Does anyone have a quick method for finding a COBOL copybook start-positions for fields? For example:
000100 01 BGG-FILE-REC.
000200 03 BGG-RCD-KEY.
000300 05 BGG-DUDENAME PIC XXXX.
000400 05 BGG-DUDEADDR PIC XX.
000500 05 BGG-HAIRCOLOR PIC X(71).
000600 05 BGG-EYECOLOR PIC X(8).
The BGG-HAIRCOLOR column begins at column 7. However, the actual file I am handling has about 250 variables totalling to 3400 bytes. Slogging through and adding the PIC values with a hand calculator is hideous and not happening in my lifetime. The number would be nice to have in vi for when I am examining output from the system; i.e, does BGG-EYECOLOR value fall in the correct column?
I could write a perl script to annotate such a copybook but before I do it I wondered if anyone has a smoother way to get the same value?
If it is for the mainframe, you could use cb2xml to convert the copybook to xml
(with field Start).
Alternatively you can use the RecordEditor. Import the Cobol Copybook into
the RecordEditor (see RecordEditor-Cobol Notes). The RecordEditor will calculate
the field positions. You can copy and paste the fields from the RecordEditor-Layout to either Excell or a Text Editor, Alternatively you can export the record layout as Xml
The RecordEdityor willwork for several Cobol Dialects (Mainframe, OpenCobol).
If you are reading files in java, you should look at JRecord. JRecord will let you read a Cobol Data file in Java using a Cobol Copybook.
Also Legstar may be worth a look. Legstar originally start with dealloy with online data transfer but they have been branching out.
disclaimer : I maintain https://www.cobolcopybook.co.in
Hi, check the site https://www.cobolcopybook.co.in, This site is designed specially for the analyze COBOL copybooks.
for Eg.
Your input copybook is (as mentioned in question):
000100 01 BGG-FILE-REC.
000200 03 BGG-RCD-KEY.
000300 05 BGG-DUDENAME PIC XXXX.
000400 05 BGG-DUDEADDR PIC XX.
000500 05 BGG-HAIRCOLOR PIC X(71).
000600 05 BGG-EYECOLOR PIC X(8).
Then the output will be:
SR# LEVEL FIELD NAME PICTURE TYPE START END LENGTH
0 1 BGG-FILE-REC. # AN 1 85 85
1 3 BGG-RCD-KEY. # AN 1 85 85
2 5 BGG-DUDENAME XXXX. AN 1 4 4
3 5 BGG-DUDEADDR XX. AN 5 6 2
4 5 BGG-HAIRCOLOR X(71). AN 7 77 71
5 5 BGG-EYECOLOR X(8). AN 78 85 8
I hope this will solve your problem.
If you're on a mainframe, use option 8 of FileAid.
You are worried about how hard it is to line up the PIC clauses in the same column?
Open it in one of the many Eclipse variants and control-shift-F or whatever.
You know it compiles nicely regardless of columns, and has for almost 30 years, they really don't matter any more.
The low rent way would be to compile it and cut&paste your cross reference listing over your copybook.
If you are using Mainframes you can use "File aid - view".
From ISPF Primary Option Menu goto
G ==> General Utility
F ==> File-Aid Products
1 ==> File-AID
8 ==> VIEW
In the screen the below options will come:
Specify Record Layout Dataset to View:
Dataset name ===> 'XXXXXX.XXX.XXXX'
Member name ===> COPYZXY (Blank or pattern for member list)
Give your "Dataset name" and "Member name" (Dataset name : Your PDS and Member name : Your copy book name)
After pressing enter you will get a VIEW LAYOUT screen that describes about
Variable name, Clause, number, Start, end and length of each variable present in that copy book.
Related
First let me apologize if data is not that complete . This is not me being lazy but me being not aware of cobol details .
I have been assigned in my firm to extract our old financial data from files read by cobol programs and turn them to a database in our oracle DB . I am not able to read these files as normal texts . i don't know how to turn then to normal text .
As per the cobol source each row is 7 records and each record is 72 chars .
the files are very large . each one is 3 GB in average . how can i open them as a normal text ?
here is the file section
000220 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000230 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000240 SOURCE-COMPUTER. NCR-3000.
000250 OBJECT-COMPUTER. NCR-3000.
000260 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
000270 FILE-CONTROL.
000280 SELECT DQ-HIMVT-A ASSIGN TO DISC
000290 ORGANIZATION INDEXED
000300 ACCESS MODE DYNAMIC
000310 RECORD KEY CLE-A.
000320*
000330 DATA DIVISION.
000340 FILE SECTION.
000350 FD DQ-HIMVT-A BLOCK CONTAINS 7 RECORDS
000360 RECORD CONTAINS 73 CHARACTERS
000370 LABEL RECORD STANDARD
000380 DATA RECORD IS HIMVT-A.
000390 01 HIMVT-A.
000400 02 CLE-A.
000410 03 ENT-A PIC 99.
000420 03 NUCPT-A PIC 9(13) COMP-6.
