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README.DOC File Release Notes for the Microsoft(R) COBOL Professional Development System Version 4.5 (C) Copyright Microsoft Corporation, 1991 This document contains essential information for version 4.5 of the Microsoft COBOL Professional Development System for MS-DOS(R) and the Microsoft Operating System/2 (MS(R) OS/2(R)). The information in this document is more up to date than that in the manuals. Microsoft improves its languages documentation at the time of reprinting, so some of the information in this file may already be included in your manuals. NEW FEATURES o Support for Windows 3.0 The following types of programs are supported under Windows 3.0 : - Existing DOS applications can be linked with a new runtime library (COBAPIDW) to produce an application that runs under Windows. - Programs that call the Windows API can now be written in COBOL. Note that if you do not have the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) and plan to create true COBOL Windows applications by calling the Windows API directly, you may be interested in using the Dialog Editor from the SDK. The Dialog Editor is available through PSS by calling 637-7096. - Dynamic-link libraries that can be called from programs written in other programming languages can be written in COBOL. o Intrinsic Functions The 1989 Addendum to the ANSI 85 COBOL Standard introduced a set of intrinsic functions. These functions are fully supported in Microsoft COBOL 4.5. Functions are provided for Trigonometric, Financial, Statistical and String handling. o Floating Point COMP-1 (32 bit Real) and COMP-2 (64 bit Real) data types have been added to this release of COBOL. The syntax support is the same as defined for IBM OSVS COBOL and IBM VS COBOL II, and an Intel Floating Point Co-Processor will be used if available. o Table Sort The SORT verb can now apply to a Data Division table, which will be sorted in place. o EXIT PERFORM Control of program flow is enhanced with a new EXIT PERFORM statement. o 'IF 78-level DEFINED' syntax for conditional compilation o Support for X/Open XPG3 COBOL definition o Compilation up to 10% faster o General performance improvements in generated code o Save and Restore Environment enables you to save the break-points and monitors from one Animator session and reload them next time. o Breakpoint when data value changes. o Monitoring a subscripted item will follow a changing subscript. o Data compression You can supply your own data compression routines, which can be tuned to the data that will be in the file. o OS/2 Database Manager (SQL) enhancements Support for: qualified host variables; more than 100 host variables in one SQL statement; EXEC SQL WHENEVER SQLWARNING. o Screens index program The Screens program will generate an index program which can be used for simple data entry applications. NEW DIRECTIVES These are the new compiler directives introduced in this product: ALIAS Subscripts BROWSE Create .SBR file CHECKDIV Allow divide by zero DEFAULTCALLS CALL convention DETECTLOCK Detect record locks DLL DLL or EXE FLAGAS Show flags as errors etc. HIDEMESSAGE Set message to hide INFORETURN Info msg return value INTLEVEL Portability level LOCKTYPE Read locked records MF(7) Micro Focus COBOL syntax SQLDB2 Mainframe compatibility SQLFORMAT Define date format SQLPROT Protect database WRITETHROUGH Unbuffered writes XOPEN X/Open THE COBOL SOFTWARE Compatibility with Previous Releases ==================================== This product is generally compatible with previous releases, However, there are some differences. These are described in the ASCII text file, CBL-CMPT.DOC, supplied with this product. Before you use this product with programs created with earlier versions, we recommend that you read CBL-CMPT.DOC. Restrictions in the COBOL Software ================================== o Cooperative Animation only allows 4 breakpoints to be set. o In general, the components in this product support the High Performance File System complex filenames. However, the directory facility in some components will not work correctly when complex names are present. Also, names are restricted to a maximum of 65 characters. o NODYNAM currently impacts both CALL literal and CALL identifier. To get mainframe-type link-edit, use NOLITLINK with DYNAM and LITLINK with NODYNAM when compiling to OBJ. o The ANIMATOR Do command will not work with: - the CHAIN verb when parameters are supplied - CALL procedure-pointer - CALL .... BY VALUE - CANCEL of nested program - EXIT PERFORM/PARAGRAPH/SECTION - intrinsic functions. o The program-id of a called subprogram must be the same as the name used for the .OBJ file created by the compiler. Otherwise, a new copy will be loaded whenever the program is called. o Under OS/2 you cannot redirect input to the compiler or Animator. o On OS/2, any DLL that is to be loaded by the shared run-time that is not specified with a path must exist on a path given in the COBDIR environment variable, as well as on the OS/2 LIBPATH. o EXTERNAL data items are limited to a maximum of 64K bytes each. o The DISPLAY UPON PRINTER syntax does not work on OS/2. o Any computation which has an intermediate result greater than 18 digits may give an incorrect final result. This will affect arithmetic expressions such as those used in COMPUTE statements. o Floating-point data is currently not supported in QuickWin applications. o When interfacing with Microsoft C programs, the following C graphics library routines should not be called as this will corrupt the COBOL environment: - _outtext - _outmem - _floodfill - any routine that uses floodfill where you specify the _GFILLINTERIOR option (namely _ellipse and _pie) o You should not use cross-session animation on a network server since this can prevent cross-session animation operating on other machines on the network. o You cannot have more than ten files in the USING or GIVING phrase of a MERGE statement. o In VS COBOL II Releases 1 and 2, and OS/VS COBOL, the "PERFORM stack" is preserved between calls to a program. Thus, on re-entry to the program, the PERFORM state will be as it was when the program was last exited. This means that the code to return to the PERFORM statement which exists at the end of any piece of code that had been performed but had not exited when the program itself was exited will remain active, and may cause unexpected program flow when the program is re-entered. This COBOL behaves the same way as VS COBOL II Release 3 and initializes the PERFORM stack each time a program is called irrespective of the existence of the VSC2(1), VSC2(2) or OSVS directives. o When interfacing with a C program, floating point items may only be passed as BY REFERENCE parameters, not as BY VALUE or BY CONTENT parameters. Restrictions in Related Software ================================ Novell(R) network ----------------- o When sharing files across a Novell network, it is essential that all the workstations using the network are configured so that they do not use local buffering (CACHE DATA BUFFERING). Failure to do this may result in loss of data. Novell version 2.0A, and prior to 2.15 are all configured with local buffering on by default. To disable this buffering, in version 2.0A you require a patch from Novell. In other versions, insert the line: CACHE BUFFERS = 0 into the file SHELL.CFG on each workstation. o Use of the NETBIOS option on a Novell network can cause loss of data on files shared across the network. (NETBIOS is activated by entering the NETBIOS command after connecting to the network. To avoid loss of data, do not use this command.) o When creating multi-user programs to run on a Novell network, it is necessary to ensure that all disk mapping assignments are beyond E:. i.e. do not use assignments A: thru E:. DOCUMENTATION On-disk Documentation ===================== The disks supplied with this product contain additional documentation. The following on-disk documents should be regarded as additional chapters, or additions to chapters, in your Operating Guide: MFCOMPAT.DOC - Compatibility with Micro Focus COBOL OPTIMIZE.DOC - Creating Optimized Programs TIMEOUT.DOC - Timeout Support in ACCEPT Omissions and Errors ==================== This section contains information that is either incorrect or missing from your Microsoft COBOL manuals. This information is organized according to the manual in which it appears. You may want to mark the changes in your manuals. Language Reference ------------------ Page 5-24. There is an optional phrase within the WITH DUPLICATES phrase of the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause of the SELECT statement for an indexed file. Its syntax is: SUPPRESS [WHEN] { ZEROS } { SPACES } { [ALL] literal } SUPPRESS, ZEROS, SPACES, and ALL are all keywords. Page 5-32. Insert a new General Rule (13a) between rules 13 and 14: "If a file is defined as EXTERNAL and the operating system file name is assigned by means of a file name (for example, by use of either the DYNAMIC directive or keyword, using data-name-1 in the SELECT/ASSIGN statement, or using format 2 of the VALUE OF phrase of an FD), then the following rules should be followed: 1) An identifier with the same name should be used to contain the physical file name in all programs which reference the file. 2) Each definition of the identifier which contains the physical file name should also contain the EXTERNAL attribute. Any violation of these rules will not be detected at compile time. However, if any program in the run-unit violates these rules, the results at run time are unpredictable. That is, they may or may not execute as expected." Page 5-83. After General Rule 27, add: "28. The I-O phrase permits the opening of a file for both input and output operations (except for file with ORGANIZATION LINE SEQUENTIAL). If the file does not exist it will be created and used as an empty file for input unless NOT OPTIONAL was specified in the SELECT statement. An attempt to WRITE it will cause an error." Page 5-120. Add a new General Rule 13a: "The phrases ADVANCING PAGE and END-OF-PAGE must not both be specified in a single WRITE statement." Page 10-11, replace the entire second boxed extension with the following: "If a file is defined as EXTERNAL and the operating system file name is assigned by means of a file name (for example, by use of either the DYNAMIC directive or keyword, using data-name-1 in the SELECT/ASSIGN statement, or using format 2 of the VALUE OF phrase of an FD), then the following rules should be followed: 1) An identifier with the same name should be used to contain the physical file name in all programs which reference the file. 2) Each definition of the identifier which contains the physical file name should also contain the EXTERNAL attribute. Any violation of these rules will not be detected at compile time. However, if any program in the run-unit violates these rules, the results at run time are unpredictable. That is, they may or may not execute as expected." Page 15-34, General Rule 4 of the FOREGROUND-COLOR clause. In the first sentence, change "contains a BACKGROUND-COLOR clause" to "contains a