Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Is there  a way to delete screens/pages from the repository without having to delete them one by one in Builder ? Resolution: We now provide 2 utilities (batch files) to delete screens and pages. Documentation for command-line batch files to Delete Screens and/or Delete Pages has been added to the EL Wiki in www.enterpriselink.com -> Authors.    Once inside EL Wiki, do a search on "Delete Pages" or "Delete Screens".   Detailed information including the batch files themselves and their operation is given.   Please pay careful attention to the "Note" at the bottom of each entry. For Deleting Screens, the file, DeleteScreens.bat should be executed. It requires two parameters with an optional third parameter. The first parameter is the project-name.   The second parameter is either 1)  the name of a file containing a list of screens (one per line) to be del

Problem: Failed attempt at using Project Manager locked my project. How can I unlock them to use outside of Project Manager? Resolution: Solution without project manangement. Notes: You don't have to actually use the Master Repository at all. Assuming your ELRepository is locked Create a new DNS (mdb)     Administration-> Repository -> Add new DNS -> *.mdb     change the Data Source Name to ELRepositorynew     Choose a new mdb file in a new location Initialize     Administration -> Repository -> schema -> ELRepositorynew -> initialize            Migrate     Administration -> Projects -> migrate projects ->        sources is ELRepository  -> choose your project        destination is

Problem: When attempting to install Net Express .NET the Visual Studio.Net prerequisite CD asks you to insert cd-1 and then hangs. Resolution: Ensure that you have at least 128MB of RAM on the machine you are installing to. Old KB# 5810

Problem: Can symbolic characters be used in an unstring command? Resolution: Yes. See the UNSYMBOL.CBL example program attached. Attachments: UNSYMBOL.CBL Old KB# 6111

Problem: Is there a way to reset a user associated with files that have previously been checked-out in the Project Management Utility?   The customer ran the query to reset the locks (as they had problems checking in and checking out files) which worked fine, i.e., the page is no longer checked out BUT the USER associated with the Checkout is still listed in RED.  Is there a way to reset this? Resolution: A database administrator for the underlying database could issue the following query against the ELMasterRepository ODBC DSN using their favorite SQL tool or via http://localhost/stadmin/query.html :    UPDATE pm_pageinfo    SET checkedoutto = NULL,        checkoutlocation = NULL,        checkoutcomment = NULL,        checkoutdate = NULL    WHERE pageno IN (SELECT pageno FROM pm_p

Problem: Working with IUnknown pointers in an OLESafeArray. If you have an instance of OLESafeArray which contains the OLE type (determined by invoking "getVarType" on the safe array object) VT-UNKNOWN (value 13 in olesafea.cpy copy file), you can use the OLESafeArray "getElement" method to retrieve the pointer value. You can then use the pointer value as a parameter to the olesup "getCOBOLObject" method to return an object reference which you can then work with. Resolution: Working with IUnknown pointers in an OLESafeArray. If you have an instance of OLESafeArray which contains the OLE type (determined by invoking "getVarType" on the safe array object) VT-UNKNOWN (value 13 in olesafea.cpy copy file), you can use the OLESafeArray "getElement" method to retrieve the pointer value. You can then use the pointer value as a parameter to the olesup "getCOBOLObject" method to return an object reference which y

Problem: Trying to set-up Unix publish by populating the Unix .rhosts file in the home directory with the tcp/ip address of the PC.  The following error is displayed when trying to verify the server settings: The server refused to execute the Server Control Program. Please check your server configuration. rshd: 0826-813 Permission is denied. Resolution: The Net Express documentation contains the following warning in the Unix Option Guide (Appendix A: Installing Samba and SCP): Warning: The .rhosts file must be owned by the user ID that owns the directory and must not be writable by either group or world ( that is, it must have rw-r--r-- permissions). Also, it cannot be a symbolic link. In this case the problem was due to permissions of the .rhosts file being rw-rw-r--. Correct permissions can be set using the following command in the home directory: chmod 644 .rhosts Old KB# 5803

