Rocket® COBOL

We are still on version 10.01 and need to call an API.  If anyone has done this, could you please tell me how to go about it?Thank you for you help,Linda Praed

Our software uses a multiline entry field to allow customers to enter notes... similar to Notepad.  They have requested the ability to use color and possible bold or italic fonts to make certain lines of their notes stand out.  I know I can make all the notes a single color, or I can switch to a grid and do specific lines in color.  But, I would like the ability of using a notepad entry (similar to this one) that has options to let them enter colors and change fonts, etc.  Is the only option to use an external API?  and what are some suggestions for that?

Does anyone know the maximum record length for AcuODBC version 6?

Problem: Trying to install COBOL Server on the same machine as Visual COBOL dev Hub in rpm formatted files resulted in errors: rpm -i --prefix=/opt/microfocus/COBOLServer cobol_server_4.0_redhat_x86_64.rpm error: Failed dependencies: Micro_Focus_visualcobol_devhub conflicts with Micro_Focus_cobol_server-4.0.0.0-186407.x86_64 Micro_Focus_cobol_server conflicts with (installed) Micro_Focus_visualcobol_devhub-4.0.0.0-186407.x86_64   Resolution: To have two RPM products installed at the same time. "nodeps" needs to be added to the following command.   rpm --nodeps -i --prefix=/opt/microfocus/COBOLServer cobol_server_4.0_redhat_x86_64.rpm   The “--nodeps” command allows two RPM products to be installed on the machine when the –prefix option is used. Otherwise it is blocked as seen.

Problem Is it possible to stop (break out of) the ZOOM function in character animation? Resolution Use the break key “CTRL C” to stop a ZOOM function and break out of it. It is not documented but has already been changed for the next release in Server Express 5.1 Wrappack 18. Documentation will show this: "You can break out of Zoom mode using the Break key combination".

Problem: When moving an application which uses ACU4GL for Oracle from one platform to another the application begins to output a message:     Transaction error 17 which points to the statement START TRANSACTION. This error is not documented. What is the cause of this error? Solution: The transaction error 17 equates to "E_LOG_TEMP", and happens when vision attempts to open a transaction log temporary file and fails to do so.   Check the setting of the parameters/variables 'LOG_DIR'  and 'LOG_FILE'  Does the directory specified in LOG_DIR exist on the system and does the user have sufficient permission to create/write files in that directory?Is the filename specified in LOG_FILE being created when the error occurs?   In the case of a particular customer, the directory specified in LOG_DIR had not been created on the new system and this was the cause of the error. #TipfromSupport

Where can I find the "wish list" or "feature request list" for Visual COBOL?  You, the place where people can describe a feature they would like to see and then other Visual COBOL users vote on whether they would also like to see it?One that I would like to see is the Application.config file working the way it does with Managed code and all of the other IDE's in Visual Studio, instead of whatever it is that is there now.  It would be nice to have a config file that actually works as a config file, providing information to the program that is not available at compile time, "late binding" and can be transformed like the app.config in Managed code. #app.config#application.config#config

I have existing programs compiled using Net Express that I run from a shared folder on a file server and I have programs compiled using native Visual COBOL which I run from a shared folder residing on a COBOL Server.  How do I run the native Visual COBOL programs on a computer where the user is also running Net Express programs?  Since all of the runtime files are on the COBOL Server, can I run a batch file or something to set the PATH environment to run the Visual COBOL programs?  When I try now I receive a message that says "The program can't start because api-ms-crt-runtime-l1.dll is missing"  When I copy one of the 20 instances of api-ms-crt-runtime-l1.dll from another computer into my COBOL Server folder containing the EXE file, I receive a message saying "entry point ucrtbase.abort cannot be found in dynamic link library api..."   How do I get the files that I need onto the COBOL Server? On computers that do not run Net Expre

Hi,Is anyone using Kubernetes with Acucobol that would like to share how it works? Also someone using Docker but Kubernetes is something growing very fast in the containers area.Regards, 

Hello. I'm new to Cobol, but I'm experienced with Eclipse and programming at all. I'm using Visual COBOL 2.2 for Eclipse. Eclipse Standard 4.3.2, Windows 8.1. Default parameters for all programs. I'm learning simple programs, like "Hello World". All programs are text-based, nothing graphical. But I have one very common and strange situation. I change a few lines but Eclipse still runs old version of my program! Hypothetical Example:        procedure division.           Display "Please, enter the Price"           Accept Price           Compute Price = Price * 1.2.           Move Price to Price-ed.           Display Price-ed.        &nbs

