Rocket® COBOL

Hi all, I working on project in Net Express 5.0 where I need to work with a data base created with IBM DB2 (v 9.7) . Does any one know how to set up a new project and connect a data base created with DB2 step by step ? Thanks a lot !

Hi All, is there any way to call a function from a .net DLL with a cobol program? We use Net Express version 3.0 and Visual Studio 2010. Thanks for helping me.Bischof#.netdllcobol

Thanks to all those that attended the fourth webinar in the Visual COBOL webinar series. Here is the transcript from the question and answer session at the end of the webinar. I will share the recording of the webinar as soon as it is available. Q. Which book would you advise to start with .NET (and I can buy it on Amazon.com)? A. Though we haven’t read it here at Micro Focus, we have recommended ‘Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 2010 in 24 Hours Complete Starter Kit’. This could be good to get you up to speed with OO programming in C# - Beginning C# Object-Oriented Programming. Q: Is there a conversion option from GS Dialog system to a WPF application to expedite the adoption of Visual Cobol?  A: There isn't a conversion tool, today; however, there are some new product features to help. First of all, Dialog Systems applications can be compiled and debugged inside Visual Studio 2010 using Visual COBOL; Secondly, depending upon the complexity of your Dialog Systems application, yo

Users run on a terminal server. I have run cblcored from different users and see that they set the same entry under HKLM namly 2 for the key core_on_error. No dumpfile exept mfdebug.log is created - no cblcore. No other occurance of the key core_on_error can be found in the entire registry#terminal-server#Dump#cblcore

Hello, I have installed Visual COBOL R4 for Eclipse on my machine. I've created a COBOL JCM Project with a cobol source and its clause copy. When compiled eclipse returns the message "COBCH1552..."  the error is supposed been at the last line of the source code. At this line there is the EXIT of the last paragraphe. There is nothing particular. I didn't find anything about this error on the web and the online documentation of Visual COBOL. here is the options of compilation that i've used in the project. The source code is a bit ancient. SHOW-DIRPARAMCOUNTCHECKANS85SWITCH-TYPE"2"REMOVE"TRACE"REMOVE"LAST"REMOVE"WAIT"REMOVE"CYCLE"REMOVE"SUPER"REMOVE"PRINTER" REMOVE"EOS"REMOVE"AS"REMOVE"UNDERLINE"REMOVE"DISK"REMOVE"ID"REMOVE"SCREEN"TRACECOMP-6"2"ADDRSV"COMP-6"COPYLISTLIST()OBJASSIGN"EXTERNAL"INDD"SYSIN"OUTDD"REPORT"INTLEVEL"4"NOQUERYCOPYEXT"CPY,cpy"DATAMAPPERFORM-TYPE"ENTCOBOL" Thanks.#COBCH1552

Hi, I am trying to compile to 64 bit mode using directive(P64) on 32 bit machine using Micro focus Net Express 5.1 from the command line. While compiling I am facing the error "06-R Read failure on input file. Not intermediate code or wrong version". Can anyone help with this issue or tell what might be problem, please? Command used to compile - COBOL c:\\sample\\pgm1.cbl /DIRECTIVES"C:\\sample\\COBOL.DIR" FYI - C:\\Users\\username\\Documents\\Micro Focus\\Net Express 5.1\\WORKAREA>COBOL c:\\sample\\pgm1.cbl /DIRECTIVES"C:\\sample\\COBOL.DIR"Micro Focus Net Express V5Version 5.104.0083 Copyright (C) 1984-2009 Micro Focus (IP) Limited.URN AXCGG/AA0/00000Object file-name [PGM1.GNT]:Source listing   [C:\\SAMPLE\\PGM1.LST]:Object listing   [NUL]:* Accepted - GNT(.\\)* Accepted - OBJ(.\\)* Accepted - DIRECTIVES"C:\\Sample\\COBOL.DIR"* Accepted - APOST* Accepted - P64* Compiling c:\\sample\\pgm1.cbl* Checking complete with no errors - starting code generation* 006-R Re

