Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Where to put the Dialog validation error file? Resolution: Here are 2 options for placement of the error file: 1) Do not specify any path with the error file from the resource files for the location error file. This will leave it on the same directory as the screenset -OR- 2) Specify an environment variable with the error file from the resource files for the error file location, save it, then set this environment variable to point to the location of the error file. This is more flexible, since, if the error file is relocated elsewhere, only the value of the environment variable needs to be changed. Example: 1. specify $ENVDserror.err from the resource files options for error file (ENV is an environment variable name which could be any name you choose) 2. save the screenset in runtime format 3. set the environment variable ENV to point to the location of the error file Old KB# 6562

Problem: How do I correctly specify the inetd.conf entry for WOW Thin Client? Resolution: The /etc/inetd.conf (UNIX systems) entry for WOW Thin Client should read: rpcplus stream tcp nowait root /bin/sh rpcplus /usr/rmcobol/rpcstart The "rpcplus" part of this entry will show up in a process table listing (ps command). The "root" part of the entry may be changed to which ever account you wish to run the service. The beginning of the usr/rmcobol/rpcstart file (or where ever the rpcstart file is located), should have the following as the first line: #!/bin/sh Remember to do a kill -HUP on the process ID of inetd whenever you have changed the configuration file. This will save you having to reboot the system.      Old KB# 6438

Problem: Dialog starts but the toolbar and shortcuts are white and the menu bar function doesn't do anything. Resolution: Check your system for the runtime modules Pan2nt.dll. If it is in a directory other than the cobol32\\exedll or Net Express\\base\\bin, delete it and reboot the machine. Old KB# 6555

Problem: Is there a POP-UP window demo using program and subprogram? Resolution: See the attached source code example. Attachments: windemo.zip Old KB# 6146

Problem: Application Server appears to have been installed incorrectly. Resolution: The Application Server licensing directory should contain a file called semfile, with full access permissions to all users. Old KB# 6536

Problem: Sometimes it is useful to generate a .cpb (copybook) file for a screenset via batch processing. How can I do this? Resolution: Open a Net Express command-line and go to the folder to find the related screenset. You should enter now: dswin /g screenset-name This produces the .cpb file related to screenset. Old KB# 6556

Problem: Net Express Dialog System Interrupting loops within Dialog. A Micro Focus COBOL application is using Dialog to display a counter. The Dialog panel displaying the counter has an interrupt button but this does not appear to take effect until the count is complete. The COBOL program executes a Dialog procedure, which refreshes the counter and returns control to the calling program. The interrupt button does not work because Dialog is never given control to process any user events. The loop returns directly to the COBOL program once the Dialog functions have been executed. Resolution: Alter the loop so that Dialog, having updated the counter, is given the opportunity to detect any user events. This is achieved by implementing a TIMEOUT, giving the user 1/100<SUP>th</SUP> of a second to interrupt the loop. When the interrupt button is pressed, the LOOP-INTERRUPTED procedure is executed, disabling the TIMEOUT. This prevents control returnin

Problem: If you are trying to control the licensing errors that your application may return in a shell script, you may have realized that, for example, the following license error ASLM: License database has been moved returns a return code of 4. Resolution: The codes for the ASLM error messages that are in the documentation - Application Server > Help Topics > Licensing Error messages - should correspond to the return codes. Not all possible messages are documented here so for the complete list please see below. Messages 17, 23 and 24 are appended by text from the multipart message, whose numbers are 48, 49,50, giving a user level summary of what this means (so you should get a return code of 17, 23 or 24). In the same way, when you get a return code 28, messages 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 and 33 are shown... 0001 "ASLM: License database does not exist" 0002 "ASLM: No license database header" 0003 "ASLM: Error opening Li