000430 03 DEV-A PIC XXX.
000440 03 DATOP-A PIC 9(7) COMP-6.
000450 03 SIG-A PIC 9.
000460 03 FORC-A PIC 9.
000470 03 DATVAL-A PIC 9(7) COMP-6.
000480 03 NUMOP-A PIC 9(9) COMP-6.
000490 03 MT-A PIC 9(12)V999 COMP-6.
000500 02 FILLER PIC X(8).
000510 02 TYPCPT-A PIC 9(3) COMP-6.
000520 02 LIBOP-A PIC X(15).
000530 02 SOLD-A PIC S9(12)V999 COMP-3.
000540 02 DATTRAIT-A PIC 9(7) COMP-6.
000550 02 FILLER PIC X.
Here is a sample of the file when opened from notepad++
RMKF I I 0 ** ƒ ’ *B9 *B9 ’ ’ ÿ # "c *B9 Þ #01 EGP %10 % ƒ 21 $ '10 ' (#P )€ 010 0 0 EGP $21 $ %11 $ (EGP $21 $ %11 $ 7EGP $21 $ %11 $ FEGP $21 $ %11 $ UEGP $21 $ %11 $ ` ÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿÿ >01 ÔEGP %10 % ÔƒÖ 21Â
NO. 0 ÄÕ
environment section
000220 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000230 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000240 SOURCE-COMPUTER. NCR-3000.
000250 OBJECT-COMPUTER. NCR-3000.
000260 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
000270 FILE-CONTROL.
000280 SELECT DQ-HIMVT-A ASSIGN TO DISC
000290 ORGANIZATION INDEXED
000300 ACCESS MODE DYNAMIC
000310 RECORD KEY CLE-A.
I found this file which they call a copy book . don't know how it ois related
000100*
000200**** CINVDAT - ZONE DE TRAVAIL ****
000300*******************************************
000400****
000500*
000600 01 INVDATRAV.
000700 03 INVZON1 PIC 99.
000800 03 INVZON2 PIC 99.
000900 03 INVZON3 PIC 99.
001000 01 INVZONI PIC 99.
001100 01 INVDATE PIC 9(6).
001200 01 INVCAL PIC 9.
001300*
Regards
You may be able to locate a service which can do the extract for you. If you go this route, ensure that they have all the information you can provide (which must include the data-definitions under the FD) and agree to only pay on verified receipt of the data.
An alternative is to talk to Micro Focus about a short-term license for a COBOL which (again must be guaranteed) can understand the indexed-file format. You then write one simple program per file whose data you need to extract. Advantage here is that what COMP-3 and COMP-6 represent, you don't need to know, as the conversion to a "text" number is done without anyone having to think about it (on the output definition, you remove all references to COMP-anything (also COMP, if there happen to be any)).
A further alternative is to sit down with a hex editor, knowledge of the data, and work out how to abstract the index information away from the data (all the data records are a known, fixed, length, 73 bytes in your example).
Then, with your preferred language which can handle non-delimited-record (fixed length) binary data, and working out what COMP-3, COMP-6, and any other COMP- (or COMP) fields mean. They will likely be packed-decimal, Binary Coded Decimal (BCD) or "some type of binary" given that Standard COBOL has binary fields limited by decimal values (to the size of the PICture clause).
In the first and second alternatives, there is a greater expectation of the reliability of extract. The third may be the "cheapest", but expectations of the time expended to complete are more difficult to stick to.
Of the first two, cost is the likely determinant (assuming you are not going to use COBOL going forward). If you yourself have to write some COBOL programs, don't worry about that, they are very, very simple, and once you have done one, you simply "clone" it.
I'm not sure which system you are using. As my experience in AS400. COBOL data file using EBCDIC format, it cannot be open directly from a text editor. It will only show random texts. You have to convert it in to ASCII before you export. In AS400, I use CHGTOPCD file/member name to a directory and export it out. Then it will show correct texts. Not sure is this information helps you.
I find myself sorting an input file, and using a control break to compute some data. We need headers in the control break, the report writer is duplicating the header each time and I can not figure it out for the life of me. The write statement in the break paragraph is written twice, but if I use a DISPLAY it is only displayed once. Where am I going wrong with the Report Writer? The break itself is calculating the data correctly (but probably terribly)
environment division.
configuration section.
input-output section.
file-control.
SELECT corpranks
ASSIGN TO
"corpranks.txt"
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
SELECT out-file
ASSIGN TO
"report"
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
SELECT sortfile
ASSIGN TO
"SortFile".
data division.
file section.
FD corpranks
RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS.
01 gf-rec.
05 first-initial PIC x.
05 middle-initial PIC x.
05 last-name PIC x(14).
05 rank-code PIC 9.
05 Filler PIC x(15).
05 rank PIC x(3).
05 salary PIC 9(6).
05 corporation PIC x(29) VALUE SPACE.
FD out-file
REPORT IS corp-report.
01 of-rec PIC x(80).
