Rocket® COBOL

Problem: DISPLAY SPACE ... WITH ERASE EOL actually erases everything from its location to the end of screen, exactly the same behavior as using WITH ERASE EOS. Resolution: This is not a bug. Look at the "DISPLAY statement" topic in the documentations, and you will be able to see the following note under Format 3 in clause #21: "If the literal-1 is one of the following figurative constants it has a special effect as follows: SPACE clears from the specified cursor position to the end of the screen;" [...]" If you look at the documentations, you will note the MF at the beginning of the clause. That is, the feature is an extension to ANSI 85 that is specific to Micro Focus COBOL. This also means that DISPLAY SPACE ... WITH ERASE EOL may in fact erase to the end of line in some other compilers. You have then 3 alternatives to erase to the end of line: replace the figurative constant SPACE with " ", or replace the f

Problem: Program creates EBCDIC file on development system while it creates an ASCII file on Application Server system. Resolution: Link CS0437.OBJ to the program by adding CS0437.obj to the build settings of the .EXE file. Old KB# 5271

Problem: Dsrun Error 19,0,0, what does this translate to? Resolution: A Dsrun error 19 means that an attempt has been made to use a ds-use-set call but the screenset-id in ds-set-name has not been found on the screenset stack. Alternatively, an attempt has been made to use a ds-use-instance-set call but the screenset-id and screenset instance specified in ds-set-name and ds-screenset-instance has not been found on the screenset stack. Old KB# 5260

Problem: In this case the program was printing and then falling through into a loop. The program was recently recompiled using a newer version of Net Express. Resolution: This problem occurred because there had been a new Net Express project created and the compiler directive PEFORM-TYPE"OSVS"  was omitted. After adding the missing directive the looping stopped and the program ran fine. Old KB# 5263

Problem: Does Micro Focus COBOL have an option to omit columns 1-6? (used for sequence#s in punched card days) i.e. begin COBOL text in column 1 (vs column 7) Resolution: The Sourceformat compiler directive determines the source program record layout. There are two alternatives: Sorceformat"Fixed" (the default); Sourceformat"Free" The "Fixed" format is the traditional "punched card" layout. columns 1-6, sequence number' column 7, indicator area, comments (*), continuation (-), Debugging (D), compiler directives                            and conditional compilation ($) columns 8-11, Area A, Division, Section and paragraph names columns 12-72 Area B, procedural statements columns 73-80, identification field (ignored by the compiler) The "Free&quot

Problem: Customer is doing Proof of Concept getting T0055*2*Connection does not support HOLD cursors error Resolution: Go to the XDB ODBC Driver Data Source Configuration and check With Hold Package under Optional parameters and see if this resolves the problem. Old KB# 5312#netexpress#COBOL#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL

Problem: How to begin reading from the last record of an indexed file, when the value of the key in that last record is unknown. Resolution: 1.  START file-name KEY is <= HIGH-VALUES.... 2.  READ PREVIOUS. Old KB# 5255#AcuCobol#netexpress#COBOL#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL

Problem: This is an example that will walk the user through the steps needed to take an EBCDIC mainframe sequential file and convert it to ASCII.  Follow each step carefully in the Resolution below to take the ASCII file and convert it back to EBCDIC. The example will also demonstrate how to create and use a Record Layout to be used with these files. Resolution: Convert mainframe EBCDIC file using  Tools ==> Data Tools ==> Convert to an ASCII file. Next, take ASCII file and convert it back to EBCDIC file. Files and project also will be attached to article Attachments: ascii_ebcdic_convert.doc Old KB# 5297

Problem: Unable to create a Net Express project on a Novel Netware drives (NWFS) but create successfully on Windows drives Resolution: Make sure the user has the network rights to use the Netware drive. The other possible cause of the problem is that the EXTFH environment variable is set, and it contains FILEMAXSIZE=8, which enables the 64-bit file addressing and allows to create files greater than 4GB. Net Express does not support 64-bit file addressing on Netware (NWFS) drives. If FILEMAXSIZE=8 is not set, Net Express will then use 32-bit file addressing and can create file up to 4GB on Netware drives. If you need to use FILEMAXSIZE=8 for other applications, you will have to set the EXTFH environment variable from each application level, not from system level. If it is set from the system level, Net Express will be affected as well. Old KB# 5285

