COBOL PIC X(32768) or Larger Causes an Error (183181)

SYMPTOMS

When a string parameter is declared so that the COBOL length is greater than PIC X(32767) (which is 32,767 bytes), various problems can occur and you may see one of the following symptoms:

Out of Memory Error is returned to the Visual Basic program

-or-

Component Builder shows a COBOL data type that is extremely large

CAUSE

The Component Builder parses the COBOL using a short integer to read the size of strings and FILLER. Thus, any size greater than 32,767 bytes will produce erroneous results. As an example, any host data element that has a size greater than 32,767 bytes is imported with the wrong size specified in the COBOL Data Type property for that parameter.

WORKAROUND

This is only a problem when importing COBOL. It does not occur when manually describing an interface. To work around the problem, import the COBOL, identify the size fields that are larger than 32,767 bytes, and manually change the string or FILLER size.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Microsoft COM Transaction Integrator for CICS and IMS version 1.0.

This problem was corrected in the latest SNA Server version 4.0 U.S. Service Pack. For information on obtaining this Service Pack, query on the following word in the Microsoft Knowledge Base (without the spaces):

S E R V P A C K

MORE INFORMATION

The first error noted in the SYMPTOMS section of this article occurs when you create a typelib by importing COBOL that has FILLER PIC X(49951) as the last input variable selected and you use this typelib for testing with a Visual Basic (VB) program. An "Out of memory" error is returned to the VB program. Additionally, COBOL was exported from the typelib for comparison with the imported COBOL. The following statement has an extremely large and erroneous value and is included at the bottom of the exported COBOL:

BYTES THIS PROGRAM RECEIVES...4294951773

The second error noted in the SYMPTOMS section occurs when a PIC X(40000) variable in the host program is to be used in the interface. After importing COBOL, this parameter declaration, which is seen in the Component Builder, shows a COBOL Data Type of PIC X(4294934528). Again, this is an extremely large and erroneous value.