Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Does EnterpriseLink support Sun Solaris 10.0? Resolution: Yes.  Solaris 10 is supported. Old KB# 4132#Rumba#EnterpriseLink

Problem: Release 4.0 With SP2 for Server Express the treatment of VALUE clauses in the FILE SECTION has changed. Before it was used during program start up to initialize the data items with the desired values (line in WORKING-STORAGE), now it is ignored. Because this behaviour is documented, it cannot considered to be a bug. Questions: Is it possible to get the old behaviour back (maybe by a compiler option)? Or what else solution can you provide to make our old programs run as before? Example: 000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. 000200 PROGRAM-ID.    A. 000300 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. 000400 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION. 000500 FILE-CONTROL. 000600     SELECT FQS001 ASSIGN TO XX 000700            ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL. 000800 DATA DIVISION. 000900 FILE SECTION. 001000 FD  FQS001. 001100 01  RQS001    PIC X(80)&nb

Problem: CBL_YIELD_RUN_UNIT was present in Object COBOL Developer Suite, but did not appear to work. Has the situation changed in Server Express? Resolution: CBL_YIELD_RUN_UNIT is now functional in Server Express. It yields the remainder of a run-unit's time-slice to unspecified run-units. On some environments this can result in a one-second pause. Old KB# 4078

Problem: This is an extraction from an EL5.05 log file: 2005/05/16 09:19:06 [0x04cc] Process Session(3579): Session Qj0ZUdbFAzpuCpAF processing request http://localhost:80/stscripts/run.stn/onlineIMSA/ 2005/05/16 09:19:06 [0x04cc] SSSession::reload(6996): Reload current URL 2005/05/16 09:19:14 [0x04cc] Process Session(3579): Session w8I21E67VKFieeiq processing request http://localhost:80/stscripts/run.stn/onlineIMSA/ 2005/05/16 09:19:14 [0x04cc] SSSession::reload(6996): Reload current URL What does the message ""SSSession::reload(6996): Reload current URL" mean? Resolution: The "SSSession::reload(6996): Reload current URL" message is indicating that the URL has been reloaded by clicking on the refresh button or pressing F5, etc. Old KB# 4131#Rumba#EnterpriseLink

Problem: If you receive the following error when trying to run an executable on a machine running Application Server for Net Express 4.0: Dynamically Bound RTS Runtime DLL 'CBLRTSS', version 4.0, entry point CBL_CTF_TRACER_GET not recorded in registry, not found or incompatible with requirements of dynamically bound COBOL program. Dynamic binding of RTS requires: Any Runtime DLL, at least Version 4.0 Resolution: One likely cause of this error is the version of Application Server you are running. This Knowledge Base article was raised from an Incident where the Websync WrapPack all07n40.exe had been applied to Net Express 4.0 on the development machine. The executable was rebuilt on that machine and ported to the machine running Application Server for Net Express. However, the equivalent Application Server Service Pack, aps09a40.exe, had not been applied to the Application Server environment. Also, we noted during testing that in one instanc

Problem: Is it possible to design Dialog System windows with different colors? Resolution: It is not possible to design or change Dialog System windows (border and title bar), as they are controlled by the operating system. Here is also the description of "Color" from the Net Express help: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Color Color changes the foreground or background colors of a selected object or objects. You cannot change the color of a title bar of a window object. When to use: Use Color to change the colors of selected object(s). You must select an object or group of objects first. Effect: Dialog System displays a dialog box for you to select foreground and background colors. Select Foreground, then click on a color to make it the foreground color. Then select Background and click on a color to make it the background color. Press Apply to color the selected objects. Press Close to

