Rocket® COBOL

Problem: The silent install of Application Server does not work from CD product. New SETUP.INS file required, see instructions below and use attached file. Resolution: 1. Copy the Application Server directory from the CD to a directory on your machine. 2. Replace the setup.ins with the one contained in the attached apssilentins.zip file. 3. Record a sample install to setup a valid install script using the following command.   setup -r -f1c:\\directoryname\\your_silent_name.ISS   NOTE to make it easy make the C:\\directoryname\\ be the directory you copied Application Server. 4. For silent install run the following command from  the copied application server directory.   setup -s -f1c:\\directoryname\\name.iss. Attachments: apssetupins.zip Old KB# 4998

Problem: What is the maximum size of master field for Dialog System's Multiple Line Entry (MLE) field? Resolution: The maximum size for a master field is 65535 bytes (64K - 1 byte). In other words, PIC X(65535) is the maximum size. Therefore, that is the same maximum size for a master field to be associated with MLE. It is worth to note that the 64K limit that is specified in the documentation is for the size of the Data Block in 16-bit environment only. There is no limit for the Data Block size in 32-bit environment. Old KB# 5014

Problem: A screenset is created in Dialog System on a monitor set at a resolution of 1024 x 768.  However, when the programs are run on a monitor set at 800 x 600 the fonts and bitmaps present in the screenset change size etc. There is, however, a way to prevent this from happening.      Resolution: Multiple Resolution and Dynamic Window Sizing Both the multiple resolution and dynamic window sizing features are enabled by a CALLOUT to "dsrtcfg" with a flag of 9 and an identifier that tells Dialog System what resolution the screenset was defined in. Dialog System uses Panels V2 generic coordinates, which provides a basis for cross-resolution support and compatibility with differing graphics adapters. This results in differing coordinate values for what otherwise appear to be the same resolution value. To check the value you need for your definition platform, a verification program is supplied with Dialog Sy

Problem: How can I export a large number of repeating data elements in XML? Resolution: Some uses of XML manipulate large documents that consist of a large number of repetitions of a few data items.  An example of this is the ability of many relational database packages to output result sets as rows encoded in XML.   One very straightforward way to create these large documents is to use the LINE SEQUENTIAL file access method and COBOL procedural statements such as STRING to create text records.  For simple applications where requirements are well understood and stable, this approach should work well. The attached example uses a different approach.  The output is segmented into pieces that can be conveniently accommodated in a COBOL array (using the OCCURS clause).  These pieces are then exported, using XML EXPORT FILE, into a temporary XML documents.  Finally, when all the pieces have been exported, the temporary d

Problem: When you delete a record from a C-ISAM index file, it doesn't phisically disappear straight away. That record gets marked as deleted but the information is still there, although it can not be accessed to by a COBOL program or any tool. Within time that free space may be used to store new records and the information that was there before is then completely lost. But while the information is still there, you may want to undelete a deleted record if it happened by mistake and there are no backups of the file. This behaviour is similar for files with Micro Focus format instead of C-ISAM. Resolution: Currently there is no tool in the products to do this. As we don't own the CISAM format we can not give you the information about its internal structure, but if you edit the data part of the file with a hexadecimal editor you will see that at the end of each record there is an extra byte that can contain:   - the value x"0A" for a norm

Problem: When I use the same selection box multiple times the value in the masterfield automatically gets added.  How can I stop this happening? Resolution: This is quite a common (and frustrating) problem which a number of users have hit over the years. To correctly populate the selection box with the master field preset you need to do:     move "Preset" master-field     delete-list-item sb1 1 item-count     insert-many-list-items sb1 group-item item-count     refresh-object sb1 where: master-field is the Dialog data item containing the selected choice. sb1 is the object name of the selection box. group-item is the Dialog data array containing the items to populate the selection box with. item-count is the number of entries in our selection box. This ensures that the selection box is cleared out prior to population. Old KB# 5012

Problem: In many cases, either due to a high number of runtime installations or logistical problems, it is not practical to install Application Server directly on to every client machine. Instead, the runtime can be installed just the once on the server machine and then on each client machine carry out the following steps. Resolution: 1)  Install the Application Server on to the server machine. 2)  As long as the client machine can be mapped to the server machine on a network, set the client COBDIR and PATH so that it points to the correct path of where the application program is installed on the server machine. 3)  On the client machine then set ASLMFNET to the path on the server machine where the license database is installed with the license already set up with a valid key. Old KB# 5005

