Rocket® COBOL

Problem: When creating an XML file from a COBOL program, how would you prevent groups/items being output to the XML file?  This may be necessary when the items or groups hold no data at all. Resolution: Define the groups/items in the COBOL program with the COUNT IN clause, e.g. 03 Main IDENTIFIED BY "Main".      05 A PIC X(6) IDENTIFIED BY "A_TAG" COUNT IN A-CNT.      05 B PIC X(6) IDENTIFIED BY "B_TAG" COUNT IN B-CNT.           07 B-ATTR PIC X(6) IDENTIFIED BY "B1_A" IS ATTRIBUTE.           07 B-SUB PIC X(6) IDENTIFIED BY "B_SUB_TAG" COUNT IN B-SUB-CNT.           ... Moving 0 (zero) to the count variables wil stop the associated elements or groups being output to the XML file. Old KB# 54

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# 5425

Problem:   Is Visual Studio 2005 supported in Net Express 4.0? Resolution: Currently the Net Express 4.0 product works with Visual Studio 2003. The Net Express  5.0 version works with VS 2005. Old KB# 5399

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: '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: 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: 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: 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: 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: Unable to debug C and COBOL programs at the same time -- why? Resolution: This is expected as you can only use on hard mode/low-level debugger at a time in Windows.  Both Visual Studio and Net Express use the low-level debugging support i.e. they conflict. Your options to get around this are: 1) Debug the C in Visual Studio and run the COBOL. 2) Run the C from Net Express (Animate Settings) and debug the COBOL. 3) Run the C from the command line and use CBL_DEBUGBREAK. Alternatively, you could switch to .NET where you can have the C and COBOL mixed together within Visual Studio as managed code. Old KB# 5454

Problem: This error: "The program ... has been modified since the last compile. This may lead to unpredictable results when browsing and animating." is produced after a compile of the program. Resolution: the "$" should be in card column 7.      1          $set sql(dbman=odbc)      2        ****************************** Like this:      1        $set sql(dbman=odbc)      2        ****************************** Old KB# 5403

Problem: installing netx 3.1 on windows2000 - getting error not enough space on target directory when indeed there is more than enough space available Resolution: in this particular case - the fix was to do a regedit and delete the micro focus folder under hkey_local_machine **if there are no other micro focus products on machine if there are - only delete the net express folder Old KB# 5408

Problem: Does Micro Focus have an OFX server? Resolution: Micro Focus has no direct support for OFX within its products.  However, it may be possible to integrate with this technology via XML, web services etc. You can find out more information on the Open Financial Exchange specification (OFX) at: http://www.ofx.net/ofx/pressget.asp?id=44 Old KB# 5432

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# 5456

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: Unable to populate an empty Net Express project from CA Harvest. Resolution: This seems to be caused by an undocumated feature in CA Harvest prior to version 5.1.2.  Either upgrade to 5.1.2 or 7 of CA Harvest to correct the problem. Old KB# 5424#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL#netexpress#COBOL

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: Use the same Net Express IDE settings you have on one machine on the other machines that have the same version of Net Express. This also can be a way to resolve a corrupted Net Express IDE settings. Resolution: 1. Go to Start > Run 2. REGEDIT<enter> 3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\software\\Micro Focus\\Net Express\\4.0\\IDE 4. Make sure the IDE key is selected or has the focus on 5. Click on Registry > Export Registry File... from the menu 6. Specify a new name, which will have REG as extension 7. Click on the Save button 8. Take the REG file to the other machine 9. Make sure Net Express is not running 10. Double click on the REG file 11. Click on the Yes button to confirm that you wish to add the information in the REG file to the Windows registry Old KB# 5405

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: 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: 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: 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:   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: 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: 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# 5433