SD sortfile.
01 Sortrec.
05 PIC x(16).
05 SR-rank PIC xxx.
05 PIC x(22).
05 SR-corporation PIC x(29).
working-storage section.
77 EOF PIC x VALUE "N".
77 current-corp PIC x(29).
77 total-salary PIC 9(6) VALUE 0.
77 current-salary PIC 9(6).
77 converted-month PIC x(3).
77 concatenated-date PIC x(28).
77 formatted-date PIC x(80) JUSTIFIED RIGHT.
77 formatted-name PIC x(20).
77 tally-counter PIC 9.
77 inp-len PIC 9.
01 current-date.
05 YYYY PIC x(4).
05 MM PIC x(2).
05 DD PIC x(2).
01 corporation-header.
05 FILLER pic x(18) VALUE SPACES.
05 FILLER pic x(13) VALUE "Corporation: ".
05 ch-corp pic x(40).
01 corporation-subheader.
05 FILLER pic x(5) VALUE SPACES.
05 FILLER pic x(4) VALUE "RANK".
05 FILLER pic x(5) VALUE SPACES.
05 FILLER pic x(4) VALUE "NAME".
05 FILLER pic x(15) VALUE SPACES.
05 FILLER pic x(6) VALUE "SALARY".
77 csh-underline pic x(40) Value
"========================================".
01 main-header.
05 FILLER PIC x(5).
05 header-content PIC x(69) VALUE "Jacksonville Computer App
"lications Support Personnel Salaries".
report section.
RD corp-report.
01 REPORT-LINE
TYPE DETAIL
LINE PLUS 2.
05 COLUMN 6 PIC x(3) SOURCE rank.
05 COLUMN 12 PIC x(20) SOURCE formatted-name.
05 COLUMN 37 PIC 9(6) SOURCE salary.
procedure division.
0000-MAIN.
Sort Sortfile on ascending key SR-corporation
on ascending key SR-rank
Using corpranks
giving corpranks.
OPEN
INPUT corpranks
OUTPUT out-file
INITIATE corp-report.
WRITE of-rec FROM main-header.
ACCEPT current-date from DATE YYYYMMDD.
PERFORM 3000-CONVERT-MONTH.
STRING "As of: " DELIMITED BY SIZE
DD DELIMITED BY SIZE
SPACE
converted-month DELIMITED BY SIZE
SPACE
YYYY DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO concatenated-date.
MOVE concatenated-date TO formatted-date.
WRITE of-rec FROM formatted-date.
PERFORM 2000-GENERATE-REPORT UNTIL EOF = 1.
TERMINATE corp-report.
stop run.
2000-GENERATE-REPORT.
PERFORM 3100-TRIM-FIELDS
GENERATE REPORT-LINE
READ corpranks
AT END
CLOSE corpranks
out-file
MOVE 1 TO eof
NOT AT END
IF current-corp = SPACE
MOVE corporation to current-corp
MOVE current-corp to ch-corp
WRITE of-rec FROM corporation-header
WRITE of-rec FROM corporation-subheader
WRITE of-rec FROM csh-underline
END-IF
IF current-corp NOT = corporation
PERFORM 2500-CONTROL-BREAK
END-IF
COMPUTE total-salary = total-salary + salary
MOVE corporation to current-corp
END-READ.
2500-CONTROL-BREAK.
WRITE of-rec FROM corporation
MOVE 0 to total-salary
.
3000-CONVERT-MONTH.
EVALUATE mm
WHEN "01" MOVE "JAN" TO converted-month
WHEN "02" MOVE "FEB" TO converted-month
WHEN "03" MOVE "MAR" TO converted-month
WHEN "04" MOVE "APR" TO converted-month
WHEN "05" MOVE "MAY" TO converted-month
WHEN "06" MOVE "JUN" TO converted-month
WHEN "07" MOVE "JUL" TO converted-month
WHEN "08" MOVE "AUG" TO converted-month
WHEN "09" MOVE "SEP" TO converted-month
WHEN "10" MOVE "OCT" TO converted-month
WHEN "11" MOVE "NOV" TO converted-month
WHEN "12" MOVE "DEC" TO converted-month
WHEN OTHER MOVE mm to converted-month
END-EVALUATE.
3100-TRIM-FIELDS.
INSPECT last-name TALLYING tally-counter FOR trailing
spaces.
COMPUTE inp-len = LENGTH OF last-name - tally-counter
MOVE last-name(1: inp-len) to formatted-name
STRING last-name(1: inp-len) DELIMITED BY SIZE
SPACE
first-initial DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO formatted-name
MOVE 0 TO tally-counter
end program Program2.
