Rocket® COBOL

Problem: How can you interact with a FTP Server from COBOL on .Net ? Resolution: The .Net framework V2 introduced some new classes that allow developers to easily use FTP programmatically. The FTP classes are located in the System.Net namespace. There are 2 main classes involved. You need to create an instance of FtpWebRequest containing the details of the FTP request you need to perform. You then need to use the FtpWebResponse class to receive the file you are attempting to receive. If you are accessing an FTP server that requires logon then you can specify login details using the System.Net.NetworkCredentials. An instance of this is returned from the FtpWebRequest "Credentials" property. Attached to this article is an example showing how to use these FTP classes from COBOL. You will require Net Express V5 and Visual Studio 2005 in order to this example. The demo is attached. Attachments: FTPSample.zip Old KB# 14

Problem: Application was built with Net Express 4.0 that had all07n40 wrappack applied. Resolution: This message indicates that the application server 4.0  is back  level from the development machine which is running all07n40 so they need to apply aps09a40.exe. aps09a40 is the first Appliocations serv er version to have CTF enabled. http://suppportline.microfocus.com Sign in and select "click here for latest software updates" or "patest and fixes" Under Micro focus servers select "Application Server for Net Express 4.0 / Applications Server for Net Express with .NET". By looking at the description you can find the version of application server that will match the development version you are using. Old KB# 1457

Problem: Passing Data to a property defined as a double in an Active X control. Within a charting ActiveX control it exposes a property thats is documented to be of type double. What parameter type should be passed across from COBOL ? Resolution: The equivalent COBOL type to a double is a COMP-2 floating point variable. Old KB# 1438

Problem: An RTS 173 Error was reported when an application was started up. The application directory contained an apiguis.dll. Resolution: This was caused by a corrupt apiguis.dll. Replacing the file from a valid install resolved the problem. Old KB# 1445

Problem: CANCEL statements used inside a class program cause the compiler to loop and produce the following error in Net Express 5: "Error 912 : Internal error - Dictionary invalid r/w Inform Technical Support" Resolution: This issue has been fixed in WrapPack 3 (a.k.a WS3) and is available at the Micro Focus SupportLine site (http://supportline.microfocus.com). The name of the file is NXP3250030082.MSP. Note: Please make sure to read the important instructions in the WrapPack's description before applying it! Old KB# 1424

Problem: Is the Host Compatibility Option (HCO) available for Net Express? Is the Host Compatibility Option (HCO) available for Server Express? Is the Host Compatibility Option (HCO) available for UNIX platforms ? Compiling an application with the DB2 and CHARSET(EBCDIC) directives returns an 801-S error (Does not accept EBCDIC data). Resolution: Up to and including the 5.0 WrapPack 2 releases of Net Express and Server Express 5.0, it was not possible to compile DB2 applications with the CHARSET(EBCDIC) directive. As of the 5.0 WrapPack 3 release of both Net Express and Server Express, the Host Compatibility Option (HCO) is now available as part of the base product installation. HCO is a set of tools that enable you to offload DB2 for z/OS development and testing to Windows or UNIX platforms using IBM's DB2 Universal Database (UDB) V5 or later. HCO does this by allowing EBCDIC-enabled programs to work with DB2 UDB. In addition, HCO can be u

Problem: Can you use Windows printers with Printer Command Language (PCL) ? PCL is a printer language that uses escape sequences to contol the display of different font and styles such as Bold and Italics. Over recent years there has been a trend in low cost printers to drop the support of PCL escape sequences. This means that they can only be used with applications that use the Windows Print Spooler. This means that applications which use SELECT ASSIGN PRINTER syntax and embed escape sequences cannot be used with these printers. Resolution: The runtime has a variety of PC_PRINTER_ calls that support Windows printing. They application can be changed to use these calls which support any printer that has a Windows printer driver. Alternative there are 3rd party utilities that convert PCL and send that to a Windows printer. Old KB# 1500

Problem: Will an application built for the the .Net Framework V2 using Visual Studio 2005 run successfully on .Net 3.0. Resolution: This will work unchanged. Microsoft have not changed the Common Langauge Runtime (CLR) from .Net 2.0. It is still v2.0.50727. The .Net 3.0 functionality has been as libraries that exist on top of the CLR V2. As such your application will run correctly on machine with .Net V3 installed. Old KB# 1411

Problem: XML document & COBOL -  accepting XML string through linkage - (using COBOL SELECT statement to use buffer area (address using "WSDATA") -  in XML file, between start of document event and end of document, parsing halts with "Exception error 102" message while searching for root element. Resolution: XML exception error 102 parsing error is to be expected in this scenario.  The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the root element. With XML exceptions, no further events are returned from the parser, even if you set XML-CODE to zero and return control to the parser after processing the exception. Control is passed to the statement that you specify on your NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase or to the end of the parse statement if you have not coded a NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase.  Solution:  Include the NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase. Old KB# 1482

