Common COBOL Errors and Coding Standards

Q. What are some of the common COBOL Errors, a beginner could make?

Here are the top 10 Mistakes in COBOL, you should watch out for, when you start-out to write COBOL-Programs. 1. Period was Required Often, you forget to put periods after divisions, sections or para's, and that’s when you get a "A Period was Required" Message. See what happens when you forget to put a period after IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.   2. Forgetting a Dash You will get strange error-Messages when you forget to put a dash in paragraph names that have multiple words. For example, if you forget to code a dash in the OPEN-FILE-ROUTINE, you get the following error Message.   3. XXX should not begin in Area-A I have coded PERFORM Instruction by error in Col 11. Coding a COBOL-statement in Area-A, when it should begin in Area-B, will issue an error like ... should not begin in Area-A, it was processed as if in Area-B.   4. YYY should begin in Area-A. I have coded the OPEN-FILE-ROUTINE by mistake in Area B. Coding a para, section or division entry in Area-B, when it should begin in Area-A, will issue an error like ...should begin in Area-A, it was processed as if in Area-A.   5. XXX was not defined as a data-name. I have declared the Variable WS-EMPLOYEE-SALARY in the Working Storage Section. But in the PROCEDURE DIVISION, while using it, I did a Typo-error, and spelled it as WS-EMPLOYEE-SALRY(forgot the 'A'). COBOL Compiler does not recognize the Data-name WS-EMPLOYEE-SALRY(the one without the 'A'), and complains about it.   6. The XXX Statement was Invalid. Expected ..., but found something else. I must have committed a Syntax-error. Out here, I’ve forgotten to put a closing single-quote on the Literal String 'QUASAR'. Here’s what the Compiler complains.   7. Putting PICTURE Clause on a Group Data-Item. Many beginners write the PICTURE Clause on the Group Level Data-Item. In COBOL, you break down Group Data-items further in smaller Storage Areas. So, you always specify the PICTURE Clause for the Lowest-Level Data-Items. By error, I have coded PICTURE Clause on WS-EMPLOYEE-RECORD, when it should be specified only for the EMPLOYEE-NAME, EMPLOYEE-SALARY and EMPLOYEE-JDATE Fields.   8. Neither an FD nor SD was found in the Program for the File XXX. I have done a typo-error in the FD Para, so the COBOL Internal file-name specified in the SELECT Clause does not match the FD Descriptor. 9. No Matching Scope-Terminator Found. When you code IFs, EVALUATEs, loops using Inline PERFORMs be sure to supply the Scope Terminator END-IF, END-EVALUATE, END-PERFORM correctly. The Compiler Software recognizes the statements inside an PERFORM..END-PERFORM as one block. I've forgotten to code an END-PERFORM, and the compiler complains about it– it doesn't know where the PERFORM Block ends.

Q. What are some COBOL Coding Standards one should follow?

Program Header : Every COBOL Module should begin with a Program-Header, that specifies the Program Name, system, description, File Access, DB2 Tables Access, Sub-programs called etc. Here's how I have coded the Program-Header for my COBOL-Program PROG05. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION : The PROGRAM-ID should be 7 OR 8 chars and must be the same as Member-name. Most projects or Production Environments specify a naming-convention for the PROGRAM-ID. At my work-place  it goes like this - PROGRAM-ID. XXXYZAnn. The first 3 characters XXX should be the name of the Sub-system. Say for example,  our Mainframe sub-system is GEMINI, so we use the three letter prefix GEM for all our programs. It is followed by B, if it’s a Batch Program, C if its an Online Program. Our programs are mostly Batch, so we'd put a B. We also use a single letter code - I for Inserts, U for Updates, D for Deletes, S for Selects. Say, that my Program does Inserts, so I use the code I. We also code D for DB2, or I for IMS. My Program uses DB2 for storing Data. Hence, my program-id would be GEMBIDnn. So, in my project, all our Programs are like GEMBID01, GEMBID27, GEMBID58, GEMBID59, GEMBID60, GEMBID2A so on and so forth. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION : For readability, you should write each SELECT Statement on a new line, and the ASSIGN TO Clause, ORGANIZATION IS, ACCESS MODE IS, FILE STATUS IS, and the RECORD KEY IS Clauses should be indented thereafter on successive lines. DATA DIVISION : It's a good practice to organize the Working-Storage Variables in the COBOL-Program, so its very easy to FIND Variables. For example, all the Storage Areas used for Input-Output go together. All the Print-Formats such as Header-Lines, Separator Lines should be grouped. Then follows the DB2-I/O Areas which contain 'EXEC SQL – END-EXEC' Blocks. These are Storage Areas in COBOL that will receive the data fetched from DB2 Tables, or send data-output to be stored in DB2 Tables. Likewise, Flags-and-Switches which help detect special conditions, Literals and Constants(Values that don’t change) and Counters which help keep track how many times you do a thing;are stored together under the Working Storage Section. Level-Numbers and Picture Clause – Get into the habit of inserting Blank Empty-Lines, lavishly. Don't hesitate to use them. Level-Numbers indicate Break-up or Structure. User Non-contiguous Level-Numbers like 01, 05, 10, 15 and so on. Indent each higher Level-Number 3 columns to the right. See how I have indented 01, 05 and 88-Levels. Code the Picture Clause preferably on Position 45. For Numeric-Edited variables like WS-CONTRACT-FACE-AMT, write the entire PIC Clause  –ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZZ,ZZZ.99 instead of writing –Z(3),Z(3),Z(3),Z(3),Z(3).9(2).

Q. I want a comprehensive list of all the possible COBOL Errors, that the COBOL Compiler complains about?

To generate a complete Listing of all possible errors in COBOL, along with the Errors-Codes and their Description, I'd call for ERRMSG. Write a COBOL Program, with the PROGRAM-ID ERRMSG. and that does the trick. I've coded the ERRMSG COBOL Program. This magic trick works, COBOL-Compiler Software recognizes the special-program ERRMSG, and it produces an entire list of Error-codes and Descriptions in the Compiler-Listing. Here's an extract of what you'll get as output in the Compile-Listing. It’s a huge List. Get the Complete Error-Listing here.