Some report output: (at the beginning header, csh-underline is the last thing written, the === underline displays twice. At the corporation control breaks, the next corp name is the last thing written, and is written twice)
Jacksonville Computer Applications Support Personnel Salaries
As of: 18 FEB 2015
Corporation: Alltel Information Services
RANK NAME SALARY
========================================
========================================
EVP COLUMBUS C 100000
SVP ADAMS S 042500
VP REAGAN R 081000
VP FRANKLIN B 080000
A&P FORD G 060000
A&P HAYES R 050000
A&P JACKSON A 057600
A&P TYLER J 069000
A&P HARRISON B 052000
A&P TAFT W 070500
A&P HOOVER H 035000
A&P PIERCE F 044000
American Express
American Express
EVP JOHNSON L 098000
SVP CLINTON W 086000
VP ROOSEVELT F 072000
A&P HARDING W 040000
....
Here's a link to some Report Writer documentation from Micro Focus. It is not the only documentation they provide, but it is all that I have scanned through: http://documentation.microfocus.com/help/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.microfocus.eclipse.infocenter.studee60win%2FGUID-48E4E734-F1A4-41C4-BA30-38993C8FE100.html
If you loot at Report File under Enterprise > Micro Focus Studio Enterprise Edition 6.0 > General Reference > COBOL Language Reference > Part 3. Additional Topics > Report Writer you will see this:
Report File
A report file is an output file having sequential organization. A
report file has a file description entry containing a REPORT clause.
The content of a report file consists of records that are written
under control of the RWCS.
A report file is named by a file control entry and is described by a
file description entry containing a REPORT clause. A report file is
referred to and accessed by the OPEN, GENERATE, INITIATE, SUPPRESS,
TERMINATE, USE BEFORE REPORTING, and CLOSE statements.
Although this does not definitively say "Don't use your own WRITE statements and hope that they will work" I think it is clear that you should not. What happens when you do that is not defined, or is "undefined behaviour".
You are getting repeated lines before a break, and after a break, exactly where the Report Writer will be checking if there is anything it needs to do. Although I know nothing at all about the implementation of the Report Writer in Micro Focus COBOL, I am pretty certain that you have correctly identified that the repetition happens and is beyond your control. I think the above quote confirms that, and within other parts of Micro Focus's documentation this may be made more explicit.
You either need to use the Report Writer fully (if the task is to use the Report Writer) or not use it at all. You can't mix automatic and manual on the same report file, it seems, and that makes sense to me.
Remember, it does not matter that some of your WRITE statements seem to work, because this is a computer and you need them all to work.
Some general comments on your program:
In main-header you have a FILLER without a VALUE clause, which can cause problems when written to a file for printing. Whether that is way those five bytes don't show on your output or whether it is due to formatting in the posting here, I don't know.
Also in main-header you have a long literal, continued onto a second line. I can't see the continuation marker, and that may be a feature of how it is done in that Micro Focus COBOL, but it always makes things easier if literals are not continued. Define two smaller fields one after the other, with smaller literals which taken together make up the whole.
You have this:
COMPUTE total-salary = total-salary + salary
This, however, is considered clearer:
ADD salary TO total-salary
You are using STRING. You should be aware that the data-transfer from the sending fields ceases when the receiving field is filled, or when all the sending fields have been processed. In the latter case, automatic space-padding is not carried out, unlike the behaviour of a MOVE statement. You need to set your receiving field to an initial value before the STRING is executed, else you will retain data from the previous execution of STRING when the current execution of STRING has less actual data.
After the STRING you do this:
MOVE 0 TO tally-counter
This means your INSPECT, several statements earlier, but where tally-counter is used, is relying on a previous value for tally-counter for the code after that to work. This is not good practice. Make tally-counter an initial value before it is used in the INSPECT.
If you go with the Report Writer your PROCEDURE DIVISION code will be significantly reduced, because the definition of the report elements defines the automatic processing.
The Report Write feature of COBOL is very powerful. It allows you to define a complex report in the REPORT SECTION of a COBOL program, with headings, column headings, detail lines, control-break totals etc. In the PROCEDURE DIVISION you only need as little as make the source-data available (say with a READ) and then GENERATE the report, and COBOL does the rest for you.
However, you have defined a very simple report, and are attempting to do headings, totals etc yourself. I have never done this, and don't know if it works in general, or if it works for your compiler.
From your testing, it seems like there may be a problem with doing this, and it may be, erroneously, repeating the line you yourself have written. You need to check that that particular line is not output elsewhere in your program.
We need to see the outstanding answers to questions from comments, and, unless it is an excessive size, your entire program.
If your exercise is specifically to use the Report Writer, then I think you need to define a more "complex" report, which will produce, automatically from the definition, everything that you want.
If you do not have to use the Report Writer for this exercise, don't use it, just do the detail-line formatting yourself and WRITE it as you are already doing for headings and totals.
On the assumption (later proved false) that you were using the Report Writer to do everything you need, the problem would have been manually writing to the same output file that the Report Writer was using.
If using the full features of the Report Writer, simply make this change and remove any other WRITEs to that output file, and use the Report Writer features for everything:
2500-CONTROL-BREAK.
MOVE 0 to total-salary
.