Problem: How do you uninstall a Wrapack for Net Express v5.0 ? This resolution also applies to Mainframe Express v3.1 and Micro Focus Server v5.0 Resolution: As of late 2006 and early 2007 Micro Focus is using Microsoft installation tools to install products and subsequent fixes commonly known as WrapPacks. If/when you need to uninstall a WrapPack you will need to do the following; - Go to Control Panels - Select Add/Remove Programs - When the Add/Remove Programs window appears ensure the the List Upates checkbox at the top right-end of the window is checked - Select the WrapPack to uninstall. The 3rd item above is important.  As the WrapPack are a subset of your product installation they will only be listed if the checkbox is filled. Old KB# 1501

Problem: A copy of the Readme file is attached to this article. Resolution: Attachments: Readme for Net Express v5 WS03.zip Old KB# 1436

Problem: A copy of the Readme file is attached to this article. Resolution: Attachments: Readme for Net Express v5 WS02.zip Old KB# 1437

Problem: Customer upgraded to the V8 C compiler in Net Express and now gets the error R6034 an application has made an attempt to load the C runtime library incorrectly. Resolution: When using Micro Focus NET EXPRESS with  .NET  products with Microsoft Visual Studio products: NET EXPRESS 4.0 with .NET is ONLY supported with VISUAL STUDIO 2003 and VISUAL STUDIO 2005 is NOT supported with NET EXPRESS 4.0 with .NET NET EXPRESS 5.0 with .NET is ONLY supported with VISUAL STUDIO 2005 and VISUAL STUDIO 2005 is NOT supported with NET EXPRESS 4.0 with .NET Old KB# 1454

Problem: When modifying a Cobol program in the IDE and adding a copyfile statement (when there was no CPY file linked to the program before) - this will compile cleanly. Now when you do a publish to unix --> it will fail because the newly inserted copy will not be published to unix, hence the compilation fails. Publish and/or Publish All does not work. Resolution: Reason is you always need to do an update dependencies when publishing to UNIX. Overview - Updating Dependencies Dependencies exist when one file uses another file as part of its logic flow - one file is said to be dependent on the other. For example, a COBOL source file that contains a COPY statement is dependent on the copyfile specified in the COPY statement. That is, if the copyfile changes, the COBOL source file that uses it needs to be recompiled. Net Express manages most dependencies automatically; that is, files are rebuilt automatically if their dependent files chan

Problem: Workbench has the feature to number the each line in a source code. Does Net Express have this feature? Resolution: There is a feature in the Net Express editor that numbers each line of a source code by placing the line number from column 73. This is done by right-clicking anywhere in the source code and click on "Renumber". To remove the line numbers, you can simply right-click anywhere in the source code and click on "Unnumber" this time. Old KB# 1527

Problem: How can you insert text into the current cursor position of the RichText Edit control. Resolution: You can use the "replaceSelection" method to achieve this. The selection will be the current cursor position. Attached is an exmaple project that shows how you can use the replaceSelection method to insert text at a specific position in a richtext edit control. Attachments: rtf.zip Old KB# 1435

Problem: When compiling DB2 applications with the DB2 compiler directive, you receive Compile error: SQL ECM or dependent module not found When compiling OpenESQL applications with the SQL compiler directive, you receive Compile error: ODBC ECM or dependent module not found Resolution: These errors can occur when : 1. Compiling DB2 applications, the required DB2 client support is not installed. 2. Compiling on UNIX, the DB2 ECM/OpenESQL support is not available on your platform. Refer to the on-disk readme under $COBDIR/docs for details. Old KB# 1429

Problem: When trying the rebuild an EXE the following error message is displayed: MyProg.obj: Error LNK2001: unresolved external symbols    _GetSaveFileNameA@4    _ CommDlgExtendedError@0    _ GetOpenFileNameA@4 Resolution: The library comdlg32.lib has to be added to the EXE. When using the IDE, rightclick the EXE (or DLL) and select "Build Settings..." On the tab "Link", change the category to "Advanced" Enter comdlg32.lib into the entry field titled "Link with these LIBs" And rebuild the project. Old KB# 1433