Problem: Message when running deployed application: "Unable to find COBOL run time" even though Application Server has been installed onto the deployment machine and the PATH and COBDIR environment variables are pointing to the Application Server installation folder. Resolution: If you are deploying EXE's or DLL's it is worthwhile checking to see whether they are built to use Dynamic Binding - as this forces the application to search for the COBOL runtime using the path's set in the Windows registry. If you build them and deploy them to not use Dynamic Binding the the application will look for the COBOL run time using the location set using the PATH and COBDIR  environment variables. Old KB# 5799

Problem: A user cannot save a new page in Builder. Resolution: Seems that the memory that EnterpriseLink Builder was trying to access to save the page was unavailable.  Once the user was able to reboot his machine and open Builder and then try to save the page, it worked. Old KB# 5907#EnterpriseLink#Rumba

Problem: Is it possible to specify a Y2K pivot date with MFSORT? Resolution: Unfortunately there is no way to specify the Y2K pivot year with MFSORT i.e. where the 20th and 21st centuries start. Old KB# 5800

Problem: Can you have large numeric data items greater than 18 digits - pic 9(18)? Resolution: The INTLEVEL"4" compiler directive can be used to declare long numeric data fields, PIC clauses greater than PIC 9(18), up to 31 digits. Old KB# 5824

Problem: A VB application needs to run a COBOL console application in the .NET environment.  Pressing a button on a VB form is required to startup a COBOL Console exe that will accept and display. Resolution: One way would be to have a COBOL COM object (a dll) as a proxy between the VB application and the COBOL Console application.  This is the documented method and is the recommended route to take when passing arguments or values between the two languages. Please refer to the documentation on COM in the Getting Started and Distributed Computing books. Please note that you cannot accept and display from a COBOL dll. On the otherhand, you can run a COBOL Console exe directly from the VB with the following statement in the VB code: System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("the COBOL Console exe file") Old KB# 5822

Problem: How can I handle Dates and Null Values in Relativity? Resolution: Some of our Relativity customers have experienced problems with the use of date fields from COBOL applications. The problem primarily occurs because many applications written in COBOL make use of certain field characteristics that cause a date field to be invalid in ODBC applications. For instance, a date field in COBOL that contains spaces or zeroes is perfectly acceptable since the application code can test for those values and take appropriate action. Whereas, when ODBC tools employ a field which is defined as being a date, it must only contain a valid date. As a way around this problem, some Relativity installations have avoided the use of Date Transforms and simply used the date as a numeric field so that the ODBC application avoids any date checking. This solution doesn't overcome all the issues, but it does limit the need for intervention to some degree. All that needs to take place is t

Problem: How do I define "Sparse keys"? Resolution: Sparse Keys A sparse key is an alternate key for which index entries are not created when the key has a particular value. For example, if an alternate key containg all spaces is defined as a sparse key, index entries for the key are not created when the alternate key contains only space characters. Using this feature results in smaller index files. The larger your key(s) and the more records you have for which the alternate key has the given value, the larger your saving of disk space. To enable sparse keys, use SUPPRESS WHEN ALL in the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause in the SELECT clause: file-control.        select idxfile assign to "idx.dat"                             organization is indexed   &n

Problem: Deploying a web service and creating a COBOL client for that service in Visual Studio 2005 and Net Express v5.0 Resolution: Steps: Creating the Web Service: Create a blank solution in VS File | New | Project | Other Project Types | Visual Studio Solutions | Blank Solution Add a new web service or an existing one In Solution Explorer, Right click on the solution, Add | New Web Site (or Exisitng Web Site) For New Web Site, in the Language dropdown choose COBOL, then the ASP.NET Web Service Template. The Template already has a Hello World method.  Add any methods you want, rebuild and save. Deploying the Web Service: In Solution Explorer, right click on the solution, Add | New Project | Other Project Type | Setup and Deployment | Web Setup Project Under File System on Target Machine, make sure Web Application Folder is selected, then go to Solution Explorer and right click on your Web Setup Project.  Select Add | Project Out

Problem: Changing the current date to test in a project. Resolution: Open the project where you want the date changed.  Go to the Project/properties tab.  Select Application under Environment.  Next choose the Testing tab - here you can change the Year, Month and or day. Old KB# 5797

