Rocket® COBOL

Problem: A sample program:            SELECT          customer            ASSIGN      TO "\\\\server1\\develop$\\test\\customer.dat";            ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED;            ACCESS       IS DYNAMIC;            RECORD KEY   IS cst-key;            FILE STATUS  IS ws-cst-status. . When the statement "OPEN I-O customer"  is executed the file on one PC works OK. However, on another PC,  a file locked error (status 9A) occurs. Resolution: Change the SELECT st

Problem: Some COBOL code from another environment does a WRITE statement to a line sequential file but a special character is not written out as expected. The special character is less that 1F hex. Resolution: This is the default behaviour. In Line Sequential files if there is a character less than x"1F" then a null is inserted before the character. You can switch off this by using the COBOL Runtime switch (N) or a file handler config entry INSERTNULL. If you set one of these options then your file will be produced as expected. Old KB# 5743#RMCOBOL#ServerExpress#COBOL#netexpress#AcuCobol

Problem: Issue with Greek Characters when ANSI characters are used (on .Net). In a .Net Winforms environment Greek characters are not displayed correctly when passed into a Winform. Resolution: This is caused by conversions taking place between OEM and ANSI character sets and UNICODE. To resolve the problem you need to perform the following code when your application starts:- call "PC_WIN_SET_CHARSET" USING BY VALUE 0 This sets up the COBOL system so that all conversions are ansi based. Old KB# 5731

Problem: The following error mesage occurs when the user clicks on the "Click here to install Net Express 4.0" link from the install page of Net Express 4.0: "Impossible de trouver le fichier /d:/autorun/..\\nxsetup.asq. Vérifiez son emplacement et essayez á nouveau." [This above French error message simply means that it was unable to find nxsetup.asq] Resolution: Make sure to load the web page in Internet Explorer (IE)! It was designed to run on IE. The above error message occurred in Mozilla FireFox web browser. Old KB# 5749

Problem: In the Cobol program below  the field 'db_email' is filled with the value '-1' and NOT 'Null.'   ...     working-storage section.          77 ws-value     pic S9(04) comp-5.     77 ws-name      pic x(10) value spaces.          procedure division.     ....     move 'robert' to ws-name     move 1        to ws-value     compute ws-value = ws-value * -1     exec sql             insert into table (db_name,db_email)                     &

Problem: What does a status 1 code returned from a WinApi call mean? Resolution: A status 1 returned from a WinApi call means "Error - invalid function". Old KB# 5759

Problem: Release 4.0: When compiling a program with a single syntax bug, this causes an aftereffect of about 1500 error messages. It may end with an "Unexpected Error while syntax checking", or a hanging IDE, or it may take several minutes until the IDE can be used again. Killing the IDE using taskmanager does only help if the IDY-file is deleted also. Resolution: A better solution is offered by the compiler directive MAX-ERROR. Limiting the number of errors, e.g. to: MAX-ERROR"50 E" MAX-ERROR"40 S" e.g. placed in the COBOL.DIR file, will improve the situation. After reaching the specified number of messages, the compilation will be aborted by a (last) "Too many errors" message. Old KB# 5778

Problem: I want to create a new environment variable in the registry from within a program - how can I do this? Resolution: There is an example of how to do this on the SupportLine website -  look for the cobreg program on the sample programs page. Old KB# 5751

Problem: While using a Net Windows Forms application how can you ensure when you tab into a Multi Line Entry field that no text is already selected? Resolution: In order to do this you need to add a Gained Focus event handler on the control you need to bevhave in this way and add the following lines:- set self::"textBox1"::"SelectionStart" to 0 set self::"textBox1"::"SelectionLength" to 0 On entry to this field the above code will ensure that no text is selected. Old KB# 5783

Problem: Net Express 4.0 How can you stop the run-time from checking if numeric data items have valid numeric data and stop the warning message "numeric field contains invalid data" Resolution: By default this checking is always ON, but you can override this by turning off the 'F run-time switch': - At the Net Express command prompt - set cobsw=-F; or - In the IDE, from the menu - 'Project' > 'Properties...'. Click on the 'Application...' in the Project Properties dialog and go to the 'Program Execution' tab. Under 'Error Handling', uncheck the checkbox for 'Validate numeric fields'. Old KB# 5739