Problem : How to improve performance of Database Connectors when bulk loading data. Resolution : In the ACU configuration file, pointed to by the A_CONFIG environment variable. Set 4GL_COMMIT_COUNT=1024   Using 4GL_COMMIT_COUNT=1024 should increase performance when loading the database. Example ACU configuration file entries needed for bulk loading of data. DEFAULT_HOST=ODBC A_ODBC_DATASOURCE=mssqlrh7sup A_ODBC_LOGIN=SA A_ODBC_PASSWD=zx81rocks A_ODBC_LOCK_METHOD=SETSTMTOPTION 4GL_COMMIT_COUNT=1024 References : 4GL_COMMIT_COUNT configuration variable extend Product GuidesAcu4GL Version 10.2.1 User's GuideCompiler and Runtime OptionsRun-time Configuration Variables4GL_COMMIT_COUNT configuration variable   A_DB2_ALTERNATE_COMMIT_LOGIC configuration variable extend Product GuidesAcu4GL Version 10.2.1 User's GuideAppendix F: Acu4GL for DB2Configuration File VariablesA_DB2_ALTERNATE_COMMIT_LOGIC configuration variable   Record and Table Locking extend Product GuidesA

Hi,I have created a JNDI Datasource within a Java Class and want to pass the object to Managed COBOL as my understanding is that you can connect using 'EXEC SQL CONNECT TO Datasource object' according to the documentation. However when the EXEC SQL CONNECT statement is run I get  'Connection datasource not found' within MFSQLMESSAGETEXT.If I get the connection object from the datasource within my Java class I can pass the connection object to my COBOL JVM wrapper and connect using 'EXEC SQL BIND'.  I have been told that using BIND as in the example within the docs can be slow so wanted to try the JNDI option. Has anyone used this approach? I have tried using the SQL(JNDI) setting but no joy.Would be much appreciated if anyone could provide me with some pointers.

Problem: Is there a way of removing the "Application Completed" dialog box. Resolution: There are three ways to "remove" the application completed message box: 1) You can run/LINK your programs as a character application rather than graphical. 2) You can clear the screen prior to the STOP RUN i.e.    display spaces at 0101. 3) On the "Settings" option of the application window you can check "Disable    Termination Prompt". The message box is created so that a user could read any information on the screen prior to the application completing and the window disappearing. Old KB# 7062

Symptoms In Server Express I could use the fork() call. Now, with Visual Cobol, I encounter ‘rts64 : Error 96 encountered in child process’ failure.   Diagnosis Error 96 was introduced in Visual Cobol in response to error situations which customers reported regarding thread synchronisation and deadlocks. There are, and always have been, good reasons for the limitation with fork(), and the principle has always applied – in all versions of Net Express, Server Express, and now Visual COBOL and Enterprise Developer. In practice, earlier versions such as Server Express did not trap improper uses of fork() and that appeared to work in a limited fashion, but this has become increasingly problematic over time as OS vendors tighten up over successive releases. With the latest products, it was realised that continuing the effort was not sustainable. Therefore raising the RTS 96 error early avoids a potentially long investigation on later runtime errors. Solution The general advice, not

Using Visual Studio 2017 and Visual COBOL 4.I'm experimenting with the windowing syntax based on AcuCOBOL-GT which is supposedly supported in Visual COBOL. I placed the $SET preprocess"window1" directive as in the MF documentation and added a simple DISPLAY WINDOW statement to the Procedure Division..Visual COBOL gives me an error 'COBCH0053 Directive PREPROCESS invalid or not allowed here'.So how do I get to use windowing syntax?Thanks.

Problem An error appears after installing Visual COBOL development Hub 4.0 when trying to run the cesadmintool.sh to install the licenses: OpenJDK version of Java found. This release of Java is not supported by cesadmintool. Resolution OpenJDK is supported from Patch Update 7 onwards which is available for download from our SupportLine website with your weblogin credentials: https://supportline.microfocus.com/websync/productupdatessearch.aspx

 I'm tyring to connect to AS/400 db2 and compile COBOL DB2 programs, but  I cannot find any anwser by google or your community(the link in the related quesitons' anwser all displayed "The current document displayed does not exist in the table of contents" after clicking it), can you please help? 

When I using Visual Cobol IDE to run Cobol program in Windows, program 'll run same as in Mainframe or not ?If not, please show me how to Cobol program run same as in Mainframe  ?