Problem: What are High-Values and Low-Values? Resolution: COBOL programmers sometimes use the figurative constants HIGH-VALUES and LOW-VALUES as if these constants will have a numeric meaning when moved to or compared with a numeric data item. Unfortunately, this intuitive understanding conflicts with the definition given by COBOL. Worse yet, COBOL explicitly allows the combination of alphanumeric and numeric data in MOVE statements and relation conditions. Therefore, past RM/COBOL compilers have not diagnosed programming problems that may result. Modern versions of the RM/COBOL compiler will warn you when HIGH-VALUES or LOW-VALUES are moved to a numeric data item and the result is not well defined. The following paragraphs help clarify the actual meaning of HIGH-VALUES and LOW-VALUES. HIGH-VALUES and LOW-VALUES are defined in COBOL as always being alphanumeric. This contrasts with the figurative constant ZEROES, which is numeric when associated with a numeric data item a

Problem: Tabbing from a numeric entry field that is supposed to become zeros if blanks get reset to blanks only when the application is run outside Net Express. This seems also to occur only on Windows 2000, not on Windows NT or XP. If the application is run within Net Express, the zeros remain in those fields. However, the zeros become blanks once it is run outside Net Express or in an Application Server environment. Resolution: A part of this problem is down to the code. For example, in the window dialog there is a GAINED-FOCUS event that would cause a REFRESH-OBJECT command for a list box. As this event is in the window dialog and does not exist in any of the object dialogs, this event will be called any time the window or any of its objects get the focus. This means that the event is called more than needed causing the problem with the numeric entry field to become blanks even if it should remain zeros. The other part of the problem is related to entry field

Problem: The following message from CCI appears occasionally: Unrecognized CCI session ID - could not disconnect user Stack overflow: PID 64474, proc rts64, addr 0x11f7fdff0 PC 0x3ff800e5d08 /fs_up[5]:64474 Memory fault (coredump) The result is that Fileshare freezes and the session has to be killed and started again. Resolution: The problem seems to be that the fs_up process overflowed its stack, got a SIGSEGV and terminated with a core dump. Increasing the process stack size resource limit may help in resolving the problem. This can be achieved using the ulimit command.  Use 'ulimit -s' to check the current stack size and and 'ulimit -s <size>' to change the size.  This will change the setting of the soft limit for a particular user - i.e. the user who starts Fileshare.  Increasing the soft limit requires root permissions but reducing it does not.  To change the hard limit you would need to edit

Problem: How to change the foreground color of a text object Resolution: Net Express Dialog System 2.0 under Windows NT4.0 How to change the foreground color of the text object Description of Problem How to change the foreground color of the text object Solution Text foreground color cannot be changed. Here's what can be done: 1) use an entry field 2) change its properties/options to make it a display field 3) specify initial text 4) then change the color of the text In design mode, it will look like an entry field, but at execution time, the entry field will look like text. Old KB# 6561

Problem: Calling the aslmpclocate the error:  "fail 0000000099" appears even after entering the key in the registry. Resolution: This error message means that there is/was a problem with the Admin rights on this machine/server. You need Admin-rights for the Registry Key SOFTWARE before it will function properly. Old KB# 6538

Problem: Invalid Procedure Name P224 / DSRUN Error 8,0,0 Resolution: Move the Screenset datablock from Working Storage into the Linkage Section. Old KB# 6572

Problem: Fileshare is performing about 10 times slower on Net Express 4.0 than on Net Express 3.0. Resolution: The reason why Fileshare is slower in performance is while running with asynchronous comms, the process gets dropped by CCI, if no messages are waiting.  The fix for this is to switch the comms to synchronous using the /sc option in FS but that requires a password file to be used. When you are using synchronous comms, it is quite tricky to shutdown the FS server, because it can take quite a while to respond to the screen.  If the FS server is idle, then it will only be checking the keyboard once every two minutes ( by default ) and so a user hitting escape will likely not get the response from it, that he expects. In the product is an API FSMGR, which provides ways of controlling FS remotely but there is no program provided.  You have to create your own or use something like the FSVIEW addpack. The solution to the per

Problem: How to get  Message Box to stay on top Resolution: right mouse click on message box and click on properties On the general tab there is a Parent selection field If you select $WINDOW , then the message box will stay on top. Old KB# 6557

