Rocket® COBOL

Problem: NetExpress 5.1 not printing in Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate (Assumption is made that a default printer has been defined, and that it is connected to a USB port, not a legacy LPT parallel port) Resolution: In Vista, right-click on the NetExpress 5.1 icon, select "Properties", select "Compatibility Mode", and select "Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2)".  Click "OK".  NetExpress should now print on USB printer. Old KB# 4452

Problem: The output filename for XML should be "C:\\Files\\My File\\DATA.XML" However, after the program ran without any error a file "C:\\Files\\My" has been generated. Obviously the SPACE is truncating the name.              SELECT  XML-STREAM  ASSIGN            "C:\\Files\\My File\\DATA.XML"                          ORGANIZATION  IS  XML                          FILE STATUS   IS  XMLSTAT.        XD          XML-STREAM.  &nb

Problem: In .NET it is now possible to create an Inner Class within a class. How to access this inner class from COBOL? Resolution: Accessing an Inner class by defining it in the repository section but there is the need to use " " to denote the inner class. For example:        repository.               class innerclass as "MyClassLibrary.TheOuterClassName TheInnerClassName"                   . will allow to create instances of the innerclass. Old KB# 4407

Problem: A column defined as numeric (10,0) and the host variable declared as PIC X(10).  If the value was 500 when selected from the database the host variable contained '       500'. With the Oracle 10.x pre-compiler the host variable contains '500       ' and this is causing a problem within the application. Resolution: Use the Oracle precompiler directive picx=varchar2. Old KB# 4418

Problem: When converting sort exits(E15, E35),  the definition of the required fields in the online HELP menu(DFSORT) in Net Express is very good; but there were three fields that caused problems (ENTRY-BUFFER, EXIT-BUFFER, and EXIT-AREA). The first two fields were resolved by making the linkage area a copybook and using a replacing to change the length but no one has any idea of how to define EXIT-AREA. Is there a calculation that is used to figure out the size? EXIT-AREA is defined in the help system as 'Exit area scratchpad used by the exit to maintain variables between calls to the exit program'..    Resolution: The EXIT-AREA is 256 bytes and the length is not set (though according to the IBM documentation it should be set to 256). This area is not used by SORT, it's to maintain variables between the calls to the E15 and E25 exits. Entry from IBM DFSORT docs below. Each time DFSORT calls the COBOL E15 or COBOL E35 user exit, it p

Problem: Release 5.0: Rebuilding         RELEASE\\FTP-UPRO.dll    Creating library RELEASE\\FTP-UPRO.lib and object RELEASE\\FTP-UPRO.exp FTP-UPRO.OBJ : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol _FtpFindFirstFileA@16 RELEASE\\FTP-UPRO.dll : fatal error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals Rebuild complete with errors This failure is related to CALL WINAPI "FtpFindFirstFileA". Resolution: In that case it was helpful to change the WINAPI call-convention from 74 back to 66 to resolve this external symbol as well while linking a DLL. Old KB# 4439

Problem: A customer has a program that returns an XML status, but he cannot find out where these are documented. Resolution: The codes are documented in different places (depending on the product), but here they are for reference: Return Code Meaning > 0  After a successful READ action, the ordinal number of the record read is returned as the status code. 0 Success. The XML I/O action is performed without problem. -1 The XML I/O action is trying to access an XML stream that is not opened.   -2 This is an invalid XML I/O action. -3 Invalid mode is specified in the OPEN statement. -4 The XML stream cannot be opened. -5 The XML I/O action is attempting to access an internal DOM (Document Object Model) representation which is not present. DOM enables you to create and modify HTML pages and XML documents as full-fledged program objects. -6 An invalid KEY is specified in the XML I/O action.   -7 The end of the XML strea

Problem: Can't get to their data files on the Unix machine.  Is there some other way than using SAMBA to make the data on the Unix machine accessible to Windows and Net Express? Doing a NetX publish to Unix is not an option, either. Resolution: Unfortunately, there is no way aside from SAMBA to achieve this capability. If the Unix people can set things up so that Windows sees the Unix file system as a mapped drive, then Net Express will work with it. Old KB# 4411#netexpress#COBOL#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL#ServerExpress

Problem: This demo will show how you can use Windows Script Host (WSH) objects to create a shortcut from a COBOL application. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This demo shows how to create a shortcut from a COBOL application on Windows. DESCRIPTION ========= This demo shows how you can create a shortcut on the Start Menu. It uses an api to get the location of the Start Menu and then creates a shortcut in that directory. After running the demo you should find a Link in your StartMenu that opens the Micro Focus home page. SOURCE FILES ========= wshshortcut.cbl CreateShortCut.app ========================================================== Keywords: demonstration, sample, example, demo, CreateShortcut.zip, Shortcut demo.ex demo.ne Attachments: wshshortcut.zip Old KB# 4409

Problem: For batch applications using cbllink.exe on the command line, how are the "Application Complete" and "Click OK" pop-up windows suppressed? Resolution: When invoking cbllink.exe from the command line, omit the "/g" command line switch.  The "/g" switch marks the executable as a graphical application. When running unattended, batch-mode applications should not be marked as graphical, since this would require operator intervention for responding to pop-up windows. Old KB# 4426

Problem: Applications that perform very large SORT operations can often take quite some time to complete the process. However it is possible to inrease the performance of a SORT application by increasing the amount of memory used by SORT by conguring the SORTSPACE environment variable. Resolution: By default, SORT uses 1MB of memory when performing SORT operations. This amount can be increased however by setting the SORTSPACE environment variable to specify a greater amount of memory, for example SET SORTSPACE=256MB The more memory you define, the quicker the sort. We found that using the settings below produced the following results when performing a SORT operation against 1 million records: SORTSPACE        TIME TAKEN     2MB                         39s   1

Problem: In .NET WinForms how to show a form as a Modal Dialog Box? Resolution: Showing a form as a Modal Dialog Box by using the "ShowDialog" method. This will display the form as a Dialog Box and return a value that allows to determine if OK orCANCEL was pressed. For example:      set ls-result to ls-Form4::"ShowDialog"(self) The ShowDialog method takes the parent window as a parameter. Old KB# 4408

Problem: Release 4.0: While debugging within IDE and trying to change a value the Net Express IDE crashes completely with an unexpected error, s. attached snapshot. What to do to prevent this? Resolution: Probably, there are some Net Express common files not registered in the Windows registry correctly. Take a look here first: ..programs\\common files\\Micro Focus for Hex3.ocx, Hex5.ocx, Valueedit.ocx To register those files again via the Windows command line use regsvr32, i.e.: >regsvr32 Hex3.ocx and the problem gets rid off. Attachments: 2145552.JPG Old KB# 4406

Problem: When creating a new mapping for a Web Service from legacy COBOL code, you may find in doing so that the case of the legacy COBOL code is lost - for example all converted to lowercase. This may cause you a problem if you have a requirement for the case to be as in the original code, for example (lower-) CamelCase. Resolution: Specify the PRESERVECASE directive in your program program: $SET PRESERVECASE This will then ensure that the original case is preserved as required. Old KB# 4429

Problem: Users with restricted access (non-administrator and non-power users) cannot run Net Express 5.0 properly and create Cobol projects in Visual Studio 2005. When users with restricted access open an existing project in Net Express 5.0, here is the message they get: "Project file does not contain a version string. The project was not saved correctly after it was created." The following messages will be displayed in the Output Window of the Net Express IDE: ----- Generating system database Generating classes... 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\\NetExpress\\5.0\\SYSTEM.DAT The attempt to create a new system database failed The original database will be restored ----- When users with restricted access attempt to create a new project in the Net Express IDE, here is the message they will see: "General failu

Problem: Release: 5.0 WrapPack 5: Es wurde die Basisversion Net Express 5.0 und anschliessend sofort das WrapPack 5 installiert: Nunmehr können keine HTML-Seiten im Form Designer geöffnet werden sowohl als normaler Benutzer oder auch als Administrator. Das Programm meldet: "Form Designer requires Microsoft Internet Explorer 401 or greater to be installed on this system. File 'formdctl' error code 240 Object reference not valid" obwohl Internet Explorer 7 installiert ist (Standard mit Vista). Resolution: Der o.g. Fehler war mit Net Express 5.0 WrapPack 3 (V 5.003.0082) gefixt worden und unglücklicherweise ist diese Lösung im nachfolgenden WrapPack 4 sowie im WrapPack 5 nicht enthalten. Das bedeutet: Ist die Version des WrapPack 4 (V 5.004.0064) bzw. WrapPack 5 (V 5.005.0025) installiert und es wird der oben beschriebene Fehler angezeigt, dann zur Bereinigung den Micro Focus Knowledgebase Artikel Nr. 24961 vergl

Problem: A customer using a build script found that intlevel(1) as a compiler directive gave the error * Invalid qualifier - intlevel(1) * 155-U 155 Illegal command line Resolution: On Server Express INTLEVEL can only be set to 2, 4 or 5, hence the error message. It's unlikely that this will cause a problem for any customer, as INTLEVEL set to 1 is for use with Micro Focus COBOL products on DOS and COBOL/2 on UNIX. Old KB# 4488

Problem: When the "Remember this" logon option is set, compiling DB2 programs will no longer present the logon dialog. How to get the logon dialog to show up again? This would be necessary to use a different user id and password Resolution: The following can be found from the DB2 documentations: ________________________________________ Compiling Programs that use a Remote DB2 Server To compile a program that uses a remote DB2 server, you must first connect to that remote server. The DB2 ECM first attempts to connect to the database using the default values for the client workstation you logged on with. If the logon fails, the DB2 ECM will invoke the Micro Focus SQL Logon dialog in which you can then enter a logon ID and password for the database you are trying to compile your program against Automated Compiles Having the graphical logon dialog appear might not be acceptable for automating compiles from a background process such as a command f

Problem: When using the Suggest Word option on a mispelled dataname in the procedure division, if the selected word is longer than the mispelled word and there is data in column 73 thru 80, then that data will be moved by the number of characters > the original word. Resolution: To fix this behavior simply display the Find/Replace window by pressing Ctrl-F and then check the option to stay within margins. Then the data in col 73 will not be moved. Old KB# 4446

Problem: Using "Suggest word" name that is larger or smaller than the original name, columns 73 and beyond are shifted right or left respectively. Changing a data name manually by using the keyboard, columns beyond 73 are not affected whether in insert or overtype mode, this should happen when using "SUGGEST WORD". Resolution: "SUGGEST WORD" is a function of find and replace that has setting outside the EDITOR settings. 1. Select the binoculars icon to move the cursor to the find window. 2. If "Replace" option is not visual select the last icon that looks like 3 staked arrow heads pointing up to expand the "Find Replace" window. 3. Select the "Between margins only button" to have "SUGGEST WORD" honor the margins Old KB# 4445

Problem: How to do Casting in Net Express .NET? In C# for example you can do - string x = (string)object; Resolution: The example program below shows casting in COBOL in .NET: (this is a demo of how to access an XML Config files)       $set sourceformat"variable"       program-id. ConfigReader.       environment division.       configuration section.       repository.            class cAppSettingsReader as "System.Configuration.AppSettingsReader"            class cString as "System.String"            class cInvalidOperationException as "System.InvalidOperationException"     &n

Problem: This error can occur when the 4 backup folders for CFG, MNT, SYS, TUT become locked or are set to read only. These backup folders are named cfg_bak, mnt_bak, sys_bak, and tut_bak respectively and they are located in C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.0\\MFSQL by default. Please remember that you need to be logged in as an administrator to perform this update, and you need to be logged in as the same user who installed Net Express. Resolution: Resolve the issue by selecting these folders, going to Properties, and unchecking the Read Only box. You may need to adjust the permissions on the folders to allow read, write, and delete access. In extreme cases you can delete (or rename) and recreate these 4 folders to allow the installation to complete. Old KB# 4455

Problem: The demo available in COMMONCONTROLS\\ListView shows how to create a listview containing check boxes in the first column. How can these check boxes be ticked in initial state? Resolution: To tick the check boxes by program add a:     invoke aListViewItem "selectCheckBox for example in the ListView-demo in:        Insert-Many-Items section.           PERFORM VARYING l FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL l > lvData-Max               ...              SET lvData-Object(l) TO aListViewItem              invoke aListViewItem "selectCheckBox" *> the tick is set here           END-PERFORM Old KB

Problem: How can you disable the Keyboard BEEP in a Character Dialog screenset ? When you enter the maximum number of characters in a field a BEEP is output to notify the user that there has been an error. Resolution: You can configure this behavour in the Dialog DSDEF.CFG config file. To disable the BEEP on end of field you need to add NOBEEP-EOF. There are also options NOBEEP-EOS and NOBEEP-INVALID which turn off BEEPs on end of screen and invalid keys respectively. Old KB# 4448

Problem: The index cache size can be increased, which will reduce the amount of file i-o Fileshare actually does. Resolution: To increase the index cache size, put the following into Fileshare's extfh.cfg file (create one if it does not exist): [xfh-default] INDEXCOUNT=32 This file must be put into Fileshare's current working directory, or environment variable EXTFH must be set in Fileshare's (not the client's) environment to specify the file, e.g.: set EXTFH=C:\\fileshare\\configuration\\extfh.cfg Old KB# 4413#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL#netexpress#COBOL