Rocket® COBOL

Problem: If you try to rebuild the runtime and during the make you find out that you are missing libz.o here it is what you have to do to create it. Resolution: You need to add the following "target" to the Makefile you are using to rebuild the runtime. Preferably at the end of the file: libz.so: libz.a $(CC) $(SHAREDLIB_LDFLAGS) $(NO_UNDEFS_LDFLAGS) $(LIBRUNCBL_LDFLAGS) \\ libz.a -o libz.$(SHARED_LIB_EXT) The second and third line you are adding have to start with a TAB, no spaces. It is compulsory for any make, so please be expecially careful when adding those lines. After this addition, save the file, close it and type : make libz.so If you have renamed your Makefile, for exemple Makefile.ora type the following line make -f Makefile.or libz.so Now you only need to rebuild the runtime (make) and everything should work fine. Old KB# 2739

Problem: Some reports need to be sent to a certain printer because the report requires a particular type of form or requires the special capabilities of a certain printer. Resolution: Getting Started with ACUCOBOL-GT Version 8.0 Chapter 2: Windows Installation > 2.5 Printing and Spooler Issues > 2.5.1 Spooler Formatting > 2.5.1.2 -Q <printername> If it is desirable to utilize the Windows spooler to format report pages, but a particular printer need to be used, assign the print file to: PRINTER1 -Q \\\\printername in the configuration file ("CBLCONFI"). Printername is the printer designation as given in the Printers folder under Settings in the Start menu. The name may be up to 80 characters long and contain embedded spaces. The name may not include the semicolon character (;) or be surrounded by single or double quotes. The pages are printed in the manner described in "-P SPOOLER" above. The sample

Problem: Is there a way to get the same functionality on Windows that can be had using the -o option on UNIX? The documentation specifically states it has no effect on Windows, but output redirection on Windows is necessary to have the programs continue to work when migrating off UNIX to Windows. [Documentation excerpt] -o  This option must be followed by the name of a file that will take the display output from the program. This is similar to output redirection on UNIX systems. If " o" is used instead, then the output is appended to the named file. Remote name notation is not allowed for this option. This option has no effect on Windows platforms. [End Documentation excerpt] Resolution: As noted this is a documented restriction on Windows; however there is a way to get this type of functionality working on Windows. Compile the program(s) with the -Ca compiler option, after that it is possible to use the -o option with

Problem: Where to find .def copy to interoperate with Word, Outlook, Crystal Report? Resolution: You can create your own .def copy using ACUCOBOL-GT utility axdefgen.exe located in the BIN directory of AcuGT installation. Under Components you can find a list of all COM installed into your computer. Under Libraries all ActiveX are listed. Old KB# 2721

Problem: Commenting out the NO_SOCKETS variable in the config85.c and then relinking the runtime the Acu the products no longer function as they cannot communicate with the AcuShare license manager. Resolution: In version 7.0 and later when making changes to the config85.c do not make changes to the NO_SOCKETS section.  Acushare needs the sockets to communicate so if the sockets are remove the products will no longer function. /* If you set NO_SOCKETS to 1, then the runtime will not need to link   */ /* with any sockets libraries.  Note that CLIENT and ACUCONNECT both    */ /* require sockets, so setting this to 1 will automatically imply       */ /* NO_ACUCONNECT and NO_CLIENT.                 &nbsp ;            &

Problem: On one Windows XP PC, AcuBench version 7.2.2 gets an error when using Microsoft Mask Edit Control version 6.0. It shows up in ActiveX control Components fine and can be chosen.  However when the control is placed on the screen the following error is received: Design-time license for OCX.MaskEdBox control missing. Loading control with place hold only. In an effort to load the Design Time license the ActiveX controls were loaded from the VB5 CD, with no luck.  On other PC's the control is does not encounter the design time license issue and is working fine. Resolution: Resolved by registering the MaskEdBox ActiveX control for development by running the VBCTRLS.REG from the Visual Studio CD. Old KB# 2653

