Rocket® COBOL

Problem: How exactly do you setup Net Express and Visual Studio 6.0 to debug a Visual C/C 6.0 DLL from within Net Express? Cobol is calling the 'C' DLL. This is one of those situations where you must accept Microsoft Win32 limitations and adopt an  approach that is less intuitive. Under Microsoft Win32, only one debugger can be running at any time. You need both the Net Express development system and the Visual Studio system installed on the same machine. You need to make certain the Dynamic checkbox is checked in your Build Settings for your COBOL program(s). Merge your COBOL project into the 'C' project directory structure where the 'C' DLL project is located. Both directory structures have a Debug directory. Your COBOL application file (*.APP) and your COBOL source files are in the same directory as the 'C' source programs and workspace files. The Debug directory should be subordinate to this project directory.

Problem: When using the Help screens, clicking on a link may get the error An Error Has Occurred in the Script on This Page Error: Object doesn't support this property or method This is a Microsoft error. Resolution: Go into Regedit and go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE   SOFTWARE     Microsoft       Internet Explorer          ActiveX Compatibility and delete the key labeled {ADB880A6-D8FF-11CF-9377-00AA003B7A11} Close down Help, start up Help, and the links will now likely work. Old KB# 6895

Problem: In some cases it is necessary to run cblcored -i to modify the desktop security to be able to start animator with CBL_DEBUGBREAK. But the desktop security is restored each time the PC is restarted. Resolution: The easiest thing to do it would be to create a new shortcut in the Startup folder of that user that would have     Net ExpressPath\\Base\\bin\\cblcored.exe -i To create a new shortcut in the startup folder: Start / Settings / Task Bar & Star Menu / Advanced tab / Click on Add - Browse for cblcored.exe in the Net Express base\\bin subdirectory. add the -i option after the name of the file. Click on Next. - Find the Startup folder to place the shortcut in. Click on Next. - Give any name you wish to the shortcut. Click on Next. Old KB# 6912

Problem: Receiving a -170 syntax error on SELECT statement containing a WHERE clause. The WHERE clause contains a host variable declared as a group item. Resolution: Although you can use groups of data items as a single host variable in embedded SQL, group items are not permitted in the WHERE clause. Old KB# 6898

Problem: PCB-S-00106, Unable to open INCLUDE file returned during precompile of Pro*COBOL application. Resolution: Ensure that the directory containing the copybook is specified within the setting of the Pro*COBOL INCLUDE option. Refer to the Oracle documentation for further details. Alternatively, if using the Cobsql precompiler, specify the p(cp) compiler directive, and ensure that the directory containing the copybook is specified within the COBCPY environment variable setting. Old KB# 6908

Problem: You may be using the COM interface to access to some data in a Excel Sheet that may have some column with data in Unicode (cyrillic letters for example) and you may want to process that data in your program and finally show some results using Dialog System. Resolution: There is support for Unicode in Net Express 4.0 (only UTF-7 and UTF-16, UTF-8 is variable length and it hasn't been implemented yet) so you can define something like           01 my-unicode-variable pic N(10) usage is national. But there is no support for Unicode in the COM interface at the moment, so when receiving a Unicode value from the COM interface, it will be converted to a USAGE DISPLAY character. This conversion follows the same rules that the DISPLAY-OF function follows, so if your code page doesn't contain that character, the "?" character is chosen instead. So at the moment, to be able to receive a Unico

Problem: Procedure has been migrated from SQLServer 7.0 (where it ran correctly) to Oracle 8.1.7.  The compiler directives are the same as those used for OpenESQL.  However, the problem appears on fields defined as:      s9(9)v9(6) comp-3 Using this type of field in a SELECT works fine.  Using the same field with an INSERT or UPDATE generates an 'SQL error 1722 Invalid Number'. Displayed in animate the contents of the field is correct.  The problem does not occur if the field is defined as s9(9) comp. The version of driver is Oracle 8.1.7.00 Resolution: This was an issue with the Oracle 8.1.7 ODBC driver. Old KB# 6890

