Cobol - Rebuild under Vista

Author

Rebuild under Vista

foodman

2007-11-26, 9:57 pm

Hellough:

I upgraded to Vista a few months ago and was happy to see that my
ancient 16-bit MicroFocus-SP2 software runs as happily as it did under
all the prior versions of Windows.

I seldom use Rebuild since I rarely have problems with files.
However,
I recently ran Rebuild (at the command prompt) and got "not a valid
win32 application". My software and the compiler work perfectly.

Strangely, If I make a shortcut to run Rebuild (with file name
specified)
it works perfectly.

Any ideas?

By the way, Murkosoft has not given up on DOS. I noticed that there
are new commands in the Vista version. One of which is ROBOCOPY,
(Robust Copy). I think this was in other versions of Windows.

Tony Dilworth

Arnold Trembley

2007-11-27, 3:55 am

foodman wrote:
> Hellough:
>
> I upgraded to Vista a few months ago and was happy to see that my
> ancient 16-bit MicroFocus-SP2 software runs as happily as it did under
> all the prior versions of Windows.
>
> I seldom use Rebuild since I rarely have problems with files.
> However,
> I recently ran Rebuild (at the command prompt) and got "not a valid
> win32 application". My software and the compiler work perfectly.
>
> Strangely, If I make a shortcut to run Rebuild (with file name
> specified)
> it works perfectly.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> By the way, Murkosoft has not given up on DOS. I noticed that there
> are new commands in the Vista version. One of which is ROBOCOPY,
> (Robust Copy). I think this was in other versions of Windows.
>
> Tony Dilworth

I am hoping to stay on XP for as long as possible. I've heard bad
things about DRM bloat in Vista.

In XP I am accustomed to using CMD.EXE for the command-line window. I
found that the old Realia COBOL educational compiler blows up if run
in a CMD.EXE window. But XP still has COMMAND.COM, and the 1990
Realia compiler runs fine in COMMAND.COM. The generated executables
run file in either CMD.EXE or COMMAND.COM.

I have been using ROBOCOPY for backups for the last 2 or 3 years, but
it was not part of Windows. ROBOCOPY is free, but I had to download a
Microsoft SDK in order to get it. If ROBOCOPY is included in Vista,
that's a plus.

--
http://arnold.trembley.home.att.net/

foodman

2007-11-27, 6:55 pm

> Try running the program with the forcedos command.

Seems like ForceDos is not in Vista. I copied it from an XP machine
but
get "failed to create the process" on the Vista machine.

In case anyone is interested in the DOS commands in Vista, here they
are:

For more information on a specific command, type HELP command-name
ASSOC Displays or modifies file extension associations.
ATTRIB Displays or changes file attributes.
BREAK Sets or clears extended CTRL+C checking.
BCDEDIT Sets properties in boot database to control boot
loading.
CACLS Displays or modifies access control lists (ACLs) of
files.
CALL Calls one batch program from another.
CD Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHCP Displays or sets the active code page number.
CHDIR Displays the name of or changes the current directory.
CHKDSK Checks a disk and displays a status report.
CHKNTFS Displays or modifies the checking of disk at boot time.
CLS Clears the screen.
CMD Starts a new instance of the Windows command
interpreter.
COLOR Sets the default console foreground and background
colors.
COMP Compares the contents of two files or sets of files.
COMPACT Displays or alters the compression of files on NTFS
partitions.
CONVERT Converts FAT volumes to NTFS. You cannot convert the
current drive.
COPY Copies one or more files to another location.
DATE Displays or sets the date.
DEL Deletes one or more files.
DIR Displays a list of files and subdirectories in a
directory.
DISKCOMP Compares the contents of two floppy disks.
DISKCOPY Copies the contents of one floppy disk to another.
DISKPART Displays or configures Disk Partition properties.
DOSKEY Edits command lines, recalls Windows commands, and
creates macros.
DRIVERQUERY Displays current device driver status and properties.
ECHO Displays messages, or turns command echoing on or off.
ENDLOCAL Ends localization of environment changes in a batch
file.
ERASE Deletes one or more files.
EXIT Quits the CMD.EXE program (command interpreter).
FC Compares two files or sets of files, and displays the
differences between them.
FIND Searches for a text string in a file or files.
FINDSTR Searches for strings in files.
FOR Runs a specified command for each file in a set of
files.
FORMAT Formats a disk for use with Windows.
FSUTIL Displays or configures the file system properties.
FTYPE Displays or modifies file types used in file extension
associations.
GOTO Directs the Windows command interpreter to a labeled
line in
a batch program.
GPRESULT Displays Group Policy information for machine or user.
GRAFTABL Enables Windows to display an extended character set
in
graphics mode.
HELP Provides Help information for Windows commands.
ICACLS Display, modify, backup, or restore ACLs for files and
directories.
IF Performs conditional processing in batch programs.
LABEL Creates, changes, or deletes the volume label of a
disk.
MD Creates a directory.
MKDIR Creates a directory.
MKLINK Creates Symbolic Links and Hard Links
MODE Configures a system device.
MORE Displays output one screen at a time.
MOVE Moves one or more files from one directory to another
directory.
OPENFILES Displays files opened by remote users for a file share.
PATH Displays or sets a search path for executable files.
PAUSE Suspends processing of a batch file and displays a
message.
POPD Restores the previous value of the current directory
saved by
PUSHD.
PRINT Prints a text file.
PROMPT Changes the Windows command prompt.
PUSHD Saves the current directory then changes it.
RD Removes a directory.
RECOVER Recovers readable information from a bad or defective
disk.
REM Records comments (remarks) in batch files or
CONFIG.SYS.
REN Renames a file or files.
RENAME Renames a file or files.
REPLACE Replaces files.
RMDIR Removes a directory.
ROBOCOPY Advanced utility to copy files and directory trees
SET Displays, sets, or removes Windows environment
variables.
SETLOCAL Begins localization of environment changes in a batch
file.
SC Displays or configures services (background processes).
SCHTASKS Schedules commands and programs to run on a computer.
SHIFT Shifts the position of replaceable parameters in batch
files.
SHUTDOWN Allows proper local or remote shutdown of machine.
SORT Sorts input.
START Starts a separate window to run a specified program or
command.
SUBST Associates a path with a drive letter.
SYSTEMINFO Displays machine specific properties and configuration.
TASKLIST Displays all currently running tasks including
services.
TASKKILL Kill or stop a running process or application.
TIME Displays or sets the system time.
TITLE Sets the window title for a CMD.EXE session.
TREE Graphically displays the directory structure of a drive
or
path.
TYPE Displays the contents of a text file.
VER Displays the Windows version.
VERIFY Tells Windows whether to verify that your files are
written
correctly to a disk.
VOL Displays a disk volume label and serial number.
XCOPY Copies files and directory trees.
WMIC Displays WMI information inside interactive command
shell.