Problem: In configuration section of a COBOL program,  a computer name may specified following the OBJECT-COMPUTER phrase. With the 8.0 compiler, the following forms of the OBJECT-COMPUTER statement cause the compiler to hang and consume excessive cpu resources.  The compiler must be terminated by a control-C (command-line) or via the Windows Task Manager:        OBJECT-COMPUTER.        OBJECT-COMPUTER. multiple words separated by spaces. The first form generates a compiler error in 7.2, as it is invalid syntax without the "computer-name" argument.  But in 8.0 it just hangs the compiler. The second form is explicitly described as acceptable syntax in the docs (RM 4.2.2). In all cases above where "8.0 hangs", it occurs on both Windows and Unix.  In addition, AcuBench hangs when trying to parse the source for copybooks

Problem: Doing a rebuild of the project workspace and AcuBench just hangs and has to be killed with Windows Task Manager.  Is there a way to debug this? Resolution: There is a Version 7 Compiler problem where a specific syntax error caused the Compiler to loop and repeatedly report the same error until it aborted.  Somehow the looping problem caused AcuBench to hang. That problem is fixed in version 8.0 and AcuBench will not hang because the compiler no longer spins out. Upgrading to version 8 will resolve the problem. To find out what caused AcuBench Version 7 to hang, repeat the build, then when it hangs examine the AcuBench Output window and note the last program it was compiling.  That program likely contains an error.  The last line in the Output window should be something like: --------- Compiling programname.cbl ---------- Then compile that program from a command prompt outside of AcuBench.  Somet

Problem: When trying to run an ACUCOBOL-GT application with Version 8 or even do a "wrun32 -v" version check "The system cannot execute the specified program" error occurs. The problem occurs when the ACUCOBOL-GT Runtime was not installed on the Windows machine where it is attempting to execute.   It could be that the bin directory was copied from another Windows machine (ISVs often deploy their applications this way), or in a network environment where client PCs map to the ACUCOBOL-GT bin directory on a server. The underlying cause is that Version 8 is built with Visual Studio 2005 which not only binds the Runtime to new Microsoft dlls (MFC80 vs MFC71, etc) but to specific versions of those dlls.  When the ACUCOBOL-GT Runtime Version 8 is installed on a given Windows machine the installer detects whether those dlls are present and installs those that are missing.   When the bin directory is copi

Problem: Does AcuGT have a similiar routine to RM/COBOL's C$SCRD routine? Resolution: For screen captures, use: W$BITMAP Routine This routine is a collection of related operations that handle bitmap (BMP and JPG) images. Only Windows machines can actually display bitmaps. On all other machines, this routine returns an error code. Usage CALL "W$BITMAP"     USING WBITMAP-CAPTURE-DESKTOP , parameters,     GIVING BITMAP-HANDLE Refer to the ACUCOBOL-GT Appendices manual, Appendix I, for details on this routine's operation codes and parameters. Old KB# 2719

Problem: Is there a command like UNIX "file" to get information about compiled COBOL objects? Resolution: The ACUCOBOL-GT development system has a utility named cblutil (cblutl32.exe on Windows) that can be used with the "-info" flag to provide this type of information, e.g.: C:\\test\\C$system\\Object>cblutl32 -info Program1.acu Program1.acu:  size: 3580 (DFC), v8.0, VAX-mode, debug (24-Jan-2008 09:32:58) With 7.x versions of cblutil the -x flag can also be used to provide even more information: C:\\test\\C$system\\Object>cblutl32 -info -x Program1.acu Program1.acu:  size: 3580 (DFC), v8.0, VAX-mode, debug (24-Jan-2008 09:32:58)     ccbl -o .\\object\\@.acu -x -Ga -Sp C:\\test\\C$system\\screen;C:\\test\\C$system\\copylib;C:\\test\\C$system\\report;C:\\test $system\\resource;C:\\test\\C$system\\fd;C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl800\\AcuGT\\sample\\def;C:\\test\\C$system\\Screen