Problem: Net Express 4.0 on Windows XP. Problems compiling source code which contains Japanese DBCS user-defined words. Resolution: To compile your programs successfully ensure that both your User and System Locale are set to Japanese on Windows XP. Old KB# 5265

Problem: A legacy code is added to a solution, and it is set as "Console Application" for the output type. The solution gets rebuild successfully, but a class is unable to call the "console" application. There is neither a warning or error. Resolution: When a program's output type is set as "Console Application," it will be built as an EXE. In other words, it cannot be called. The output type should then be set as "Class Library", so it can be built as a DLL. Old KB# 5284

Problem: Method to make PROJMAKE build the debug and/or release versions Resolution: Supply the parameters within quotes, for example:     projmake -buildall <name.app> "Generic Debug Build" or     projmake -buildall <name.app> "Generic Release Build" Old KB# 5294

Problem: If a migration is being done from a character user interface application from Workbench 4.0 to Net Express 4.0, the ADIS control keys must be enables to behave in Net Epress the same as they did in the Workbench application. Resolution: When using ADIS in the Workbench application, an ADISCTRL file which contains the saved settings is picked up by the application at run time. This file needs to be copied into the application folder in the Net Express environment to allow the same key settings to be re-implemented into the migrated application. Old KB# 5259

Problem: NetExpress releases 4.0 - 5.0 Overview of file handler parameters. Resolution: To get an overview of file handling, please refer to: Net Express  Help -> Help Topics -> Content -> Reference -> File Handling -> File Handler -> Configuration -> Configuration file parameters - Overview Old KB# 5307

Problem: A called program or a subprogram fails with RTS 114 error on EXIT PROGRAM RETURNING a value. The error occurs in INT, not in GNT. Resolution: Make sure the value is valid for return-code. It is not meant to return a string or any other value. Old KB# 5256

Problem: When running a program and calling the CBL_DELETE_FILE-routine, files being write-protected are not deleted. How to change the file attributes for those files with a CBL-routine without using a DOS box? Resolution: Windows API functions can be used to unset the read-only attribute of files.        copy Windows.cpy.        program-id. main.        special-names.            call-convention 66 is WinApi.        working-storage section.        01 Attrib           DWORD.        01 ReadOnlyOff-Mask DWORD.        01 B-RetVal         BOOL.   &nbsp

Problem: If a program has a long running block of code that adds items to a listbox or listview then the User Interface does not reflect the changes until the code has completed. Is it possible to update the control while the processing takes place ? Resolution: This occurs because all the processing is taking place on the same thread as the user interface. While the COBOL is processing data and adding items to a listbox the user interface will not respond as the Windows message Q is not being processed. The simplest mechanism to do this is by calling the "DoEvents" on the Application class at various points in the code. This will ensure that the Windows message Q will be processed at that point to reflect changes in your user interface. A more complex approach would be run the COBOL processing on a seperate thread from the user interface. This will ensure that the user interface is responsive while the COBOL processing takes place. Ol

Problem: Method to trap COM Errors without the black console box popping up Resolution: Code/logic a registered COM Exception Handler: The exception handler does not automatically terminate but allows users to determine the best action. In many cases this would be to terminate (ie STOP RUN). However, users can decide on the correct course of action for themselves. An Example of this is:-       $set ooctrl( P)        program-id. ADSIDemo.       ******************************************************************       *       *    Author  - David Sands (Micro Focus Technical Support)       *       *    Date    - December 2003       *  &n