Problem: Is it possible to have more than 1 list view control in a Dialog window? Resolution: This is a Net Express 4.0 Dialog System project. A Dialog System Window is created with 2 (two) List View controls. These steps were taken to create this example: 1)  Start Net Express. 2)  Click File (menu), New (button). 3)  Click Dialog System Screenset in New dialog. 4)  Click OK (button). 5)  Click Yes (button). 6)  Click Browse (button) and navigate to the directory  where you want to work. 7)  Type a project name into text entry field 2 and click Create (button). 8)  Click Next (button) through the Wizard. You want all of the defaults. Click Finish (button). 9)  Click anywhere on the default dialog window to bring it into focus. Drag this window downward      so that none of it is hidden by the Dialog System menus and

Problem: How to make the ADO.NET Get Connection Resolution: You can use Sql Assistant to generate the code (Aux tab) - select connected ado radio button and select generic program - insert that code into program and then select GET CONNECTION and insert that code into program as attached example does. Attachments: Program1.cbl Old KB# 6933

Problem: The z'string' is used in place of  'string' & x'00' to create a Null terminated character string. Resolution: A null-terminated string can be created by specifying Z'string' and can be used anywhere a nonnumeric literal is permitted.  The resultant literal is equivalent to concatenating X'00' (a null byte) to the end of the specified string. In other words, the two following lines are equivalent:     Move z"my-literal" to an-item     Move "my-literal" & X"00" to an-item In the following example, the Picture declaration has an extra byte reserved for the zero (null) byte:       01 my-name Pic X(5) Value Z"Jane".   The MOVE for this would be coded as:      Move z"Jane" to my-name Old KB# 6878

Problem: Using an ISAM file you get a run time error 9/018 for .exe or .lbr: 'Read part record error: EOF before EOR or file open in wrong mode' for a READ NEXT statement after OPEN I-O  successfully. What should I do to avoid this because as an .int or .gnt the application does run as well? Resolution: This ISAM file was built using data compression, you should take a look at DATACOMPRESS compiler directive first. There are two values regarding a data compression environment supported at run time: 1 or 3. Using value 1 you have to link additional CBLDC001.obj from ..\\base\\lib into .exe otherwise using value 3 you have to link CBLDC003.obj. Old KB# 6893

Problem: From the bottom of result set,  start doing array fetches backward thru cursor using fetch previous- when you get to the top, there are only 3 rows left to fetch ( array size is 5) sqlerrd(3) is still set to 5  and  sqlcode= 1 attempt to fetch before the result returns the first rowset Resolution: From MicroSoft: It seems that this is expected behavior for SQL_FETCH_PRIOR.  If the fetch overlaps the beginning of the resultset, SQLFetchScroll() returns SQLSTATE 01S06 (the message that you are seeing).  SQLCODE will be 1 (SQL_SUCCESS_WITH_INFO).   The last fetch actually does return 5 rows, the 3 rows that you expect plus an additional 2 rows from the previous fetch buffer.  This explains why SQLERRD3 is 5 rather than the 3 that you were expecting. This behavior is by design from the ODBC specification document. Recommendation:  if you want to use scrolling

Problem: How to get more information if the application gets back a run time error similar: 17, 25, 1? Resolution: You can find additional information within copybooks pan2link.cpy and pan2err.cpy based in the Net Express ...\\base\\source folder. For example: 17, 25, 1 25 -> pan2link.cpy -> 'GetWindowData'  and 1   -> pan2err.cpy -> 'Window-Doesnt-Exist' Old KB# 6943

Problem: Can you specify an EXEC SQL INCLUDE statement using an environment variable, for example EXEC SQL INCLUDE $MYENV\\MYCOPY END-EXEC where MYENV points to the directory where the MYCOPY copybook is located. Resolution: You can do this by additionally using the CP preprocessor. Add the P(cp) compiler directive to enable use of this preprocessor. Old KB# 6930

Problem: How can I using a filter or mask access each file in a directory. Resolution: The x"91" function 69 call supports this. Old KB# 6910