Problem: Executing LIBUTIL with no arguments on the HP 3000 results in the following error: **** EXEC FUNCTION FAILED; subsys =517; info = 48 ABORT: /OBJ800/bin/libutil NM SYS   a.01003770 dbg_abort_trace $28 NM UNKN  2bb.00ad28e8 NM UNKN  f3.0004dfb4 [1] Done(134) /OBJ800/bin/libutil   43450599 Abort /OBJ800/bin/libutil Resolution: Verify that the binary mode of FTP was used instead of ASCII. Modify the capabilities of the account and/or user to include BA, IA, and PH. If this does not fix it, then try adding the PM capability or try running libutil from an account that has BA, IA, PH, and PM capabilities. The output of executing LIBUTIL with no arguments should resemble the following example. shell/iX> /OBJ800/bin/libutil Usage:   MPE:   libutil "-x [copylib [group]]"   POSIX: libutil  -x [copylib [group]]    &nbs

Problem: According to the manual, $WINHELP's "HELP-CONTENTS" opcode will have the runtime display the help file's contents. However, the following code fails to display the help file's contents, instead it displays the help file's first page. call "$WINHELP" using "APHELP.HLP", help-contents. The correct behavior can be demonstrated by double-clicking on the HLP file directly. Resolution: The following code will result in the desired behavior: call "$WINHELP" using "APHELP.HLP", 11. The information provided in the manual was correct for earlier Windows systems prior to XP, but the newer help system API now uses a different op-code and will be updated in a future version. A list of the constant values for the Microsoft "WinHelp" library routine which is called from "$WINHELP" at the URL below. http://www.smountain.com/resource/CPPWinHelp.pdf These two

Problem: If you use a sintax like this one runcbl -e error_log_file o display_log_file programme_cobol to redirect the DISPLAYS of your application into a log_file and you have control characters all over the place, what to do to have a clean display_log_file? Resolution: The solution on this case is pretty simple. Position this two variables : A_TERM=none SHUTDOWN_MESSAGE_BOX=0 And compile your program with -Ca (ansi compatibility for accept and display). This way the display_log_file will be clean and proper. Old KB# 2740

Problem: When opening a seq. file with open output the records are gone. How to add records? Resolution: Open the file with OPEN EXTEND After a successful OPEN statement, the file is positioned at its first logical record. (The only exception to this rule is that a sequential access file opened with the EXTEND phrase is positioned after its last record. Records written to such a file are appended to the file.) Old KB# 2652

Problem: Attempting to use the indexed file record editor, Alfred, with an EFD (encrypted XFD) results in an error message "error reading or parsing the XFD file". Resolution: Alfred does not use EFDs.  Generate new XFDs or use Alfred with XFDs. Old KB# 2667

Problem: Is there any sample code that demonstrate how to center the application window on the user's screen? Resolution: * Use the "acucobol.def" copy file, which is included * with the ACUCOBOL-GT product distribution. Working-Storage Section. 01  window-height           pic 9(9) value zero. 01  window-width            pic 9(9) value zero. 01  screen-size-remaining   pic 9(9) value zero. 01  screen-lines-remaining pic 9(9) value zero. 01  computed-col-position   pic 9(9) value zero. 01  computed-line-position pic 9(9) value zero. 01  menu-screen-size        pic 9(2) value 74. 01  menu-screen-lines       pic 9(2) value 24. 01  my-var

Problem: He has Version 4.3. and 5.2. and wants to install it for Win XP and Vista. But he gets into trouble. Resolution: For XP you need at least Version 6 For Vista Version 8 Old KB# 2732

