Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Is it possible to rebuild C-ISAM file without IDX file ? Resolution: With Server Express 5.0  the following command can be used rebuild OLDECDOS -k:1 16:17 7d -o:ind -r:F140 Old KB# 2056#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL#ServerExpress#netexpress#COBOL

Problem: This KB is an add-on to the demonstration GetDirectory.zip available on MF Net Express samples page http://supportline.microfocus.com/examplesandutilities/nesamp.asp#Win32API " "This program demonstrates the use of Win32 API calls SHBrowseForFolder and SHGetPathFromIDList to display a dialog box that will allow the user to select a directory. " ____________________________________________________________ This amended demonstration allows to browse for FOLDERS and FILES from the Desktop and from the Current Folder ____________________________________________________________ Resolution: The add-ons are: This amended demonstration allows to browse for FOLDERS and FILES from the Desktop and from the Current Folder =============== The content of the structure BROWSEINFO used by the MS API SHBrowseForFolder MS API SHBrowseForFolder http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb762115(VS.85).aspx MS BROWSEINFO structure http

Problem: There is a problem with using CCITCP2.EXE after installing the APS10A40.EXE service pack for Application server to go with the ALL08N40 wrappack of Net Express. The installation of the APS service pack wil work correctly but after a reboot starting CCITCP2 as a service daemon will result in an error that the MFDS is not installed. Resolution: There are two versions of CCITCP2, one for Application Server and one for Enterprise Server. When creating the APS10A40 service pack the Enterprise Server version was accidently included instead of the correct version. This is a permanent restriction as no other websyncs will be delivered for Net Express 4.0. If it is necessary to use CCITCP2 for accessing Fileshare or Client Server binding then it would be necessary to save the version from the previous Application Server websync and then replace the version in APS10A40 with the saved version and use this one instead. This only applies to Applicatio

Problem: The customer was attempting to use the SORTSPACE by setting it as a compiler directive in the source code:   $set SORTSPACE=512M Sort space set to 1MB Received the folowing error: Set compiler directive SORTSPACE = 512M  "invalid, not allowed here COBCH0053S" Resolution: SORTSPACE is not a directive that can be set within a source program. It is an environment variable that needs to be set at the system level or by setting it within a projects properties for Application settings. Old KB# 1575

Problem: When running the script $COBDIR/bin/cobsje the following error is displayed bin/cobconvstrtest: error while loading shared libraries: libstdc .so.5: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Resolution: The error occurs because the script looks for the gcc version 5 libraries located in /usr/lib.  The solution is to download and install the correct version of gcc. Old KB# 2016

Problem: A index file that works fine on windows gets a 9 error when running on a UNIX system. looking up the hex tables 9 means actually a corrupted file. Resolution: The problem is that on UNIX the idx file had another ending. Neukue.idx should really be neukue.dat.idx. 9 means a corrupt file there is a Compiler Direktive: IDXNAMETYPE The IDXNAMETYPE option specifies the format of the filename type for both the data file and, if present, the index file. Syntax: IDXNAMETYPE={0|1|2} Parameters: 0 Leave the filename of the data file the same. For the index file, discard any extension and add the extension .idx. 1 Leave the filename of the data file the same. For the index file, add the extension .idx.. 2 For the data file, add the extension .dat. For the index file, add the extension .idx. Properties: Default: 1 Comments: The name of the index file (if present) is derived from that of the data file. For example, if the data f

Problem: A window containing a toolbar war pushed/used several times by dialog system. After a while the icons in the toolbar get black and a few cycles later the program was stopped by a runtime error. The program ran out of memory. Resolution: This problem was caused by a missing finalize for the object "buttonImageList" in the "OnDestroyed"-Section of the toolbar control program which was generated some years ago when creating the screen set. The object "buttonImageList" needs to be finalized like:           IF buttonImageList NOT = NULL              INVOKE buttonImageList "finalize"                                      RETUR

Problem: Question: Is there a way to convert a compile Dialog System screenset (.rs) back into a source screenset (.gs)? Resolution: No this is not possible.  The data for the Dialog System painter is only in the GS file. Old KB# 1609

Problem: Is it possible to easily change the case of all files in a directory without renaming each one? Resolution: Yes. The following script will  convert all file names from UPPERCASE to lowercase, preserving the file contents in their original case: # Script to change file names from UPPERCASE to lowercase. # Leaves the file contents unchanged! # for file in 'ls' do     mv $file 'echo $file | tr '[A-Z]' '[a-z]'' done Changing the order of '[A-Z]' '[a-z]' to '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' in the above script will convert all lowercase filenames in a directory to UPPERCASE. Old KB# 2054#RMCOBOL#AcuCobol#netexpress#ServerExpress#COBOL

