Rocket® COBOL

Problem: You may encounter a return code of 128 (or similar) when executing a Cobol program which connects to a database (Oracle in this case) and then exits with COMMIT WORK RELEASE. Resolution: Use the  DEFAULTCALL"4" compiler directive to solve this problem. This is a classic issue with regards to Oracle and call-convetions which fills the return-code in its routines. Call-convention 4 means that the return-code set in sub-routines are set like a local variable. Refer to the product documentation for further details on CALL-CONVENTION and the DEFAULTCALLS compiler directive. Old KB# 3820

Problem: the .bat file pasted ....1) creates an empty Line sequential file ( echo >fils.dat ) ....2) creates an INDexed file using MF REBUILD conversion features Resolution: Extract of the .bat file: echo >fils.dat rebuild FILS.dat,FIINDf.dat /o:lseq,ind /k:1 10 /r:f50 rebuild FILS.dat,FIINDv.dat /o:lseq,ind /k:1 10 /r:v10-50 dir fiIND*.* Old KB# 3816

Problem: Is there a switch which makes COBOL use case dependency for the names of calls within DLLs?  If not, is there a way of specifying that a call should be from a particular DLL? Resolution: The CASE directive affects to the symbol that is created by the compiler. But the Micro Focus rts on Windows will search for the symbol in any case, this search is not case sensitive. It is only on Unix that the search is case sensitive. The best solution is to rename your COBOL function as it is not a good idea to have symbols that match other C symbols. But if you need to use those names, then the solution is to use LITLINK or call convention 8 for those particular calls. This forces the calls to be resolved at link time. Old KB# 3811

Created On:  12 January 2012 Problem: Is there an example of Net Express 4.0 unmanaged code (Not the .net version) calling into a VB or C# .NET DLL. Resolution: To do this you need to use COM on the cobol side and use regsam on your assemblies so that they accessable via COM Interop. To explictily put the location of the assembly in the registry then you would need the /codebase option to regasm. Example using COBOL and C# is attached. Attachments dotnet.zip Old KB# 3827

Problem: The Micro Focus FormatDateToOLE method only accepts a date (day, month, year) as a parameter and not time time.  How can I convert my date and time in to an OLE format? Resolution: As you have found, our own method (FormatDateToOLE) only accepts the date i.e. no time.  However, this COBOL method simply calls the Windows VarDateFromStr() API. You can find out information on this API at: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/automat/html/a5c21ceb-ed8b-4a95-8957-e9d7fc5bd90e.asp You may also want to read the following Microsoft KB article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/291075 Old KB# 3808

Problem: Net Express 3.1 install may fail, and it is unable to reinstall Net Express 3.1 again. The install may then detect that Net Express 3.1 is already installed. Resolution: 1. Delete following files from Windows directory (e.g. c:\\windows or c:\\winnt): MFUnWeb.exe, MicroFocusNet Express31Uninst.exe, NETX31.dat 2. Delete the Net Express directory 3. Delete "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Micro Focus", "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\Software\\Micro Focus", and any occurrences of "net express" from Windows Registry 4. Reboot the machine 5. Install Net Express 3.1 again Old KB# 3799

Problem: The "Cookie" demo (Proj1006) provided in the 'Elements of COBOL Web Programming' manual by Wilson Price (supplied with Net Express)  is designed to illustrate how to create and retrieve a persistent cookie. The program Cookie031 cretaes the persistent data. However, when you run the program to retrieve the cookie (Cookie032) the supposedly saved details may not be retrieved. Resolution: If this happens then one possible cause may be that the COOKIE.JS file may need to be updated. If you loaded the COOKIE.JS file that's provided with the project, then try replacing this with COOKIE.JS from the \\Program Files\\Micr Focus\\Net Express\\Base\\Bin directory if this has a later creation date. Old KB# 3809

