Rocket® COBOL

Problem: How can I create a Net Express command prompt? Resolution: Unfortunately there is no automatic way to install/setup the Net Express command prompt.  You will need to create a shortcut yourself with the following properties: Title : Net Express Command Prompt Target : C:\\Windows\\System32\\cmd.exe /K createnv.bat Start In : "c:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Net Express\\Base\\BIN" You many need to amend the above to match your own installation details i.e. your Windows installation folder may not be called "Windows" and you may not have installed Net Express in the default location. The quotes on Start In are required due to the long and spacey filenames used. Old KB# 5718

Problem:   If the sub-program is called:        CALL "subprog" USING OMITTED OMITTED WS-VAR-3. The following error occurrs: Execution error : file 'subprog.int' error code: 203, pc=225, call=1, seg=0 203     CALL parameter not supplied How do I validate which parameter is omitted to avoid this error? Resolution: The 203 error is correct as you need to test for the presence of each parameter before attempting to modify it in the sub-program. This is done with the following code:       if <variable-name> is not omitted           move ... and so on. Old KB# 5449

Problem: Converting a data file from EBCDIC to ASCII that contains packed numeric fields (usage COMP-3) using DFCONV from the command line, or alternatively the File Convert data tool from the Net Express IDE, results on corrupted data in the numeric fields. Resolution: The problem may be that the packet fields are not EBCDIC character data, they are just numeric data that follows a particular format (packet decimal) but it always follows the same format whatever the OS. I will give you an example. If you have the following hexadecimal data from the mainframe: 94 2C What would you say it is? It could be the value 924 in packet decimal format, but it could also be the EBCDIC string "k<". If you tell the File Convert tool that your file is all in EBCDIC, it will take it as the string "k<" and generate its ASCII equivalent, in hexadecimal: 63 BC This is perfectly valid if it really was the string "k<", but if that

Problem: In Form Designer, there is a blank space above the form, which is a gridded box. How to remove this blank space? Resolution: Make sure FORM is the very first item in BODY. To do this, you will need to look at the Form Designer's tree view and delete any items that are above FORM in the BODY structure. There could be a Heading or Paragraph that is above FORM. Just right-click on it and click on Delete. Old KB# 5457

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# 5455

Problem: How to uninstall Net Express 4.0's All WebSync WrapPack? Resolution: To uninstall the Net Express 4.0's All WebSync WrapPack, you just need to follow the steps below: 1. Go to "Add/Remove Programs" 2. Select "Micro Focus Net Express 4.0" from the list 3. Click on the Remove button 4. Check the "All WebSync WrapPack" option 5. Click on the Uninstall button As results, Net Express will be back at its original version. That is, it is without any patches at all. If you want to apply any previous version of WrapPack, you can download them from the Micro Focus SupportLine site at http://supportline.microfocus.com. There is a link for "Net Express 4.0 All WebSync WrapPack Archive" from the "Net Express 4.0, Net Express with .NET and Mainframe Transaction Option" download page However, we highly recommend to apply the latest WrapPack. If you experience any problems with the latest WrapPa

Problem: 'Verify Server Settings' returned this error.    Resolution: Norton Internet Security was enabled on the PC and did not for some reason report that it was blocking access to this IP.   When this was resolved, publishing worked OK. Old KB# 5435

Problem: Release 4.0: We would like to include the actual wrap- and fix pack all05n40 into our silent installation, but we failed to add it to the wrapper.ini file in cinstall. Resolution: You can also start the installation of  service packs / fix packs / wrap packs / add pack silently by adding the parameter -q, so \\..>all05n40.exe -q will install the pack silently. From a batch file, it might be better to use start /wait all05n40.exe -q to stop the batch until the pack installation is finished. Old KB# 5719

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# 5453

Problem: A standard user is trying to invoke Net Express. Resolution: The user requires full access to the installation path, the demos, and the Micro Focus registry structure. Old KB# 5418#RMCOBOL#COBOL#netexpress#ServerExpress#AcuCobol

