Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Dialog System ( DSWIN.exe ) : How to do batch processing operations ? Resolution: In the Net Express online help, Search for the keyword DSWIN. You should find an entry titled 'Starting DialogSystem' which documents all the command-line parameters of the command DSWIN.EXE ( Dialog System tool ). Old KB# 4186

Problem: Following is an example of how to Play a WAV file under 32-bit windows using the Win 32 API functions and PlaySound (old api) and PlaySound (Current API). The PlaySound API is the recommend way, and the information below relates only to the play sound demo. The zip file constains information about the sndPlaySound demo. Resolution: BUILD W/RELEASE:     Net Express 4.0, All04n40.exe and 3.1, SP1 FixPacks ============ Two Net Express project files, "PlaySound.APP" and "PlaySound.OLD" are present in the project directory. The "PlaySound.APP" file is a Net Express 4.0 project file. The "PlaySound.OLD" file is a Net Express 3.1, SP1 project file. If you are working with Net Express 3.1 rename the 4.0 project file ("PlaySound.V40") and change the file extension of the 3.1 project file from "OLD" to "APP". INTRODUCTION ========== The "PlaySound"

Problem: Module-definition (.def) files provide the linker with information about exports, attributes, and other information about the program to be linked. A .def file is most useful when building a DLL. Because there are linker options that can be used instead of module-definition statements, .def files are generally not necessary. Microsoft URL explaining  .DEF files: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vccore98/HTML/_core_module.2d.definition_files.asp If, after compiling your COBOL program, these files ( .exp, .lib, .def ), appear, it is possible to eliminate them. Resolution: The problem is due to the link settings in the Project Build Settings of the DLLs in the project.  So for each DLL do the following: 1)  Right lick on the DLL and select Project Build Settings. 2)  Click on the "Link" tab and then from the drop-down menu, select "Advanced". 3) &nb

Problem: This example illustrates how to use Win32 Api functions to search a directory. File and directory attributes are interpreted and displayed. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This example illustrates how to use Win32 Api functions to search a directory. File and directory attributes are interpreted and displayed. SOURCE FILES: ============= Program Files          Description --------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- FindFile.cbl              Application program Win32 Api Functions ============      FindFirstFile      FindNextFile      FileClose      FileTimeToLocalFileTime      FileTimeToSystemTime PROGRAMMING: ==========

Problem: Does POWER TERM use SSH? Resolution: PowerTerm supports both SSH-1 and SSH-2 standards (Secure Shell security). For additional information on this 3rd party piece of software you may like to take a look at the Ericom web site.  Please note that this is not a MF product; we just package it with Net Express. Old KB# 4114

Problem: Can the Acrobat reader be launched for a PDR file from Net Express COBOL? Resolution: Yes - use the WinApi ShellExecute. A demo for ShellExecute can be found at our samples page in the Internet: http://supportline.microfocus.com/examplesandutilities/nesamp.asp#Win32API It demonstrates how to launch the Internet Browser for an HTML-file. Changing the name of the HTML-file to the name of the PDF-file will start the Acrobat reader. The ShellExecute expects a zero-terminated filename, e.g. by z" ". Old KB# 4052

Problem: With Unix filenames/sourcenames are case-sensitive. With Net Express you could write: CALL "Great" and GREat.int will be found How does this work on Server Express? Is there a directive you can use to have the same behaviour? Resolution: On a UNIX system one can only have upper or lower case. A 'mixed' name in upper & lower case letters will not work. e.g.: GREat.int. This is related to the Operating System. Windows can handle this without problem but not UNIX. There is a directive FOLD-CALL-NAME (FOLDCALLNAME without hyphen works as well).  This compiler directive allows lower- or upper case. But not a mixture. Old KB# 4108

Problem: While debuging, if I want to have a look at the contents of a field, I press "q" then followed by "c". However, if I want to have a look at the contents of an array, I am having problems finding the keys that allow me to "scroll" up/down the array contents. Resolution: To view the contents of an array, place your cursor over the group item of the array, by going to the working storage of the array and then press "q" followed by "c". Next press "F5" / "F6" to step down / up through an 'OCCURS' field of a group item. "F8" will take you to the child of that group item, that is, the data element of that level. "F9" will take you to next data element of the same level. "F7" will take you back to the group item of the child. Old KB# 4117

Problem: Following the steps in the Resolution below it should be possible to discover which Native Code Generator created a .GNT or .O file. This can be useful if you want to discover which release of Server Express was used. Resolution: Open the GNT/OBJ file with the command: what filename or strings filename | fgrep "@(#)" Seach the contents of the file for  @(#) There should be a string which looks like:   @(#)Hello      99051015180266 GNR-049060000AC  Genesis PowerPC hilo 1.231> or   @(#)hello      99051015393162 GNR-054060000AC  tcg1di386 1.422> which means: hello - base name of the INT file from which this file was generated. 99051015393162 - date and time when it was generated. GNR-054060000AC - version of checker stamp which comes from the INT file. tcg1di386 - version of the generator used.

