Re: Web Services and COBOL (Fairly long post, but I don't have time to write a proper article on it)

Rene_Surop wrote:
Quite interesting.

Web Service is a great prerequisite for automated client-side code
generation in the mainstream Java and .NET SOAP frameworks. It's a
multi-language technology tool really, it could be C#, Cobol, Java.

Just wonderin', is there anyone who could provide NetExpress Cobol
code (Microfocus) similar above??

Rene,

I could say 'Do your own bloody homework !" :-)

Can't remember do you only have N/E 3.1 or do you also have V 5.0 ?
If you have V 5.0 then I think the source should compile - whether yours works or not, that's another matter.

If you are still back at N/E V 3.1 then you have problems. You will probably need to use the ISO 2000 directive like I've shown as the first line of the source below. You might also need Repository directives - but I keep getting syntax errors. If you read up on Directives for 2000/Repository, although you can simulate the *intended* COBOL 2000 (ha, ha, bloody ha !), it doesn't do any conformance checking in N/E 3.1.

I've dickered around with Pete's source and at this point in time there are only three compiler errors :-

1 - doesn't like where I've placed my substitute Class-Control entry
2 - doesn't like Line 210 - but that's associated with # 1
3 - Line 642 doesn't recognize invoke COM - again back to #1 above ?

If you try other permutations I anticipate you will get a slightly different set of errors.

I don't know if you can get it working without Repository syntax - I doubt it - just have to suck and see. Anyway as is, the source is just down to three errors. So now you can take over :-) - you can zip me back a copy if you get it working with N/E 3.1 - no point if you only do it with N/E 5.0. (If for some unknown reason the source below wraps around, e-mail me and I'll send the N/E source file as a zip).

Note for Pete - what you transmitted - a bit of a pain in the ***, but not your intent :-). First I highlighted and pasted and each line was preceded by '>'. Then the problem with the wrap around comments. Probably OK if you were passing a source zipped file, but these damned e-mail programs aren't that clever. (My own style just using Columns 8 thru 72 I enter '*>' in columns 8 and 9 - that allows me to highlight ( 1 thru 72) and paste without wrap-arounds).

EDITED SOURCE :

$set iso2000

*> This 'PARTIAL' version for Net Express V 3.1


000010 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
000020 PROGRAM-ID. 'SOAPTest'.
000030*AUTHOR. Peter E. C. Dashwood.
000031*
000040* This program attempts to instantiate a SOAP Proxy class and
000050* access a Web Service using the new proxy...
000051*
000060*DATE_WRITTEN. May 2007.
000070 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000080 configuration section.
000090 source-computer. IBM-PC.
000100 object-computer. IBM-PC.

Class-Control. COM Class is "*com".

* Three possibilities for Repository Directive, kept on getting
* errors 'Can't use here' :-

