Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Net Express 4.0 on 32 bit Windows. When running an application an error stating that the runtime DLL OOPS entry point is not recorded in the Windows registry occurs. Resolution: This error is normally caused by previous versions (e.g. Net Express 3.1) of runtime files being picked up via the PATH.  Carefully check the PATH setting via Net Express command prompt and ensure no rogue entries are present. Old KB# 5222

Problem: The following error is received during the install. Failed to set up Integrated Development Environment. At least one Net Express option failed to install. Please exit setup and start install again. Resolution: Check the share path to the server for spaces. If there are spcaes in the path, remove the spaces and attempt the install again. Old KB# 5245

Problem: Can Screens.GS be in another directory and be found at runtime or animate time? Resolution: Yes, by adding the directory that contains the GS files to the COBDIR they will be found at animation time. For deployment a safer method would be to follow the instructions in the packaging knowledge base article 4150. Old KB# 5244

Problem: The GNT code will require that ANIM is located in another location other than the project directives. Cannot animate the GNT code. Resolution: The GNT code will require that ANIM is located in another location other than the project directives. It can be added to the project pull down menu. Projects      Types of Build              Debug      CHANGE                    OPT(1) ANIM    OK    CLOSE Old KB# 5219

Problem: The MFDS Service hangs when attempting to apply the Net Express 4.0 fixpack collection. Resolution: Before attempting to run the Net Express 4.0 fixpack updates updates, go into control panel and right click on the MFDS service, and change it's properties to disabled - then reboot the machine. This will ensure that the service isn't started on boot up. Now there should be no problems in applying the updates. After they have been successfully applied, change the service back to automatic. Old KB# 5193

Problem: The output file seems to be sorted incorrectly. Resolution: Perhaps the file was to be sorted in EBCDIC order. Use the compiler directive native"ebcdic" . Old KB# 5237

Problem: Error received; "cannot run 16 bit window program - access to specific devise is denied" Resolution: copy cd installation to a directory on the hard drive that has no spaces in the name Old KB# 5201

Problem: When running a program that makes a call to a program that is included in a dll file, for some reason it is not finding the program that is being called. A RTS173 error message is being reported. What is the search path for finding programs found in dll? Resolution: The path that Windows searches in order to locate DLL files is specified in the PATH environment variable. If the DLL is not located within one of the paths defined by this environment variable, Windows will not be able to load the DLL. A DLL named, for example, "MyDLL.DLL", has a primary entry point of "MyDLL" that consists of a goback or exit program statement. Included within this DLL is a second program named "MyEntry1". To gain access to "MyEntry1" it is first necessary to call "MyDLL" to expose the entry point to your second program. Then "MyEntry1" can be called. Use the cancel verb with caution when you have

Problem: The generated COBOL Web Service Clients default to PIC X(100) for strings. This can cause issues as more than 100 characters may be returned in a string.  This article will provide an example of amending the WSDL to specify the string size needed and then the COBOL Client is generated within Net Express from the amended WSDL. Resolution: The example: <?xml version="1.0"?> <definitions name="CATrafficService" targetNamespace="http://www.xmethods.net/sd/CATrafficService.wsdl" xmlns:tns="http://www.xmethods.net/sd/CATrafficService.wsdl" xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:soap="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/soap/" xmlns="http://schemas.xmlsoap.org/wsdl/" xmlns:new="new"> <types> <schema xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" targetNamespace="new"> <simpleType name="string2">

Problem: Trying to install Net Express 4.0 from CD. Receiving error cannot  write to silent script log file unable to continue Logged on as administrator, TMP and TEMP point to C:\\temp Resolution: Running the following command where X: represesent the CD=Rom drive installed the product X:\\SETUP\\SETUP /INI=X:\\SETUP\\NXSETUP.INI /LOGFILE=C:\\TEMP\\SETUPLOG.TXT Old KB# 5202

Problem: How can the HIDE-OBJECT function be used in Dialog System dialog on a ListView? Resolution: The HIDE-OBJECT function cannot be used in a Dialog System dialog on programmed controls like a ListView or a TreeView. But the corresponding routine from the class library can be invoked in the control program. Please use the method "hide" of the class abstract window, which is inherited by the programmed controls:     INVOKE aControl "hide" This will hide the ListView. Old KB# 5207

Problem: A program has been developed and compiled on Net Express and then copied over to a UNIX machine. When running the program on the UNIX system, an RTS0165 error is encountered.   Resolution: The problem here is that there is likely a library file or COBOL module which isn't looking in the correct pathname caused by a missing or wrong $COBDIR, or a newer version of Object Cobol Developer Suite, Server Express, or Application Server has been installed while parts of a previous product installation have not been removed correctly. Therefore a check should be done of the opt/lib or cob/lib  (or shlib) and also where the $COBDIR is pointing to.  If it is unknown which versions of product modules and libraries that are installed on the system on which the error is encountered, it is advisable to remove the products completely and reinstall the product to insure that the modules available are not from mixed product releases.

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