[Migrated content. Thread originally posted on 29 May 2012]We have a fairly complex COBOL routine to perform business logic that we want to call from JAVA. The COBOL routine uses 3 parameter blocks which are defined as COBOL group item records. Some of these parameter blocks have multiple definitions (the one to use depends on what function is being requested). We have successfully created MF COBOL "Custom Record Interface" objects for one definition of each of the 3 parameter blocks and we have successfully called and passed this info into and out of our COBOL routine from JAVA. Thus far, each "custom record" has only had to describe COBOL elementary group items. However, to complete the set of interfaces, we need to be able to handle COBOL record definitions that include an array (OCCURS). The "custom record" documentation and other "calling COBOL from JAVA" documentation does not give examples or suggestions on how to handle these more complex

Hello, I am newbie on this forum and not speaking/writing well english, so don't hesitate to ask me more information if my text is not clear... I try to start fault finder using CBL_FFND_REPORT routine in my main cobol program inside an error procedure installed with CBL_ERROR_PROC, so that i can produce a report in case of system error (like error 114 or 173). Could you please expain me how to set the value of rtserr argument ? Is there any way to get de rts error code that launch the error procedure installed with CBL_ERROR_PROC ? Regards, Raphaël RABU.#fault_finder

Hi all Currently i compile my code using below option "CBLLINK SOURCE.CBL -D -RS " from Micro Focus Command Prompt directives are picked from cobol.dir placed in folder (Directory ) to get dll's. All goes well till here. I am facing an issue Runtime Error 119 on extsm. This occus on the second dll in an application that attempts to perform a sort. When i read documentation it says to avoid this do not to link system programs when building DLL's. i am unable to find an apt option to compile without linking system programs using cblink Thanks Cheeta#extsm

I started using a simple listbox but the data was never formatted correctly.  So I tried the List View control and this looks better.  I need two columns to hold the data.  Here is my code: method-id PopulateListbox final private. local-storage section. 01 SiteList.    05 SiteListDesc  pic x(40) value spaces.    05 Filler        pic x(2)  value spaces.    05 SiteListNum   pic x(4)  value spaces. procedure division.     if ds-return = spaces        invoke lbxSites::BeginUpdate        invoke listView1::BeginUpdate        perform varying idx from 1 by 1 until idx > 99            if lb-siteentry(idx) > spaces                move LB-SITEENTRY-DESC(idx) to SiteL

when specifying dump-file there is several options:1 The run-time system produces a core file when any exception is received that would normally produce a core file on the host system; for example, a run-time system error COBRT114, and so on.2 The run-time system produces a core file when any run-time system error occurs. After writing out the core file the process terminates immediately.3 The run-time system produces a snap shot core file when any run-time system error occurs. After writing out the core file the process continues as normal; for example, to display an RTS error message. 1 will rts continue or stop?2 I saw a note that this can corrupt files, any more info on this? This is default value with cblcored when choose dump-file with prompt3 difference between snapshot core and core (2 or 1)?#coredump

I am getting the above error with Visual COBOL 2.0 that I didn't get with Visual COBOL R4. What am I missing? Here's the line of code: invoke cmd::Parameters::AddWithValue("@comm_term_vesting_pct", Convert::ToDecimal(comm-term-vesting-pct)) where comm-term-vesting-pct is defined as Pic 9(9)V9(2) COMP-3. The error occurs whenever I try to convert to anything other than an interger or string. #VisualCOBOL

I can't find a way to make it possible to set the cursor-position in a multiline edit-box. Is there anybody who knows how to do that?

