Setting Switches in Micro Focus COBOL using C

Question

I have C program that calls COBOL. I want to set the switches before the COBOL program is called. This is normally done using the COBSW environment variable.

When I set COBSW in the C program, it is as tho it is ignored. When I set COBSW before the program is called, it is detected fine.

How can I get the COBSW set in C and have COBOL recognize it?

Here are somethings I tried:

1. I removed cobinit() and the program still runs. This indicates to me that the cobinit is somehow automatic when the C program starts and it will only pickup COBSW set in sh.

2. I added cobrescanenv() to the program.

3. Moved cobinit() before the cobputenv().

Here is the sh script that runs the test:

export C_INCLUDE_PATH=$COBDIR/include

PATH=$COBDIR/bin:$PATH

gcc -o callcobol.o -c -g -Wall -Wno-unused-variable -fPIC -Ibuild -Isrc callcobol.c

/opt/microfocus/VisualCOBOL/bin/cob -o callcobol -g callcobol.o -L/usr/local/lib -ldl -lrt -lpthread

cob -z cobsw.cbl -o TESTSW.so

unset COBSW
echo "Test ONE, COBSW not set:"
echo "We want the output to be:"
echo "SW0=ON  sw1=ON  sw2=ON  sw3=ON  sw4=ON  sw5=ON  sw6=OFF sw7=ON "
echo "Getting:"
./callcobol

#                Output:
#                        value of COBSW is: +0+1+2+3+4+5-6+7
echo ""
echo ""

export COBSW=+1+2   # This should be ignore because we are setting COBSW in the c program.
echo "Test TWO, COBSW set to ${COBSW}, but should be overlaid by putenv() in C:"
echo "We want the output to be:"
echo "SW0=ON  sw1=ON  sw2=ON  sw3=ON  sw4=ON  sw5=ON  sw6=OFF sw7=ON "
echo "Getting:"
./callcobol

Here is callcobol.c:

#include <stdlib.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "cobcall.h"
#include "cobmain.h"
#include "cobenv.h"
PFR cobgetfuncaddr(int type, const cobchar_t *name);
int cobinit (void);

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    cobchar_t *prog = (cobchar_t *) "TESTSW";
    //char *cobswval;
    const char *cobswname = "COBSW";

    cobputenv( (cobchar_t *) "COBSW=+0+1+2+3+4+5-6+7");    // out dummy computed SWITCH values for the program
    //cobswval = getenv( cobswname);
    //fprintf(stdout,"value of COBSW is: %s\n", cobswval);
    cobinit();             /* Initialize COBOL environment */
    cobrescanenv();

    PFR cobprog;

    if ((cobprog = cobgetfuncaddr(0, prog)) == NULL)
    {
        fprintf(stderr,"ERROR: could not find cobol module %s\n", (char *) prog);
    }
    else
    {
        /* Loaded */
        (*cobprog)();    /* Call it! */
    }

    cobtidy();             /* Close down COBOL environment */

    return(0);   // return a return code of zero
}

Here is cobsw.cbl:

  $SET CONFIRM
  $SET IBMCOMP
  $SET CHARSET"EBCDIC"
   IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
   PROGRAM-ID. TESTSW.
   ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
   CONFIGURATION SECTION.
   SPECIAL-NAMES.
     SWITCH-0 IS SW0 ON IS SW_0_ON
     SWITCH-1 IS SW1 ON IS SW_1_ON
     UPSI-2 ON IS SW_2_ON
     UPSI-3 ON IS SW_3_ON
     UPSI-4 ON IS SW_4_ON
     UPSI-5 ON IS SW_5_ON
     UPSI-6 ON IS SW_6_ON
     UPSI-7 ON IS SW_7_ON.
   INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
   FILE-CONTROL.
   DATA DIVISION.
   FILE SECTION.
   WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
   01  rec-cnt pic 9(11) value zero.
   01  sw-out.
        02 filler     pic x(4) value "SW0=".
        02 SW0-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw1=".
        02 SW1-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw2=".
        02 SW2-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw3=".
        02 SW3-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw4=".
        02 SW4-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw5=".
        02 SW5-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw6=".
        02 SW6-status pic x(3).
        02 filler     pic x(5) value " sw7=".
        02 SW7-status pic x(3).
   01 acc-data pic x(80) value spaces.
   LINKAGE SECTION.
   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
   MAIN-PARAGRAPH.
       move "OFF" to SW0-status SW1-status SW2-status
                     SW3-status SW4-status SW5-status
                     SW6-status  SW7-status.

       IF SW_0_ON move "ON " to  SW0-status.
       IF SW_1_ON move "ON " to  SW1-status.
       IF SW_2_ON move "ON " to  SW2-status.
       IF SW_3_ON move "ON " to  SW3-status.
       IF SW_4_ON move "ON " to  SW4-status.
       IF SW_5_ON move "ON " to  SW5-status.
       IF SW_6_ON move "ON " to  SW6-status.
       IF SW_7_ON move "ON " to  SW7-status.
       display sw-out.
       EXIT PROGRAM.
   END PROGRAM TESTSW.

Here is the script output:

Test ONE, COBSW not set:
We want the output to be:
SW0=ON  sw1=ON  sw2=ON  sw3=ON  sw4=ON  sw5=ON  sw6=OFF sw7=ON
Getting:
SW0=OFF sw1=OFF sw2=OFF sw3=OFF sw4=OFF sw5=OFF sw6=OFF sw7=OFF


Test TWO, COBSW set to +1+2, but should be overlaid by putenv() in C:
We want the output to be:
SW0=ON  sw1=ON  sw2=ON  sw3=ON  sw4=ON  sw5=ON  sw6=OFF sw7=ON
Getting:
SW0=OFF sw1=ON  sw2=ON  sw3=OFF sw4=OFF sw5=OFF sw6=OFF sw7=OFF

Answer 1

The COBOL runtime switches are read once from the environment variable COBSW or the command line during process initialization.

So unfortunately setting COBSW will not work because the runtime has already read COBSW.

All is not lost because you can use the X"91" function 11 API from COBOL to set the switches.