I have an error code 18 in COBOL when I'm trying to write the output to a file. I'm using Micro Focus VS 2012. I have tried everything but it seem doesn't print the output correctly at this time.
...
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT GRADE-FILE ASSIGN TO 'Grades.txt'.
SELECT PRINT-FILE ASSIGN TO 'Output.txt'
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD GRADE-FILE
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD.
01 GRADE-RECORD.
05 I-STUDENT PIC X(14).
05 I-GRADE1 PIC 999.
05 I-GRADE2 PIC 999.
05 I-GRADE3 PIC 999.
05 I-GRADE4 PIC 999.
05 I-GRADE5 PIC 999.
05 I-GRADE6 PIC 999.
FD PRINT-FILE
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD.
01 PRINT-RECORD PIC X(80).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 PROGRAM-VARIABLES.
05 W-AVERAGE PIC 999V99.
05 W-EOF-FLAG PIC X VALUE 'N'.
01 PAGE-TITLE.
05 PIC X(46) VALUE
' S I X W E E K G R A D E R E P O R T'.
01 HEADING-LINE1.
05 PIC X(51) VALUE
' Student T e s t S c o r e s Average'.
01 HEADING-LINE2.
05 PIC X(51) VALUE
'--------------------------------------------------'.
01 DETAIL-LINE.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-STUDENT PIC X(14).
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE1 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE2 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE3 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE4 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE5 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 O-GRADE6 PIC ZZ9.
05 PIC X(4) VALUE SPACE.
05 O-AVERAGE PIC ZZ9.99.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
10-MAINLINE.
OPEN INPUT GRADE-FILE
OUTPUT PRINT-FILE
PERFORM 20-PRINT-HEADINGS
PERFORM 30-PROCESS-LOOP
CLOSE GRADE-FILE
PRINT-FILE
STOP RUN.
20-PRINT-HEADINGS.
MOVE PAGE-TITLE TO PRINT-RECORD
WRITE PRINT-RECORD AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE
MOVE HEADING-LINE1 TO PRINT-RECORD
WRITE PRINT-RECORD AFTER ADVANCING 3 LINES
MOVE HEADING-LINE2 TO PRINT-RECORD
WRITE PRINT-RECORD AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE.
30-PROCESS-LOOP.
* PERFORM 40-READ-RECORD
READ GRADE-FILE
PERFORM UNTIL W-EOF-FLAG = 'Y'
PERFORM 50-COMPUTE-GRADE-AVERAGE
PERFORM 60-PRINT-DETAIL-LINE
READ GRADE-FILE
* PERFORM 40-READ-RECORD
END-PERFORM.
*40-READ-RECORD.
* READ GRADE-FILE
* AT END MOVE 'Y' TO W-EOF-FLAG.
50-COMPUTE-GRADE-AVERAGE.
COMPUTE W-AVERAGE ROUNDED = (I-GRADE1 + I-GRADE2 + I-GRADE3 + I-GRADE4 + I-GRADE5 + I-GRADE6 ) / 6.
60-PRINT-DETAIL-LINE.
MOVE SPACES TO DETAIL-LINE
MOVE I-STUDENT TO O-STUDENT
MOVE I-GRADE1 TO O-GRADE1
MOVE I-GRADE2 TO O-GRADE2
MOVE I-GRADE3 TO O-GRADE3
MOVE I-GRADE4 TO O-GRADE4
MOVE I-GRADE5 TO O-GRADE5
MOVE I-GRADE6 TO O-GRADE6
MOVE W-AVERAGE TO O-AVERAGE
WRITE PRINT-RECORD FROM DETAIL-LINE AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE.
end program "GradeReport.Program1"
S I X W E E K G R A D E R E P O R T
Student T e s t S c o r e s Average
--------------------------------------------------
KellyAntonetz0 700 500 980 800 650 852 747.00
obertCain09708 207 907 309 406 2;1 25> 400.67
Dehaven0810870 940 850 930 892 122 981 785.83
rmon0760770800 810 750 92; 142 9>1 <1> 816.33
g0990930890830 940 901 =1> 41= ?82 65 872.50
06707108408809 6=9 ;52 565 <<0 900 870 924.33
78052076089Woo 493 9>4 520 760 760 830 734.50
Something prior to your COBOL program has pickled your file by removing all the spaces and shuffling the data to the left.
Your first student shows as KellyAntonetz but likely should be Kelly Antonetz. Since only one space was removed, the grade data has moved only one place to the left, so the numbers are still recognizable and although the average is a factor of 10 out, it is approximately correct.
It is not actually correct (except for the power of 10) because of that 2 following the 85. Where did that 2 come from?
It came from the next record, where the first-name should be Robert but you show as obertCain09708. The ASCII code for the letter R is X'82'. When treated as a number by COBOL the 8 will be ignored (or will cause a crash when in the trailing byte of a number). Your compiler doesn't cause the code to crash, but does treat the R as the number 2.
obertCain is only 9 bytes out of the 14 you have for the name. The five spaces/blanks which have been "lost" this time cause the numerics to be pulled-left by five bytes. From that point onward, explaining how the output you show fits the presumed input becomes an academic exercise only.
