Rocket® COBOL

Problem: How to get data mapping of working storage maps in relation to Net Express. Resolution: By creating a listing file using the directive LIST() and the DATAMAP directive to add the working storage mappings to the listing. Old KB# 5190

Problem: Having trouble with installation on a Windows 2003 server. Getting an error when trying to run a web service: "File or assembly name MicroFocus.COBOL.Runtime, or one of its dependencies, was not found." Resolution: Check the update version of the Application Server - one of the websyncs changed the key where the runtime is being searched for. If the Net Express development product is at a higher websync level than the Application Server then this will occur. Updating the Application Server corrects the problem. Old KB# 5239

Problem: Check that all DLL's are built using the same compiler version as the EXE and that they are not trying to override the EXE runtime, by building a static DLL with a different version of the run time than the EXE. Resolution: Steps to take for additional support help. 1)  run mfsupportinfo.exe, this can be located at the Micro Focus support site http://supportline.microfocus.com expand self service, select Net Express Examples & Utilities, select samples then Utilities. 2) directory listing of project directory 3)  Project(.app) file Sample evaluation found below. - From the MFSupportInfo log file it can be seen that the current WrapPack, ALL04N40, has been installed on January 21st, 2005. - That WrapPack was packaged/released around the middle of November 2004, November 12th, 2004. - From the directory listing provided the DLLs being used with the main program are all dated October 14th, 2004 and all have sizes o

Problem: Net Express 4.0 Oracle ODBC driver. Resolution: Investigations showed that this was an issue with the Oracle ODBC driver.  A solution is to use the DataDirect ODBC drivers: 1) Download the Data Direct evaluation version of their suite of ODBC drivers:    http://www.datadirect.com/download/index.ssp - Data Direct Connect ODBC for    Windows release 5.0. 2) Install these and configure a new DSN for Oracle using their driver. Alternatively, contact Oracle support who may be able to supply an updated driver of their own. Old KB# 5249

Problem: Would like some additional information on this error. Net Express Exception Handler - 02/04/2005  07:09:42 O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD\\TLS-A1WG.EXE caused an exception at address : 0x605114D0 Exception type - EXCEPTION_IN_PAGE_ERROR Registers: EAX 00000000 EBX 610525E0 ECX 00000020 EDX 00000000 DS  0023 ESI 61052628 ES  0023 EDI 00000000 FS  0038 GS  0000 CS  001B EIP 605114D0 SS  0023 ESP 0012F700 EBP 00000000 Flags 00010246 Error occurred in : O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD\\Pan2NT.dll, loaded at 0x60500000 COBOL call stack: panels2 (obj program) panels2 (obj program) dsgrun (obj program) LSEP00G (gnt program), loaded from O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD LSEO00G (gnt program), loaded from O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD LSEO001 (gnt program), loaded from O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD TLS-A1WG (obj program) Run-time : O:\\FLLEV-P\\PROD\\cblrtss.dll, loaded at 0x60080000 OS Inf

Problem: Trying to execute batch file with CBL_EXEC_RUN_UNIT and receiving  error code :173, pc=0, call=1, seq=0 called program not found in drive/directory. Resolution: CBL_EXEC_RUN_UNIT creates a synchronous or asynchronous run-unit for the execution of COBOL programs. It does not start a command processor and therefore cannot "run" a batch file. However, a command processor can be started to run a batch file from a CBL_EXEC_RUN_UNIT command line. Use a command line such as below to start a command processor and execute a batch file (the "/C" switch is a "continuation" switch to get the command processor to read the remainder of the command line): cmd /C t.bat CBL_EXEC_RUN_UNIT  cannot start Notepad.exe (for example) because Notepad is not a COBOL program. The same work around as above can be used to overcome this limitation. Start a command processor and execute a batch file that executes Notepad.exe.

Problem: How to run a batch creation of new empty indexed files. Resolution: Create an empty .txt file using Windows Explorer. From the directory in the right hand window find an emtpy area and right click the mouse, select New and new text document name the file dummy. Rebuild dummy.txt, newfile.dat /o:seq,ind /t:mf8 /r:f100 /k:1 5 These options can be found within the documentation under index for Rebuild and select converting a file. Old KB# 5243

Problem: Debugging through COBOL calling C with both debuggers. Resolution: Debugging through Net Express 4.0 COBOL int code and Visual Studio 6 C DLL code =========================================================== The project locations for this example are "C:\\cobol\\cobcallc" for the COBOL project and "C:\\cobol\\csubprog" for the Visual Studio C DLL project. It may be necessary to first edit the Windows System PATH environment variable to add the location of the C DLL so that the COBOL program can load the C DLL if they are in different locations. Open the Net Express project. Choose the "Animate" menu, "Settings..." menu: In the "Mixed Language Debugging" group, make sure that the "enable mixed-language debugging and disable generated and linked code debugging" radio button is selected. In the "General" group, the "Start Animating at" field should point to the loca