At the company where I work we use RMCobol; In the help-file I can consult I can't find a way to make it possible to set the cursor-position in a multiline edit-box. Is there anybody who knows how to do that?#COBOL

I have experienced some problems I want to share.Keep logged in doesn't work, when returning I was asked to log in again.Today it was possibel to quit and return but is there a time-out? Shouldn't be. When asked to recover pw last week no mail arrived, worked today.Mail should mention user ID.Couldn't log in as I forgot ID and asumed it was the mail-address. after several tries I managed to login. Login should be simple and transparent, place for improvements maybe?#login

Visual COBOL R4 Installer Technology For the Visual COBOL R3 product set a new shell script and pax file installer was created.  This revolutionised the installation of the UNIX product making the process simple for users and resolving a lot of technical debt, maintainability and limitations found in the Server Express installers. For the release of Visual COBOL R4 we wanted to push the install technology even further.  One downside of the R3 installer was that it consisted of two files:  the shell script installer and the product pax file.  This meant two files had to be copied about and kept together. New for R4 For the R4 release a new binary wrapper has been created.  This wraps the install scriptand product pax file into a single file.  This means that only one file now needs to be downloaded or copied to the destination machine.  The wrapper has the ability to check the installation environment and make sure the product is being installed on the

Attachment - testTooltip.zip Please download and unzip the attachment called testTooltip.zip into your C: drive, retaining the folder structure in the zip file. Open Visual Studio 2010 and open the solution C:\\testTooltip\\testTooltip\\testTooltip.sln. Build and run the demonstration by pressing the F5 key.Hover over each of the buttons to see the Tooltip that is displayed for each. - Button1: Tooltip is displayed in a 3-D manner- Button2: Tooltip is graphically painted- Button3: Tooltip displays an image file Click the Exit button when done. To debug the project, start it by pressing F11.      #VisualStudio#language#VisualCOBOL#HowTo-BestPractice#COBOL#.net

Attachment: GridTooltip.zipVisual COBOL 2010 R3 Winform project.  This demo shows how to display a Tooltip image for a dataGridView control which is dependant on the row in the control over which the mouse is currently hovering. Each time the mouse is moved to a different row the image to display will be changed to reflect the new row. Please download and unzip the attachment called GridTooltip.zip into your C: drive, retaining the folder structure in the zip file. Open Visual Studio 2010 and open the solution C:\\GridTooltip\\GridTooltip\\GridTooltip.sln. Build and run the demonstration by pressing the F5 key.Hover over each row in the dataGridView control to see the Tooltip that is displayed for each. Click the Exit button when done. To debug the project, start it by pressing F11.  #.net#VisualCOBOL#COBOL#HowTo-BestPractice#development#VisualStudio

Contents: Problem Sandcastle Steps for integration Remarks Known limitations for Visual COBOL Sandcastle.Targets file Watch Video Demo Problem: You want to generate automatically MSDN style help when building managed COBOL applications. Sandcastle: Sandcastle is a documentation compiler tool for managed Class Libraries. It produces accurateunderstandable, MSDN style documentation by reflecting over the source assemblies and optionally integrating XML Documentation Comments. The tool can be downloaded and installed from http://sandcastle.codeplex.com/.  Sandcastle includes a few components that need to be executed in order to generate the help file: MrefBuilder.exe – Parses managed assemblies and generates XML output file with reflection information. XslTransform.exe – Applies XSL transformations to an XML file. BuildAssembler.exe – Creates HTML topics with generated syntax from the XML input. ChmBuilder.exe – Generates an hpp file from the collected information which is needed

SmartLinkage – what does it do? Prior to R4, if you wanted to call a COBOL program from another language, you had to create wrapper functions to convert the COBOL data items to managed types. SmartLinkage does that for you, so you can access COBOL linkage data from other managed languages transparently.– No hand-written wrapper classes needed– No changes required to the original code– COBOL data shown in C#/Java/COBOL intellisense  Easy configuration steps • Project1 (COBOL) – Create a managed project and add COBOL code– Compile with the ilsmartlinkage directive• Project2 (eg C#)– Create a C# project in the same solution– Add a project reference to Project1– Add a reference to MicroFocus.COBOL.Runtime (unless Project2 is COBOL)– Now you can access Project1’s linkage data directly  Customisation • Default– hyphens are removed from COBOL data names and the following letter upper-cased   eg lnk-details is accessed from C# as lnkDetails • ilcutprefix(x) direc