Problem: It is not possible with Version 8 just to copy the RT, it must be installed. Resolution: There is a workaround: The Manifest file has to be copied as well. Installation should really not be required. But some manifest files are also necessary. If you rename the attached file (it is a zip file, just alter the extension) and unzip it into the target directory, it should be okay. Attachments: vc80.zip.removethis Old KB# 2733

Problem: When a program is executed stand-alone, it is possible to change the focus of the cursor with no problems; but if this same program is called by another one, the called program loses focus. Resolution: This problem is caused by having a floating window on top of a standard graphical window, and in the event procedure of an entry field raising a message box. Upon return from the message box, it would be sent back to the original entry field, regardless of the event handler coding in the program to go to another entry field. This problem has been fixed with the ecn3763, and will be part of the 8.1.0 version. The workaround is to use an exception procedure instead an event procedure. Old KB# 2701

Problem: AcuSort uses field parameters offset, length, type, and order.   The offset and length are easy to determine if the field is at or near the beginning of the record and there is no packed data.  What if the field to be sorted on is somewhere in the middle of a very large record?   Is there a simple way to determine the field parameters? Resolution: Generate an extended file descriptor (XFD) for the file by using the -Fx compile option.   The 'Field Section' of the XFD includes the details about each field. Column one is the offset in bytes. Column two is the size in bytes. Column three is the data type. For example, to sort ascending on the field MORE-DATA that has this XFD description: 0000001892,0000000006,16,0000000006, 00,000,000,03, MORE-DATA (The offset is 1892 the size is 6 and the type is 16.) The AcuSort command would be:        acuso

Problem: Property for "Target Browser" offers "Internet Explorer" and "Standard HTM".  What does this do? Resolution: A Target Browser property "Specify Internet Explorer" selection causes the report writer to add Internet Explorer (IE) specific HTML tags to the output file (STYLE TYPE="TEXT/CSS").  If a web browser other than IE is used and the "Target Browser" property is set to IE, the results will be less than optimal.  For such cases, the "Standard HTML" setting is recommended.  (The results can be seen by generating Standard HTML then using Firefox or Opera (Apple) browsers to view the HTML.) Old KB# 2658

Problem: A call to the C$SOCKET library routine with the AGS-READ opcode and a read length of zero should populate RETURN-CODE with the number of bytes of data available on the socket. That value can then be used for the read length to obtain all the data in a single read (if the buffer is large enough). If the call to C$SOCKET AGS-READ with length zero doesn't occur within an ACCEPT then RETURN-CODE is always zero even if there is data available on the socket. Resolution: First call C$SOCKET AGS-READ with a length of negative 1 (-1) then call C$SOCKET AGS-READ with length zero.  This will ensure that RETURN-CODE contains the number of bytes of data available in the socket regardless of whether the call is made within an ACCEPT statement. It will look something like this:      **** read with length -1 to set up the read with length zero ****           &nb

Problem: The execution of COBOL programs incorporating ActiveX controls results in a memory access violation when compiled with the version 8.0.0 compiler and specifying the "-Z61" (or earlier) compiler flag. Resolution: Install ACUCOBOL-GT Dev System version 8.1 when available or compile COBOL programs with version 7.2.2 or earlier compiler. Old KB# 2692

Problem: Sometimes the runtime process is orphaned on the server and has to be removed manually. Is there any alternate way to clean or prevent this? Resolution: 6.3.1.16 TC_CHECK_ALIVE_INTERVAL Use the TC_CHECK_ALIVE_INTERVAL configuration variable to set a time interval in seconds (a value between 1 and 32767) during which the server runtime checks for client activity. This activity can be either regular client user interaction or, if the user interface is inactive, two "ping" messages sent by the client during the defined interval. If no client activity of any kind occurs during a particular interval, the server runtime process exits. Setting this variable to "0" disables the client activity check feature. The default value is "300" (5 minutes). 6.3.1.42 TC_SERVER_TIMEOUT This variable lets you determine how many seconds (from 0 to 32767) the client waits for a response from the server. If the client receives n