Rocket® COBOL

Problem: Application uses the extfh.cfg file with IDXNAME=0.  The apllication interfaces with a 3rd party vendors application that used MF 5.0 with IDXNAME=1. The 3rd party vendor uses a MF 5.0 Cobol program to create CISAM files.  That program generates cisam files with the format <file name>.DAT and <file name>.DAT.idx. The mainline application uses IDXNAME=0 and creates CISAM files with naming convention of <file name>.DAT and <file name>.idx. What is the proper procedure for making an application that uses IDXNAME=0 call a subprogram from another vendors application that is using IDSNAME=1? Resolution: There are two methods of using files that have been created using differing naming conventions: 1) COPY or rename one of the sets of files to use names and extensions that agree with the naming convention you want to use when the application executes. 2) Dynamically alter the naming convention during pr

Problem: When reading a sequential file that contains tab characters( x'09' ASCII), Micro Focus COBOL  is inserting multiple spaces and pushes the remaining characters out and they spill over and are read as a subsequent record. Is there a way to easily remove the tabs? Resolution: One way to get around this is to set the external file handler configuration option: EXPANDTAB=OFF in the extfh.cfg file.  For how to set up the extfh.cfg file see the Server Express documentation for File Handling and look for Configuration File in the Table of Contents. Alternatively, if the tab characters are not needed for further processing of the file they can be removed permanently using the UNIX translate command. The tr command will translate strings of characters throughout a file. (See the UNIX "man" pages for tr) Here is an example: tr '\\011' '\\040\\' <filea >fileb The numbers are the O

Problem: I downloaded a fixpack from the Micro Focus web site, and it turned out to be a file with the extension ".encr".  What is this .encr extension?  How should this file be treated? Resolution: Fixpacks for Server Express, downloaded from the Micro Focus web site, have the extension ".encr".  This means "encrypted".  They are actually executable files, and are self-extracting archives.  It is a proprietary format. Use the UNIX "chmod" command to give them execute permissions, then execute them.  They will self-extract.  After that you will have a ".tar" archive file. But they will self-extract only in the presence of the correct version of Server Express.  This prevents people from trying to install a fixpack onto the wrong version of the Server Express product.  So, before executing them, set the COBDIR environment

Problem: Upgrading the operating system, is Server Express certified with  this version? Resolution: Micro Focus supports a given version of a product on one specific hardware platform which is running a specifically identified operating system. This combination of Micro Focus product, Hardware platform, and Operating System is referred to as 'the reference environment'. In each Server Express installed product there is a file with environment information. This information is displayed during the execution of the installation script. It is found at: $COBDIR/docs/env.txt. This is an ASCII text file which lists the certified reference environment(s) for this version of the product. For each component, the certified version is listed followed by the command(s) used to find the information For example: This product is certified on the following reference environment: The command(s) used to gather the information is given following each entr

Problem: If you need to generate a XML document with your data and some data contains "special" characters like áéíóúñ, this must be converted to UTF-8. Resolution: Just because you are generating a xml file, the runtime doesn't automatically convert ascii to UTF-8. For example if you have a string of data of 40 chars long, and you have definitions on your program of the type:            04 xml-fullname pic X(40) identified by               "FullName" count in xml-fullname-count. whenever you use PIC X(n) you are defining 1 fixed byte per character, and therefore you are not defining enough space for 40 UTF-8 characters, as they can be of variable lenght. Only if they fall in the range of ASCII 7 bits, only 1 byte is required. So, if your xml field is going t

Problem: Some projects may tend to crash when working with the IDE, e.g. when deleting some files on the right site of the project. Resolution: A first crash of the IDE may corrupt the project file *.APP, e.g. when debugging. The Net Express project files are Micro Focus ISAM IDXFORMAT"8" files. The rebuild.exe tool can be used to test or repair corrupted *.APP files. For testing, please try from a Net Express Command Prompt: REBUILD.exe MyProject.APP /f:c10d5 For repairing: REBUILD.exe MyOldProject.APP,MyNewProject.APP When the reason for the crash is a corrupted *.APP file, this repair will help and improve the stability of the IDE. Old KB# 1552