Problem: Release 5.1: The Net Express Animator fails with runtime error 173: Called program file not found in drive/directory ...\\progname.exe while trying to start a 64bit application on a Net Express command prompt via: >mfnetx /debug:progname Resolution: To resolve this issue use instead: >mfnetx /debug64:progname For more information, please s.: Help: Reference: Command Line Reference: Handling Projects and Debugging from the Command Line: Old KB# 5914

Problem: When this statement is run        DISPLAY "TEST" WITH BLINK AT 0101. there is a gray colour back ground - is the a limitation? Resolution: Unfortunately, BLINK is not a supported capability under Windows Old KB# 5825

Problem: What's the maximum size of Working Storage? Resolution: There are several limits that apply to Working Storage: The maximum length of an elementary data item is 65280 characters. The maximum length of an element of a table is 65280 characters (that is, data items subordinate to an OCCURS clause cannot exceed 65280 characters in length). The maximum number of occurrences of a table element is 65535. That is, in an OCCURS clause, the value of integer-2 must be less than or equal to 65535. However, the total size of all data defined in WS can be as big as memory allows.      Old KB# 6112

Problem: When creating an Excel file from within COBOL.Net  the formatting on numeric cells is lost, see example :- 1) Tthe value 123.40 is in a cell, but when opened the file it shows 123.4 2) Also the same with 00100, it shows 100 Resolution: Set the number format on ths cells you require. The "NumberFormat" property on a Range object lets you do this. See the Microsoft doucmentation on this property for full details on what can be set. Some example code for this is:-       $set sourceformat(variable)        program-id. MSExcel.        environment division.        configuration section.        repository.     class cExcel as "Microsoft.Office.Interop.Excel.ApplicationClass"     class c

Problem: If COBDIR is defined with the correct values, as an environment variable for the Windows system, there are no compilation errors. When it is removed from the environment variables in the Windows system and defined with the same values in the Project Properties in Net Express IDE, compilation errors are seen: ASLM: Semaphore failure. ASLM: Errno 1002 Rebuild complete with errors Resolution: The COBDIR environment variable lists the paths of the COBOL system directories where INT, GNT, LBR, DLL and EXE files, which are used by an application, occur.  Setting this in the IDE, will cause the COBOL runtime to look only in the path specified.  You should set the COBDIR environment variable in the Windows System.  If you do set the COBDIR environment variable in the IDE, you will have to prefix your path with '%COBDIR%;' to ensure the application finds the run-time files needed, for example: Variable - COBDIR

Problem: How can I use redirected Input to a Cobol Program? Resolution: Please see the attached program acp.cbl as an example of a program which accepts redirected input. Unfortunately, it is not possible to redirect input in Windows.  Due to the nature of how Windows handles input, redirection is impossible.   You can redirect input with the UNIX(v10.01) and DOS(v6.10.02) versions of RM/COBOL, however.      Attachments: ACP.CBL Old KB# 6117

Problem: With the CBLLINK command, an EXE (or DLL) can be linked with the dynamically bound shared runtime library using the -rs option. Resolution: From the Net Express IDE, you can link an EXE (or DLL) with the dynamically bound shared runtime library as follows: 1. Right-click on the EXE from the project tree, the left pane of the IDE 2. Select Build Settings 3. Click on the Link tab 4. Make sure Shared is selected 5. Click on the check box for Dynamic 6. Click on the Close button 7. Rebuid the EXE Old KB# 5816

Problem: Running a  Dialog System application with a Calendar control the following error may occur:      OLE returned an error H"800401F3", invalid class string. Resolution: This error indicates that the ActiveX control has not been registered in the operating system. Iit would appear that the Calendar control is supplied as part of Microsoft Office (MSCAL.OCX).  You will need to have installed Office on the machine. For more information see: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;279098 Old KB# 5802

Problem: Ported project from another machine to a different test machine. Trying to start animation from project. Resolution: One scenario for this error is as follows: The build settings for the EXE were sent to another directory other than the debug folder - **this was found by highlighting the EXE on the left hand side and doing a right hand click and choosing build settings -- the "file on disk" option had been changed to send the EXE to a different location other than the default "debug" or "release" folder. Trying to start animation from the top which was pointing to the debug folder if you hits browse and goes to where the exe is located it starts the easier method is to just highlight the exe on the left hand side and do a right hand click and choose animate Old KB# 5794