In my last entry I gave an overview of how we test the core component for the Visual COBOL product. In this entry I will cover how we test the Visual Studio and Eclipse integration. Testing of the Visual Studio IDE is kicked off using an in house tool called ‘TestCat’. This tool simply monitors for the availability of a batch script, which is created during the overnight build of the product. The TestCat tool runs the script, which has a number of commands contained – it starts Hyper-V machine instances, copies the build onto the virtual machine and kicks off the IDE tests after installing the test build. Tests cover the basic functions of the IDE, but also more advanced testing such as various project and debugging scenarios. The results are then assembled in HTML reports and published. The Eclipse IDE is tested in a very similar manner. The tests are kicked off overnight, and test failures are reported through a web page and via email notifications.  This process runs several th

Download attachment VCCOMDemo.zip    VCCOMDEMO  This demonstration program shows how a Visual COBOL .NET managed class can be called from a Net Express (or Visual COBOL) native program. The technology used is part of the .NET Interop technology and is known as COM Callable Wrapper or CCW.  Basically what happens is that the .NET class is registered as a COM server so that the native COBOL program can call it as such using the COM support available in Net Express. Actually this is not limited to being called by a Net Express application as any COM enabled client can call this server.  The demonstration consists of two parts, a managed Visual COBOL project called VCCOMServer and a native Net Express project called NXCOMClient. Please unzip the attached file VCCOMDemo.zip onto your C:\\drive, retaining the folder structure of the zip file. VCCOMServer: This class becomes a CCW by turning on the option Register for COM Interop which is found at the bottom

Our examples will focus on a single control. We’ll show you how to manipulate the properties of that control programmatically. We may have to include one additional control but the focus on each project will be on a single control with a supporting role for the additional control. This article is about the Button control. In a previous article we introduced the Label control and also used the Button control in a ‘supporting’ role to the Label. The Button is what I like to refer to as an ‘initiator’, that is when the button is clicked or pushed it starts something. Buttons are made to tell the application that “I’m done entering something please go process it”. The Button therefore not only has properties that we can change (color, text, etc.) programmatically but methods that we can call when an event occurs. There are numerous events associated with a Button but we’ll concentrate on the main events. An event when it occurs invokes or calls a method to handle the situation that has ju

  The article will review the common properties of the CheckBox control. These are the name, text, checked and checkstate properties. We’ll also review the use of events associated with a CheckBox.  An event when it occurs invokes or calls a method to handle the situation that has just occurred. For those unfamiliar with the term ‘method’, a method is a piece of code that is executed when called, kind of like a small program. We’ll go into methods more in a little bit. WinForm We’ve already created the WinForm we’ll be using. Remember, the intent is to learn how to manipulate CheckBoxes, not create WinForms. Our WinForm was specifically designed to be simple and present only the basic information. It appears as:   Pretty simple, right? At the top we have a Label that provides some information about Check Boxes. We also have a button on the screen that says “Reset” and we have the Check Boxes contained within a group item titled “Color Selection”. There are actually more

The attached Visual COBOL project contains a .NET managed code Windows Forms application that demonstrates how to allow a user to click on a button and automatically display a Print Preview Dialog or to send the image of the current form to the default printer for printing. $set ilusing"System.Text"$set ilusing"System.Drawing.Printing"$set ilusing"System.Windows.Forms" class-id screenprintvc.Form1 is    partial inherits type System.Windows.Forms.Form. working-storage section.01 PrintDoc1 type PrintDocument value new PrintDocument.01 PPDlg1 type PrintPreviewDialog value new PrintPreviewDialog.method-id NEW.procedure division.   invoke self::InitializeComponent   set PPDlg1::Document to PrintDoc1   set PrintDoc1::OriginAtMargins to true   invoke PrintDoc1::add_PrintPage(new System.Drawing.Printing.PrintPageEventHandler (self::pDoc_PrintPage))   goback.end method.method-id pDoc_PrintPage private.local-storage section.01 bmp type