From: dennisp@informix.com (Dennis Pimple) Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix Subject: Re: different report length Date: 10 Sep 94 22:13:16 GMT Peter Schubert <100043.1556@CompuServe.COM> writes: >We need diffent report length on unknown printers. >(e.g. Lineprinter Length 72, Laserprinter Length 66 ...) >Is there a way to use variables for the PAGE LENGTH parameter ??? No, BUT ... Below are two attacks I've made concerning using a single REPORT function break at different page lengths. The first is a complete program and uses PAGE LENGTH 1 and a lot of duplicate code in each report control block to handle page breaks. As a demo, it handles either 24 or 60 page output (for screen or printer output, natch) The second is a REPORT function from an actual report I wrote last week for a client that wanted the report to go to either legal or standard paper (78 or 66 lines, on this system). It's not as complete as the first, and doesn't show how to handle page footers, although I'm sure it wold be doable with a bit of duplicate code and LINENO testing. It uses the idea of setting PAGE LENGTH to the highest desired number and TOP OF PAGE "^L", which is used to send a top-of-page signal when breaking pages rather than the ole' Informix standard of repeated blank lines to fill out the pages. I hope it's commented well enough to be of use. And if Walt is watching, he should feel free to add these to the repository. ======================================================================= Dennis J. Pimple dennisp@informix.com Opinions expressed Senior Consultant -------------------- are mine, and do not Informix Software Inc Voice: 303-850-0210 necessarily reflect Denver Colorado USA Fax: 303-779-4025 those of my employer. -------------------- CUT HERE FOR scr_prt.4gl ------------------------- ########### # INFORMIX PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ####### # ## Denver, Colorado ###### # ### ================================================== ##### # #### File: %M% SCCS: %I% %P% #### # ##### Program: scr_prt.4go ### # ###### Client: Example ## # ####### Author: Dennis J Pimple # ########### Date: %G% %U% # Example of how to use the same REPORT function to run to either # screen or printer, with appropriate page breaks. # The general approach we take is to handle PAGE HEADERs & TRAILERs # in the ON EVERY ROW section of the REPORT, to avoid any forced page # breaks. This example will output 60-line pages to a printer, # or 23-line pages to a screen (70 lines of report output) MAIN DEFINE outpt CHAR(1) # Screen/Printer DEFINE x SMALLINT # Loop counter DEFINE y SMALLINT # Loop counter CLEAR SCREEN LET outpt = NULL WHILE outpt IS NULL PROMPT "Run to Screen or Printer (S/P)? " FOR CHAR outpt LET outpt = UPSHIFT(outpt) IF outpt IS NULL OR outpt NOT MATCHES "[SP]" THEN ERROR "Type S, P, or INTERRUPT to quit" LET outpt = NULL END IF END WHILE IF outpt = "P" THEN START REPORT rpt_scr_ptr TO PRINTER ELSE START REPORT rpt_scr_ptr TO PIPE " pg" END IF FOR x = 1 TO 10 FOR y = 1 TO 7 OUTPUT TO REPORT rpt_scr_ptr(outpt, x, y) END FOR END FOR FINISH REPORT rpt_scr_ptr END MAIN REPORT rpt_scr_ptr(outpt, x, y) DEFINE outpt CHAR(1) # File or Printer DEFINE x SMALLINT DEFINE y SMALLINT DEFINE pglgth SMALLINT # Page Length DEFINE pgno SMALLINT # Page Number (instead of PAGENO) DEFINE lnno SMALLINT # Line Number (instead of LINENO) DEFINE tm SMALLINT # Top Margin DEFINE bm SMALLINT # Bottom Margin DEFINE pt SMALLINT # Number of lines for Page Trailer DEFINE lastln SMALLINT # Last line to print on each page: # pglgth - bm - pt # set the margins and page length to minimum, # because we'll handle all that in the body of the report OUTPUT TOP MARGIN 0 BOTTOM MARGIN 0 PAGE LENGTH 1 # for my purposes, I'm going to control the LEFT MARGIN # in the PRINT statements as well, but this isn't required LEFT MARGIN 0 # we're going to break by group on x, so inform the report that # x is already sorted. ORDER EXTERNAL BY x FORMAT FIRST PAGE HEADER # use this control block to initialize variables IF outpt = "S" THEN # need to check your machine's implementation of "pg" command, # if you're using it. I found that on some machines/termtypes # it outputs 23/lines/screen, and on others it's 24. # Whatever it is, set pglgth to 1 less than it displays, # because "pg" displays bottom line of one screen as the top # line of the next, so we really have 1 line less than what's # available in your implementation of "pg" for display. LET pglgth = 22 # Also, since on the first page of the report the 1st line is # displayed only once (no previous screen shown), we'll print # an extra blank line at the top of page 1 to align everything # properly (see code below). ELSE # I'm testing on a laser printer that prints 60 lines/page LET pglgth = 60 END IF # set the top & bottom margin # they, too can be different for screen/printer, # although of course they don't have to be IF outpt = "S" THEN LET tm = 0 # WARNING: Make your bm at least 1, # because "pg" gets confused if not. LET bm = 1 ELSE LET tm = 3 LET bm = 3 END IF # set the number of lines in your page trailer LET pt = 2 # calculate the page line we're going to print the body of the report on LET lastln = pglgth - bm - pt LET pgno = 0 LET lnno = 0 BEFORE GROUP OF x # a lot of the code in BEFORE GROUP OF and AFTER GROUP OF are cloned # from the ON EVERY ROW. This is a pain, but necessary. We can't just # CALL functions for the duplicate code, because a PRINT statement has # to be in the REPORT function itself. IF lnno = 0 THEN # print the top margin IF tm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO tm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = tm # NOTICE: if using "more" in your "OUTPUT TO PIPE" command, # remove the IF block below. "more" doesn't require the extra # line on the first page. IF outpt = "S" AND pgno = 0 THEN # this is the first page, so we need to print the extra # blank line referred to in the FIRST PAGE HEADER PRINT "" END IF # increment the page counter LET pgno = pgno + 1 # print the page header PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 2 END IF # make sure we have room for the group header # + at least 2 lines of data + 3 lines for group trailer IF lnno > (lastln - 2 - 3) THEN # close off this page WHILE lnno < lastln PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 1 END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", pgno USING "<&", " -" IF bm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO bm PRINT "" END FOR END IF # print the top margin IF tm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO tm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = tm # increment the page counter LET pgno = pgno + 1 # print the page header PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 2 END IF # print the group header PRINT "GROUP HEADER: ", x USING "#&" PRINT "----------------" LET lnno = lnno + 2 ON EVERY ROW # if we're at the top of a page ... IF lnno = 0 THEN # print the top margin IF tm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO tm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = tm # increment the page counter LET pgno = pgno + 1 # print the page header PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 2 # print the continued group header PRINT "GROUP HEADER: ", x USING "#&", " (cont)" PRINT "-----------------------" LET lnno = lnno + 2 END IF # do we have room to print this line, as well as any necessary # 3-line group trailer? IF lnno > lastln - 4 THEN # close off this page # let the user know this group continues next page PRINT "(cont)" LET lnno = lnno + 1 WHILE lnno < lastln PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 1 END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", pgno USING "<&", " -" IF bm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO bm PRINT "" END FOR END IF # print the top margin IF tm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO tm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = tm # increment the page counter LET pgno = pgno + 1 # print the page header PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 2 # print the continued group header PRINT "GROUP HEADER: ", x USING "#&", " (cont)" PRINT "-----------------------" LET lnno = lnno + 2 END IF PRINT "Line ", y USING "#&" LET lnno = lnno + 1 AFTER GROUP OF x # we can't be at the top of a page, because in the ON EVERY ROW # block we made sure at least one row was printed on the same page # as the group trailer PRINT "-----------------" PRINT "GROUP TRAILER: ", x USING "#&" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 3 IF lnno >= lastln THEN # bottom of the page # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", pgno USING "<&", " -" IF bm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO bm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = 0 END IF ON LAST ROW # if we're at the top of a page, # or there isn't room to print the 3 end of page lines ... IF lnno = 0 OR lnno > lastln - 3 THEN IF lnno > lastln - 3 THEN # print blanks down to the bottom of page, WHILE lnno < lastln PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 1 END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", pgno USING "<&", " -" IF bm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO bm PRINT "" END FOR END IF END IF # print the top margin IF tm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO tm PRINT "" END FOR END IF LET lnno = tm # increment the page counter LET pgno = pgno + 1 # print the page header PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 2 # no need to print group header; there is none END IF # finish up the last page # print blanks down to the bottom of page, # except for 3 lines for ON LAST ROW stuff WHILE lnno < lastln - 3 PRINT "" LET lnno = lnno + 1 END WHILE # print the end of report stuff PRINT " ----------------------------------------" PRINT " - END OF REPORT -" PRINT " ----------------------------------------" # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT "LAST PAGE - ", pgno USING "<&", " -" IF bm > 0 THEN FOR lnno = 1 TO bm PRINT "" END FOR END IF END REPORT # rpt_scr_ptr(outpt, x, y) -------------------- CUT HERE FOR the other report example ------------ #---------------------------------------------------------------------# REPORT rpt_module(lcol1, lcol2) # Arguments: GROUP BY variables # Purpose: Report format # Returns: N/A #---------------------------------------------------------------------# DEFINE lcol1 LIKE table.col1 DEFINE lcol2 