Problem: Release 4.0: Keystroke Ctrl C or Ctrl V does not work as expected with the CommonControl demo "TXTENTRY". What has to be programmed to get these keystrokes? Resolution: To get a Ctrl C or Ctrl V as expected, the method "getHighLightArea" is necessary for the Ctrl C  instead of "setHighLightArea" coded in the demo. In the "EfDataKey Section" where the EfDataKey callback event is handled. Please code e.g.:             if K-keyAsNum of Keystroke = 3 *> Ctrl C                INVOKE aTextEntry "getHighLightArea" USING CursorPos                                      &

Problem: CBL_SPLIT_FILENAME example in Net Express Help has been updated Open Net Express 4.0 Help Click Index tab Type CBL_SPLIT_FILENAME Click Display Scroll down to reveal "Example of the use of CBL_SPLIT_FILENAME" Click adjacent checkbox Below is a compilable version of the source shown in the Help. Resolution:             copy 'CBLPROTO.cpy'.       ************************************************************       *                                                          *       *   &n

Problem: Release 4.0: How to setup the File Handler configuration .cfg file a) to prevent getting this error message: 'A file which your program is accessing is too large for successful execution to continue' (extended file status code 194) and also to prevent spreading the data (file striping) under Microsoft Windows NTFS? b) to ensure that files generated and used IDXFORMAT"8" can be easily handled if they are greater than 1 or 2 or 4GB? Resolution: The .cfg file has to cover also an entry FILEMAXSIZE=8 (if not: FILEMAXSIZE=4 will be assumed by default) For additional information, under Net Express refer to: Help-> Help Topics-> Index-> FILEMAXSIZE-> FILEMAXSIZE File Handler configuration option Old KB# 5729

Problem: Found cblcore modules  in many directories.  Can these safely be deleted? Resolution: Cblcore is a debugging tool - it puts out a cblcore dump anytime an abend occurs. By typing in CBLCORED from a command prompt, it will put up a pop up box and you can enable or disable it. If you have already resolved the abends and do have no need to look at the dumps, you can delete them. If this is occurring on your development machine, check the animate options and uncheck core dump to stop using the function. Old KB# 5752

Problem: Only 16 colours are displayed when using the colour option.  The computer is set to unlimited number of colours. Resolution: The Form Designer Script Assistant helps you set up event handlers that: Invoke methods Get and set properties Get and set styles The Script Assistant has five tabs: The Events tab The Methods tab The Properties tab The Styles tab The Scripts tab The Events, Methods, Properties and Styles tabs provide you with a point and click method of creating event handlers, while the Scripts tab enables you to enter and edit your code directly. The contents of the tabs and the behavior of the Script Assistant vary depending on whether you are working with HTML controls or ActiveX controls. Styles contain information about the appearance of an element. Just as with properties, you can set a style to change an element s appearance, or get a style to discover its appearance.  For example, most ActiveX

Problem: How can I send to a printer connected to a USB port using the standard ASSIGN TO clause in the SELECT statement? Resolution: The way to print via a USB-port and not to LPT1/2 etc is to use the printer_redirection run-time tuneable. The printer_redirection tuneable causes ASSIGN TO PRINTER statements to go to the print spooler rather than LPTn. Therefore, provided the printer attached to the USB has been installed properly there should be no problem printing to it. There is no way to access ports directly in our product because the operating system APIs used for file handling do not handle USB port names. To set the printer_redirection runtime tuneable you need to create a runtime configuration file and then set the run time tuneable in this file. The default filename is 'cobopt.cfg' and this is just a standard text file. However, the file can be any name of your choosing (eg; myconfig.cfg). Then, to have the runtime system access the fil

Problem: While executing a program this error occurs: Load error : file 'EXTSM' error code: 173, pc=0, call=1, seg=0 173     Called program file not found in drive/directory What must we do to correct this problem? Resolution: There is a simple solution. Use the following command to create a Extsm.dll. cbllink -d -RS -k -v extsm.obj>cbllink.txt<Enter> Place the extsm.dll in the folder where your application is executing. This will make the sort available to all .EXE and .DLL programs. Cbllink.txt will capture all the details published by the "verbose" switch (-v) and the "keep" switch (-k) will retain the module definition file (.def) and the import library (.lib) for the dll. Old KB# 5735