Problem: Does Micro Focus support UNISYS dialects in the Server Express Compiler? Resolution: We have no Unisys direct support in Net Express or Server Express.  Unisys specific extensions will not compile. Standard COBOL from a Unisys platform should compile and run correctly. Old KB# 2062

Problem: This Knowledge Base article concerns the need to handle multi-byte characters in COBOL programs particularly of special characters (ie non-standard English language characters). It arose as a result of configuring an Oracle database as UTF-8 and, thus, multi-byte characters.  Problems were encountered when COBOL programs needed to contain the result of a read to the database resulted in the read field becoming truncated.  To this end it was necessary to define the field lengths in the COBOL program in a more appropriate manner. Resolution: To overcome this problem it is necessary to implement Double-Byte Character Set Support. This kind of support exists because there are many (perhaps thousands) of differents characters pertaining to the world's stock of different languages.  The majority of computer systems use bytes which are 8 bits in length; in that they assign an 8 bit code to represent each different characte

Problem: There are times that you would like to know addition static with a COBOL source program.  Some of these area of interest are:    1)  number of calls    2)  number of lines within a COBOL source    3)  number of comment lines Resolution: Specifying the directive LINE-COUNT will not only number the lines of code within a COBOL program (excluding comment lines), but it will provide a count of various other statics such as: Lines of Source               Comment lines                Comment percentage            Sections                    Files    

Problem: .NET applications are supported on Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server. How about Windows 2000? Resolution: Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 (the .NET development tool) is only supported in Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 Server. However, Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 (the .NET support to execute .NET applications) is supported in Windows 2000 Service Pack 3 and other different Windows versions (see more details from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=0856EACB-4362-4B0D-8EDD-AAB15C5E04F5&displaylang=en) Old KB# 1560

Problem: Using NetExpress .NET in Visual Studio is it possible for a class written in OO COBOL to support a structure with lower level variables? For example:       01 wd-person.            05 wd-name          pic x(20).            05 wd-surname     pic x(20). Resolution: This type of structure should work correctly if the class is incuded in an environment which is purely COBOL.  If, however, the COBOL structure does a call to a J# environment, for example, then it would be better to write the structure as two separate strings. Old KB# 1563

Problem: What  is the different between 'system' and 'SYSTEM'   ? Resolution: What  is the different between 'system' and 'SYSTEM'   ? The 'SYSTEM' function restores the users terminal mode prior to executing any Unix command, after the Unix command completes, the terminal settings are restored to values needed for COBOL  screen handling . The 'system' function does not reset the terminal mode, screen output from a  Unix command   may not be properly formatted . An example of the application is attached . Attachments: cmain.c Old KB# 2072

Problem: There are times when printing a list file that you do not want to display the comment lines denoted by an asterisk (*) in column 1. Resolution: Turning on the MFCOMMENT directive will cause the compiler to ignore all comments in the listing that has an asterisk (*) in column 1.  They will appear in the Animator. This will not suppress comments denoted in column 7 with an asterisk and The syntax for the MFCOMMENT directive is: >>-.---.-.----.--MFCOMMENT-----------------><     -/- -NO- Parameters: None Default: MFCOMMENT (Dialect ) Old KB# 2039

Problem: Gibt es in Net Express Funktionen, mit denen man eine UTC-Zeit (ZULU) in lokale Uhrzeit umrechnen lassen kann? Resolution: Die intrinsische Funktion CURRENT-DATE liefert die Differenz zur GMT (Greenwich Mean Time => UTC => koordinierte Weltzeit) auf dem lokalen Rechner zurueck: Beispiel: 01 myDateTime pic x(21). . move function CURRENT-DATE to myDateTime . Auf einem lokalen Rechner mit Mitteleuropaeischer Zeit (MEZ=CET) liefern die Positionen 17 bis 21 von myDateTime diesen Inhalt zurueck: 0100 , entsprechend UTC 1 Stunde. Weitere Einzelheiten sind in der Net Express Dokumentation zu finden unter: Help -> Index -> CURRENT-DATE function -> COBOL Language Old KB# 1579

