Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Product:    Net Express 4.0 Running a java program and getting a 103 error message that the library file is not found. Resolution: Check the environment is setup for Java and COBOL: 1)  There is a need to have Java Development Kit (JDK) 1.3.x (or higher) installed.  It is recommended to use the JDK supplied with your J2EE application server. Make sure that the PATH environment variable points to the bin directory of the correct JDK. To set the PATH using a command such as: set Path=jdk-installation\\bin;%path% The Java Development Kit (JDK) is required for compiling Java. The JDK is downloadable from the Sun Web site or use any Java IDE which is based on either the Sun or Microsoft Java run-time environments. After installing the JDK, to put the tools.jar file for the JDK on the classpath, using a command similar to: set CLASSPATH=jdk-install-directory\\lib\\tools.jar 2)  To check the fo

Problem: What option can we use in the rebuild to pad with spaces when converting a line sequential file to a fixed length record sequential file. It appears that the records in the record sequential file are filled with low-values instead of spaces. rebuild command: REBUILD  file1.txt, file2.dat  /o:lseq,seq /r:f80 Resolution: There  is an optional padding character suboption for the /r option that designates the padding character used to fill the  fixed length record. If you  use /r:f80pd32 for the output file then this tells Rebuild to create a file with fixed length records of 80 bytes and to space fill the record. i.e.  the padding character is specified as a decimal value (32) which represents the ASCII space character " ". This is documented  in the Net Express Help ( Help>Contents>Programming>File Handling>Reference>Rebuild>Options )under the /r option you w

Problem: To open a new, empty email form with a filled out email address. From a command prompt and using: start mailto:firstname.lastname@domain.com How can this be done from Dialog System? Resolution: To achieve the same from within Net Express with     call "system" using z"start mailto:firstname.lastname@domain.com" From Dialog System, to use a CALLOUT or a RETC and call the "system" from COBOL. It was tested successfully on Windows XP Professional where Microsoft's Outlook 10 is installed. Hint: The CALL to "system" opens a Command prompt, which cannot be closed without ending the program. Old KB# 4325

Problem: Release: 4.0 How to setup Application Server for Net Express at client site? Resolution: Install from cd by running setup.exe in application server folder. Also, you can manually copy the runtime folder to the deployment machine and create the license database folder see below. Note: If  not installing from the cd (manually copy runtime folder to deployment machine),  then there is the need  to update the path to where the runtime files are located. Please  make sure that where the deployment of the application is also on the path and may need to be on the cobdir. If your customers have already tried to setup their license database without success.  If this is the case tell them to go into the registry and delete the Micro Focus folder that can be found under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software\\Micro Focus\\ASLMF The hkey_local_machine\\software\\micro focus should not be deleted just the ASLMF fol

Problem: CreateProcess Windows API does not start a Process. The CreateProcess was being used to start an EXE. However this was returning the value 0. A zero from the API denotes failure to start the process. How can you find out why the process could not be started ? Resolution: The CreateProcess API will return 0 when it does not start a process. However if you get an error (zero) retrurned you can call the GetLastError API to retrieve more infomation. Code such as: 01  ws-retval       DWORD.     call winapi "GetLastError" retrurning ws-retval will allow you retieve the reason for the error. In the case if the customer problem a 2 was returned from GetLastError. A return code of 2 is:- "The system cannot find the file specified." This was caused because the EXE that had to be run was not on the PATH. Windows will search down PATH for EXE file. Ensurin

Problem: How to prevent CTRL-C (CTRL BREAK) keyboard interrupt in 32bit applications? Resolution: According to the doc files (Help -> Help Topics -> Index): X"B0" function 4 Disables keyboard interrupts (Ctrl Break). Syntax: call X"B0" using function-code                  parameter ... This routine disables keyboard interrupts for the rest of the application. It should be called before any subprograms are called. Old KB# 4285

Problem: I have copied CBLCORED.EXE  to the application directory on the customer's machine, and have then used a command line to run CBLCORED.    I select "Enabled" but the CBLCORE dump itself is NOT created anywhere on the hard drive when the program fails.    I have also tried using the Net Express CBLCORE functionality, by setting error debugging to "Core Dump" in the "Animate" settings, but the CBLCORE file is still not created. Why is this? Resolution: This wasn't working because the application hadn't been compiled and linked for debugging.   Linking the application using -BFD (cbllink -BFD myapp) builds a static exe with the animation functionality built in.  If you run this, you will find that the coredump is created when the application fails. Old KB# 4284

Problem: How do you set "Duplex Printing"? (printing on both sides of a page requires optional printer feature) Resolution: This will only work for a printer that acutally can print on 2 sides Manual Duplexing does not work with this method Using PC_PRINTER_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES. The PCPDP example program demonstrates how to use the PC_PRINTER_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES routine. The routine requires two parameters, "flags" and "properties".            call 'PC_PRINTER_DEFAULT_PROPERTIES'                using by value     flags                      by reference properties                returnin