Problem: Some directives that configure how files are dealt with, their internal format , for example FDCLEAR & IDXFORMAT, can be especified in any part of the source code. This article will set out the procedures to set those directives only for a particular file, as supposed to all the files in the program. Resolution: There are quite a few compiler directives that configure the behavior of the file handler. A few of them can only be set at the begining of the program (or outside, in cobol.dir or in the Net Express project...) and its settings will affect all the files defined in your program. But quite a few of them can be set/unset in any part of the program and this feature allows us to configure different behavior for each file defined in our COBOL program. You know that this is possible because when you access the online help for that directive (Contents / Reference / Compiler Directives ) you will see in the description for that directive somethin

Problem: From the Installation Options screen, the IDE option is already checked and greyed out. It is not then possible to change the directory where to install Net Express. Resolution: This would imply either Net Express is already installed on the machine or a previous uninstall of Net Express was not properly completed. If Net Express is already installed: 1. uninstall Net Express 2. make sure to retain the license 3. install Net Express 4. change the default directory for IDE to a new directory If Net Express is not installed: 1. go to Start > Run 2. regedit<enter> 3. go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Micro Focus\\ 4. delete the Net Express key (or subfolder if you prefer) 5. go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Micro Focus\\ 6. delete the Net Express key (or subfolder if you prefer) 7. start the Net Express install again Note: the steps #3 through #6 can be combined in 2 steps ***IF*** there is no other Micro Focus products instal

Problem: Error when attempting to silently install the Net Express product. In the log file from the install the following error is displayed: Error:  Invalid silent script file, unable to start unattended install. when using a script that was previously recorded. Resolution: This can be caused by the ordering of some parameters in the install command. Run the install with a command using the following syntax: setup.exe /INI=C:\\mynetx.ini /LOGFILE=C:\\nxsetup.log /NO_SILENT_REPORT /SILENT=C:\\mynetx.sss This should produce the desired result. Old KB# 5291

Problem: Install Application Server for Net Express by running setup from the SERVER subdirectory on the Net Express CD (Net Express 4.0, for other versions the directory takes other names), but this will install the base version of Application Server Expres for Net Express without any fixpacks or updates. If the user has applied the latest fixpacks to their base installation of Net Express to their development environment, they will want the end-users of the application to have a version of Application Server that is updated to the same level as the development environment.  (i.e., Application Server 4.0 with NetExpress 4.0,  App Server 5.0 with NetExpress 5.0, etc.) Resolution: To install Application Server with a certain level of fixpacks applied to it, download the corresponding Application Server Service Pack from the Micro Focus SupportLine web site. Service Packs for Application Server can be used to update an existing installation

Problem: If lines are entered into a Multi Line TextBox similar to the following: Line1 Line2 Line3 Line4 then how is access to each of the individual lines in the control accomplished? Resolution: On a TextBox there is a "Text" property that provides access to all the text wtih x"0d0a" delimiters (Carride Return/ LineFeeds) between the lines. The user could retrieve the test to a pic x(..) and then UNSTRING the data as required. Alternatively there is a "Lines" property that is an array of the lines. The following code example might prove useful :           *****> Access each line in the MultiLine TextBox           *****> and add it to a ListBox                         perform varying ls-str

Problem: Can MFSORT be used outside of Net Express? Resolution: MFSORT is part of Micro Focus' development and application server products.  It works on Windows, Linux and UNIX. Old KB# 5305

Problem: When installing Net Express 4.0 on machine, click on setup to install, gets "invalid initialization file" message. Resolution: Use the following steps to correct the problem: 1.  The SETUP.EXE that is in the root directory of the Net Express folder must not be used.      Instead the command "cd \\setup" must be typed followed by the ENTER key to make the      Net Express\\setup folder the current directory. 2.  Type "setup.exe /ini=.\\nxsetup.ini /no_subsystem" and press ENTER. This will start the setup.exe program that is in the Setup subdirectory and tell it which initialization file to use during setup. In this case it is using the nxsetup.ini file within the Setup subdirectory and specifies the /no_subsystem option. Old KB# 5258