Problem: Under some conditions when attempting to use Net Express 4.0 Help via IDE, an 'Internet Explorer script failure' error can be returned.  In other cases, the error returned may be 'Object does not support methods and properties'. As a result, it is completely impossible to run the Net Express 4.0 Help via IDE because all links are 'broken'. Resolution: The following will provide the methods to resolve these problems: Follow these steps: (1) Can the Net Express 4.0 Help be started via the following?: Windows -> Start -> Programs -> Micro Focus Net Express 4.0 -> Help (2) Can this Windows Registry entry be reached and/or run? HKLM\\SOFTWARE\\MICROSOFT\\WINDOWS\\HTML Help\\mfnetx40.chm Which includes a pointer to the location of doc files installation: ...\\Base\\DOCS (3) If Internet Explorer has been updated using the cumulative patches since Feb 2003, Microsoft reports an issue itsel

Problem: Is it possible to remove the scroll bar of a Dialog System's MLE control? Resolution: It is not possible to remove the scrollbars from a standard Dialog System MLE control. It is however possible to create a MLE (Multiple Line Entry field), by using the Programmed Controls Text Entry Field control. Look at the sample under DialogSystem\\CommonControls\\TextEntry. Open up the Screenset and modify the Window so that you can make the first Text Entry Control field larger by stretching it downwards, like an MLE. Then save the screenset and regenerate the control program so that it uses the new coordinates. Open up the control program EFDEMOTXTFLD.CBL and add the following two lines of code just prior to the last invoke in the Create-Entry-Field section.           invoke aTextEntry "multiplelineentry"           invoke aTextEnt

Problem: It is possible for Net Express Windows applications to issue HTTP requests and interact with Web applications. There are a number of ways that an application can make use of this technology. For example, POST could be used to send data to a remote Web Server for processing locally at that site. An application could also "screen scrape" HTML pages and parse the information for use within the application. As long as the server supports http then an application should be able to interact with it. Resolution: There are a number of ways you can do this. In order of difficulty the available options are:- - TCP Sockets APIs. Windows has a Sockets API that could be called. This however would have a very high learning curve to learn both the Sockets API and also the HTTP protocol in order to interact with a Web Server. - Windows Internet API (WinInet). This is a higher level API and hides the lower level network protocol. It allows an application to

Problem: When migrating applications from a mainframe to the Windows platform, using Net Express, or a UNIX/Linux platform, using Server Express, platform specific issues can be encountered.  One specific area that can be troublesome is when dealing with Packed Decimal data.  This article discusses the issues of Packed Decimal data and how they can be dealt with. Resolution: When migrating an application that has been compiled on the mainframe with the NUMPROC(NOPFD) directive, the behaviour expected is that when comparing x'000c' with ZERO, they should be equal. For example, the following program:        working-storage section.        01  a        pic  x(3)  value  x'00000c'.        01  b redefines a  

Problem: Is there a way to call a .NET DLL (VB.NET) from a DLL developed in NX 4.0?, and if there a way to call a VB 6.0 DLL from a NX 4.0 DLL?. Resolution: When calling a VB.NET dll from a Net Express 4.0 .dll,you need to expose the VB.NET dll as a COM object. You can use the regasm command on the vb.net dll to expose it. Once you have done this, then you will need to call it by using INVOKE's from COBOL, using OO COBOL syntax in the same way as you would when calling a COM object from COBOL. Old KB# 5194

Problem: The word "INSTANCE" was not a reserved word in Net Express 3.1 but it's now a reserved word in Net Express 4.0. Resolution: As a workaround, use the REMOVE compiler directive and re-compile. ie:      REMOVE"INSTANCE" Old KB# 5200

Problem: How can control be returned from a Dialog System Entry-Field after a specified time if the user does not input anything? Resolution: A TIMEOUT may be configured for this. >>> TIMEOUT 500 NEXT The second parameter of a timeout specifies the waiting time in hundredths of a second, after which the procedure defined by the third parameter is executed. Here: "NEXT" is executed after 5.00 seconds After the timeout occurs, please check, if there was a change on the entry-field. If there was a change, do not leave the entry-field, because the user may just enter something. Be aware, that programmed controls like a ListView, by default, do not cause a Lost-Focus-event for an Entry-Field. If the user can change to a programmed-control, please invoke its SET-FOCUS method to cause the LOST-FOCUS event for the entry-field. ------------------------------------------------------- data fields ------------------------------------ EF2-

Problem: Net Express install displays message that application server is installed. Resolution: To workaround this error message when attempting to install Net Express 4.0, the following needs to be done: Using the REGEDIT tool, rename: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Currrent Version\\Uninstall to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Currrent Version\\Uninstall-temp Start the Net Express 4.0 setup. When the first setup screen is displayed, rename the key back to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\Currrent Version\\Uninstall Continue the setup. Old KB# 5240