Problem: Does Application Server support Windows Clustered environments? Resolution: Micro Focus Application Server has no direct support for Clustered Services. Applications written in COBOL however should run on a Windows Server machine that participates in a Windows Cluster. However the application will not be cluster aware. There is a API that applications can use to make themselves cluster aware:- http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/mscs/mscs/windows_clustering.asp?frame=true If you need to make your application cluster aware then you will need to to use these apis. Old KB# 5742

Problem: Can I improve my SQL Server performance from COBOL via ODBC? This relates specifcally to SQL Server cursor performamce. Resolution: Using ODBC to SQL Server there is a lot of scope for tuning your performance. MS SQL Server's performance can vary greatly depending on what cursor type is being used. By default all cursors are Server Side cursors. This can be inefficient for example when reading through large sets of data. Setting concurrency to READONLY and making it FORWARD only should those type of cursors go much faster. Where you need server side cursors you could try the SQL(PREFETCH=n) directive. This will get individual rows in blocks rather than in a single row. This can speed up performance. Some work has taken place to help with people migrating from mainframes. There is a new compiler directive SQL(BEHAVIOR=....). This allow you to specify what behaviors you want and it then does some optimisations to cursor types. Some ex

Problem: 114 error when starting Net Express 4.0. Resolution: Please check the following points: 1) To correctly install Net Express and setup the license you must have    administrator rights to the local machine.  This is due to the fact that    we make changes to the registry as part of the setup process. 2) Ensure that you have applied all the latest fixpacks applied to your installation    of Net Express.  These can be downloaded from the SupportLine web site via    a valid user ID.  Please contact your local Micro Focus Support centre if you have    problems accessing the site. So, our advice is: 1) De-install the existing installation and revoke the license if asked. 2) Log on with Administrator ID on to the local PC. 3) Install NE40 and apply all the latest FixPacks. 4) Generate the new request key. 5) Then using the gene

Problem: In .Net Winforms how can a user hide controls when a checkbox is checked ? Resolution: In WinForms there is a CheckedChanged event for a CheckBox. You can use this and the "Checked" property of the checkbox to hide controls as required. The simplest way to hide a control is by setting the "Visible" property of a control to false. Some example code that does this is:-        method-id.  "cboxHide_CheckedChanged" final private.        linkage section.        01 sender System-Object.        01 e System-EventArgs.        procedure division using by value  sender e.                    if self::"cboxHide"::"Checked" &

Problem: running bat file (or commandline)- to run sort - results in sort124e - field position 201 invalid Resolution: If the record size is greater than 256, a RECORD instruction must be used. ex: Sample with the record parameter setting record of 300 bytes mfsort sort fields(1,1,ch,a) use x:\\directory\\xxx.dat record f,300 give file2.dat Old KB# 5741#netexpress#AcuCobol#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL#COBOL

Problem: A file created or viewed using a DOS editor tool or UNIX editor tool will most likely be saved in the OEM character set. Resolution: To view the correct character set created using a DOS editor then: Go to the 'Options' menu | 'Edit' | 'DOS compatibility' tab. Then select or tick the 'OEM/DOS' option. Old KB# 5736

Problem: the code pasted below compiles without any Problem with Net Express 3.1, generates errors 1309 == File related section or paragraph not allowed. ( Severe error ) with Net Express 4.0.... ====> compile errors: Micro Focus Net Express V4 Version 4.0.38 Copyright (C) 1984-2005 Micro Focus International Ltd. URN AXCGG/AA0/00000     43 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.   *> !!!!! *1309-S************                                                          ** **    File related section or paragraph not allowed.     46 FILE SECTION.           *> !!

Problem: How do you setup a Listview so that it is also resized when the hosting winform is resized. Resolution: The Anchor property of the control does this. By default the control is anchored to the top left. If you anchor top / left / bottom /right it should resize as required. Old KB# 5746