Problem: A customer used the "rebuild" command with its conversion options, to convert an IDX3 file into an IDX8 file.  [Strictly speaking the original file wasn't converted "in place", instead the rebuild command creates a new IDX8 file and populates it with the data from the original IDX3 file]. A common reason for converting an IDX3 to an IDX8 is so the file can safely grow to very large sizes (when used in conjunction with the FILEMAXSIZE file handler configuration option). But the customer noticed that the new IDX8 file consisted of only one disk file instead of two.  IDX3 files have a data portion with a basename, and an indexed portion with an ".idx" extension, for example "CUSTDATA" and "CUSTDATA.idx".  But the new IDX8 file did not have an accompanying ".idx" portion.  Is this the intended behavior? Resolution: The answer is yes, IDX8 files are "monolithic", that is, they occupy just one inode (one disk file).&

Problem: What is the command syntax to generate a .gnt from Net Express command line? Resolution: Bring up a 32 bit Micro Focus command prompt, and use the following form: C:\\>cobol  <your_filename.cbl> omf(gnt); Old KB# 1537

Problem: The "DE-EDIT" directive specifies the results how a de-editing move from one numeric-edited data-item to another numeric-edited item or to a numeric item. Resolution: The syntax for the "DE-EDIT" directive is:      DE-EDIT "[1 or 2]" Specifying integer 1 - will behave as in earlier versions of this compiler.  It ignores the Picture clause of the sending field. Specifying integer 2 - will de-edit according to the Picture clause of the sending field.  This provides ANSI '85' conformance. The default is 2. Example: 01 a  pic 909V99 value "30456". 01 b  pic 9(5).         ...      move a to b With DE-EDIT"1", b contains 30456. With DE-EDIT"2", b contains 00034; the 0 after the 3 is dropped because it corresponds to the insertion character

Problem: When using the Animator to step through code a "File below not found" error can sometimes occur when a copybook is encountered, even though the copybook exists and is correctly named. This is especially prevelent when using the CP preprocessor to expand copybooks. Example: COPY MYFILE REPLACING ==:OLD:== ==NEW==. Resolution: There are potentially two problems here.  Firstly there is a bug in Server Express which will be fixed in Server Express 4.0 SP4 and Server Express 5.0 WS3.  Applying this fix should resolve most issues. The second potential problem is related to Unix's case sensitivity.  You must ensure that the case of the copybook is consistent, i.e the whole name plus extension is either uppercase or lowercase, not a mixture.  Using the compiler directives FOLDCOPYNAME and COPEXT can also help: E.G.  COPYEXT(CPY,cpy), FOLDCOPYNAME(LOWER) Using the above directives wit

Problem: The customer is having trouble switching between multiple database connections within an application. Resolution: If only one database connection is used then it is not necessary to use a named connection. When more than one database connection is used, then a name must be specified for each connection. Connection names are global within a process. Named connections are shared by separately compiled programs that are linked into a single executable module. After a successful CONNECT statement, all database transactions other than CONNECT RESET work through this most recently declared current connection. To use a different connection, use the SET CONNECTION statement. Old KB# 1578

Problem: Release 5.0 .NET: Im Net Express 5.0 .NET Produktpaket befinden sich zwei CD / DVD, die die Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Standard Edition enthalten. Der PC hat physisch aber kein CD / DVD Laufwerk verfuegbar. Deshalb wurden beide CD / DVD auf ein Netzlaufwerk kopiert und von dort installiert. Allerdings ist dadurch ein CD / DVD Wechsel schwer nachvollziehbar und moeglicherweise werden durch Kopiervorgaenge bereits vorhandene Dateien ueberschrieben. Gibt es eine Empfehlung , wie in diesem Fall sicher vorzugehen ist? Resolution: In diesem Fall sollte so vorgegangen werden, wie es in diesem Microsoft MSDN-Artikel unter Textziffer 1.3.6. detailliert beschrieben ist: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/de-de/library/aa718687.aspx Old KB# 1585

Problem: Question is whether the same procedure pointer data item can  be used to load multiple .DLLs simultaneously without a problem. Resolution: Yes, a procedure-pointer item can be used multiple times in order to load a new .DLL. The exception is if the procedure-pointer points to an entry point directly and that procedure-pointer is referenced directly within a CALL statement. Old KB# 1538

Problem: Using COPY ... REPLACING ... gives user-name not unique errors even though the variable name is unique.   The problem only occurs when using the CP preprocessor with COBSQL. Resolution: Solution tested on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 & Server Express 5. By default pcbcfg.cfg (in $ORACLE_HOME/precomp/admin) defines: comp5=yes define=comp5 Changing COMP5=YES to be COMP5=NO will resolve this issue. COMP5=YES can also be overridden at compile time by passeing COMP5=NO in the list of directives to be passed to the Pro*COBOL precompiler as follows: PREPROCESS(COBSQL) CSQLT=ORACLE8 END-C COMP5=NO P(CP) ENDP Old KB# 2037