Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Starting AcuAcuXDBC Server from inittab or crontab fails. Resolution: Add the following to inittab or crontab: export GENESIS_HOME=/usr/acuxdbc export LIBPATH=/usr/acuxdbc/bin:$LIBPATH export PATH=/usr/acuxdbc/bin:$PATH Old KB# 2834

Problem: Is it possible to get runtime configuration file name from within a cobol program? Resolution: There's no library that does this automatically. The easiest way is to declare an environment variable in the same config file that indicates the name of the file, such as: CONFIG_FILE_NAME C:\\etc\\cblconfi Then you can accept this variable form cobol with the statement: ACCEPT dest-item FROM {CONFIGURATION}                        {ENVIRONMENT  }                       "CONFIG_FILE_NAME" Old KB# 2769

Problem: What is the cause of an "Accept recursion limit reached" message? Resolution: The reason for this message is the program processing an ACCEPT invokes another ACCEPT without finishing the previous one, and continues to follow this type of logic until the runtime reachs 10 pending ACCEPT's (it's limit). This generally happens when in ACCEPT an event procedure procedure is invoked and the event procedure contains an ACCEPT. This can be solved by using an exception procedure instead of an event procedure.  Exception procedures do finish ACCEPT's. Also, the program can force an ACCEPT to finish by moving either EVENT-ACTION-TERMINATE or EVENT-ACTION-FAIL-TERMINATE to EVENT-ACTION. There is a configuration varaible WARNING-ON-RECURSIVE-ACCEPTS  that can be use to turn off the warning to the user when the limit is reached.  By assigning this configuration variable a non-zero value it give

Problem: How can Vision files be upgraded from version 4 to version 5? Resolution: Rebuild the files using the vutil utility (vutil32 on Windows) version 6.0.0 or later, e.g.: vutil32 -rebuild -5 [filename] where [filename] is replaced with the name of the file to be rebuild.  They -5 lets vutil know the rebuilt file should be a Vision 5 file. If there are any questions on which versions of Vision vutil supports simply type "vutil" or "vutil32" and the output will look like the following: c:\\acucorp\\600\\acugt\\bin>vutil32 vutil -info    [-kpxq] [files]       -check   [-afkqx] [files]       -zero    [-q] [files]       -rebuild [-acdlt2345q] [-bfgkp #] [ ce] [--slow] [files]       -gen     [-2345q] [filelist

Problem: He used the variable renew_timeout and found that it does not work. Resolution: RENEW_TIMEOUT only works for non-graphical screens. In a GUI-Environment it does not work Old KB# 2748

Problem: lk-i-row-address is defined as pic 9(02) and ws-pos-row is defined as unsigned-int.  lk-i-row-address has a value of 4 yet after the move ws-pos-row contains a value of 60. This only happens the second time into this subroutine. Resolution: This behavior was introduced in version 7.1.0 by ECN 3214 (text included below) and can be corrected by setting "ECN-3214   OFF" in a configuration file. SUBJECT: LINKAGE data binding optimization Change Number:  ECN-3214 Status:                 &nbsp ;   Complete Type of Change:    Enhancement Priority:                 &nb sp;  Medium Incidents:               &nbs

Problem: We usualy show a Message Box with the error message when our products finds a problem. This message box requires the user to click okay or use enter and many clients do not want this box to appear or to have a human interaction. Resolution: This can be very easily done if we use a runtime configuration variable called SHUTDOWN_MESSAGE_BOX. The default value of this variable is 1. If we don't want this message box to appear we just have to set it up at 0 (Zero) and everything will work as wanted. An remember, this variable is easily set up in the runtime configuration file. Old KB# 2746

Problem: How can the version of existing Vision indexed files be determined? Resolution: The Vision file utility "vutil" (vutil32 on Windows) can be used to obtain this information by executing vutil using the following command format: vutil -info file_name Here is an example of the vutil command and output for a file named "accounts": usr1l@unix1:~>vutil -info accounts accounts  [vision version 5] # of records:                10 # of deleted records:         0 (0 0) file size:                 1536 (accounts) file size:                 1024 (accounts.vix) total file size:      &nbsp

Problem: After installing the product and activating the product codes and keys provided with the distribution, there are file names that end in an exclamation point (!). Resolution: License files with an extension ending in an exclamation point (!), are back-up copies of old license files. During installation, if the Activator utility detects the presence of an existing license file, the extension of the existing file is changed before a new license file is created. For example, "runcbl.alc" is renamed "runcbl.al!".   Old KB# 2751

Problem: A program makes use of the C$OPENSAVEBOX and it used to work without error but with Version 8.0 the second call to C$OPENSAVEBOX causes a runtime memory access violation. Resolution: This is fixed by ECN-3767 in Version 8.1. There is a patch for verson 8.0.1 attached to this article.  First download and install the extend 8.0.0 WS1 code update (which is version 8.0.1), then download 8.0.1.1001.msp and execute it to install the patch. Attachments: 8.0.1.1001.msp Old KB# 2759