Problem: Can a Visual Studio 2005 solution or project be rebuilt directly from the command line? In the classical Net Express IDE, there is the utility ProjMake.exe. Is there a program similar to this for .Net COBOL solutions/projects? Resolution: Yes. In the .Net Framework V.2.0, there is the program MSBuild.EXE for this purpose. The .Net Framework V.2.0 has to be used together with Net Express Version 5. The program MSBuild.exe is located in a directory similar to: C:\\WINDOWS\\Microsoft.NET\\Framework\\v2.0.50727 You can rebuild the solution MyApp.sln e.g. by: MSBuild MyApp.sln /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release Or a COBOL project by: MSBuild MyApp.cblproj /t:Rebuild /p:Configuration=Release For full details of the command line switches for MSBuild, just enter MSBuild /? For more information, please read also: 64-bit Support in the chapter: Known Errors and Restrictions in COBOL Support for .NET in Net Express Help - Start here! -

Problem: How to check what version of fixpacks are applied to the product? Resolution: (1) Download MFSupportInfo.zip utility from http://supportline.microfocus.com/examplesandutilities/nesamp.asp#Utilities Unzip MFsupportinfo.zip and run the MFSupportInfo.exe. This will create a MFSupportinfo.log that shows what versions and fixpacks that were applied. From Net Express 5.0 onwards MFSupportInfo.exe is part of the ..\\Net Express 5.0\\base\\bin installation directory. (2) Also , Start Net Express. click on Help -> About Net Express. click on more info at bottom right. Under installed options and fixpacks . See what fixpacks and installed options are applied. Old KB# 4316

Problem: A customer wanted to know if it is possible to use the  "_" and '$" characters in data item names. Resolution: It is possible to use the underscore character in a data name by specifying the ISO2002 compiler directive. However the dollar sign can only be used for what is was origianlly intended, viz. a currency sign. Old KB# 4274

Problem: Since applying SP2 to Windows XP our CGI programs run fine but they cannot be debugged/animated within Net Express. Resolution: We suggest you try the following: 1)  Log on to Microsoft's Windows Update and ensure your installation of XP is fully updated. 2) Disable the XP's internal Firewall. 3) Execute CBLCORED -I from within a Net Express Command Prompt.  This CBLCORED option implements a number of security tweaks that Microsoft recommend.  It is only active for the duration of the user being logged on to the machine i.e. a reboot or logging of the XP box will require the command to be executed again. 4) Enable CGI debugging from within IIS 5.5. Please contact Micro Focus SupportLine if you still have problems. Old KB# 4260

Problem: Linkage parameters are not passed in a project with other CICS programs Resolution: Please check if you have the following directive in your project properties: CICSECM(). This directive should only be used with CICS programs.  If the programs where you have this problem are not CICS programs, you should remove the CICSECM() directive when you compile them. CICS uses the linkage in a very particular way.  In a CICS program you access to linkage using special CICS calls... so in this case your linkage parameters are there but you would need to use a CICS sentence to access to them. Old KB# 4271

Problem: If the following MOVE-OBJECT-HANDLE causes strange behaviour, e.g. for a ListBox: SCREENSET-INITIALIZED ...     MOVE-OBJECT-HANDLE WIN-01 SM-HANDLE(1) Resolution: The object WIN-01 is not available at SCREENSET-INITIALIZED. So its handle cannot be moved. Move this code fragment to the WINDOWS-INITIALIZED dialog of WIN-01 and the handle of WIN-01 can be received. Old KB# 4248

Problem: This demo demonstrate how to invoke some of the basics functions of Microsoft HTML Help via API calls. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This demo demonstrate how to invoke some of the basics functions of Microsoft HTML Help via API calls. SOURCE FILES: ========== Program Files         Description -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- HTMLDemo.CBL      Dialog System/Cobol program DSHTML.CBL COBOL programs using HTMLHelp                                API calls Copy Files: -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- HTMLDemo.CPB     Dialog System screen

Problem: This demo shows how you can use the SetParent Windows API to dynamically change the parent of a Dialog System window. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This demo shows how you can use the SetParent Windows API to dynamically change the parent of a Dialog System window. SOURCE FILES: ========== Program Files         Description -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- SetParent.app Mainprog.cbl Copy Files -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- screenset1.cpb Screenset Files -------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- screenset1.gs ========================================================== Keywords: demonstration, sample, example, demo, Dialog System, setparent.zip demo.ex demo.ne