Problem: You may find that this information may be missing in your version of the documentation. The  "What is new" section says that the search order has changed since Server Express 2.2, but the search order that is actually taking place hasn't been detailed within the chapters that talk about the file handler configuration. Resolution: Currently (Server Express 4.0 and 5.0) the file handler searches for the configuration file in this order: 1. It checks for an environment variable named EXTFH.  If the environment variable value is not equal to a space, it attempts to open that file. 2. Otherwise, it tries to open using "$COBDIR/etc/extfh.cfg". 3. If that fails, it tries to open "extfh.cfg" in the current working directory. 4. Finally, if that fails, it assumes that there is no configuration file and it takes all the default values for each one of the options. Old KB# 4107#netexpress#ServerExpress#COBOL#RMCOBOL#AcuCobo

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: Are ISO2002 User Defined Funtions supported in Net Express V3.1? Resolution: ISO2002 User Defined Funtions are NOT supported in V3.1 of Net Express. To use this functionality you need to use V4.0 or above. Old KB# 4046

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

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: Deploying an application created with Net Express and running on Application Server for Net Express may sometimes result in a Dynamically Bound RTS Error. NOTE: View the Adobe Acrobat .PDF form of this document via the attachment link at the bottom of this document for the complete document, which includes graphic screen shots of the error message being referred to. Resolution: There are three possible situations that can cause this error to occur: " The first, and most likely, cause of this error is a difference between the Fix Pack levels between the Net Express and Application Server for Net Express packages.  The correction for this situation is to insure that both are on similar Fix Pack levels. " The second cause for this error message could be that both products have the correct Fix Pack levels, but there's a problem with the environment settings. i.e.: the Path is set to point to an older or newer version of a CBL

Problem: This Demo reads in the binary data of a .jpg and then writes it to a database 8KB at a time.  The .jpg is stored in the database as an Image field.  It then reads this Image field 8KB at a time into a memory buffer and then writes it to a file on disk and then opens the file. Resolution: INTRODUCTION ========== This Demo reads in the binary data of a .jpg and then writes it to a database 8KB at a time.  The .jpg is stored in the database as an Image field.  It then reads this Image field 8KB at a time into a memory buffer and then writes it to a file on disk and then opens the file. SOURCE FILES: ========= Program Files           Description --------------------     ----------------------------------------------------------- BlobDemo.cbl Copy Files: --------------------     -------------------------

Problem: In a .NET Cobol program which creates and prints a Word document, how do I set the ActivePrinter property from within the Cobol program to select the printer I require? Resolution: You can use the OLE Object, e.g. a Word document, to set the printer settings. Have a look at the attached demo for how to get the name of the default printer using the ActivePrinter property.  The commented out lines in the code will change the printer name. Attachments: test1_1403.zip Old KB# 4056

Problem: According to the documentation, a fileshare server can be run as a background task using the following command line: fs >server-1.log 2>&1 & However after running this command, the following is displayed on the command line: [1]   Stopped                 fs >server-1.log 2>&1 and an rts32 process is left running while can only be terminated with a kill -9 Resolution: Problem here seems to be that the fileshare password file needs to be available when starting the server as a background task.  This is normally configured in the fs.cfg file, however this file does not seem to get automatically picked-up when starting the server as a background task. The following command lines will correctly start the server in background mode: 1.  fs < fs.cfg >server-1.log 2>&1 & 2.  fs -s

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 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: 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: Error occurs when creating an executable linked with Oracle 9.x compile using Server Express 4.0 on HP/UX 11.11 platform Precompiling xxx005u.pco         cob -C IBMCOMP -C NESTCALL  -t -x -o xxx005u xxx005u.cob -L/oracle/product/920/lib/ /oracle/product/920/precomp/lib/cobsqlintf.o -lclntsh 'cat /oracle/product/920/lib/ldflags'   'cat/oracle/product/920/lib/sysliblist'  -lm  -lpthread -lpthread* Ignored  - NESTCALL cob64: invalid symbol __iob in sidefile /opt/microfocus/cobol/lib/cobisym *** Error exit code 1 Stop. RXCPR/AAD:9i.T4.40.04 PTI=SP2 Resolution: The  error is the result of mismatched definition of environment variables for Server Express 4.0 COBDIR=/opt/microfocus/cobol  - the default for Server Express 4.0 PATH set to include the bin directory of an earlier version of Server Express d

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: 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: 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                          &