Problem: What mechanisms are there to convert strings to numbers in a COBOL Program. Resolution: COBOL has the NUMVAL intrinsic function avalable on all platforms. .Net also has available some methods for converting. On the numeric data classes such as System.Int32 and System.Decimal there is the "Parse" and "TryParse" methods. Parse will attempt to convert but will throw an exception is the format of the string is not valid. TryParse will attempt to convert and will return a boolean if the conversion fails. If you expect that a numeric parse will fail then use tryparse as an exception from Parse is expensive in terms of performance in an application. Attachments: Program1.cbl Old KB# 1422

Problem: A wrong CALL-CONVENTION can cause that the perform logic is falling through the EXIT at the end of a performed section or paragraph - especially when executing as EXE. How can the correct CALL-CONVENTION be determined? Resolution: A CALL-CONVENTION is a collection of bits, where the bit "1" means (2**1)  that the callee removes the parameter off the stack. E.g.: This bit is set in the CALL-CONVENTIONs 2, 66, and 74 And is not set, if CALL-CONVENTION is omitted or is set to 0, or 8. If (this part of) the call-convention is by mistake, the CALL is executed normally. But after the return from the called program the stackpointer is corrupted. The program executes the following instructions as nothing has happened - including subsequent CALLs. But on a EXIT SECTION or EXIT PARAGRAPH a fall through may occur - instead of a return to the PERFORM statement. When the "CALL-CONVENTION 2 is CALLEE-REMOVES-STACK" is specified

Problem: The COBOL code attached just does what's pasted below  which is a VB code OL2000: How to Programmatically Change the Displayed Calendar Date http://support.microsoft.com/kb/259767 some more glue regards to Outlook Object Model Overview http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms268893(VS.80).aspx http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa221870(office.11).aspx VB sample: Dim ol As Object Dim olns As Object Dim oCalendar As Object Dim oAppt As Object Dim oViewCmdBar As Object Dim oItem As Object Dim nItem As Integer Sub ChangeCalendarView()    ' Create Outlook Application object.    Set ol = CreateObject("Outlook.Application")    Set olns = ol.GetNameSpace("MAPI")    ' Retrieve the Calendar folder.    Set oCalendar = olns.GetDefaultFolder(olFolderCalendar)    ' You can retrieve your specific a

Problem: Trying to modify a screenset and a 114 error occurrs. Resolution: You may be getting the 114 error because the a corrupted screenset: Open the screenset by 'exporting' the screenset to a text file and then importing the file as a new screenset. This can be done from a Net Express Command Prompt. To export, type "dswin /e screensetname.gs screensetname.imp" To import, start Dialog System and select Import | Screenset from the File menu. Then save the screenset. Old KB# 1449

Problem: The aim of this demonstration is to show "How can a Cobol program consume an EJB deployed on a Java Application Server". First question: Is it possible? ( OO Cobol EJB Client <-> EJB home Interface <-> EJB remote Interface <-> EJB [Bean] ) The answer is NO, Not directly it is not possible to invoke a instance of an EJB from Object COBOL, due to the Object COBOL Java domain not support "proxy classes". How to Proceed then? Use a Java Wrapper which will communicate with the EJB. This will be possible: ( OO Cobol Client <->  Java EJB Client STUB <-> EJB home Interface <-> EJB remote Interface <-> EJB [Bean] ) Resolution: Environment used in the context of this demonstration Weblogic 8.1 Net Express 5.0 Websync3 ==> Demonstration is  in the .ZIP attached to KB more comments in the ..DOC file in the .Zip file which d

Problem: How can you dynamically change the alignment of Text in a cell of a DataGridView in .Net ? Resolution: There is an enumeration "DataGridViewContentAlignment" that allows you to set the alignment in a cell. You can use this using code such as:-            set DataGridView1::"Columns"::"Item"(0)::"DefaultCellStyle"::"Alignment"                to cDataGridViewContentAlignment::"TopCenter"            set DataGridView1::"Columns"::"Item"(1)::"DefaultCellStyle"::"Alignment"                to cDataGridViewContentAlignment::"TopCenter" A full demo is attached to this article. Attachme

Problem: Ajax is only a name given to a set of tools that were previously existing. The main part is XMLHttpRequest, a class usable in JavaScript , that was implemented into Internet Explorer since the 4.0 version. The same concept was named XMLHTTP some times, before the Ajax name becomes commonly used. ==> There is no problem for a JavaScript function to invoke a CGI program thru AJAX... http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/default.asp AJAX Tutorial AJAX stands for Asynchronous JavaScript And XML. AJAX is a type of programming made popular in 2005 by Google (with Google Suggest). AJAX is not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards. With AJAX you can create better, faster, and more user-friendly web applications. AJAX is based on JavaScript and HTTP requests. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384109.aspx WinHttpRequest Object Reference Resolution: In the demonstration attached, 1)   &nbs