Problem: How do I keep the key combination of Ctrl C or ctrl break from quitting the application? Resolution: If you are using Dialog System character mode screensets, you can move a value of 4 to ds-control-param of the control block. This will keep CtrlC keystrokes from quitting the app. Making a call to X"B0" with function 4 will stop CtrlC from quitting apps that don't use Dialog screensets. Old KB# 6563

Problem: Dialog System: Use of the Vocabulary features: using "EMBEDDED DIALOG SYSTEM functions " in a COBOL program Resolution: DS online help: ____________________________________________________________________________ 1) Generate the Vocabulary Copybook. ( DS online help: Dialog System Vocabulary-> Using the vocabulary ) From the Dialog System main window, load a screenset, using the Open option from the File menu. Select the Generate option from the File menu, and then select Vocabulary Copybook. This will generate a .cpy file with the same name as the loaded screenset. The vocabulary copybook contains a list of all of the objects within a screenset. Each variable in the copybook is given the same name as the object in the screenset that it represents. ... ____________________________________________________________________________ 2. Add dslang.cpy to the program using the vocabulary. The file dslang.cpy is provided in the sou

Problem: Why is CALL .. ON EXCEPTION not returning a STATUS value? Resolution: The CALL .. ON EXCEPTION statement does not return a STATUS value, but does go to the exception statement, whereas, on a CALL PROGRAM .. ON EXCEPTION statement returns a 3 digit STATUS value. Old KB# 6126

Problem: The use of 3D objects (radio buttons etc.) in Dialog System 2.5 and later has caused confusion with some of our Customers. This article documents how the 3D support in Panels 2 works and what code is required in your Micro Focus COBOL/Dialog System applications. We will be looking at the following Micro Focus products: Workbench/Object COBOL 3.4 (16 bit). Dialog System 2.5 (16 bit). Workbench/Object COBOL 4.0 (32 bit). Dialog System 2.5 (32 bit). Net Express 2.0 with Dialog System 3.0 (32 bit). Resolution: The following notes are split by operating system and then by Micro Focus product. The information is presented in the form of bulleted items so that it can be used as a checklist in the event of problems. [General Points of Interest] Panels 2 (16 bit) uses a DLL written by Microsoft called CTL3DV2.DLL or CTL3D.DLL. These are available from the Microsoft web site. There is also a 32 bit DLL available from Microsoft called CTL3D32.DLL. 32 bit

Problem: DSRUN error 17,920,3 -- The bitmap '12345678.bmp'could not be found Resolution: It seems in 32bit, a byte should be allocated for the null character I.E.: if the filename with the dot and extension is 12 bytes, then the field to contain this filename should be 13 bytes. Otherwise, the DSRUN error 17,920,3 will occur (e.g. The bitmap '12345678.bmp' could not be found.) Therefore, make sure the field that contains the bitmap file names is one byte bigger than the actual size of the bitmap filename including its dot and extension. Old KB# 6564

Problem: How can I use C$SCRD to Read the Display Screen? Resolution: An example source code file is attached. Attachments: SCRD.CBL Old KB# 6118

Problem: How do I use the RENAME subprogram call? Resolution: Please see the attached file RENAME-EXAMPLE.CBL Attachments: RENAME-EXAMPLE.CBL Old KB# 6125

Problem: What causes Truncated Records? Resolution: If a program defines a record length that is less than the length of the records in the data file, the data will be truncated and no warning messages are generated. This is a feature of COBOL fixed length records. Record description entries need not describe the entire record. This could be useful, for example, to allow expansion of the record description without having to enter a filler in each record description. A RECORD Clause with CONTAINS n CHARACTERS can be used to define a fixed length record. For variable length records, a RECORD Clause can also define the minimum and maximum length of the records in the file. The record descriptions cannot be less than the minimum nor greater than the maximum record area, but equality is not required in either case. The compiler issues an error when a record shorter than the minimum record length is described for a file with variable length records.     

Problem: Does EL require DCOM services to be running?  Standards recommend that DCOM be turned off.  Will this affect the way EnterpriseLink is run? Resolution: No, DCOM, Distributed Component Object Model, is not necessary for EntepriseLink. Old KB# 5906#Rumba#EnterpriseLink