RMS Error on VAX with OpenVMS 6.2

[skynet1980]

Hi all,
I met a problem that when a program try to open and read a data file on VAX , it gave me such error message:
RMS-W-RTB, 512 byte record too large for user's buffer
So, how can i solve the problem. It is very urgent.
Thanks

[Volker Halle]

For a detailled explanation of this error message, try:

$ HELP/MESS RTB

RTB, 'nnn' byte record too large for user's buffer

Facility: RMS, OpenVMS Record Management Services

Explanation: A record that was retrieved from a file by an RMS $GET
operation within an application program is too large for the
buffer provided by the application. The status value (STV)
field of the RAB contains the size of the record that is too
large; the returned record is truncated to the size of the
user buffer.

User Action: Ensure that the RMS record structure and the RMS file
attributes on the associated RMS file meet the requirements
of the application. If they do, the application program must
be rebuilt or reconfigured to provide a buffer large enough to
read the failing record from the file. alternatively, the size
of the failing record must be reduced to fit into the buffer
provided by the application.


First check the data file with DIR/FULL; whehter it has the expected record attributes. Did this work before ? With this file ?

Volker.

[skynet1980]

Hi Volker Halle ,
Actually the program has been used for long time and recently some data file comes from windows by ftp(orginally from VAX to VAX, now Windows to VAX). then the error happen. So is there any parameter i can modify to fix it ?
Thanks

[Volker Halle]

It seems likely, that the record structure may have been corrupted by the FTP transfer.

Compare a DIR/FULL output of a 'working' data file with the output of a 'corrupted' data file. What are the differences (record format and record attributes) ?

Are these ASCII files ? Have they been copied with FTP ASCII mode ?

Volker.

[Hein van den Heuvel]

Is the data supposed to be variable length?
The file attrubutes MIGHT be out of sync with the actual records.
Do a DIR/FULL (or ANAL/RMS or DUMP/HEAD/BLOC=COUNT=0) and check the "Record format:" line for the maximum record size. Is it reasonable? Alos Check the "Record attributes: " line.

You can change the attribute, not the records, by issueing:
$SET FILE/ATTR=(MRS=xxx, LRL=yyy).

The MRS is the Maximum Record size which RMS will allow to be put into the file. 0 is fine, and implies approx 32K.

The LRL is supposed to be the longet record ever put into the file, but it is a little fuzzy. Some programs allocate the record buffer based on MRS or LRL. Just fet to a generous value and try again?

If it was my file I would probably write a quick program to read all records and print the longet record length seen.

hth,
Hein.