Problem: Is there a setting somewhere in Net Express 4 to allow the editor not to 'grey' out from column 72 onwards? Resolution: You can alter the right hand margin in the Net Express editor by doing the following: 1. Select Options from the IDE pull-down menu 2. Click on Edit 3. Change the right hand margin from its default setting of 73. Old KB# 3792

Problem: Animation does not start at the breakpoint Resolution: This scenario was a follows: A non-cobol program was started and calling a cobol dll - although a breakpoint was placed in the cobol program thru an IDE - it was not popping into animation because a break point wont start animation session, it will only re-continue an animation session where the run was hit.  An in this case the non cobol program was not animating. To get a new animation session to start - place a CBL_DEBUGBREAK at the top of the cobol program, recomoile and try again - when the cobol program is called a window wil l pop asking if you want to start animation, click yes   Old KB# 3805

Problem: Release 4.0: After installing XP SP2 there are no webservice avaible that were previously there. Resolution: XP SP2 has as default it's firewall switched on. For the webservice to be available switch this firewall off. Old KB# 3806

Problem: Customer was trying to box a word using only 1 line in the screen, for that they tried to use the OVERLINE and UNDERLINE attributes together in the same DISPLAY statement Resolution: It is not possible to have both attributes displayed at the same time. If you want to box text on a single line then consider using REVERSE-VIDEO. Old KB# 3812

Problem: Is it possible to use MFSORT in ASCII mode? and is it possible to bypass records with invalid data in numeric fields in the sort or omit it (without knowing the invalid values)? Resolution: If you wish to use MFSORT against ASCII files, you must use the SIGN-EBCDIC instruction. SIGN-EBCDIC must precede all SORT, MERGE, USE or GIVE instructions. MFSORT cannot automatically detect invalid data. If any fields are to be omitted, they must be specified in the OMIT instruction. Old KB# 3818#AcuCobol#COBOL#RMCOBOL#ServerExpress#netexpress

Problem: WSQL003:Error openning file 'C:\\Program Files\\Micro Focus\\Net Express\\Base\\workarea\\xdblsrvx.sql. Resolution: XDBSQLSRVX.SQL was not found in the workarea directory. Placing a copy of this file in that location resolved the issue. This script is used by Net Express when fixes are applied to shutdown the server. It is also used by the IDE when it prompts you to shutdown the server. Old KB# 3836

Problem: You may want to call a .int file that is has been built in alocated in a different directory from within the Net Express IDE. As an example, you may need to to run a .int from the current project directory and then make a cobol call to a .int file in the debug folder of another project. Resolution: As an example, you may have 2 programs, Call1 which calls Call2. Projects for these may be created in the following (separate) directories: For Call1 - C:\\TEST\\Call1 For Call2 - C:\\TEST\\Call2 In the project directory for Call1 load Call1.app into the IDE. You now need to change the COBDIR environment variable to point to the \\DEBUG directory of the project directory for Call 2. To do this select 'Project' from the menu bar. Then select 'Properties' and the IDE tab. To set  the  environment variable enter COBDIR in the "Variable" field and %COBDIR%;C:\\TEST\\Call2\\DEBUG in 'Value" field.

Problem: How do we get the GNT run the same as the INT? Resolution: As int code is not created for speed, there are a few checks that are always performed in int code, but by default they are not done in gnt code to get code that runs faster. This is one of those checks... Suppose you have the following two data definitions and two statements in a COBOL program:      01 A   PIC XXX VALUE SPACES.      01 B   PIC XXXX.      01 B2 REDEFINES B PIC 999 USAGE DISPLAY.         MOVE A TO B          ...         ADD 1 TO B2 By default in .gnt code you will never get a 163 error, and the code may appear to work, but in reality the results that you get in the B2 variable are totally undefined and you can get anything there but what y

Problem: How to determine the physical end of record when editing variable length files with the Data File Editor Resolution: If you place the cursor in position 1 of a record and then presses the End key, it will position the cursor directly to the right of the last occupied position even if the record ends with space characters Old KB# 3828#netexpress#AcuCobol#COBOL#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL

Problem:   I am getting the following error message when using the CHAR function against a DB2 UDB 8.0 database when a host variable is used using ODBC interface. The error message I am getting is SQLCODE = -418 SQLERRM = The statement contains the use of parameter marker that is not valid Given below is a code snippet and compiler directives. EXEC SQL                                                      SELECT CHAR(DATE(:wsdate1),ISO)                       INTO :wsdate2                  &nb

Problem: Used the ODBC data source administrator (via the control panel) to add a user DSN, then clicked on the "test connect" button and the following error occurred:      specified driver could not be loaded due to system error 1157 Resolution: The common causes for this type of error is 1) Don't have the necessary ODBC drivers installed 2) The appropriate DBMS client software is not installed. 3) System Path is not set correctly. Check the above causes and see if it helps resolve this problem.  If the problem still exists then contact Micro Focus SupportLine.  Check our website (http://www.microfocus.com) for SupportLine contact numbers (http://www.microfocus.com/AboutMicroFocus/contact/supportlinebycountry.asp) Old KB# 3815

Problem: When recompiling source code from 16 bit COBOL we are hitting reserved word issues.  How can we get around these problems? Resolution: We would not have expected too many problems with moving source code from COBOL 3.4 to Net Express 4.0.  Any problems with reserved words can be addressed via the REMOVE compiler directive. If this does not work, then please contact your local Micro Focus Support office. Old KB# 3830

Problem: Copy file extension names may sometimes not show in the source pool in the IDE. Resolution: This may happen if the copy file extention names are not the standard .cpy but are your own names. If you right-click in the source pool in the IDE 'Show Only Source Files' is checked. If you uncheck this, non-standard file extensions (eg copybookname.inc) will be shown. Further to this, you can make any extension name a standard name by selecting 'Options' from the main menu bar, then select 'Edit' and then enter your own extension names in the 'Search for copyfile extensions' box. This way these will always be picked up and will always be displayed. One other thing to check is to make certain there are no spaces in the file names. Old KB# 3822

Problem: Problems to use Net Express help when Net Express Help files located on network when Microsoft update 896358 installed Resolution: Carefully follow Microsoft instructions of this URL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/896054/ The simplest is to create the Registry Key  (Exemple 2) [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\HTMLHelp\\1.x\\ItssRestrictions] "MaxAllowedZone"=dword:00000001 Old KB# 3793

Problem: Failed to copy to file *:\\*.APP Resolution: Remove the *:\\*.APP file from the Generic Debug Build or Generic Release Build window. The .APP file will be opened and locked whenever the project is open. The IDE attempts to copy the .APP file to either the Debug or Release folder as if it were a data file. The copy fails because the file is locked. Old KB# 3810

Problem: Label in a webform not displaying carriage return Resolution: Trying to display a carriage return in a webform label using X"0D0A" does not work.  The label control used in webforms (System.Web.UI.WebControls.Label) does not recognize carriage return.  In order to display text on separate lines in this type of label control  use the HTML tag <br> to separate the text. EX: set self::"label1"::"Text" to "FirstLine" & "<br>" & "SecondLine" Old KB# 3797

Problem: I can't seem to get the deallocate command to work after I have done a close cursor command.      Resolution: The deallocate cursor sql statement is not supported in OpenESQL. OpenESQL only supports the use of ANSI-standard SQL. Old KB# 3814

Problem: If you have program_search_order set to 2 which should do the following when looking for submodules 2 Uses the following search sequence:    (1)The run-time system is checked to see if the program is loaded or statically linked. If it is. the search ends.    (2)The path in which the calling program was loaded is searched.    (3) If the COBPATH environment variable is set, the paths specified are searched in order. Otherwise, the current directory is searched. (You should not modify the COBPATH environment variable as it is used by this COBOL system.)    (4) If the COBDIR environment variable is set, the paths specified are searched in order. But my tracing shows it is alwasy looking in current directory before anywhere else. Resolution: If you call a submodule with an extension it is considered a fully qualified path name and nullifies the search order parameter value. So if you w