Problem: Displaying Compiler Directives to the Screen Resolution: When compiling a COBOL program, compiler directives will be displayed on the screen when specifying the CONFIRM  compiler directive.  The syntax is as follows:     cob -C CONFIRM . . . .  program-name.cbl Old KB# 2002

Problem: What is Micro Focus' position vis-a-vis iSeries support? Resolution: Server Express 2.2 could be used on AS/400 via a PASE interface. Although IBM still support PASE, it incompatible with the Enterprise Server technology which was introduced in Server Express 4.0. Support for AS/400 (iSeries) therefore disappeared when Server Express 2.2 was sundowned in December 2005. Old KB# 2069

Problem: The user event triggered by      POST-USER-EVENT $NULL 32001 $NULL programmed in Dialog System seems to be suppressed to Windows Vista. Resolution: The number 32001 seems to be too small for a Vista operating system - and might also be too small for XP and Windows 2000. A larger event number should be used, e.g. greater 45000. Old KB# 1581

Problem: Do DECLARATIVES override the RETRYLOCK directive? Resolution: With the standard Micro Focus COBOL directives a DECLARATIVES section does not OVERRIDE the RETRYLOCK directive.  However, compiling with RM directive will cause control to passed to the DECLARATIVES section despite getting a 9/68 (locked record) error. Old KB# 1583

Problem: How are EBCDIC files read from the mainframe, using I/O stream? Resolution: When building .exe executibles in NetExpress that read mainframe EBCDIC files, make sure to include the following two Micro Focus system OBJ files in the project: 1.)  _codeset.obj  and  2.) CS0437.obj - and be sure to link them with the .exe being built. Old KB# 1557

Problem: Is FORMDEF supported in JCL in Net Express? Resolution: FORMDEF is supported in JCL as from Net Express 5.0 WrapPack4. Old KB# 1621

Problem: There is no property to invoke this piece of code in Visual Basic: Application.ErrorCheckingOptions.BackgroundChecking = False This is not documented in Visual Basic or in msexcel.cpy --> not defined. This attribute turns off the 'Green Triangle Indicator' that one would see in the cell when one put a text in the cell preceded with a single quote symbol as in:  '12/12/04 Manualy, one can click 'Tools....  Options...  Error Checking Tab.'  Then, uncheck 'Enable background error checking'. When recorded under a msexcel macro, one will see the visual basic code above. Resolution: Try the following:        01 errorcheckoptions    object reference.        01 backgroundchecking    object reference.        procedure division. &n

Problem: There are times when you develope a COBOL program and a user defined data-name conflicts with a reserve word.   Resolution: To remove word(s) from the reserved word list you can specify the REMOVE directive. The syntax:   >>-.---.--REMOVE---"rsv-word"---------------><     -/- rsv-word = A reserved word. By default no reserved words are removed. Phase: Syntax check $SET: Initial Note: This directive does not appear in the list created with the SETTING directive. Old KB# 2075

Problem: Release 5.0 WebSync 5: After installing Net Express 5.0 WebSync 5 and compiling / rebuilding a project there will be shown a linker warning LNK4044. What to do to prevent this? msvcrt.lib(crtmanifest.obj) : warning LNK4044: unrecognized option "manifestdependency:type='win32' name='Microsoft.VC80.CRT' version='8.0.50727.762' processorArchitecture='x86' publicKeyToken='1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b'"; ignored Starting rebuild Rebuilding         C:\\SOURCE\\P760CDIN\\p760cdin.cbl Rebuilding         C:\\SOURCE\\P760CDIN\\PAID10U.cbl Rebuilding         C:\\SOURCE\\P760CDIN\\PAID28U.cbl Rebuilding         C:\\SOURCE\\P760CDIN\\PAID40X.cbl Rebuilding         C:\\SOURCE\\P760CDIN\\PAID41U.cbl Rebuil