FOREGROUND-COLOR clause". Page 16-43, before the description of the ORD-MAX function insert a description of the ORD-MIN function. Its description is exactly the same as that of ORD-MAX, but replacing "ORD-MAX" by "ORD-MIN", "maximum" by "minimum" and "greatest" by "least" everywhere that they occur. Operating Guide --------------- General A number of the executable files are supplied with .PIF files for use with Microsoft Windows 3.0 or later. Using these .PIF files, the components of this system can be run as Windows applications, and can be added to a group for direct execution from Program Manager. From the DOS command line, these applications can be invoked using the command WIN prog.PIF where prog is the name of the relevant component. Chapter 9 (Packaging and Shipping Applications): There is a module RMSTAT.OBJ, which must be linked into your application if you want to get RM file statuses. Chapter 19 (SQL): There is no support for using COMP-1 items with SQL. Chapter 34 (Converting C Header Files with H2CPY) There is a utility called SPLIT78. It splits the constants file produced by H2CPY into several files. It uses the first set of characters before the first hyphen to name the files. For example, if OS2.78 contains: 78 ABB-COLOR VALUE H"01". 78 ABB-BACK-COLOR VALUE H"02". 78 ABB-MIX-MODE VALUE H"04". 78 ABB-BACK-MIX-MODE VALUE H"08". 78 ABB-SET VALUE H"10". 78 ABB-SYMBOL VALUE H"20". 78 ABB-REF-POINT VALUE H"40". 78 AF-CHAR VALUE H"01". 78 AF-VIRTUALKEY VALUE H"02". 78 AF-SCANCODE VALUE H"04". 78 AF-SHIFT VALUE H"08". 78 AF-CONTROL VALUE H"10". 78 AF-ALT VALUE H"20". 78 AF-LONEKEY VALUE H"40". 78 AF-SYSCOMMAND VALUE H"0100". 78 AF-HELP VALUE H"0200". 78 HWND-DESKTOP VALUE 1. 78 HWND-OBJECT VALUE 2. 78 HWND-TOP VALUE 3. 78 HWND-BOTTOM VALUE 4. 78 HWND-THREADCAPTURE VALUE 5. 78 HWND-PARENT VALUE 0. then typing the command, "SPLIT78 OS2.78" will create 3 files: ABB.78 AF.78 and HWND.78 The contents of OS2.78 will be unaffected. If any of the output files already exist they will be extended, so make sure your working directory contains no ".78" files other than the source file before you enter the command SPLIT78. Appendix B (Compiler Directives): The default for the directive CHECKDIV is NOCHECKDIV, not CHECKDIV as stated in the manuals. There is an additional directive FLAGCD. Its syntax is [NO] FLAGCD. When it is set, selecting flagging for the dialect SAA, ANS85, OSVS or VSC2 release 2 or 3 will not only flag syntax outside that dialect, but will also flag any directive settings that cause behavior incompatible with that dialect. The default is NOFLAGCD. There are two additional directives, HOST-NUMCOMPARE and ZWB which direct the results of comparing a numeric display field with SPACE, " " and "0". The directives are provided to ensure compatibility with mainframe COBOL operation. If NOHOST-NUMCOMPARE or ZWB are specified, the results of comparing are as now. If HOST-NUMCOMPARE and NOZWB are specified together, the results are the exact opposite. Hence, if PIC-9 contains spaces, the results of the comparison with SPACES, " " and "0" are: PIC-9 = SPACE PIC-9 = " " PIC-9 = "0" NOZWB and HOST-NUMCOMPARE TRUE TRUE FALSE ZWB or NOHOST-NUMCOMPARE FALSE FALSE TRUE These results are the same independent of the setting of the F run-time switch. There is an additional generator directive SIGNCOMPARE. Its syntax is [NO] SIGNCOMPARE. When it is set in an EBCDIC program, it changes the way some numeric comparisons are performed so that, for example, an unsigned data item containing 1234 is equal to a signed data item containing +1234. This does, however, cause these comparisons to be much less efficient. The default is NOSIGNCOMPARE. If you are using an add-on product, note that the behavior in intermediate code is the same as you get in generated code with SIGNCOMPARE; thus with the default setting of this directive, the behavior in intermediate code and generated code is different. There is an error in the example given for STICKY-LINKAGE. The name of the data item referenced in the Procedure Division code should be HOURLY-RATE, not RATE. There is an additional directive ZEROLENGTHFALSE. Its syntax is [NO] ZEROLENGTHFALSE. When it is set, all class tests of zero length group items return false. Otherwise they all return true. The default is NOZEROLENGTHFALSE. For conformance to ANSI and SAA you must set ZEROLENGTHFALSE. Appendices C and D (COBOL System Library Routines) The following passage is relevant to both these appendices: The COBOL system library routines generally supply features that cannot be accessed using COBOL syntax, such as operating system functions. Under OS/2, many of the features can be accessed directly by calling the OS/2 API functions. However, this ties the program to OS/2, with DOS capability available only for those API calls which are part of the Family API, and only then when the program is bound. Parameters to the call-by-name routines can be defined anywhere provided they do not cross a segment boundary. (See the CHIP "16" and FLAG-CHIP compiler directives.) Parameters to the call-by-number routines must not be defined in the Linkage Section or Local-Storage Section of your program, and must be in the first 64K of the Data Division. Error Messages -------------- Page 2-2. The reference to the E switch is only appropriate if you have the Toolset or Workbench add-on products. Consequently, the effect of the E switch is not documented in the Operating Guide as stated. Pocket Guide ------------ Reserved Words List The words SECONDS is shown as a reserved word. This is incorrect.