Problem: A nesting underflow error occurs when attempting to save the Dialog System screenset.  If you try to export the .GS you get a 153 error. Resolution: This error can be cleared by: IMPORTANT: Take a backup copy of the original .GS file before trying the following: 1) Load the screenset in to DSWIN e.g. dswin example.gs. 2) Open the Data Block editor and close it again without making any changes. 3) You should be able to save the screenset (Save As) to a new file e.g. TEST.GS. 4) Load TEST.GS in to Dialog System and undertake a full export. 5) Create a new screenset and import TEST.IMP in to it.  You should now be able to save the screenset to its original name. If the problem persists, then please contact your local Micro Focus support office. Old KB# 5022

Problem: How can I get the WOW 10.01 patch? Resolution: The new files are in the attached zip file. Please see the included text file for more information. There is also a test program attached that shows how to use the new functions provided for defect #5648.      Old KB# 4705

Problem: Is it possible to restrict the number of rows displayed in a Dialog System ListBox? For example, the CUSTOMER demo supplied with Net Express shows order lines with no data i.e. all zeros. Resolution: This issue is easily resolved with the SET-DATA-GROUP-SIZE function.  You simply pass the name of the group associated with the ListBox and a variable containing the number of rows. This functions needs to be actioned before the refresh and displaying of the listbox. Old KB# 5017

Problem: How can I preserve horizontal tabs in my input to process a tab delimited file? Resolution: Use the RUN-SEQ-FILES configuration record.  (See chapter 10 of the RM/COBOL User's Guide.)  In particular, set TAB-STOPS=0.  In this way, horizontal tabs are passed through to the COBOL program without expanding them into spaces. The attached program demonstrates this, as well as: - how to be informed of the input record length - how to symbolically define the horizontal tab character - how to unstring the record, and - how to convert numeric strings to numbers Unzip the attached file.  Compile the COBOL program, and run it using the config.cfg file as the configuration file.      Attachments: tabstops.zip Old KB# 4699

Problem: How can I fix 30, 12005 errors on InfoExpress? Resolution: Error codes in the 12000 range are generated by the Windows Sockets interface portion of the RM/InfoExpress Windows client program, or the Windows server program, and represent memory allocation failures or unexpected conditions. Error 12005 is "Unexpected event occurred during initial receive". Follow these suggestions to resolve the 12005 error: 1. Make sure the client's IP address is in the hosts file on the Domain Name Server (DNS) machine. If you are using DHCP to assign the IP addresses, you could set up "dummy" entries in the host file. For example, if the DHCP server is assigning address for 1.1.1.15 through 1.1.1.18 the hosts file might look like this: 1.1.1.15 dhcp-15 1.1.1.16 dhcp-16 1.1.1.17 dhcp-17 1.1.1.18 dhcp-18 2. In the rmixclnt.ini file on the client machine, add 'UseBlockingIO=Yes' under the [Options] heading and 'KeepSession=No' under th

Problem: What does XML-Status=050, Missing XML Parser mean? Resolution: On a Windows system, this would indicate that MSXML has not been installed.  XML Extensions normally installs MSXML when it installs xmlif.dll.   You can also get MSXML directly from Microsoft.  Be sure to check the XML Extensions documentation for the correct MSXML version number.      Old KB# 4709

Problem: What does error -119 from ComponentMoveData on Install mean? Resolution: The files listed in the ERRORFILENAME system variable are those that could not be registered. Make sure these files are indeed self-registering (that DllRegisterServer and DllUnregisterServer are listed in the Export table). Old KB# 4708

Problem: How can I scroll a WOW form? Resolution: Out of the box, WOW does not provide a scrolling functionality. However, it does provide all the pieces needed to implement.   (Visual Basic also doesn’t provide this type of scrolling support but with some programming you can add the desired functionality.) Here's how: 1. Set the form’s AllowFilterEvents property to false. 2. Add a container control to the form (the example program included uses the free Innovasys FramePlus control, as it allows the frame to be set to none, making it transparent to the user - see attached). 3. Place all the other controls inside the container control. 4. Add code to set the container control's size and position when the form is created.  This allows you to define the scrollable ‘viewport’. 5. Add code in the form’s EVENTSEXTENSION section to trap the WM-VSCROLL and/or WM-HSCROLL events (messages). 6. Add code to handle the scro

Problem: How can I diagnose a 30, 22 error on InfoExpress on a UNIX/Linux system? Resolution: The full error message is: COBOL I/O error 30, UNIX error 22 On UNIX/Linux systems, this is defined as: #define EINVAL 22 /* Invalid argument */ It means that a system call was made from InfoExpress using an arguement that makes no sense. This problem has been reported on two known occassions, in both instances, the problem was due to a misconfigured hosts file, on the line with loopback address. In particular, this line should always look exactly like this: 127.0.0.1       localhost You should examine this file on both the client and the server system.      Old KB# 4701

