Rocket® COBOL

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# 5374

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: how to create an event handler for a control in .NET Resolution: 1)  Click the form or control that you want to create an event handler for. 2)  In the Properties window, click the Events button (looks like a lightning bolt). 3)  In the list of available events, click the event that you want to create an event handler for. 4)  In the box to the right of the event name, type the name of the handler and press ENTER. 5)  Add the appropriate code to the event handler in the code behind. Old KB# 5340#netexpress#AcuCobol#COBOL#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL

Problem: You may have a character based screen application that you want to run inder Windows as a full screen display. However, when you run it the screen display may be much smaller than required and you may want to extend the screen to be a full screen making the screen a 25 lines by 80 column screen. Resolution: COBOL doesn't set a 25x80 screen as default for console based applications. Instead, the screen characteristics are set by Windows. When you originally developed your app, 25x80 was probably the standard screen size, although there were some exceptions where 43 and 50 line screens were used. (These subsequently led to the intorduction of the C4 and C5 runtime switches). The only way to get a full screen is by clicking the top left corner of the application screen and selecting 'Properties'. One of the options then available is 'Full Screen'. However this only expands the display to cover the full screen and does not necessarily set up the scr

Problem: How can I get an error when a REDFINES source/target are different lengths? Resolution: This "error" would return an informational message from the checker and is not reported by default (as you have found).  If you want to see these errors then you will need to specify the WARNING"3" directive on your compilations. Old KB# 5365

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# 5377

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# 5367

Problem: Is the Revolve version that comes with Net Express EE 4.0 the same as Base Revolve 6.2? Resolution: Within Net Express, from the HELP menu select HELP TOPIC. On the INDEX tab enter REVOLVE GETTING STATED BOOK and enter. This shows: This book discusses how to start using Revolve 6.2. The first two chapters briefly explain Revolve. The other chapters are a set of tutorials that takes the reader through analyzing an application, in a number of short sessions (typically 10 - 30 minutes long).' This shows Net Express is using Revolve 6.2. Old KB# 5335

Problem: ES/MTO started Details ESMAC JES CATALOG Resolution: ES Administration page Edit the bad region JES tab Delete the system catalog entry Rekey the entry to the correct location. This occurred as the entry had placed a non-printable hex character for this environment setting. Old KB# 5337

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# 5350

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# 5380

Problem: You may want to use a Programmed Text Entry instead of the standard Dialog System entry field or MLE control because you need some special characteristic like an MLE without a scrollbar (see knowledge base article 20465). There is a sample for Programmed Text Entry controls under DialogSystem\\CommonControls\\TextEntry (in your Net Express installation directory) that shows you how to use them. But in this demo the Programmed Text Entry controls gets updated with the value within the associated field in the Data Block only get they get focus. This knowledgebase article shows you how you can get your Programmed Text Entry to show the value in the associated field in the Data Block at creation time. Resolution: I will explain what needs to be done by showing what changes would be needed to the product demo at DialogSystem\\CommonControls\\TextEntry (in your Net Express installation directory) so both Text Entry Programmed controls show the value th

Problem: Has one form, wants to be able to click on a button and have a different form popup Resolution: 1) Create a new Cobol, windows form, name the project FormPopup 2) Add another form to the project ( Right click on the project in solution explorer, select Add New Item, Select a Windows Form, name it Form2, click OK) 3) Add a button control to the first Form (Form1). 4) Double Click on the button to create the button click event handler 5) In the repository add this line of code: Class form-form2 as "FormPopup.Form2" 6) Go back to the button click event handler that was created (method button1_Click) 7) Add a working storage section with the following code: 01 newForm object reference form-form2. 8) In the procedure division add the following code: set newForm to form-form2::"New"() invoke newForm::"Show"(). 9) Build and Run (Instead of using the form's Show method you could use the ShowDialog method, but then t

Problem: The customer was moving both COBOL and C source programs from a Unix envirornment using OCDS to Windows XP running Net Express. Under Unix they created shared object libraries for their C programs and then they called these programs from COBOL main programs. They did not have to use a call-convention in their COBOL programs and the C entry points were found without a problem. After the customer moved the source code to Windows they decided to compile and link their C programs using Microsoft C/C 6.0 to create a single Dynamic Link Library (.DLL) containing all of the C programs. When they compiled the COBOL programs and attempted to call the C entry points within the .DLL they were getting RTS 173 "Program not Found" errors on the call. The customer did not understand the different call-conventions that can be used within a Windows program and they evidently did not know what C compiler or linker options to use in order to make the C entry