Problem: Does Net Express support displaying Unicode characters in a console application? Resolution: Character Dialog System and ACCEPT/DISPLAY do not support Unicode. Old KB# 5251

Problem: There is some confusion about how the VALUE NEXT phrase works when it is defined for a 78 level constant data-item that is embedded within a group item containing the REDEFINES clause. Using the example below, the following questions are asked: Is there any reason why the value of MTCount is 23 and not 12?   Is there any reason why uncommmenting TABLE-TWO will correct the problem?        01  TABLE-ONE.            78  LTSize                 VALUE 17.            78  LTStart                VALUE NEXT.            05  WS-LEVEL-TABLE.   &n

Problem: In the following example when all values on the right are 0 - gives a result of 1 - why? COMPUTE A = 1 * (B/C) (D/E) (F/G) If the value of C, E and G are changed to 1, then the result is 0. Resolution: The results beong returned are expected behaviour. The COBOL standard dictates that the result of a division by zero when no ON SIZE ERROR phrase is specified will be unpredictable (see the extract from the documentation below). ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The ON SIZE ERROR Phrase and NOT ON SIZE ERROR Phrase If, after decimal point alignment, the absolute value of a result of an arithmetic operation exceeds the largest value that can be contained in the associated resultant-identifier, a size error condition exists. Division by zero always causes a size error condition. Note that the results of division by zero when no ON SIZE ERROR phrase is specified are unpredictable. The size error condition applies

Problem: The user is creating com objects with Net Express 4.0 . On  his developement machine they work fine, but on his production machine when he tries to register the com object using regsrv 32 he receives the following error message: "runtime dll "oops version 4.0, entry point "oops" not recorded in registry not found or incompatible". He has application server for Net Express with .net and application server for Net Express 4.0 installed on production machine and they both have lastest updates applied. Resolution: Adding the location of Application Server for Net Express 4.0 to the path environment variable  resolved the problem Old KB# 5216

Problem: How to use the SetWindowText Windows API in a COBOL program. Resolution: Character user interface. RUNW.EXE -  COBOL TEXT window.        SPECIAL-NAMES.            CONSOLE IS CRT            CRT STATUS IS WA-FUNCTION            CALL-CONVENTION 74 IS WinAPI.        WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.        01   wHwnd pic xxxx comp-5.        01   statusCode pic xx comp-5.        01   SetWindowTextReturn pic xxxx comp-5.        PROCEDURE DIVISION.            display spaces upo

Problem: Net Express 4.0: Where to find additional information in regards to 'extended file status codes'? Resolution: Use the Net Express Help : a) IDE -> Help -> Help Topics -> Index -> Extended File Status codes -> File handling includes hints on how to check these codes by programming. b) IDE -> Help -> Help Topics -> Index -> Extended File Status code provides all run-time codes related. Old KB# 5224

Problem: Using Net Express 4.0 and receiving the message: ASLM: Semaphore failure ASLM: errno 1002 on the Net Express development PC. Resolution: The environment variable COBDIR must point to the actual Net Express\\base\\bin directory and may point additionally to further directories like DialogSystem. Please ensure that COBDIR does not point to an older version of Net Express: Open a Net Express Command Prompt, enter > set COBDIR to verify that COBDIR has a correct value. Old KB# 5232

Problem: Net Express 4.0 with .NET Does SQL(DBMAN=ADO) in .NET give access to all ADO.NET functionality? Resolution: The current version of Net Express with .NET documentation states: 1) Existing ODBC applications can be supported by using the SQL(DBMAN=ADO) compiler    option.  An application can use both ODBC and ADO.NET but not within the same    source program. 2) However, it is stated that ADO.NET does not have all the features of ODBC.  Also    the storage and performance characteristics may also differ. 3) Additional EXEC ADO statements have been added to Net Express with .NET.  These    allow access to the ADO.NET objects that OpenESQL uses at run time. Old KB# 5223

Problem: Using "inspect ... converting" to convert signed, EBCDIC numeric data to signed, ASCII numeric data. Resolution: The example program, "CONVERTING.cbl" (see attachement). illustrates how to use an "inspect ... converting" statement to translate EBCDIC numeric display values to equivalent ASCII numeric display values. The following syntax is used.       INSPECT identifier-1 CONVERTING identifier-6 TO identifier-7 "identifier-1" is a pic x(9) item initialized to a hexadecimal value 'F1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8D9' that is equivalent to "123456789-", a signed, numeric display value on an EBCDIC computer system. "identifier-6" is a table of the numeric EBCDIC characters that might appear in a signed, numeric display item. There are three groups of possibilities. The first group, (C0C1...), are positive, unsigned digits. The second group, (D0D1...), are negative, si