Rocket® COBOL

Problem: How to assign or determine the client-id that is required for a server-side file in a web application. Resolution: Look under Help>Programming>Distributed Computing>Part 8: CGI-based Applications>Part 32: Server-side programming>Maintaining Application State>The Server-side State Mechanism for a complete overview of this topic. Basically the set of MF_CLIENT_STATE callable routines can be used to manage the state for each client (Browser) session that invokes the CGI program. When the client starts the browser and the HTML page executes the server side CGI program for the first time, the CGI program can use a call to MF_CLIENT_STATE_FILE which will return a unique client-ID and will allocate the state record used by the calls. The client-ID is then stored within a cookie on the form so it will be passed back to the server each time a new form is posted. This information is all stored on the server and it is accessed by the cli

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: 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: 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: 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: When updating the Net Express 4.0 product where can the various fixpacks be found? Resolution: With Net Express 4.0 fixpacks are now bundled together so only one wrappack module will have to be downloaded and installed. It will start with ALLnn. Download and save this file and then run it while Net Express is closed. Old KB# 5208

Problem: Return code 194 received with CBL_OPEN_FILE for file over 4GB in size. Resolution: CBL_OPEN_FILE does not use the EXTFH.CFG so the setting of FILEMAXSIZE=8 will not work. If you add 64 to the access mode parameter then this will create the same results as the FILEMAXSIZE=8. 65 Read only 66 Write only (deny-mode must be 0) 67 Read/write Old KB# 5211#netexpress#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL#COBOL#AcuCobol

Problem: Can a Dialog System .IMP-file be exported / imported from the command-line? ---- Importing the .IMP-file by the GUI-interface to a new screenset, duplicate "ESC and Window-Created-events" are reported. OK, they could be manually deleted from the global dialog and the existing auto-created window. But (how) can this be done automatically by the import? Resolution: Yes, both are possible by using the command-line interface of the DSWIN.exe, e.g. from a Net Express Command Line. The command-line interface offers a possibility to overwrite the existing auto-created content of an "empty" screenset. An export of the screenset can be initialized by: /e screenset-name [output-filename] The IMP-file can be imported by: /i import-filename [screenset-name] which can also be used to add the imp file to an existing screenset. The /i may cause the same problems with ESC and WINDOW-CREATED events when importing by the GUI-interf

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: 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: Case: When migrating from Net Express 3.1 to 4.0, there exist 11 .DLL files that are believed created using Net Express 3.1 but it is unsure if the original project or source code still exists. Is it possible to tell if these Dynamic Link Libraries were indeed created by Net Express instead of by a 3rd party compiler such as Microsoft C/C ? Resolution: The answer is yes, there is a way to identify an existing executable (.EXE) or Dynamic Link Library (.DLL) file as being generated by Net Express. Using a binary editor or a program dump utility, open the .DLL file and search it using this tool. If no binary file editor is available then it is also possible to open the file using a standard text editor like Windows Notepad but since the information being displayed is not standard ASCII text it will look very strange. It will however, accomplish the task at hand. After opening the .DLL file within the editor it is necessary to perform a text Fin

Problem: Used the anim directive to compile but then moved the .exe program. A message pops up prompting for animation but then the .idy file cannot be found. After entering the location of the .idy file then the COBOL source cannot be found.l Resolution: The resolution is to move the .idy and COBOL source files to the same location as the .exe file. Old KB# 5217

Problem: What is the definition of the XML-CODE's that can be returned from XML-PARSE?            XML PARSE WS-XML-DOCUMENT               PROCESSING PROCEDURE 20000-PROCESS-XML               ON EXCEPTION                  DISPLAY 'XML DOCUMENT ERROR ' XML-CODE                  STOP RUN               NOT ON EXCEPTION                  DISPLAY 'XML DOCUMENT PARSED SUCCESSFULLY'           

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: CBL cards are embedded in the source, before the identification division. CBL begins in column 9, followed by options. For example:         CBL nodynam,lib,cbject,apost Resolution: Compiler directive COBOL370 disregards the CBL card. Old KB# 5215

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: 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: Working under Windows XP as a user and received the following message: Failed to create database file. Check that existing file is not locked. Attempted to create file : C:\\Documents and Settings\\All Users\\Application Data\\Micro Focus\\Net Express\\4.0\\SYSTEM.DAT The attempt to create a new system database failed. The original database will be restored. Resolution: Net Express will create an application data file named "system.dat" in the location designated for application data. The location is normally C:\\Documents and Settings \\All Users\\Application Data \\Micro Focus\\Net Express\\4.0 All users running Net Express should have write permissions to that location in order to create/update the file. As this is the recommended location to use for application data you will find that other applications will also be creating/updating files under ".\\AllUsers\\Application Data\\." so the relevant permissions will be

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

Created On:  02 January 2005 Problem: When a copybook, specified in conjunction with a COPY statement, cannot be found, the compiler will flag it with the following error: "COBCH0008 Unknown COPY file filename specified" Where filename is the name of the missing copybook. Resolution: 1. Make sure the file is available in one of the following locations:    in the same directory as the source code that has has the COPY statement    in one of the directories specified in the COBCPY environment variable, i.e. COBCPY=c:\\copyfiles;c:\\morefiles    in the same location as specified in the COPY statement IF it is fully qualified from the COPY statement, i.e. x:\\dir\\filename.cpy 2. Make sure to specify the extension in the COPYEXT directive if it is not either CPY or CBL, i.e. COPYEXT"src,txt" 3. Make sure to add the COPYEXT directive accordingly:    in a directive file, e.g. COBOL.DIR in the project folder, or &

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: 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: When examining a data record during program animation -  sees X"2020202020" instead of X"09". This happens with Net Express 3.1 base version. Resolution: In all versions of Net Express the answer is to use the EXTFH.CFG file with the following options: [XFH-DEFAULT] EXPANDTAB=OFF and set the environment variable EXTFH to: EXTFH=X:\\directoryname\\extfh.cfg Old KB# 5212#netexpress#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#COBOL#RMCOBOL

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: 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