Rocket® COBOL

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

Problem: Herewith the versions of Visual Studio which are supported on NetExpress. Resolution: NetExpress 4.0 = Visual Studio 2003 NetExpress 5.0 = Visual Studio 2005 NetExpress 5.1 = Visual Studio 2008 Old KB# 1602

Problem: Iinstall the FSVIEW addpack for either Net Express 4.0 or Net Express 5.0. Create a desktop shortcut which has a target executable which points to the location of FSVIEW.EXE. Question: Why does it launch with  "Command Prompt"-style window with initial Title Bar text of icon name, before the FSVIEW GUI window is displayed? This didn't happen in Net Express 3.1. Resolution: There is a workaround, strange as it may seem. Open the Properties window for thr shortcut to FSView.EXE and click on the layout tab. Under Window Size change both the height and width of the window to a size of 1. Apply the change and press OK. There will still be a small command prompt displayed but it is too small to see. Old KB# 1574#ServerExpress#AcuCobol#RMCOBOL#netexpress#COBOL

Problem: Support for Generation Data Groups (commonly known as GDGs) was only introduced in version 5.0 of Server Express MTO. Resolution: Support for GDG is a complex subject but is explained in depth in the Server Express 5.0 documentation at: http://supportline.microfocus.com/Documentation/books/sx50/sx50indx.htm under the chapter:  Mainframe Transaction Option Developer's Guide > 10. Advanced Data Set Information Old KB# 2030

Problem: The File Handling manual says that mfsort uses a temporary workfile during sort & merge operations.  What is the name of the workfile and where is it located? Resolution: SORT uses the following environment variables to determine the location of the sort work files: Unix:    TMPDIR Windows:TMP, TEMP If the environment variable is not set the current working directory is used. The temporary sort files are prefixed with M$FST and the actual files created will vary depending upon the input data.   Example file names: M$FST000.TMP M$FST000.001 M$FST000.002. This applies to both Server Express and Net Express. Old KB# 2059

Problem: There are times when you open a file for input and are reading thru the file and get a file lock status (9/068) on a record.   Resolution: You can set the filehandler option IGNORELOCK  in the configuration file extfh.cfg  to Ignore locks when reading Input files. The IGNORELOCK option specifies whether to ignore locks on files open for Input.   IGNORELOCK= {ON|OFF} Default:    OFF Old KB# 2089#COBOL#AcuCobol#netexpress#ServerExpress#RMCOBOL