Cobol 400 - duplicate variable error

[sweetM]

Hi,

I'm new to Cobol and I'm trying to write an interactive program that allows you to enter a customer number and the resulting customer info is displayed (this is stored in another file).

I've encounted these errors -

1) "Variable is previously defined in program, use cannot be determined. Default item is assumed."

2) "file is not externally described, keyed file. External key specification ignored"
> I've created a DDS for the customer file that declares a key, however my program is not recognizing it. As a result, I have tried to declare the fields in my program.

3) In my screen display, the user enters a customer number. however, the program isn't reading it.

I know I probably don't make sense...thanks in advance to anyone who may have some tips!

cheers!

 

[Dimandja]

Hi sweetM,

It looks like you have tried to finish coding the program, before testing it. This approach will always give lots of headaches.

Try to always code a little, then test, code a little more, then test... You get the idea. This way, as soon as a problem is introduced, you'll have a pretty good guess how it happened.

Right now, you have a slew of problems to deal with; and, I am not sure it is wise to try to solve them without taking a look at what you're dealing with.

Could you post some of the code here?

Dimandja

 

[sweetM]

Hi Dimandja,

*sheepish grin* Thanks, I definitely tried to rush it this time.

Here is my DDS:
UNIQUE
R CUSTPAYR TEXT('CUSTOMER PAYMENT RECORD')
CUSTNUM 5A ALIAS(CP_CUSTNUM)
CUSTNAME 20A ALIAS(CP_CUSTNAME)
STREET 20A ALIAS(CP_STREET)
CITY 10A ALIAS(CP_CITY)
PROVINCE 3A ALIAS(CP_PROVINCE)
POSTALCODE 6A ALIAS(CP_POSTALCODE)
STATEAMT 5S ALIAS(CP_STATEMENT_AMT)
PAYAMT 5S ALIAS(CP_PAYMENT_AMT)
DATEPAYDUE 8S ALIAS(CP_DATE_PAY_DUE)
DATEPAYREC 8S ALIAS(CP_DATE_PAY_RECVD)
K CUSTNUM

Here is a part of the File Control:

SELECT CUST-PAY-FILE
ASSIGN TO DATABASE-CUSTPAYPF
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
ACCESS MODE IS RANDOM
RECORD KEY IS EXTERNALLY-DESCRIBED-KEY.

I have declared the fields in my program as:

01 CUSTPAYR.
05 SC-CUSTNUM PIC X(05).
05 SC-CUSTNAME PIC X(20).
05 SC-STREET PIC X(20).
05 SC-CITY PIC X(10).
05 SC-PROVINCE PIC X(03).

The other problem I have is w/ the display file, my program isn't capturing the customer number.

120-PROCESS-SCREEN-RECORD-RTN.
MOVE CP-CUSTNUM TO SC-CUSTNUM.
READ CUST-PAY-FILE
INVALID KEY
SET CUSTNUM-NOT-FOUND TO TRUE
NOT INVALID KEY
PERFORM 240-CHECK-STATUS-RTN
PERFORM 500-WRITE-SCREEN2-DISPLAY-RTN
END-READ.
IF NOT WS-FUNCTION-KEY-03
INITIALIZE DISPLAY-RECORD
WRITE DISPLAY-RECORD
FORMAT IS "SCREEN1"
INDICATORS ARE WS-INDICATOR-LIST
READ DISPLAY-FILE RECORD
END-IF.

This compiles ok, but when I've stepped through it, I get the error #1 from above. The screen shows but when I tried entering a CUSTNUM, it doesn't go to the next screen.

Thanks,
sweetM

 

[confusedlady]

I am new to this as well, so I may not be a big help, but don't you also need to do the DDS for the display file? And that would have a select statement and FD as well.

SELECT SCREEN-FILE ASSIGN TO WORKSTATION-DSPFILE-SI
ORGANIZATION IS TRANSACTION
ACCESS MODE IS DYNAMIC
RELATIVE KEY IS CURR-SFL-RECNO


FD SCREEN-FILE
DATA RECORD IS SCREEN-REC.
01 SCREEN-REC PIC X(1920)

Also, you didn't list the FD for the file used above. That's one of the benefits of externally dscribed files.

Ex.


FD CUST-PAY-FILE
DATA RECORD IS CUST-PAY-REC.
01 CUST-PAY-REC.
COPY DDSR-CUSTPAYR OF CUSTPAYPF.

This eliminates having to define the cust-pay-rec.
confusedlady

 

[confusedlady]

I found using display files/interactive programs a little tricky at first. This would also be in WS:

01 SCREEN-MAINREC-IN.
COPY DDSR-CUSTPAYR-I OF CUSTPAYF.
01 SCREEN-MAINREC-OUT.
COPY DDSR-CUSTPAYR-O OF CUSTPAYF.

Anytime you wish to check for user input, you have to WRITE SCREEN-REC FROM SCREEN-MAINREC-OUT and then READ SCREEN-FILE INTO SCREEN-MAINREC-IN to determine what the user did.

confusedlady