* $set Repository Off
* $set Repository Update
* $set Repository Checking


000101 *>REPOSITORY.
000110 *> CLASS COM AS "*COM".
000120
000170
000200*------------------------ DATA DIVISION ---------------------
000210 DATA DIVISION.
000340*
000350 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
000360 01 in-interface-block pic x(8197).
000361 01 in-IB.
000362 12 in-ws-return pic x(5).
000363 88 in-ws-OK value '00000'. *> will contain SQKSTATE if
000364 *> there is a DB error
000365 12 in-ws-message pic x(256). *> will contain SQLMSG if
000366 *> there is a DB error
000367 12 in-ws-buffer pic x(2048). *> holds free format address
data
000368 *> this will be formatted on
return
000369 12 in-ws-breakdown.
000370 15 in-ws-streetNo pic x(20).
000371 15 in-ws-POBoxNo pic x(15).
000372 15 in-ws-RDNo pic x(8).
000373 15 in-ws-street pic x(150).
000374 15 in-ws-locality pic x(150).
000375 15 in-ws-city pic x(50).
000376 15 in-ws-lobby pic x(150).
000377 15 in-ws-postCode pic x(4).
000378 15 in-ws-addressType pic x(1).
000379 15 in-ws-streetSDX pic x(4).
000380 15 in-ws-localitySDX pic x(4).
000381 15 in-ws-lobbySDX pic x(4).
000382 15 in-ws-prologue pic x(100).
000383 12 in-ws-interface pic x.
000384 88 in-free-format-input value '1'.
000385 88 fixed-field-input value '2'.
000386 88 XML-input value '3'.
000387 12 in-ws-streetMatchFlag pic x(1).
000388 88 street-fuzzy value '0'.
000389 88 street-exact value '1'.
000390 12 in-ws-localityMatchFlag pic x(1).
000391 88 locality-fuzzy value '0'.
000392 88 locality-exact value '1'.
000393 12 in-ws-repeatLocalityFlag pic x(1).
000394 88 no-Locality value '1'.
000395 88 repeatLocality value '0'.
*> used if Locality = City
000396 12 in-ws-ignoreInvalidPostcode pic x(1).
000397 88 ignoreInvalidPostCode value '1'.
000398 88 reportInvalidPostCode value '0'.
*>stops if Post Code is invalid
000399 12 in-ws-foreignFlag pic x(1).
000400 88 foreign-address value '1'.
*>stops if foreign address detected
000401 88 NOT-foreign-address value '0'.
000402
000403 01 out-interface-block pic x(8197).
000405 01 out-IB.
000406
000407 12 out-ws-return pic x(5).
000408 88 out-ws-OK value '00000'.
*> will contain SQLSTATE if
000409 *> there is a DB error
000410 12 out-ws-message pic x(256). *> will contain SQLMSG if
000411 *> there is a DB error
000412 12 out-ws-buffer pic x(2048).
*> holds free format address data
000413 *> this will be formatted on return
000414 12 out-ws-breakdown.
000415 15 out-ws-streetNo pic x(20).
000416 15 out-ws-POBoxNo pic x(15).
000417 15 out-ws-RDNo pic x(8).
000418 15 out-ws-street pic x(150).
000419 15 out-ws-locality pic x(150).
000420 15 out-ws-city pic x(50).
000421 15 out-ws-lobby pic x(150).
000422 15 out-ws-postCode pic x(4).
000423 15 out-ws-addressType pic x(1).
000424 15 out-ws-streetSDX pic x(4).
000425 15 out-ws-localitySDX pic x(4).
000426 15 out-ws-lobbySDX pic x(4).
000427 15 out-ws-prologue pic x(100).
000428 12 out-ws-interface pic x.
000429 88 free-format-input value '1'.
000430 88 fixed-field-input value '2'.
000431 88 XML-input value '3'.
000432 12 out-ws-streetMatchFlag pic x(1).
000433 88 street-fuzzy value '0'.
000434 88 street-exact value '1'.
000435 12 out-ws-localityMatchFlag pic x(1).
000436 88 locality-fuzzy value '0'.
000437 88 locality-exact value '1'.
000438 12 out-ws-repeatLocalityFlag pic x(1).
000439 88 no-Locality value '1'.
000440 88 repeatLocality value '0'.
*> used if Locality = City
000441 12 out-ws-ignoreInvalidPostcode pic x(1).
000442 88 ignoreInvalidPostCode value '1'.
000443 88 reportInvalidPostCode value '0'.
*> stops if Post Code is invalid
000444 12 out-ws-foreignFlag pic x(1).
000445 88 foreign-address value '1'.
*>stops if foreign address detected
000446 88 NOT-foreign-address value '0'.
000447
000448
000449 01 WSDL-reference pic x(80) value
000450* WSDL to connect to the remote host (in San Francisco)
'http://primacomputing.co.nz/AVSWebService/AVSWebService.asmx?WSD
-'L'.
000451