Further support is a reference for what would be a FILE STATUS code of 18 from a Micro Focus compiler, here: http://www.simotime.com/vsmfsk01.htm
Which says, for 18:
Read part record error: EOF before EOR or file open in wrong mode
(Micro Focus).
Your final record would "finish" before expected, with end-of-file being detected before 32 bytes have been read.
Note that the error is on your input file, not your output file.
Losing the spaces in that way can be done in many ways, so I can't guess what you are doing to the file before it gets to the COBOL program, but neither COBOL itself nor your code is doing that.
Take note of Emmad Kareem's comments. Use the FILE STATUS. Check the file-status field (define one per file) after each IO, so that you know when a problem occurs, and what the problem is.
Testing the file-status field for 10 on a file you are reading sequentially gives cleaner code than the AT END on the READ.
Note also that if your program had not crashed there, it would either loop infinitely or crash shortly afterwards. Probably in trying to fix your problem, you have commented-out your use of the "read paragraph" and in that paragraph is the only place you are setting end-of-file.
If you use the file-status instead of AT END, you don't need to define a flag/switch you can use an 88 on the file-status field and have the COBOL run-time set it for you directly, without you having to code it.
Just a couple of points about your DETAIL-LINE.
There is no need to MOVE SPACE to it, as you MOVE to each named field, and the (un-named) FILLERs have VALUE SPACE.
You don't necessarily need the (un-named) FILLERS. Try this:
01 DETAIL-LINE.
05 O-STUDENT PIC BX(14).
05 O-GRADE1 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-GRADE2 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-GRADE3 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-GRADE4 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-GRADE5 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-GRADE6 PIC ZZZ9.
05 O-AVERAGE PIC Z(6)9.99.
If you work with COBOL, you may see this type of thing, so it is good to know. With massive amounts of output there is probably a small performance penalty. You may find it more convenient for "lining-up" output to headings.
Ah. Putting together you non-use of LINE SEQUENTIAL for your input file, I predict you have a "script" running some time before the COBOL program which is supposed to remove the record-terminators (whatever those are on your OS) at the end of each logical record, but that you have accidentally removed all whitespace from all positions of your record instead.
With LINE SEQUENTIAL you can have records of fixed-length which also happen to be "terminated". Unless the exercise specifically includes the removal of the record terminators, just use LINE SEQUENTIAL.
If you are supposed to remove the terminators, don't do so for whitespace which covers too much (be specific) and also "anchor" the change to the end of the record.
I'm a beginner to COBOL, and i'm wondering what would happen if i did something like the following:
(I know that the below code isnt runnable cobol, its just there for example)
foo pic x(5)
accept foo
and the user types in a string that is only 3 characters long (e.g. yes)
would the value of foo be just "yes"? or would it fill the all 5 characters as specified at creation (for example: "(space)(space)yes" or "yes(space)(space)", or is it something else?
Thanks!
here is my code
000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000200 *--------------------
000300 PROGRAM-ID. ZIPCODES.
000400 *--------------------
000500 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000600 *--------------------
000700 CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000800 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
000900 FILE-CONTROL.
001000 SELECT PRT ASSIGN TO UT-S-PRTAREA.
001100
001200 DATA DIVISION.
001300 *-------------
001400 FILE SECTION.
001500 FD PRT
001600 RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS
001700 DATA RECORD IS LINE-PRT.
001800 01 LINE-PRT PIC X(80).
001900
002000 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
002100 *-----------------------
002200 EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC.
002300
002310 01 done.
002320 02 donevar PIC x(5) VALUE 'done '.
002400 01 ZIP-RECORD.
002500 02 ZIP PIC X(5).
002600 02 ZCITY PIC X(20).
002700 02 ZSTATE PIC X(2).
002800 02 ZLOCATION PIC X(35).
002900
003000 01 H1.
003100 02 COLUMN-1 PIC X(8) VALUE 'Zip-Code'.
003200 02 FILLER PIC X(2).
003300 02 COLUMN-2 PIC X(5) VALUE 'State'.
003400 02 FILLER PIC X(2).
003500 02 COLUMN-3 PIC X(4) VALUE 'City'.
003600 02 FILLER PIC X(16).
003700 02 COLUMN-4 PIC X(14) VALUE 'Location Text'.
003800 02 FILLER PIC X(29).
003900
004000 01 L1.
004100 02 ZIP-L1 PIC X(5).
004200 02 FILLER PIC X(5).
004300 02 STATE-L1 PIC X(2).
004400 02 FILLER PIC X(5).
004500 02 CITY-L1 PIC X(20).
004600 02 LOCTXT-L1 PIC X(35).
004700 02 FILLER PIC X(28).