Problem: PuTTy is Freeware terminal emulation software for SSH and Telnet. Using it on Linux, with sde, lines are drawn with lqkxmj characters Resolution: Micro Focus do not recommend settings for third-party terminal emulators.   However, we (Support) will take a look at specific customer issues on an informal basis to see if we can help. PuTTy announces itself as an xterm emulator although it seems limited in it's configurables and doesn't draw as well as other emulators using this terminal type in the COBOL environment.  The FAQ on PuTTy's web site recommends trying vt220 to resolve some issues. export TERM=vt220 export TERMINFO$COBDIR/terminfo This works well although I haven't found how to return ansi colors.   If you're happy with monochrome, I would recommend you try this setting; if not, use PowerTerm which is part of the NetExpress UNIX add-on.  Use this in ansi emulatio

Problem: Error message:   Dependent module libcobrts64_t.2.so could not be loaded. Could not load module libcobrts64_t.2.so. System error: No such file or directory cob64: error(s) in compilation: sample1.cob A recently released AIX update appears to cause the symptom.  To diagnose,   cd to a directory in which you have write permission   cp $COBDIR/demo/debug/pi.cbl pi.cbl   cob pi.cbl   cobrun pi If this fails with a similar message, check the LIBPATH setting.  If it works, try the Oracle demo, sample1 or any other compilation run from the "make" command.  If that fails with the error message above, the problem is diagnosed. Resolution: The problem is caused by make being changed to a setgid program. setuid and setgid programs ignore the value of LIBPATH.   This is for security reasons. As a result, Cobol executables, such as rts64, cannot

Problem: It is sometimes desirable to have a program run at the privilege level of a user other than that of the user who starts the program.  A classic example is an operator who is responsible for running backups.  The operator should not be allowed root privileges, but the backup program itself must have global read access in order to do its job. There is a combination of flags for the chmod command which will cause an executable file to run as another user (see "man chmod").  However, doing this to a Cobol program causes a failure to load runtime system components (.so files) and the program terminates very shortly after the startup attempt. Resolution: Due to security concerns and operating system limitations, this is not recommended and is unsupported for Cobol programs. Old KB# 4110

Problem: Cob command - quotes and spaces Resolution: cob is a command run under Unix, just as grep and sed are. Unix command lines are processed by the shell. The shell expands all wildcards, environment variables, and does all word and field splitting before cob sees the command line. In addition, cob tries to follow general Unix convention on command lines where possible. Before proceeding further, we will define a cob flag such as -C and -N as an option flag, and the string that follows an option flag as an option parameter. As noted in the Server Express documentation an option parameter must either be a string containing no spaces, or an arbitrary string enclosed in quotes. Unless environment variable expansion is required, single quotes are preferred. These quotes are removed by the shell but the option parameter is passed to cob as a unit, so cob knows the entire string consists of checker/ncg options. Some examples may help.   &nb

Problem: All terminals use a temporary storage queue right now.  How can we convert all to use a recoverable storage queue? Also, is there a way to set the default to recoverable storage queue in place of the temp as it is now? Resolution: If the existing configuration does not use predefined queues, which is the typical usage, then depending on the queue name it might be possible to use a generic TST definition. When you define a Temporary Storage Table (TST) entry the name can be up to 8 characters long. If you specify less than 8 characters then you can still get a generic match. For example, assuming you have terminals A000 and B000 each running the transaction TEST. If the TS queue name is of the form TESTA000 where the transid is prepended to the termid then you can define a protected TS queue of 'TEST'. All TS queues that start with the prefix TEST will match the generic TST entry and use its configuration. Old KB#

Problem: Customer wanted to know if there is any Server Express command-line tool to convert EBCDIC files to ASCII. Resolution: Server Express does not have a command-line utility to convert ASCII and EBCDIC. This is of course often an issue for customers with existing applications on mainframes. In this case it's often true that they can convert files using the file transfer software on a mainframe, or alternatively they purchase Mainframe Express which does let you do this at the command line. It is of course possible to convert between EBCDIC and ASCII using the CHARSET compiler directive. Old KB# 4076

Problem: Example of how to use the PC_PRINT_FILE Net Express call-by-name routine Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This example program demonstrates the use of the Net Express call-by-name library routine PC_PRINT_FILE. This routine will print a file allowing the user to optionally select a printer and font that will be used for printing the document.     PC_PRINT_FILE uses the same parameters as PC_PRINTER_OPEN so we use the same copybook definitions. SOURCE FILES: ========= Program Files         Description -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- PRNTFILE.CBL       Source program that makes a call to PC_PRINT_FILE. It will display a printer                         &nbs