For more information on tools see the command-line reference in the
online help.

foodman

2007-11-27, 6:55 pm

>
> I am hoping to stay on XP for as long as possible. =EF=BF=BDI've heard bad=

> things about DRM bloat in Vista.

Based on my several months of experience with Vista, I cannot think of
a single reason why anyone would want to get it. I had BIG problems
installing the stupid thing, too. Originally, I had 'only' 1g of RAM,
I added another 512mb and it is still as slow as molasses.

For unimaginable reasons, Microsoft has chosen to change lots of
things
such as the Search. By no stretch of my imagination can I find ANY
improvements in Vista, but there are lots of things which are just
different (and worse).

And, it is no more dependable than XP.

Michael Mattias

2007-11-27, 6:55 pm

"foodman" <foodman123@aol.com> wrote in message
news:74ada8d2-86ed-4cf6-b0c5-586b44511189@d27g2000prf.googlegroups.com...

>Based on my several months of experience with Vista, I cannot think of
>a single reason why anyone would want to get it. ...

>For unimaginable reasons, Microsoft has chosen to change lots of
>things ...no stretch of my imagination can I find ANY
>improvements in Vista, but there are lots of things which are just
>different (and worse).

I think I've heard this about every new operating system, ever.

> And, it is no more dependable than XP.

Here, you have a really good point. Even Win/XP took a couple of service
packs (= a couple of years) to get all the kinks out. I recently purchased
a new laptop, and paid extra to "downgrade" from the included Vista to
Win/XP Pro precisely for that reason.

Features are nice, but they are no substitute for reliability.

MCM

foodman

2007-11-27, 6:55 pm

But XP still has COMMAND.COM, and the 1990
> Realia compiler runs fine in COMMAND.COM. =EF=BF=BDThe generated executabl=
es
> run file in either CMD.EXE or COMMAND.COM.

I tried both CMD and COMMAND, neither of them run Rebuild.exe

tony

LX-i

2007-11-28, 3:55 am

foodman wrote:
> Hellough:
>
> I upgraded to Vista a few months ago and was happy to see that my
> ancient 16-bit MicroFocus-SP2 software runs as happily as it did under
> all the prior versions of Windows.
>
> I seldom use Rebuild since I rarely have problems with files.
> However,
> I recently ran Rebuild (at the command prompt) and got "not a valid
> win32 application". My software and the compiler work perfectly.
>
> Strangely, If I make a shortcut to run Rebuild (with file name
> specified)
> it works perfectly.
>
> Any ideas?

Is it a 64-bit version of Vista? The 64-bit Vista doesn't support
16-bit Windows applications.

Since a shortcut works, though, it's strange that it doesn't work under
a command prompt. Maybe the shortcut looks at the executable, and sets
a "compatibility mode" for it. Inspect the properties of the shortcut,
and see if any of those are set. If so, you can make a shortcut to
cmd.exe with those same compatibilities set, and you should be good to go.

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foodman

2007-11-28, 7:55 am

=EF=BF=BDInspect the properties of the shortcut,
> and see if any of those are set. =EF=BF=BDIf so, you can make a shortcut t=
o
> cmd.exe with those same compatibilities set, and you should be good to go.=

Thanks for the suggestion, but, it still does not work!

tony

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