004800
004900 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
005000 *------------------
005100 BEGIN.
005200 OPEN OUTPUT PRT.
005220 PERFORM ZIP-LOOKUP UNTIL ZIP = done.
005600 PROG-END.
005700 CLOSE PRT.
005800 GOBACK.
005900 *****************************************************
006000 * zip code lookup *
006100 *****************************************************
006200 ZIP-LOOKUP.
006300 DISPLAY 'enter 5 digit zip code'
006400 ACCEPT ZIP
006500 EXEC SQL
006600 SELECT * INTO :ZIP-RECORD FROM ZBANK.ZIPCODE
006700 WHERE ZIP = :ZIP
006800 END-EXEC.
006801 PERFORM PRINT-H1.
006802 PERFORM PRINT-L1.
006900 PRINT-H1.
007000 MOVE H1 TO LINE-PRT
007100 WRITE LINE-PRT.
007200 PRINT-L1.
007300 MOVE ZIP TO ZIP-L1
007400 MOVE ZSTATE TO STATE-L1
007500 MOVE ZCITY TO CITY-L1
007510 STRING ZSTATE DELIMITED BY " ",", ",
007520 ZCITY DELIMITED BY SIZE INTO LOCTXT-L1
007700 MOVE L1 TO LINE-PRT
007800 WRITE LINE-PRT.
I'm trying to write the zstate before the zcity, and having it keep asking for ZIP codes as long as the input isnt 'done'
The first 5 characters entered will be moved to FOO. If fewer than 5 characters are entered then they will be placed in the left hand positions of FOO and the remaining characters (to the right) will be filled with spaces. If the user enters more than 5 charcters then only the first 5 are moved.
So to use your example if the user typed "yes" then FOO would contain "yesbb"
Best thing to do is try it!
Edit in response to updated question...
I think your problem is that the condition needed to terminate the loop is set in the beginning of the loop body and
not at the end. Here are a couple of commonly used techniques to solve this problem:
Pre loop read
DISPLAY 'Enter a 5 digit zip code'
ACCEPT ZIP
PERFORM ZIP-LOOKUP UNTIL ZIP = done.
...
...
ZIP-LOOKUP.
EXEC SQL
SELECT * INTO :ZIP-RECORD FROM ZBANK.ZIPCODE
WHERE ZIP = :ZIP
END-EXEC.
PERFORM PRINT-H1.
PERFORM PRINT-L1.
* Now get next zip code or 'done'
DISPLAY 'Enter a 5 digit zip code'
ACCEPT ZIP
.
Guard against setting terminating condition within the loop
PERFORM ZIP-LOOKUP UNTIL ZIP = done.
...
...
ZIP-LOOKUP.
DISPLAY 'Enter a 5 digit zip code'
ACCEPT ZIP
IF ZIP NOT = DONE
EXEC SQL
SELECT * INTO :ZIP-RECORD FROM ZBANK.ZIPCODE
WHERE ZIP = :ZIP
END-EXEC
PERFORM PRINT-H1
PERFORM PRINT-L1
END-IF
.
Either one of the above should solve your problem. However, I would suggest trying to update your coding style to include
COBOL-85 constructs. The first example above might be coded as follows:
DISPLAY 'Enter a 5 digit zip code'
ACCEPT ZIP
PERFORM UNTIL ZIP = done
EXEC SQL
SELECT * INTO :ZIP-RECORD FROM ZBANK.ZIPCODE
WHERE ZIP = :ZIP
END-EXEC
PERFORM PRINT-H1
PERFORM PRINT-L1
DISPLAY 'Enter a 5 digit zip code'
ACCEPT ZIP
END-PERFORM
.
The ZIP-LOOKUP paragraph has been in-lined into the PERFORM statement. For short sections of code I find this style much more
readable.
Also notice single sentence paragraphs (only one period at the end of a paragraph). When COBOL-85 scope terminators are used (eg. END-xxx)
the need for mulitple sentences per paragraph goes away - and in fact - they should be avoided.
Another COBOL construct that you could make use of here is the 88 LEVEL. You could use it as follows:
01 ZIP-RECORD.
02 ZIP PIC X(5).
88 DONE VALUE 'done '.
...
...
You no longer need donevar at all. Replace your original test:
IF ZIP = DONE
with:
IF DONE
The above will be true whenever the variable ZIP contains the value "donebb". One advantage of
doing this (other than saving one variable declaration) is that a single 88 LEVEL name can be assigned
several values, as in:
01 ZIP-RECORD.
02 ZIP PIC X(5).
88 DONE VALUE 'done ',
'quit ',
'stop '.
When the user enters any one of done, quit or stop the 88 level name DONE evaluates to true.
Finally, I presume this is just a skeleton of the program and that the finished version will be checking for I/O errors, bad SQL codes
and do basic ZIP code validation. If not, you can expect a lot of trouble down the road.
COBOL Reference material
Unfortunately there are very few good up to date resources for learning COBOL. However, one of the
books I would recommend is Advanced Cobol 3rd Edition by DeWard Brown.