Problem: This example demonstrates how an output file can be redirected to the Win32 Print Spooler using the printer_redirection tunable. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This example demonstrates how an output file can be redirected to the Win32 Print Spooler using the printer_redirection tunable. SOURCE FILES: ========= Program Files             Description ----------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- PRTTUNE.CBL Resource Files: ----------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- COBCONFIG.CFG REQUIREMENTS: ========== A default printer must be defined and available OPERATION: ======== Simply rebuild and run the Project NOTE: ==== To see how the printer_redirection is set you can look at the file called cobconfig.cfg.  The cobconfig.cfg i

Problem: Is there a compiler directive that will display information regarding data-items? Resolution: The DATAMAP directive causes the Compiler to output information on the data items; both those that you have specified, and those automatically generated by the Compiler, such as the data area for the RETURN-CODE special register. The information is output at the end of the list file. The information on the data items is output in the same order as they are encountered in your program by the Compiler. The first line is the program-id of the program to which the data items belong. This enables you to see the relevant data items for nested programs, or for the various areas of OO class programs (classes, object methods, and so on). For each data item, the following information is listed: The line number The data name The address of the data item, that is the offset from the beginning of the program's data area The size of the data item in bytes The

Problem: Is it possible to change the CTF (Consolidated Tracing Facility) level from within a COBOL program, rather than at the start of the run? Resolution: Two API routines, CBL_CTF_LEVEL() and CBL_TRACER_LEVEL_GET(), can be used to interrogate and to change the trace level. These are unsupported at present, and the API interfaces may change in future releases of the product. This information is therefore made available on the grounds that it may be found of interest and/or use. CBL_CTF_LEVEL() - Specify a Trace Level call "CBL_CTF_LEVEL" using by value     flags                            by value     trace-level                          &

Problem: Is this working correctly WS-UNSIGNED    PIC 9(15)    COMP-5 VALUE ZERO. WS-SIGNED        PIC S9(15)  COMP-5 VALUE ZERO. WS-BYTES         PIC X(20)    VALUE '-1380985813' MOVE FUNCTION NUMVAL(WS-BYTES) TO WS-UNSIGNED MOVE FUNCTION NUMVAL(WS-BYTES) TO WS-SIGNED After the above operation was performed: WS-UNSIGNED = 2057592656942123 WS-SIGNED = -0000001380985813 Can this be explained? Resolution: The explanation has to do with the definition of the compiler directive comp-5. COMP-5 compiler directive  by default is set to COMP-5"2" COMP-5(2) says that negative numbers are stored in an unsigned COMP-5 item in 2's complement form. This is exactly what is happening. If you want the sign preserved then you need to store the value in a signed data item.

Problem: You may find that even though you didn't set the configuration option    LOG=ON in your extfh.cfg (or the file specified in your EXTFH environment variable, see knoledge base article 22486) Resolution: The file handler configuration option LOG specifies whether any unusual file-related situations, such as corrupted files, or automatic file recovery, are noted in a log file for later examination. The configuration option LOGFILE specifies the name for the log file, by default the name is XFHLOG. In the latest versions of the product LOG=ON by default. But the documentation hadn't been updated accordingly (Server Express 4.0 rpi 1058489) but this should be fixed in Server Express 5.0. To display the file contents, you should use the cobfhprint tool which should create a file called XFHLOG.TXT containing information from the XFHLOG file.     cobfhprint XFHLOGfilename Currently there are two defects associated wit

Problem: The following information explains how to set a breakpoint in Animator on a specific count.  Lets say you want to execute a rountne n number of times.  The following explains how to set the breakpoint. Resolution: In Animator position the cursor on the line that you want to count.  Enter "B"reak, then enter "O"n-count.  Enter the number of times you want to execute that line of code before you want to break (stop) the process from executing.  (The value must be greater between 2 and 255)  Hit the enter key.  Control is returned to the Break-point menu where you may select: On count works with :-        Ordinary breakpoints       : Stops every n'th time        Breakpoint If conditions   : Stops every n'th time condition is true  &

