Rocket® COBOL

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: If an invalid character is inadvertantly placed in column 7 and the workspace is built, the project will continue to be built even if "stop build" has been issued.  Each error encountered will continue to generate many lines of output in the build window until every program in the workspace has been processed.  For large projects this may take several minutes.  This problem was encountered with AcuBench versions 6.2 and 7.0. Resolution: Install AcuBench and development system version 7.2.0 or newer.   Due to the amount of time the build process could consume, for versions prior to 7.2.0, it may be desirable to force the process to be interrupted instead of waiting for the cycle to complete. This may be done by using the Windows Task Manager to end the process for ccbl32.exe. Old KB# 2657

Problem: Is there a way for one program to open and close files and from other programs in the same run perform all the updates (read, write, re-write, delete) to the file?   Resolution: Yes this is possible  if the file FD is declared as external in both programs, ex: FD custom-file external. 01 custom-record ....etc This way it is possible to open and close the file in one program  and read, write, etc. from another program. Old KB# 2726

Problem: how many Vision files are opened by runtime? Resolution: There's no acu function that can say how many vision files the runtime has opened in a certain moment. This is possible only using AcuServer -info. Old KB# 2720

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: 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: How can you detect if a printer is on or off when running a COBOL program on a Windows platform? Resolution: This can be done using the WIN$PRINTER routine and specifying the WINPRINT-GET-PRINTER-STATUS op-code.  There is a sample program called prndemox.cbl that demonstrates the use of the WIN$PRINTER routine. It can be found the Sample sub-directory where ACUCOBOL-GT is installed, e.g.: C:\\Program Files\\Acucorp\\Acucbl800\\AcuGT\\sample\\prndemox.cbl It requires 4 copybooks: acugui.def winprint.def fonts.def crtvars.def It is also attached to this KB Item. Attachments: prndemox.zip Old KB# 2693

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: 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: Executing the JavaCallingCobol sample program it generates an error on UNIX using the standard, statically linked, ACUCOBOL-GT runtime. Resolution: In order to call COBOL from Java the shared object version of the ACUCOBOL-GT runtime must be used. It is important to note that a shared object version of the runtime does not exist for all UNIX platforms, e.g.: VAX VMS HP3000 SCO OpenServer TRUE64 Old KB# 2706

Problem: When installing the Web Thin Client on Vista, Internet Explorer will prompt for permission to install the web thin client activex control.   Even though permission is granted the Web Thin Client will not properly install due to Vista's UAC. Resolution: Thin Client and Web runtime Installations Vista's UAC mechanism blocks the installation of ActiveX controls, such as Acucorp's Thin Client, onto systems that are not running Internet Explorer 7 in administrator mode. To run in administrator mode right click on the IE7 shortcut and select "Run as Administrator". Vista also includes an ActiveX installer service that allows IT administrators to use Group Policy to specify Web sites from which standard users will be allowed to install ActiveX controls. Old KB# 2728

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