Problem: Bei Anwendungen mit Ausgabe in eine zeichenorientierte Umgebung erscheinen die Umlaute im Allgemeinen falsch dargestellt. Das passiert typischerweise in Befehlszeilen oder in einer DOS box. Die Ursache liegt in der Verwendung des OEM Zeichensatzes im DOS Subsystem. Resolution: Zur Verbesserung der Darstellung kann Net Express in den ANSI Input Mode umgeschaltet werden. Das erreicht man in der Application Environment der Project Properties. Dann erscheinen z.B. die Umlaute eines DISPLAY richtig im Application Output. Läuft die Anwendung in einem Befehlsfenster, dann muss man die Umstellung in den Runtime Tunables vornehmen. Dazu braucht man eine Runtime Configuration File. Diese muss mit Hilfe einer Umgebungsvariablen definiert werden:   SET COBCONFIG_=d:\\path\\rtsconfig.cfg Darin wird der Schalter für die Umlaute gesetzt:   SET ANSI_INPUT_MODE=TRUE Old KB# 4245

Problem: Release 4.0: When installing Net Express with .Net the COBOL.NET Project Package is not installed and the error 'Package Load Failure' appears. Error message: Package 'COBOL.NET Project Package' has failed to load properly ( GUID = {DC88F376-25DD-49C8-99D9-1FD8AE484362} ). Please contact package vendor for assistance. Would you like to diable loading this package in future? You may use 'devenv /resetskippings' to re-enable package loading. Application restart is recommended, due to possible environment corruption. Resolution: The problem was in this case that the virus scanner Zonealarm prevented the installation from succeeding. After disabling this the installation went through ok. Old KB# 4264

Problem: Multiple Line Text in Dialog System Push Buttons using Windows Styles. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== Multiple Line Text in Dialog System Push Buttions using Windows Styles. By default Dialog System truncated text on a Button when it is larger than the button size. This demo shows how to use Windows API calls in order to make the text go over multiple lines. SOURCE FILES: ========== Program Files            Description ---------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- demo.cbl           setbuttonstyles.cbl Copy Files: ---------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- thescreenset.cpb minwin.cpy winbase.cpy winclass.cpy winerror.cpy wingdi.cpy winnls.cpy wintypes.cpy winuser.cpy DS Scree

Problem: Release 4.0: How can I get more  information about run time error codes used in Net Express? Resolution: Take a look at th following: Open the Net Express IDE -> Help -> Help Topics -> Index -> enter: 'RTS' and you should see this entry:  'error messages' After clicking you get back a sorted list by numbers ascending of all rts error codes used in this run time system. Old KB# 4266

Problem: Supplying an argument or parameter to MFNETX /DEBUGPROJ (e.g. MFNETX /DEBUGPROJ:projectname arg) fails with an error that it cannot find the project. Resolution: Since spacey project names are allowed in Net Express, the MFNETX /DEBUGPROJ command treats the characters following the project name and space as part of the project name. To avoid this to happen, you simply need to quote the project name signifying that the following the closing quote is an argument, i.e. MFNETX /DEBUGPROJ:"projectname" arg Old KB# 4255

Problem: Demonstrating the usage of the Dialog System Error Message File Handler, DSERRHAN. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ============ This project demonstrates using dialog system error handler "dserrhan". SOURCE FILES: ========== Program Files     Description ----------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- dseh.cbl             Program that loads the dserrh.gs screenset and the Dialog System error handler                           dserrhan.    dserrh.gs           screenset that demonstrates the dialog system error handler.   Copy Files: ----------------     ----------------

Problem: Client was running an executable that was creating a file. Each time it ran it should have created a new filename - but it kept creating the same filename. Resolution: At one time they had an environment variable for the file name in the project properties under the application button. The solution was to delete the rtecfg_....obj (most likely in working directory) and it take out of link properties in advanced "include objs" Then the EXE was rebuilt It's important that while testing environment variables that may change are only included in the IDE button and NOT the Application button. If they are included in the Application, the variable will be built into the executable. Old KB# 4242

Problem: The sample is used to demonstrate how create transparent dialog boxes in Dialog System Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== The project file Layered.APP is used to demonstrate how create transparent Dialog Boxes in Dialog System. To do this the demo uses the Layered Window API that was introduced in Windows 2000. RESTRICTIONS ========= Support for Layered Windows was added in introduced in Windows 2000. Transparent windows using this technique will therefore work only on 2000/ME/XP/2003. It will not work on Win9x systems. ========================================================== Keywords: demonstration, sample, example, demo, Dialog System, layered.zip demo.ex demo.ne Attachments: Layered.zip Old KB# 4231

Problem: This demo shows how to create icons in a Dialog System Pulldown-Menu Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This Demo shows you how to create Icon's in a Dialog System Pulldown-Menu. In Dialog System we have no functionality for this. In this Demo we can show how you can do this via WinApi system calls. kind Regards Andre Beuth & Dieter Petz SOURCE FILES =========   Program Files        Description ------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- Menueitem.cbl      Main Program Menueitem.gs       Dialog System Screenset *.bmp                   Bitmaps used in the Pull-down-Menue Copy Files ------------------     -------------------------------