Problem: Executing programs that display the drop down or drop list style of the combo-box control on Windows-based systems allows the user to actuate the drop down list by pressing the F4 key or clicking the control's down button. However, on character-based systems without mouse support, clicking the control's down button is not an option and pressing the F4 key has no affect. Resolution: Character-based systems can be configured to react to the F4 key in a similar fashion as Windows by setting the following KEYSTROKE entry in the runtime's configuration file: KEYSTROKE EDIT=TOGGLE-EDIT-MODE k4 Setting this variable will allow the user to deploy or retract the drop down list by pressing the F4 key.  Alternately, this variable can be set in the COBOL program using the following syntax: Set environment "KEYSTROKE" to "EDIT=TOGGLE-EDIT-MODE k4" Additionally, keys other than the F4 key may be chosen. Fu

Problem: If you have a directory shared between two Win Vista, it's possible to have locked records and clients that hangs up waiting for the records to be released. This is the scenario: - The server is locking a file, while it's reading it. - the client tries to read the same file, with LOCK function, and it hungs, waiting for an answer from the server. Resolution: It seems there's a bug in Win Vista itself (strange thing, isn't it?) http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1259708&SiteID=1 (in google "disable smb2 vista" ) The bug is in protocol SMB2, that is automatically turned on when there's only Vistas in the network. In the URL you will find how to disable SMB2. Run REGEDIT on the server. - Navigate to find the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SYSTEM\\CurrentControlSet\\Services\\LanmanServer\\Parameters. create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value called SMB2 with value = 0. Exit REGEDIT and rebo

Problem: When a program has code like this: move abc(x:y) to xxx and y's value is 0, it generates the following error: Reference modifier range error; start = 31, length = 0 Reference modifier range error; start = 31, length = 0 Reference modifier range error; start = 32, length = 0 Is there a way to turn off this error message? Resolution: The configuration variable WARNINGS can be used to supress these types of messages (see ACUCOBOL-GT Appendices > Appendix H: Configuration Variables > H.2 Configuration variables > WARNINGS. There are 3 possible settings.  An excerpt of the documentation is here: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --- WARNINGS can take the following values: 0  (off, false, no) No warning is printed. 1  (on, true, yes) A warning is printed. This is the default. 2  A warning is prin

Problem: When a COBOL program calls a function in a DLL from two different locations in the COBOL program, the second call will fail with a MAV. Resolution: ECN-3752 corrects this runtime behavior that affects version 8.0.0 and later on the Windows platform. There is no known workaround. This ECN is scheduled for version 8.0.1. Old KB# 2752

Problem: When a program executes a sort on a large file it gets a disk-full error. Resolution: By default the runtime uses the current directory for the temporary files used in the sort. Specify another directory with the SORT_DIR runtime configuration variable.  Set it to a directory large enough to accomodate the sort, roughly twice the size of the data to be sorted.  Make sure that permissions allow users to create files in the specified directory. Avoid using a network drive as latency can cause the sort to be very slow. Old KB# 2768

Problem: When executing code that utilizes format 2 of the STOP statement STOP "literal statement" The debugger is invoked at the STOP, but no source code is visible even though the program had been compiled for source level debugging using the "-Ga" or "-GD" switches. Resolution: ACUCOBOL-GT Reference Manual Version 8.0 Chapter 6: Procedure Division > 6.6 Procedure Division Statements > STOP statement A Format 2 STOP literal statement suspends execution of the program and passes control to the ACUCOBOL-GT debugger. The debugger prints the literal on the screen before accepting debugging commands. Note, however, that you cannot do source level debugging unless you compiled with the "-Zd" option and run with the "-d" option.   Old KB# 2743

Problem: A window that contains a screen with the MapPoint ActiveX control on it becomes the one on top even though the MapPoint window is in a thread waiting for the current thread to end. However, the window for the current thread still is the focused window (the title bar is not grayed out). Resolution: A possible workaround would be to set the properties of the MapPoint ActiveX control directly to set the MapPoint floating window action to action-minimize instead of covering it over with another floating window and subsequently restoring it when required. However, there have been reports in the Internet regarding window focus issues with Visual Basic and Delphi with non-modal windows. Please see the following URLs for details. http://www.mapforums.com/mp-2002-2004-major-problem-non-modal-forms-vb6-1967.html http://thesource.ofallevil.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.mappoint&tid=db94 02e1-2734-4194-af7f-29