Problem: The cookie.js file was correctly deployed to the web server but the cookie used on the page was being passed between the browser and server. Resolution: This issue was caused by the Virus checker that was installed on the webserver machine. The virus checker was preventing the javascript from functioning correctly. Old KB# 5397

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# 5430

Problem: Receving a not found error when doing a invoke such as:-                invoke wordserver "GetSpellingSuggestions"                        using       ws-work                        returning   ws-suggestion Resolution: The problem here is in the method name "GetSpellingSuggestions". This has "get" as the first 3 characters so the COBOL OLE runtime thinks you want to get a property "SpellingSuggestions" rather than do a method call. You can fix this by making a "setdispatchtype" call to tell the runtime that the next call is actually a method c

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)                          &nb

Problem: Das Modify Data Tag (MDT) soll als Eigenschaft eines Feldes im Editor gesetzt werden. Kann üblicherweise bereits für ein BMS Feld eingestellt werden, nicht erst im SEND MAP Aufruf. Wo ist der Schalter im Net Express BMS Editor ? Resolution: Das MDT Bit wird  durch den Schalter FSET in den Feldattributen gesetzt (Field Properties / General). Old KB# 5421#RMCOBOL#netexpress#ServerExpress#COBOL#AcuCobol

Problem: Data entry field should display as blank until a new value is keyed into field. Resolution: This is an ADIS configuration option that can be set up with ADISCF and saved in a modified ADISCTRL file. Since you are migrating from an older version of Micro Focs COBOL to the current version, search the system where the older version is installed for an ADISCTRL file and copy it to the new system. The ADISCTRL file should be in the folder where the application programs are executing.                                                                                 

Problem: You want to convert a string (e.g. "12.3") to decimal data type in .NET. Resolution:        program-id. DecStrConv as "DecStrConv".        environment division.        configuration section.        repository.             class stringClass as "System.String"             class decimalClass as "System.Decimal"             class convertClass as "System.Convert"             .        data division.        working-storage section. 1 myString object reference stringClass. 1 myDecimal object refere

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# 5414

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# 5434

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# 5441

Problem: Is there any set of specific directives recommend whent converting from mainframe COBOL370 programs to Microfocus COBOL Net Express? Resolution: The list of directives should match the mainframe compiler version currently being used. Micro Focus creates a standard for that Dialect, but that does not mean it will match the specific environment completely. Look at Net Express Help > Start Here, Migration Cookbook, Chapter 6 Directives and Dialects for the directives associated with each Dialect. Obtain the list of directives that are used when compiling on the mainframe and match them to one of the dialects and then add/remove additional directives as needed. There is no list other than using the DIALECT(XXX) directive where XXX indicates a specific dialect. There are simply too many combinations of language elements that would enable a simple list of directives to work in all cases. This being understood the only generic list would be that provid

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: Ther screenset uses the Datepicker component and the screenset needs to be informed back of any update which occured in the component comment below used with the demo delivered in Netx: [Net Express]\\DialogSystem\\DEMO\\COMMONCONTROLS\\DATETIME Resolution: 1) set a CALLBACK on the p2ce-losefocus event           MOVE '"' & ProgramID & z'p2ce-losefocus"' TO MessageName           INVOKE EntryCallBack "new" USING MessageName                                  RETURNING aCallback           MOVE p2ce-losefocus TO i           INVOKE aDatePicker "Set

Problem: When Net Express is uninstalled, choose to revoke the license but no revoke code was visible. Resolution: Search the machine for the file protrev.txt, this will contain the revoke key. Normally can be found in the Net Express\\base\\bin directory. (If using older version would have to have applied the clu08all fixpack) Old KB# 5417

Problem: Enabling a cobol program to recognize a printer plugged into a usb port Resolution:   The way to print via a USB-port and not the 'normal' LPT1/2 etc is to use the printer_redirection run-time tuneable. This redirects output on a file defined as ASSIGN TO PRINTER to whatever your default printer is. So, if that is connected via USB it should work. 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. The printer_redirection mechanism is the only way that accessing a printer connected via USB can be done. To set the printer_redirection runtime tuneable you need to create a runtime configuration file and