Problem: This particular may be encountered when running programs after having migrated from OCDS 4.1.30 to OCDS 4.1.40 or 4.2 or to any version of Server Express. Resolution: The error "libfhutil.so.2.0: open failed" is normally due to the fact that this library file, used in the old file handling utility (fhutils) was dropped in OCDS 4.1.40 and support for it was removed in all successive versions of the product and all versions of Server Express.  It was replaced by the Rebuild utility which carries out the same functions (and more) with better performances and the ability to handle larger files.  Having being replace with the Rebuild utility, it will therefore be necessary to recompile / relink all the object and executable files. Further information pertaining to the old file handling utility and the necessary steps to migrate to the new Rebuild utility can be found In the online manuals "Programmer's Guide to File Handling" and "Migrati

Problem: This illustrates how to use the Win32 Api ResetDC to adjust the page size for the printer Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This example demonstrates the use of the Win32 SDK function call ResetDC to modify the settings of a printer between print jobs. This program uses the Net Express call-by-name routines PC_PRINTER_OPEN and PC_PRINTER_INFO to select a printer and obtain the printers Device Context Handle. This handle is then used to end the page started by PC_PRINTER_OPEN and in the call to ResetDC in order to change the printers page size to an envelope with landscape orientation. An envelope will then be printed. SOURCE FILES: ========= Program Files         Description -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- RESETDC .CBL       Program that calls the WINAPI functions to reset the device context

Problem: This set of samples is meant as an introduction for the PC_PRINTER library calls Resolution: INTRODUCTION ============ This set of samples is meant as an introduction for the PC_PRINTER library calls. This demo contains 4 separate samples; PCPrinterIntro - This sample is an introduction to the following PC_Printer calls;      PC_PRINTER_OPEN                  PC_PRINTER_INFO                  PC_PRINTER_SET_FONT      PC_PRINTER_CONTROL           PC_PRINTER_WRITE                PC_PRINTER_LOAD_BMP      PC_PRINTER_WRITE_BMP      &nbsp

Problem: This program demonstrates how to allow a user to select a font and style for printing using the Windows SDK function ChooseFont in conjunction with the Net Express PC_PRINTER routines. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This program will demonstrate how to allow a user to select a font and style for printing using the Windows SDK function ChooseFont in conjunction with the Net Express PC_PRINTER routines. This function allows you to present a list of available fonts to the user for selection. This can also be done by setting the appropriate printer-flag when using the PC_PRINTER_OPEN call but the ChooseFont function is more powerful. It allows you to present a list of fonts based on certain criteria such as only Truetype, only fixed fonts etc. The criteria flags can be found in the CFDEFINE.CPY copy file. This example will use the selected font to output various text lines to the printer. The lines will be printed in differing point sizes and

Problem: Customer downloaded a Fixpack, to find that it was in the format <name>.tar.encr. What does he do with such a file? Resolution: .encr files are encrypted, so that they can only be unpacked on a machine with a valid Micro Focus UNIX product. The approach is therefore to make sure that COBDIR and so on are set, and then to run the .encr file as an executable. It will magically transform itself into a normal .tar file, which can then be extracted in the usual way. Old KB# 4077

Problem: When writing a customised file handler on OCDS, the file ufhtab.o is provided to give various functions. This file has to be linked in to the runtime system. There seems to be no equivalent to this file in Server Express. Resolution: The cob command line to link an application with a user callable file handler has changed: you no longer need to specify the file handlers for all the different types of files, and the module ufhtab.o is therefore no longer required. It's also recommended that you specify the file handler with the CALLFH compiler directive, rather than using the -m flag. ** This option may be withdrawn in a future release of Server Express. ** Old KB# 4080#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL#COBOL#AcuCobol#netexpress