Problem: When opening an APP file in Net Express by double clicking on it in Windows Explorer it caused Net Express to crash with a runtime error 114. Resolution: This was caused by a Drive Encryption utility that had been installed by the laptop manufacturer. Removing this utility resolved the problem. Old KB# 1612

Problem: The following error might appear when running the cob command: cob32: Can't open message file '/opt/microfocus/cobol/lang/default/cob.msg' Even if your product is not installed in /opt/microfocus/cobol. Resolution: The problem is that the COBDIR environment variable is not set and the system cannot find the error message file to display a proper error message. Old KB# 2080

Problem: Is it possible to generate a pdb file for a COBOL DLL ? Resolution: The linker will generate a pdb for a COBOL DLL is the environment variable :- LINK=/debug before the linker is run. Old KB# 1619

Problem: When creating a new mapping for a Web Service from existing COBOL code, you may find in doing so that the case of the COBOL code is lost - for example all converted to lowercase. This may cause you a problem if you have a requirement for the case to be as in the original code, for example (lower-) CamelCase. Resolution: Specify the PRESERVECASE directive in your program program: $SET PRESERVECASE This will then ensure that the original case is preserved as required.Old KB# 1620

Problem: Only, if the XP style (Visual style) is enabled on a Vista or XP windows: When Visual Studio is used to create a WinForms application, the painter shows the objects like push button in Visual XP style, e.g. with round edges. When running the application, the old standard style is used. Resolution: The Visual Style has to be enabled, e.g. by adding an invoke to "EnableVisualStyles" in the "main" method of the application:            set mainForm to Class-Main-Form::"New"()            invoke S-Windows-Forms-Application::"EnableVisualStyles"     *> added            invoke S-Windows-Forms-Application::"Run"(mainForm) Old KB# 1598

Problem: When calling semctl from a COBOL program the fourth parameter is always zero.   Resolution: The interface for semctl() passes a union by value. We do not support passing a union or struct by value to a C program. From SX 4.0 SP2 the shared memory demo programs in $COBDIR/demo/sharedmem have been corrected to reflect this. See sharemem.cbl and smipc.c in this directory for further details. Old KB# 1993

Problem: Giving Visual C run time library run time error on  mfnetx.exe Resolution: If this error occurs then a Repair should be run from Add/Remove Programs on Net Express. Old KB# 1576

Problem: When using arithmetic syntax and  the results are not the same as the mainframe.  How can I get the results to be the same. Resolution: The ARITHMETIC compiler directive specifies how arithmetic expressions are to be evaluated.   Setting the ARITHMETIC  compiler directive to "MF", which is the default, will not truncate intermediate results.  This means that the calculation is as accurately as possible because no trunction is taken place until the very end. If you want to truncate according to OSVS COBOL, then set the ARITHMETIC="OSVS" Old KB# 1998

Problem: I would like to modify my files with SDE. But all my source files have the extension pco . Resolution: It is necessary to modify the configuration file for the development environment, which is located in $COBDIR/etc/mfcobolrc. After the tag [EDIT-USER], ( This tag describes the defaults to be used by the COBOL Editor) After  the line MARGINS BAK cbl Add MARGINS pco cbl Modify the line EXTENSIONS cbl cpy cob bak CBL CPY COB BAK {space} To read EXTENSIONS cbl cpy cob bak CBL CPY COB BAK pco {space} Old KB# 2017

Problem: Hyphens specified in the frist eight characters of a program-id are changed to zeros when the program is compiled. The documentation says this should only be the case if OSVS compiler directive is specified. Resolution: The documentation is incorrect. Hyphens in a program-id will always be changed to zeros. Old KB# 2008