Can I connect to a dump file on a remote server and use .IDY files on that server (or another server) to remotely debug a core dump file using VC 4.0 Eclipse running on Windows?

We're working with a large native procedural COBOL code base and have automated the build with Bamboo and ant.  On our build server, we only want to compile programs that have been changed since the last buld (all source is pulled from Git for the build).  Are incremental builds possible in this scenario?  Can someone provide more detail be provided  about how VC Eclipse tracks changes and copybook dependencies when building incrementally.

I using Visual Cobol IDE to generate Cobol Unit Test case for each cobol program in my project, base on guide : https://www.microfocus.com/documentation/visual-cobol/VC40/EclUNIX/GUID-D5F12D24-BB4D-4CC4-920B-0A4DE99E1F29.htmlBut, I see that it only generate one case for each programEx : with 'XXX.cbl' file which has 2 procedures are PROCEDURE1, PROCEDURE2,..., it only generate in XXXTest.cbl (test case file) such as :call "XXX" using by reference LINK-AREA-IO-01,Instead of, call "PROCEDURE1" using by reference LINK-AREA-IO-01,.....call "PROCEDURE2" using by reference LINK-AREA-IO-02, Visual Cobol IDE can support to generate same that or I have to self write by hand ? 

PROBLEM A call to C$SYSTEM fails when the command contains special characters like ‘&’: CALL "C$SYSTEM" USING "START C:\\TEMP\\MF&2019.XLSX" 225                 GIVING RETURN-VAL The following error is recieved. Only part of the command is recognized so the file cannot be found.   RESOLUTION Windows command shell will recognise the ampersand as a special character. An escape character is needed in the command line to enable it to work. For example using the previous command with the escape character will look like this: CALL "C$SYSTEM" USING "START C:\\TEMP\\MF^&2019.XLSX" 96                 GIVING RETURN-VAL Adding the escape character before a command symbol allows it to be treated as ordinary text. This applies to the following characters also: ^ & < > | ‘ ` , ; = ( ) Other characters may req

PROBLEM C$JAVA, using the op-codes CJAVA-DBCONNECT and CJAVA-DBQUERY, can be used to connect to and query a database. What driver string and connection string should be used?   RESOLUTION The hardest part is finding the correct connection and driver string to use. This information can commonly be found from the database vendors website. For this sample the connection will be made to SQL Server - http://bit.ly/SQLConnString MOVE "com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver" to DB-DRIVERSTR MOVE "jdbc:sqlserver://server-hostname:1433;DatabaseName=support;user=******;password=******;" to DB-CONNECTSTR MOVE "SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER" to DB-QUERY. The connection should now be successful and a query on the database can be made. If the connection is not successful and errors are still received there are some logging options to turn on to investigate the issue further. A_JAVA_TRACE_VALUE -1 A_JAVA_TRACE_FILENAME javatrace.txt Additional values for A_JAVA_TRACE_VALUE can be found in the

I was hoping for a way to provide configuration information without having to write my own subroutine to read a CONFIG or INI file.  I did find something close, the Run-time Launch Configuration File.  (while searching, I did find something called "Run-time Configuration" but it could only be set at compile-time, go figure!).The mfdefault.exe.mfcfg (thanks for the correction, Chris Glazier) file can contain commands to set environment variables during the time the programs run.  These environment varables can be easily read in the program using a DISPLAY/ACCEPT pair of commands.  Individual files, <program name>.exe.mfcfg files, can be created and customized for an individual program.  The syntax for the command in to the mfconfig file is "SETENV <variable name>=<variable value>"  The quotes and "<>" marks are not part of the command.#setting#config#native#app.config#mfconfig#ini#settings

I was hoping for a way to provide configuration information without having to write my own subroutine to read a CONFIG or INI file.  I did find something close, the Run-time Launch Configuration File.  (while searching, I did find something called "Run-time Configuration" but it could only be set at compile-time, go figure!).The mfdefault.exe.mfcfg (thanks for the correction, Chris Glazier) file can contain commands to set environment variables during the time the programs run.  These environment varables can be easily read in the program using a DISPLAY/ACCEPT pair of commands.  Individual files, <program name>.exe.mfcfg files, can be created and customized for an individual program.  The syntax for the command in to the mfconfig file is "SETENV <variable name>=<variable value>"  The quotes and "<>" marks are not part of the command.