Problem: Using the library routine WIN$PRINTER with the op-code WINPRINT-SETUP does not work on Windows Vista. Resolution: Microsoft has changed a configuration flag to now be obsolete.  Here is documentation from Microsoft's website: "PSD_DISABLEPRINTER Obsolete.  Microsoft Windows XP and earlier: Disables the Printer button, preventing the user from invoking a dialog box that contains additional printer setup information." This configuration flag, which was never implemented by ACUCOBOL-GT, is now obsolete.  The documentation from Microsoft does not state what happens when PSD_DISABLEPRINTER is not used, however it appears to be always "on" which inhibits being able to pick a printer. To work around this behavior with Vista use the WINPRINT-SETUP-OLD or WINPRINT-SETUP-EX (available in version 8.0.0 and later) options of WIN$PRINTER. Old KB# 2754

Problem: Setting up 8.1 Beta environment on a new test machine.  When moving the runtime to a new box and performing a -vv an error is generated saying: The application has failed to start because its side-by-side configuration is incorrect. Does Extend 8.1 require the install CD always to be used when setting up the runtime on a new server? Resolution: The issue is one that will be seen with 8.0.0 and later.  The reason for the error is that the required Microsoft Foundation Class DLL's that the runtime depends on are not found. The following link is to a Knowledgebase item that explains the situation and has an attachment that should resolve the problem: http://supportline.microfocus.com/mf_kb_display.asp?kbnumber=25406 Alternatively using the CD to install instead of copying the products to the other server will resolve the problem as well. Old KB# 2770

Problem: How to print a PDF directly, without open it? Resolution: http://support.adobe.com/devsup/devsup.nsf/docs/52080.htm The following command line prints test.pdf on a network printer AcroRd32.exe /t "C:\\test.pdf" "\\\\servername\\printername" "AdobePS Tektronix Phaser 840" "123.45.678.910" The following command line without drivername and portname works, too. AcroRd32.exe /t "C:\\test.pdf" \\\\servername\\printername This prompt command line can be used with C$SYSTEM to print PDF files without open them. Old KB# 2755

Problem: Can a single Grig cell be changed in height etc? Resolution: A single cell cannot be changed only all cells Old KB# 2744

Problem: Performed a rebuild on a Vision file using vutil -r.  When prompted to replace the file and answering yes an error that access to the file was denied was displayed. Resolution: Rebuilding files should only be done when there will be no other access to the file. The situation described occurred due to the timing of vutil locking and unlocking the files. Vutil -rebuild closes the input file (the original) before the output file (rebuilt file). The default mode for vutil -rebuild is bulk-addition. Vision 4 and Vision 5 files have separate data and index files, so it is possible when the lock on the input file is released the output file's index is still being updated by the bulk-addition mode. For a large file there could be a lengthy delay before the output file is closed and ready to copy.  It is during this delay another process likely opened the original file causing vutil to be denied access for the copy. 

Problem: When a bitmap is used on a push button, it does not care for the cells. The size of the PB seems to be fixed and cannot be changed via Acubench. It is not possible to get the "lines 20 CELLS" in the source. Resolution: From manual: ACUCOBOL-GT User Interface Programming  Version 7.2 Chapter 5: Control Types Reference > 5.15 Push Button > 5.15.1 Push Button: Common Properties ........... When the BITMAP style is used, the LINES and SIZE values have a different meaning. The values are the number of pixels in the height and width of the bitmap image (see section 3.7, "Bitmap Buttons," for details). If omitted, the default values depend on the host system. Under Windows, the default LINES value is "15" and the default SIZE value is "16". These correspond to the size of buttons typically found on a toolbar. Old KB# 2749

Problem: Is there a way to unlock a vision file on Unix/Linux when a lock is held by the OS even though there are no runtimes accessing the file. Resolution: First make sure there are no runtimes holding the file open.  If there are, stopping them should solve the problem, but if not: $ cp ORIG.DAT TEMP.DAT $ mv ../ORIG.DAT $ mv TEMP.DAT ORIG.DAT $ vutil -rebuild ORIG.DAT Old KB# 2707

Problem: When working with ACUCOBOL-GT products and files we soon discover than a file status is defined as a pic x(2). In many cases we can receive extended file status going farther than those two characters. How can we recover those values and where do they come from? Resolution: If you want to recover extended file statuses, you have to use an ACUCOBOL-GT routine called "C$RERR". CALL "C$RERR"     USING EXTEND-STAT, TEXT-MESSAGE, STATUS-TYPE Parameters EXTEND-STAT (returned):  PIC X(5) or larger; PIC X(7) or larger under VMS TEXT-MESSAGE (returned):  PIC X(n) STATUS-TYPE (input):  Numeric parameter When do we need to use it and why? There are several cases, but the most often ones are: Error code 30, we need the extended file status because there we return the OS error-code. When we work with transactions. When we work with Acu4GL as we can have a 9D and then an extended file status with the