Problem: When running a Dialog System application built with the ANIM compiler directive and deployed under Application Server, the following error message might possibly be encountered in some circumstances:          DSDEBUG-0113          Error message file mot found          Error number = 0113          Group tag name = DSDEBUG          Group set number = 0027 The title of the error message dialog box would be "NLS Text Failure". Resolution: In this case, rebuild the application without the ANIM directive and redeploy it. Old KB# 5336

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# 5362

Problem: getting 114 on file "" when starting mfnetx Resolution: This problem occurs on multi-user XP operating systems. When installing on an xp machine - you are asked - do you want this for the machine or just this user - Always use "the machine". to fix: 1. Close all windows 2. Start the Registry editor by running REGEDIT from the "Start > Run" command line 3. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\ 4. Delete the "Micro Focus" key (or folder) 5. Close the Registry editor 6. Start the Net Express Command Prompt 7. Execute MFNETX Old KB# 5339

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# 5366

Problem: Release 4.0: How to use the Net Express IDE to rebuild a corrupted file index for an C-ISAM file? Resolution: Net Express IDE: Tools -> Data Tools -> Fix File Index...-> 'Filename' or 'Browse' to pick up the corrupted file -> press 'Advanced options and choose C-ISAM from the drop-down list -> press 'Fix File index' button In case of a destroyed header and it is impossible to create the structure immediatly: -> under 'Advanced options' press 'Define keys...' to set all key offsets and key lengths first. Old KB# 5369

Problem: Method to open a large data file with Net Express to view the contents. Resolution: Have the following section setup in the extfh.cfg file: [XFH-DEFAULT] FILEMAXSIZE=8 Where the FILEMAXSIZE parameter specifies the number of bytes used internally to store file offsets. This also affects internal locking mechanisms: programs sharing the same file all need to use the same FILEMAXSIZE settings to ensure semaphores and record locks are handled correctly, thereby avoiding potential file corruption in shared files. FILEMAXSIZE={4|8} Default: 4 4 Limits file addressibility to 32 bit values which is compatible with earlier versions of Micro Focus products. 8    Allows up to 64 bit values for file addressing on Windows NT platforms when accessing the NTFS file system, but changes the underlying record locking mechanism. Therefore, if you are sharing very large files, that is files greater than 1Gb in size, all programs

Problem: "FATAL ERROR -- Cannot access message file" observed when compiling Resolution: The message files are MFLANG*.lbr in <product directory>\\base\\bin. The normal reasons for the message are:- (1) PATH doesn't contain this folder (2) COBDIR doesn't contain this folder (3) The files aren't in the directory for some reason If none of these apply, then reinstalling often cures the problem. Don't forget to 'RetainKey' when uninstalling. Old KB# 5331

Problem: Method to protect applications against the numerous .NET decompilers on the market? Resolution: Decompilers are not a new technology. It is perfectly possible to decompile current Win32 based applications or applications on other platforms.  This is a problem for all languages. its not just an issue in the COBOL world. It is possible to decompile a COBOL program but that module would still need the COBOL runtime , File Handler , SQL , XML supporting assemblies. Even by decompiling you would still end up with very unreadable and unmaintainable code that still needs a Micro Focus runtime. In terms of security, there are a number of possible avenues to explore: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vcsharp/programming/tools/ Under "Obfuscators" there are links to a variety of products that will help secure your code. These type of products can be used to make all but the simplest Hello World type application unintelligible. If, o

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# 5360#netexpress#RMCOBOL#COBOL#ServerExpress#AcuCobol

Problem: Using Net Express 3.0, Cbllinik would produce this Link error. Version 3.0.14 Copyright (C) 1984-2000 MERANT International Ltd. Micro Focus Net Express V3 Version 3.0.14 Copyright (C) 1984-2000 MERANT International Ltd. URN AXCGG/AA0/00000 * Accepted - confirm * Accepted - list() * Accepted - xref * Accepted - OMF(OBJ) * Accepted - GNT(.\\) * Accepted - OBJ(.\\) * Compiling capdown.cbl * Generating cross reference * Checking complete with no errors - starting code generation * Generating capdown * Data:        1424     Code:        1424     Literals:         216 Microsoft (R) 32-Bit Incremental Linker Version 5.00.7022 Copyright (C) Microsoft Corp 1992-1997. All rights reserved. capdown.obj cbllds.obj faacicnt.lib : fatal error LNK1106: invalid file or disk full: cannot