Problem: When the following warning messages are issued when compiling a SQL application : 801-W External Compiler Module message ES1000 Use of EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC.     12     05  SQLCABC         PIC S9(9) COMP-5 VALUE 136. *1209-I COMP-5 is machine specific format. (future occurrences not indicated) Resolution: The warning messages appear when compiling with the WARNINGS"3" compiler directive: 801-W External Compiler Module message ES1000 Use of EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC. This warning message is required for ANSI certification.     12     05  SQLCABC         PIC S9(9) COMP-5 VALUE 136. *1209-I COMP-5 is machine specific format. (future occurrences not indicated) This message is due to the SQLCA structure contain

Problem: Create an EXE program in NX and then under Project>Build Settings, select the Link tab and select 'static' and 'character'. The following program runs just fine with the following file supplied as a variable length sequential file and produces the output below: Resolution:       $set rdw nobound        Identification Division.        Program-Id.  LORINCE.        Environment Division.        Input-Output Section.        File-Control.            Select In1  Assign to 'Vli.Dat' Status is InFs.            Select Out1 Assign to 'Vlo.Dat' Status is OutFs.     &nbs

Problem: There is no function in Dialog System to load a PDF file. Resolution: A way to do this would be to use the Windows API function ShellExecuteEx to open the PDF file. This obviously requires the Adobe Acrobat Reader to be installed on the machine before it could work. Old KB# 6896

Problem: RETURN-CODE 13 means the font requested does not exist. Resolution: Make sure: the font name is not misspelled the font name is null-terminated (e.g. "Arial" & x"00") the font name length defined in the call is correct the font does exist Windows is not set to use only the true type fonts when the font to be used in this call is a non-true type font (see KB #20533) Old KB# 6874

Problem: Windowsa 2000 Terminal server\\clients Resolution: The clients need access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Micro Focus\\ASLMF. From the Terminal server administrator signon RUN REGEDT32 Locate the folder  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Micro Focus\\ASLMF high light and select the security pull down menu and permissions. For the user group or everyone uncheck any permission and select the Advanced button. Select the ADD button and high light the group; press OK button. Change the apply to "this key only". Allow all options Select OK Select APPLY Exit regedt32 Old KB# 6923

Problem: Pgm using RM syntax: SELECT PRNTFL ASSIGN TO PRINT "PRINTER"                ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL                FILE STATUS IS ER-STAT. Resolution: 1) Create file MYCONFIG.CFG containing record: set printer_redirection=TRUE 2) Set environment variables: COBCONFIG_=MYCONFIG.CFG dd_PRINTER=\\\\network drive\\printer name Old KB# 6920

Problem: If a cookie (e.g. mycookie pic x(6)) is placed in a HTML page, Net Express's Form Designer will generate a copybook for the web application as follows:         ...              03 gmycookie.                  05 pmycookie          pic x(5).                  05 mycookie           pic x(06).                  05 smycookie          pic xx.              03 hmycookie redefines gmycookie pic x(13). &nb

Problem: Performance problems occuring due to locking issue. Resolution: 1. Do not use the compiler directive  set(ansi92entry) with SQL Server 7.0 Using ansi92entry sets the transaction isolation level to serialization from the default of  read committed.  Add COMMIT statements to programs to release locks 2 .SET exec sql set concurrency readonly end-exec exec sql set scrolloption forward end-exec immediately after connection or aternatively, just declare cursors to be forward and read only unless otherwise required, as in exec sql declare x forward readonly cursor for ... end-exec (note default concurrency is lock) Old KB# 6877

Problem: COBRT199 Operating System error code lies outside expected range (Fatal) Error This error may be encountered when attempting to output a sequential file greater than 4 gigabytes even though the EXTFH.CFG extended filehandler configuration file has the option FILEMAXSIZE set to 8. This error will only occur on certain Windows operating system levels - in particular NT and 2000. Resolution: Make certain the Windows operating system patch Service Pack 4 is applied to the development machine. You must recompile the application/program. You must also make certain the production machines are also upgraded to the same O/S patch level. Old KB# 6937#RMCOBOL#netexpress#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#COBOL

Problem: Can you use free format source code with Oracle's Pro*COBOL? Resolution: We would not recommend the use of free format source with Pro*COBOL. Cobsql does not support use of the SOURCEFORMAT"FREE" compiler directive. If you wish to use free format source code, you must use OpenESQL instead. Old KB# 6891