000452* WSDL to connect to my IIS server on my new VAIO notebook
* machine over wireless LAN.
000453* 'http://bigblack/AVSWebService/AVSWebService.asmx?WSDL'.
000454*
000455* I have tested both of the above and they both work perfectly.
* Web services can
000456* be hosted anywhere you like and accessed from anywhere on Earth.
* It's magic...!!
000457* (Like DCOM+ on steroids...)
000458
000459 01 COMServer-ProgIDs.
000460 12 SOAP-ProgID pic x(19) value
000461 "MSSOAP.SoapClient30".
000462
000463 01 COMServer-Objects.
000464 12 objSOAPClient OBJECT REFERENCE. *> COM.
000465
000466 01 subscripts usage comp-5.
000467 12 J pic s9(5).
000468 12 K pic s9(5).
000469
000470 01 end-flag pic x.
000471 88 not-finished value zero.
000472 88 finished value '1'.
000473
000487
000490 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
000500 MAIN SECTION.
000510 a000.
000520 perform startup-housekeeping
000530 perform main-logic until finished
000540 perform close-down
000550 .
000560 a999.
000570 stop run.
000580*-----------------------------------------------------------
000590 STARTUP-HOUSEKEEPING section.
000600 sh000.
000640 set not-finished to TRUE
000641* Instantiate SOAP COM Server...
000642 invoke COM "CREATE-OBJECT" using SOAP-ProgID
000643 returning objSOAPClient
000644 end-invoke
000645* Initialize the SOAP Server and point it at the WSDL for the Web
* Service
000646 invoke objSOAPClient "mssoapinit"
000647 using WSDL-reference
000648 end-invoke
000649* At this point the objSOAPClient reference has become a proxy for
* the AVS Web Service...
000650* This means you can reference any of the methods/properties/events
* exposed by the Web Service,
000651* as if they belonged to the objSOAPClient object...
000652 .
000660 sh999.
000670 exit.
000680*-----------------------------------------------------------
000690 MAIN-LOGIC section.
000700 ml000.
000701*
000707*
000708* Now try the methods...
000709*
000710* The AVS Web Service only exposes one method, but the underlying
* COM object has several.
000711
000712* Set up an address string... (Not essential... if you
000714* pass a blank interface block to AVS it will return a message in
* the ws-message
000715* area telling you it was invalid...)
000716 move spaces to in-IB
000718 set in-free-format-input to TRUE
000719 move '97 21ST AVE TAURANGA' to in-ws-buffer *> A NZ address...
000720 move in-IB to in-interface-block
000721 *> Note that string parameters to COM objects must be 8197
bytes
000722 *> and must be elemental.
000723
000724 invoke objSOAPClient "ValidateNZaddress"
000725 using in-interface-block *> input interface block
000726 returning out-interface-block *> output interface block
000727 *> Note that you could use just one block
000728 *> but you must reference it in and out because the
000729 *> Web Service expects in and out parameters n
000730
000731 end-invoke
000732*========================== SOAP XML Stringing error fix
000733* There is currently a problem with SOAP stripping out certain
* characters
000734* in the returned string. This causes fields to be aligned
* incorrectly. The
000735* following is a quick fix and won't be required once the service
* is released.
000736*
000737 move 1 to K *> output buffer pointer
000746 perform
000756 varying J *> input buffer pointer (for this process)
000757 from 1
000758 by 1
000759 until K > function LENGTH (out-IB)
000760 move out-interface-block (J:1) to out-IB (K:1)
000761 add 1 to K
000762 if out-interface-block (J:1) = x'0A'
000763 move space to out-IB (K:1)
000764 add 1 to K
000765 end-if
000766 end-perform
000769
000770*
000771* ALL of the above code would be replaced by:
000772*
000773* move out-interface-block to out-IB
000774*
000775* ...once the COM server and SOAP wrapper are fixed. (I'm working
* on it... :-))
000776*
000777*============ End of SOAP XML Stringing error fix ===========
000778*
000779
000780* Debugging Note
000781*
000782* Now is a good time to look at out-ws-breakdown and
* out-ws-buffer...
000783*
000784* If you are stepping through this in the debugger, note that each
* field has been
000785* filled in, (street number, street, locality, region, and postcode)
* and the
000786* ws-buffer area now contains a properly formatted address which
* complies with
000787* NZPO requirements, and has been converted to mixed case.
000788*
000789 set finished to TRUE
000790
000791 .
001210 ml999.
001220 exit.
001230*----------------------------------------------------------
001240 CLOSE-DOWN section.
001250 cd000.
001260 set objSOAPClient to NULL *> Help the garbage collector ...
001340 .
001350 cd999.
001360 exit.
001370*---------------- END OF PROGRAM 'SOAPTEST' ----------------
.

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