HP 3000 Manuals

HP ALLBASE/4GL Developer Self-Paced Training Guide

Painting a Report 

The report painter is a program that is similar to the screen painter.
In much the same way as painting a screen, you use the report painter to
interactively create the layout of the data and text fields on a report.

As a report can be wider and longer than a standard terminal, the report
painter offers you a window that you can move around over the report.

You can create two different types of fields on a report:  text items and
data fields.  Text items are created by simply typing them in where they
are needed.

A data field is where you show the data being reported.  Typically the
data comes from a file field, although it can come from any HP
ALLBASE/4GL data item.  You create a data field manually by painting its
image on the report line, or automatically by referring to a dictionary
field specification name.

The report painter also allows you to specify the source of the data that
is printed in the report output fields.

Menu Path 

To access the report painter screen: 

   1.  From the main menu, select the Reports option.

   2.  Choose Painter.

To start the report painter: 

   1.  Activate the Painter menu item on the reports menu.

       When the report painter starts, you will see this prompt at the
       bottom of the screen:


          Report Painter Prompt 

   2.  Accept the default or enter the name of the report that you want
       to paint.

       The name of the report which you have been defining so far will be
       displayed as the default entry.  In this case it should be
       product_rept.

   3.  Press Return.


          Report Painter Screen 

Screen Description 

The report painter screen is divided into two regions.  The upper region
displays the window into the report.  The lower region displays the
details of the current report field.

A ruler line across the top of the report window shows your current
position on the report page.

There are two important display fields at the top of this lower region.
Current Field Length shows the length of the current field on the report
line.  The current field is the field currently occupied by the cursor.
When you press Return, the report painter highlights the current field
and updates the display in the Current Cursor Position field and Current 
Field Length field.  Current Cursor Position shows the position of the
cursor relative to the report, not the window.  These fields enable you
to determine where you are on the report.

A display area to the left of the report window lists the names of all of
the print lines you have defined for this report.  These are sorted into
an appropriate sequence from the top to the bottom of the report page.
If you defined more than 12 print lines, they will not all be displayed
in the window.

When you first start the report painter, the window displays the upper
left corner of the report.

Using the Window Keys 

Since the upper region of the screen is a window into the report, you
need to scroll the window left or right to see more of the report.  For
many detailed reports you also need to scroll the window up and down to
see all of the lines defined for the report.

The  Window Keys  function keys allow you to scroll the report window.
These keys allow you to define the distance and direction in which to
scroll the window.

When you press the  Window Keys  function key you will see the following
keys displayed.  Keys  Up Window  to  Right Window  are self explanatory.


          Report Painter Window Keys 

Pressing  Centre Window  locates the center of the report in the window.
This is the horizontal and vertical center.

Pressing  Set Horz Scroll  prompts you for the number of columns to skip
whenever you press the  Left Window  or  Right Window  function keys.
The default is 10.

Pressing  Set Vert Scroll  prompts you for the number of lines to skip
whenever you press the  Up Window  or  Down Window  function keys.  The
default is 2.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation