Rocket® COBOL

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: Using a Treeview control how can you put a Node into Edit Mode ? A tree view allows you to edit the label of a TreeViewItem. Can you programmatically force a item into this mode. Resolution: You can do this using the "EditLabel" method. The following code snippit shows how you can create a treeviewitem and put it into edit mode:- INVOKE aTreeview "addItemZ" USING aTreeView                                            Term-Field                               RETURNING ws-treenode                &n

Problem: In Winforms you can use the Tooltip provider to add tooltips to controls. This allows you to define tooltips at design time for the controls on a Form. How can you change tooltip text at runtime from COBOL ? Resolution: You can do this using code such as :-            invoke tooltip1::"SetToolTip"(numericupdown1 , "New Text for tooltip") tooltip1 is an instance of the tooltip provider that was added to the form. Old KB# 4437

Problem: Is it possible to pass an ODBC connection from another language such as C or powerbuilder and use the connection from OpenESQL. Resolution: This is not supported. In COBOL you can do a GET HDBC or a GET HENV to get some ODBC handles to the OpenESQL connection. These handles can then be used in direct ODBC API calls. However you cannot be passed an ODBC connection from C or Powerbuilder and bind that as an OpenESQL connection. Under .Net you can do something like this if you use ADO.Net. You can be passed a .Net connection and transaction object and then bind the ado.net connection object to OpenESQL. That however is only under .Net. Please see KB 24812 from more information on sharing a connection in .Net. Old KB# 4451

Problem: The .NET Framework comes with a Print Preview control  to be used to give the user a preview of a document. How to use this control to present multiple pages of print? Resolution: When using the PrintPage event you get passed an instance of System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventArgs. This has a boolean property "HasMorePages" that you can use after printing a page to tell WinForms that another page needs to be printed. Some example code that uses this is:        method-id.  "printDocument1_PrintPage" final private.        01  ls-left-margin  pic s9(9) comp-5.        01  ls-top-margin  pic s9(9) comp-5.        01  ls-count        pic s9(9) comp-5.      &n

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: Release 5.0.NET: Just testing an own COBOL preprocessor mypreproc.gnt using this compiler directive PREPROCESS as usual, and got this: Execution error : file 'c:\\path\\mypreproc.gnt' error code: 114, pc=0, call=1, seg=0 114     Attempt to access item beyond bounds of memory (Signal 11) Is there a hint available what to do to prevent this, because not involving any VS2005.NET environment mypreproc is running as well. Resolution: Yes, be aware of the following: (1) It seems the mypreproc preprocessor is looping round the last line of source code. Under managed compiles, the compiler reads the source code in 2 phases and it's looping in phase1 until it runs out of memory. However this is unlikely to be the final problem. A preprocessor for managed compiles needs to be reentrant. It does  n o t  mean about the REENTRANT directive, the pre-processor needs to be able to be called repeatedly

Problem: You can use the WinHTTP COM objects in Windows to issue HTTP Request from a COBOL Application. How can you specify timeout values for the HTTP Request ? Resolution: WinHTTP has a "setTimout" method that allows you to specify :- ResolveTimeout ConnectTimeout SendTimeout ReceiveTimeout To call this from COBOL you would first need to set the OLE Dispatch type as the method name starts with "set" so by default COBOL would attempt a property fetch. The code on COBOL you need to issue would be:-            invoke olesup "setDispatchType" using by value 0       ******* The next line would force a timeout       *    invoke ws-winhttp "setTimeouts" using by value 500 500 500 500       ******* We can set to something more reasonable for the

Problem: Need a way of obtaining a random sample from approximately 960,000 claim numbers. Can the RANDOM function be used for this task. Resolution: The RANDOM function is not really geared towards such a task. The RANDOM function will generate a unique sequence of RANDOM numbers given a seed value argument. The return value from the function will be a floating point COMP-2 number with a value greater than 0 and less than one so it will always be a fractional number and can sometimes be negative. If this function is used to generate a specific range of numbers then the result should be multiplied by a constant value and the result should be checked that it falls within the specified range. Old KB# 4447

Problem: Given: 01 MyData PIC X(1000). When MyData contains an Ampercent sign, it cannot be used as a normal character so it is substituted as AmpercentHash38Semicolon. When parsing MyData by XML PARSE the ampercent is not returned neither as CONTENT-CHARACTER nor as CONTENT-CHARACTERS Hint: The wording Ampercent, Hash, Semicolon used in that article to avoid viewing garbage characters in an HTML environment. Resolution: When using AmpercentHash38Semicolon the ampercent is returned in the register XML-NTEXT as CONTENT-NATIONAL-CHARACTER Event. Also, when specified as AmpercentHashx26Semicolon = its hex value. When using AmpercentampSemicolon the ampercent is returned in the register XML-TEXT as CONTENT-CHARACTER Event. When MyData contains: <data>My Data AmpercentampSemicolon Your Data</data> 3 Events will occur and the text have to be concatenated, i.e. by a STRING with POINTER. Old KB# 4435

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: 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: A macro was created in msexcel to fill column "J" with color Gray.  Editing the macro shows the following VB code. Sub Macro1() Columns ("J:J").Select With Selection.Interior        .ColorIndex = 15        .Pattern = xlSolid End With End Sub Question: What's wrong with this code? invoke  ExcelObject  "getColumns"    using  z"J"                                                       returning CellRange. invoke CellRange     "setColorIndex" using by value 15. invoke CellRange &n

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: Windows Vista differs from earlier Windows operating systems (eg. Windows XP) in that you must take into account security restrictions which are defaulted into the operating system. As it stands only NetExpress 5.0 and NetExpress 5.1 are currently supported on Windows Vista.  Before installing any wrappack, fixpack or hotfix it is stronly advised to carefully read the installation instructions on the SupportLine "Products Update" website page as there are specific installation instructions for each wrappack. The aim of this article is to emphasise further security issues pertaining to Windows Vista which are not mentioned in the installtion instructions on the website.  If you do not amend the security settings indicated below, you will get the an error message when attempting to install the patch which will be along the lines of: "Server 5.0 WrapPack #005 has not been installed.  Please contact Micro Focus Sup

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: If you store dates in a DataGridView TextBox column then it will sort the column in Alphabetical order. This makes the dates out of order when dd/mm/ccyy is the format. How can you force the sort to sort based on date order ? Resolution: You can perform custom sorts by handling the Sort_Compare event. An example that would sort in correct date order would be:-        method-id.  "dataGridView1_SortCompare" final private.        01 ls-date1         type "System.DateTime".        01 ls-date2         type "System.DateTime".        procedure division using by value sender as object e as type "System.Windows.Forms.DataGridViewSortCompareEventArgs".    &nbsp

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: 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: 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: 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

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: Trying to validate alphabetic characters in numeric fields (i.e to get rts error 163 returned)  in an application that has the RM compiler directive set, the validation is not applied in all cases. Even with the COBSW= F environment variable set to force the validation it doesn't work.   Resolution: Take the following code: $SET RM                        Working-storage section.           01 numerica          pic 9(3).          01 alfabetica         pic x(3).        01 blank-field        pic x(3).