HP 3000 Manuals

HP ALLBASE/BRW Tutorial

Exercise 6:Defining the Sorts and Breaks 

In this exercise you will define the sort items for the report, set the
level of each sort item, and the set direction of the sort.  This 
exercise takes 5 minutes.

Define sorts and breaks 

   1.  At the Define Report screen, choose  Define Breaks.  BRW displays
       the Define Breaks & Pagination screen.


            

       This is where you define the structure of the report.  You must
       tell BRW the items on which you want the report to be sorted.

       Look at the rough sketch of the report again (shown on the next
       page).

       You know what sort items, breaks, and linesets you require.  You
       can have up to 9 levels or sort and break items in a report.  For
       this report, you have two levels:  SALES-AREA and CUSTOMER-NO.


            

   2.  Use the Tab key to get to the Sort and Break on Item field.

   3.  Type SALES-AREA in the Sort and Break on Item field.

   4.  Press Tab.

   5.  Type 1A in the Sort Level and Order field.

       1A means that the item is the first-level sort item, and that the
       sort is in ascending order (that is, A to Z or smallest number
       first).

   6.  Use Tab to get to the second line of the Sort and Break on Item
       field.

       Hint-- Press the down cursor arrow and then ShiftTab.

   7.  Type the second sort item and order.

            CUSTOMER-NO           2A

       2A means that the item is the second-level sort item and that the
       sort is in ascending order.

   8.  Press Enter.

       The screen should look like this:


            

       BRW displays a message that the breaks and pagination have been
       modified.  Don't be concerned about the pagination now.  You
       return to this screen later to set the pagination.


NOTE  Break levels 

      Whenever a sort item changes and a break occurs, all lower-level 
      breaks occur as well.  It may help to think of the break levels as
      being nested:

           Level 1 Break header
              Level 2 Break Header
                 Level 3 Break Header
                    Detail line
                 Level 3 Break Footer
              Level 2 Break Footer
           Level 1 Break Footer

      When Level 1 breaks, break headings are also printed for Levels 2
      and 3.


Now you have defined the structure of the report, you can define the
report linesets.

Final Access Table Illustration 

The following illustration shows how the final access table is structured
after you have sorted it.


            

Notice the callouts showing the rows of the table (these are the report
detail lines), the columns of items, and the break when SALES-AREA
changes.  The item SALES-AREA does not change until all the records for
the preceding sales area have been read, because you have sorted the
table on SALES-AREA.

The records for each sales area are grouped together and sorted again
according to customer number.  For instance, in the Western sales area,
customer number 000001 is listed before 000003 and so on.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation