

Problem: This indicates that the Oracle client does not know what instance to connect to, or which TNS alias to use. Resolution: On Windows, using an Oracle connection without the instance name requires the LOCAL environment variable to be set to an instance defined to the system.  The example below requires LOCAL to be set because the instance is not specified.   EXEC SQL          CONNECT :USERNAME IDENTIFIED BY :PASSWD END-EXEC. The following example defines the instance, and will therefore override the value set in LOCAL if it has been set. EXEC SQL       CONNECT  :USERID       IDENTIFIED BY :PASSWD       USING :INSTANCE END-EXEC. Old KB# 7005

Problem: The customer created a solution using Visual Studio .Net that contains two projects. He had a main Console application that invoked a wrapper class in a different Assembly. From this class, he was attempting to do a PIatform Invoke call to an unmanaged .dll developed in Net Express 4.0. He added a reference to the unmanaged .dll in his project but when he tried to do a dynamic call at run-time to call the unmanaged .dll he received a run-time error  174  (imported file not found) Resolution: The problem is that when using .NET Platform Invoke from a COBOL program, you cannot call the unmanaged .dll with a dynamic call. You must use a static CALL "progname" instead and the case of "progname" must exactly match what is used as the entry point name in the unmanaged .dll. So if the CASE or FOLD-CALL-NAME directives are being used then you must call the program using the appropriate name that will be generated

Problem: When dragging the mouse from a location to another in the Net Express editor, the lines are selected, not by columns. Resolution: The default behavior is to select line blocks. This can be changed to select column blocks from the Edit options: click Options from the menu click Edit... click on the Blocks / Clipboard tab select "Select column blocks when dragging, except when in the prefix area" Old KB# 6981

Problem: Launch the Run method of the COM WORD application component. in the COBOL sample pasted  below, the cobol program opens a file test.doc ( located on the current directory )  which contains a macro named MaMacro which receives a String parameter: Sub MaMacro(machaine As String)     MsgBox machaine End Sub Resolution:       *> This is required for OLE applications       $set ooctrl( P)        program-id. worddemo.        class-control.        *> OLE automation classes            wordapp is class "$OLE$word.application"            .        working-storage section.   

Problem: The code pasted below is just on add-on to the cobreg demo available on MF WEB Netx sample page; the initial cobreg demo reads & updates registries on the "local" computer. With the code pasted below, you'll be able to read registry on a remote computer. cobreg: Accessing the Windows registry with COBOL and writing or reading information from the registry Resolution: use the WIN32 API RegConnectRegistry as pasted below ========================================================== RegConnectRegistry: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sysinfo/base/regconnectregistry.asp MSDN registry APIs http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sysinfo/base/registry_functions.asp ========================================================== ... working-storage section. 01 ComputerName pic x(100) value z"\\\\NameOfTheRemoteComputer". 01 result long. ...  &nb

Problem: An stack overflow error or a  stackOverflowException can be easily corrected by increasing the size of the stack. Knowledge base article 19007 - "STACK OVERFLOW, EXCEPTION_STACK_OVERFLOW <- increase stack's size of the process" describes how can you set up an environment variable to define a specific stack size when the executable is being created when linking. This article describes how you can increase the size of an executable once it has already being created. This affects to any kind of executable, even a .NET executable. Resolution: There is an SDK utility called editbin that allows you to change the stack size for an executable (amongst other things). Open a command prompt and cd to the directory where your application executable is, and then run:    editbin /stack:nnn application.exe where application.exe is the name of the executable of your application and nnn is the number of bytes in siz

Problem: A program contians some DOS LineDraw characters which can be seen correctly in Net Express but which cannot be printed with Windows. Not even using various PC_PRINTER routines will solve the problemt.  The characters can be printed correctly in DOS on port LPT1 but are treated differently when using a deskjet or laser printer via the USB port. Resolution: The issue lies with the DOS LineDraw characters which are part of the OEM character set. The problems is that Windows Fonts are based on the ANSI code page. In the Net Express IDE you can edit in an OEM font by using Options/Edit/Dos Compatability. If you switch to OEM then you should see that characters correctly in the editor. However when printing you get this problem. What some customers have done in the past is to install and use a font that supports the OEM Line Draw characters. Microsoft used to ship a font "MS LineDraw" for this which can be found at: http://www

Problem: Animation fails with 114,  using a Net Express 3.1 project which has been migrated to Net Express 4.0 Resolution: When migrating a Net Express project, transfer only the project directory files.  Do not include the DEBUG and RELEASE directories. Old KB# 6984

Problem: How is a cross reference listing created using Net Express 4.0? Resolution: Use a "Cobol.dir" file (a text file consisting of compiler directives, one directive per line) with the following directives, to create a basic compiler listing file with Data Map and Cross Reference listings appended to the end of the source file listing. ....show-dir.......... - Shows the content of directives files in the source listing. ....setting"col3"..... - Includes a list of the directive settings, three directives per line in columns. ....confirm........... - Echos all subsequent directives to the screen. ....list().............. - Causes the listing file to be named "source-name.lst", where "source-name" ....................... - is the basename of the program being compiled. ....xref............... - Makes the Compiler produce a cross-reference listing. ....datamap......... - Causes the Compiler to output information o

Problem: The program, calling a sub program multiple times, runs successfully with the return code=0 before stop run.  However, the error level check in bat file returns 3.   Resolution: You need to use the "returning" keyword on the goback, or stop run statement, to ensure the return-code is appropriately passed : For example: IF RETURN-CODE = 0     GOBACK RETURNING 0 or: STOP RUN RETURNING RETURN-CODE Old KB# 7006

Problem: When installing to a machine that doesn't have a c:\\ drive you may see the message appear: "Cannot write to silent script log file. Unable to continue install" Resolution: The setup process attempts to create a log file on the c:\\  drive by default, and if you don't have a c:\\ drive, it can't write the log. To avoid this problem, you can redirect the log file elsewhere by supplying a parameter to the setup command: From a command prompt, change directory to the location of the setup.exe (let's assume this is on D:\\) and type the command: D:\\setup\\setup.exe /ini=d:\\setup\\nxsetup.ini /logfile=x:\\thelogfile.txt This will run the setup.exe from your D:\\ drive and write the logfile to your x:\\ drive. Old KB# 6993

Problem: There are various ways of installing Application Server for Net Express on client machines.  Sometimes, given that client machines may be spread over large territories, it is not always practical to install locally.   NB.  there is a slight name change between versions.  In 4.0 and previous versions the runtime is called Application Server for NetExpress whilst in 5.0 onwards the runtime is simply called Server for NetExpress.  The procedure descibed below remains the same regardless. Resolution: Install Application Server and software application (executable) on the server machine, after ensuring that Net Express (development environment) is not installed. Install the license key details on the server machine, ensuring the license key adequately covers the aniticpated number of users.  Then, on each client machine, change the path settings of the environment variables  PATH, COB

Problem: Is it possible to  link to existing btrieve module in net Express with .Net? Resolution: Making calls to the Btrieve entry point "_BTRV" cannot be done directly from a .NET managed code program because the Windows 32-bit Btrieve library WBTRV32.DLL is, itself, an unmanaged Windows .DLL. In order for a .NET COBOL program to call an unmanaged .DLL, it must use the PInvoke functionality. In this case, you cannot use the _btrv.gnt file as only Windows .DLLs can be added as references to a .NET project. Use the following steps: 1.  In the Net Express\\base\\lib directory their is a file called _btrv.obj.      Create a Net Express 4.0 project which packages this file as MFBTRV.dll (or any name) and under Link options the entry point name should be "_BTRV". 2.  In your .NET project, right click on the References folder and select "Add Reference". Use the Browse

Problem: A simple example of mult-threading in COBOL. Resolution: Net Express 4.0 comes supplied with a multi-threading demo in:    \\Net Express\\Base\\DEMO\\MTHREAD In addition, the following code sample may be of interest.  The demo has two threads: 1) The first thread simply increments a counter and displays the result on    the screen. 2) The second thread displays the date and time on the screen. All this goes on whilst the parent updates its own counter.  The demo is simple but it does show how to create a thread and to terminate them.  Full details can be found in the multi-threading manual. Please note, ADIS (Display/Accept) will interrupt threading so that support should be used with caution.  Also, you may find you get "funny" results inside the animator as debugging multiple threads seems tricky. It is always a good idea to run any example from the comm

Problem: RTS 173 error on CHECKFIL Resolution: Recompile program with initcall"utils.lbr" to resolve the issue. utils.lbr contains the module and with the above directive that library is opened at the start of the module. Old KB# 6947