Problem: An application with a splash screen will need to pause to allow the users to see the splash screen. Resolution: In the splash screen's WINDOW-CREATED event, a TIMEOUT function can be used to pause for certain time. The syntas is as follows: TIMEOUT time procedure-name where time is in 1/100th of a second where procedure-name will be executed after reaching the amount of time Example: WINDOW-CREATED             TIMEOUT 1000 TERMINATE-WIN      TERMINATE-WIN             TERMINATE *This procedure times out for 10 seconds and terminates the window Old KB# 5010

Problem: How to create an icon side file for Dialog System's screensets? Resolution: 1. Open a text editor (e.g. Notepad) 2. Add a line for each icon with the following format:             unique-number ICON icon-name.ICO             e.g. 200 ICON Bank.ICO 3. Save the file with RC extension 4. Start a Net Express Command Prompt 5. Change directory (CD) to the location of the RC file 6. Compile the resource file as follows:             RC -R TheRCfileName.RC<enter> 7. Link the resource file as follows:             LINK -MACHINE:I386 -DLL -NOENTRY TheRCfileName.RES<enter> 8. Edit the ICN file 9. Add [win-icons] if it is not there yet 10. Add the icons below [win-icons] as follows:   

Problem: How to disable the ListView column headers to sort when the user clicks on them? By default, ListView sorts the rows when its column headers are clicked on. Resolution: You can simply invoke the NoSortHeader method before the List View control gets created. In case you are not sure where to insert this, just follow the steps below: 1. Edit the List View control program 2. Look for "Create-Entry-Point Section" (you will note a comment few lines below, which says "Create the control, nothing will be painted until the class library system event loop is resumed" 3. Insert INVOKE aControl "NoSortHeader" before INVOKE aControl "create" Old KB# 5021

Problem: A web application is failing with RTS 114 on ACCCGI.INT, and this is occuring with Application Server for Net Express 4.0. Resolution: This has been fixed since Service Pack for Application Server version 4.0.006 (APS06A40.EXE). Old KB# 5004

Problem: This error is reported when installing Net Express Application Server. Resolution: Before installing the Net Express .NET Application Server, you need to have the Microsoft .NET Framework installed on the machine. The Net Express Application Server installation procedure calls the GACUTIL command that is part of the .NET framework to enable the roll out of the .NET runtime files. The error message equates to the Application Server setup not finding the .NET Framework, and therefore unable to use the GACUTIL utility. Installing the Microsoft .NET Framework before installing the Net Express Application Server should clear these errors. Old KB# 5003

Created On:  29 June 2012 Problem: How do I scan a comma-separated record (CSV)? Resolution: See the attached file if you have someone supplying data in a comma-separated (CSV) file.  Note that this code provides the skeleton of scanning comma-delimited records, including detecting fields that are enclosed in quotation marks (").  Subsequent conversion of numeric values, embedded quotation marks, and other anomolies you might find in 'real life' are not addressed. Attachments CSV Example.txt Old KB# 4696

Problem: To whom should I direct questions about Cobol-RPC? Resolution: While Liant does support Cobol-RPC that is purchased through us, England Technical Services (ETS) provides direct support for the product/versions purchased from them, or through their distributors. Old KB# 4671

Problem: How can I fix a slowly query problem on Linux ES4 (CentOS 4)? Resolution: There is a known problem with version 11 (and previous versions).  However, there is a service pack available on ftp.liant.com.   Here are the instructions to install it: 1) ftp ftp.liant.com 2) Login with anonymous, using your email address as the password. 3) cd pub/rel/outgoing 4) binary 5) get reldbsrv1100SP2LNX.zip 6) bye 7) Unzip reldbsrv1100SP2LNX.zip.  The password is '30Nov07'.  Extract the contained file reldbsrv1100SP2LNX.tar. 8) Binary ftp reldbsrv1100SP2LNX.tar to the RelRM11.00 on the machine running the Data Server. 9) Login as root to the machine running the Data Server. 10) Change directory to the RelRM11.00 directory. 11) mkdir save 12) mv reldbsrv save 13) mv reldbsrv.rm save 14) mv relfm_rm.o save 15) tar xvf reldbsrv1100SP2LNX.tar 16) ln reldbsrv.rm reldbsrv 17) ./STOP 18) If the Dat

Problem: How can I read/write from/to a UNIX named pipe? Resolution: See the attached source code examples. Old KB# 4682