This book provides many examples and explanations regarding COBOL program development. It also identifies whether a
construct is rarely used, obsolete or essential. This is good to know since you should be developing new code using modern COBOL
programming techniques (I continue to see a lot of new COBOL developed using pre-COBOL 85 coding practice - and it is horrible).
An open source
guide is the OpenCOBOL Programmers Guide. This targets OpenCOBOL but
much of it is applicable to any flavour of COBOL.
Finally, there are several vendors guides and manuals, many of which are available on the internet. For
example Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference and
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Programming guide are
freely available. Microfocus COBOL
guides are also available. Search any you will find...
I'm editing some source code for my college Transaction Processing course. We're working with COBOL/CICS, and the program is a video tape rental system. We have a list of changes to make, and one item has me stuck (it's been since Fall semester of 2010 since I took the COBOL course, so unfortunately I'm far more rusty than I should be). There is a "customer maintenance" section, in which the user can add new customers. One of the items for a new customer is the zip code, and as it stands it will take any input as valid input, but we need to make it accept only numeric values (which I do know how to do) as well as a specific format: Either '12345', '123456789', or '12345-6789', and should only write to the record as '12345' or '12345-6789'. Anything else, such as '1234' or 12345-6' will result in an error. How do I check these fields for the proper format?
Since the valid data format is fixed, it is easy.
05 nice-name-for-zip-code pic x(10).
05 filler redefines nice-name-for-zip-code.
10 simple-zip-first-part pic x(5).
10 simple-zip-last-part pic x(5).
88 simple-zip-last-part-valid value space.
05 filler redefines nice-name-for-zip-code.
10 complex-zip-first-part pic x(5).
10 complex-zip-separator pic x.
88 complex-zip-separator value "-".
10 complex-zip-last-part pic x(4).
05 filler redefines nice-name-for-zip-code.
10 long-zip-first-part pic x(9).
10 long-zip-last-part pic x.
88 long-zip-last-part-valid value space.
if ( simple-zip-first-part numeric )
and ( simple-zip-last-part-valid )
....
if ( complex-zip-first-part numeric )
and ( complex-zip-separator-valid )
and ( complex-zip-last-part numeric )
....
if ( long-zip-first-part numeric )
and ( long-zip-last-part-valid )
....
If any of the IFs is true, you have a valid format. Otherwise, invalid.
A different approach might be to let CICS BMS support do most of the
validation and editing for you. This assumes you are using a 3270 type
terminal with CICS (which is probably the case)
Try setting the Zip Code up as a group field on the BMS map. This has the effect
of creating a single input field with multiple parts to it.
Your BMS Map definition would look something like:
ZIP1 DFHMDF POS=(2,1),LENGTH=5,GRPNAME=ZIP,ATTRB=(UNPROT,NUM)
SEP DFHMDF POS=(2,6),LENGTH=1,GRPNAME=ZIP,ATTRB=(ASKIP,NORM),INITIAL='-'
ZIP2 DFHMDF POS=(2,7),LENGTH=5,GRPNAME=ZIP,ATTRB=(UNPROT,NUM),JUSTIFY=(LEFT,BLANK)
The Zip code will appear at the beginning of line 2 (POS=(2..)). It will have a 5 digit input
field (ZIP1) for the first part of the Zip Code, followed by a hard coded input protected
dash (SEP) and another left justified 5
digit blank filled input field (ZIP2) for the last part of the Zip code.
From this point on, BMS will force the user to enter 5 digits into the first part of the Zip Code,
cannot touch the dash and optionally enter zero to 5 digits in the second part of
the input field. None of these fields will accept non-numeric data (except the SEP, which is input protected)
When you retrieve the data from the screen all you need to do is check to see
if ZIP2 is numeric to figure out if a long or short Zip code was entered. If
a long Zip, then store the whole thing, if short, only store ZIP1.
You could also use the CICS command BIF DEEDIT, which will remove non-numeric chars, the minus passes that test. After that, test for a length of 5 or 10.
Or, you could use an 88 like this:
01 Zip-Validation-Field.
02 filler pic x(5).
88 Zip-Valid value '00000' thru '99999'.
02 filler pic x(5).
88 Zip-plus-4-valid value '-0000' thru '-9999'.
And test with:
If Zip-Valid and Zip-plus-4-valid...
You can use MOVE CORR
01 TX-ZIPCODE PIC X(08) VALUE ' - '.
01 TX-ZIPCODE-R REDEFINES TX-ZIPCODE.
03 ZIPCODE-P1 PIC 9(04).
03 FILLER PIC X(01).
03 ZIPCODE-P2 PIC 9(03).
01 NUM-ZIPCODE PIC X(07).
01 NUM-ZIPCODE-R REDEFINES NUM-ZIPCODE.
03 ZIPCODE-P1 PIC 9(04).
03 ZIPCODE-P2 PIC 9(03).
MOVE CORR TX-ZIPCODE-R TO NUM-ZIPCODE-R.
IF NUM-ZIPCODE IS NOT NUMERIC
* ERRO
END-IF.
Hope I have help you! :)