LIKE table.col2 DEFINE lstr CHAR(80) # long string DEFINE sp1 CHAR(1) # " " DEFINE str4 CHAR(4) # "###&" DEFINE col SMALLINT # column counter DEFINE x SMALLINT OUTPUT LEFT MARGIN 0 # this report sometimes prints on legal paper PAGE LENGTH 78 TOP OF PAGE "^L" ORDER EXTERNAL BY lcol1, lcol2 FORMAT PAGE HEADER # set up psuedo-symbolic constants used to save string space IF PAGENO = 1 THEN LET str4 = "###&" LET sp1 = " " END IF LET hstr = "PAGE HEADER STRING" IF PAGENO = 1 AND m_module.paper_size = "L" AND LENGTH(m_printdef.p_upper_tray) > 0 THEN # put the escape sequence to set in legal mode in front # this was the HP laserjet printer definitions tableized LET hstr = ASCII 027, m_printdef.p_upper_tray CLIPPED, hstr CLIPPED END IF PRINT hstr CLIPPED, " Page ", PAGENO USING "#&" # center the next string LET col = (80 - LENGTH(g_table.column))/2 PRINT COLUMN col, g_table.column CLIPPED SKIP 1 LINE # END PAGE HEADER BEFORE GROUP OF lcol1 # page break for each facility # this is how I assure a page break at col1, # without using SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE # I dislike SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE in a BEFORE GROUP block because # is wastes a sheet of paper before the first group NEED 75 LINES BEFORE GROUP OF lcol2 # Make sure there's room to print the whole group on one page # assume the most rows in a group is 21 LET x = 21 IF m_module.paper_size = "S" THEN # HERE'S THE TRICK: If printing to standard size (60 lines/page) # instead of legal size, (78 lines/page), I incread the NEED LINES # count by 18, because I want to break 18 lines earlier than before # By having TOP OF PAGE "^L", extra lines are not padded in. LET x = x + 18 END IF NEED x LINES ON EVERY ROW IF m_module.paper_size = "S" AND LINENO > 59 THEN # we have our page length set for Legal size; # if we're printing on standard need to page break NOW NEED 75 LINES END IF PRINT ... AFTER GROUP OF lcol1 LET x = 2 IF m_module.paper_size = "S" THEN LET x = x + 18 END IF NEED x LINES SKIP 1 LINE PRINT ... ON LAST ROW IF m_module.paper_size = "L" AND LENGTH(m_printdef.p_upper_tray) > 0 THEN # print the escape sequence to reset to letter mode PRINT ASCII 027, m_printdef.p_lower_tray CLIPPED END IF END REPORT # rpt_module() ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ From: dennisp@informix.com (Dennis Pimple) Newsgroups: comp.databases.informix Subject: Re: Page Line Length Date: 30 Oct 1995 16:22:14 GMT M J Spuffer (spuffer@clark.net) wrote: : I'm a new kid to the the Informix world. My group is just learning about : 4gl and all it's tricks. Having lived in the Pick world for many years, : its quite and adjustment. Now for the question: How do you write one : report which will run on a lazer printer (57 print lines) or a line : printer (66 lines) without replicating the entire report section? At : first thought and IF statement around the PAGE LENGTH statement would : seem proper, but to no avail. Any ideas would be appreciated. If you can live with it, set your page length to the minimum in the OUTPUT section of the REPORT functions (PAGE LENGTH 57 in your example), and set TOP OF PAGE to control-L so that the report sends a page feed to break pages instead of the default behavior of padding blank lines to break pages (TOP OF PAGE "^L" in the OUTPUT section). This would work, although you're wasting some space on the line printers. If you can't live with the wasted space (e.g. you want the same report to run to screen (24 lines) as well as to printer (66 lines) with appropriate headers always in view, etc.), try the code below. It's a straight 4gl solution, although I can envision a c solution that would involve creating 2 or 3 seperate reports (Page Header, Page Trailer, and Body), and then calling a c-function that would know to paste the header and trailer to every n lines of body text. (sounds like an interesting weekend project - any takers?) Some duplication within control blocks is required, and with more group headers/trailers things might get sticky. ======================================================================= Dennis J. Pimple dennisp@informix.com Opinions expressed Principal Consultant -------------------- are mine, and do not Informix Software Inc Voice: 303-850-0210 necessarily reflect Denver Colorado USA Fax: 303-779-4025 those of my employer. ########### # INFORMIX PROFESSIONAL SERVICES ####### # ## Denver, Colorado ###### # ### ================================================== ##### # #### File: %M% SCCS: %I% %P% #### # ##### Program: varlgthrpt.4go ### # ###### Client: Example ## # ####### Author: Dennis J Pimple # ########### Date: %G% %U% # Example of how to use the same REPORT function to run to variable # page length and/or screen. # The problem is we can't use a variable in our PAGE LENGTH statement. # # The general approach we take is to set PAGE LENGTH to the maximum # possible, use TOP OF PAGE "^L" so that page breaks are sending out # a line feed instead of padding the page with blank lines, and using # variable testing to break at appropriate times. # This example prompts for a page length of 10-100 MAIN DEFINE pglgth SMALLINT # Page Length (10-100) DEFINE pl CHAR(3) # for prompt DEFINE x SMALLINT # Loop counter DEFINE y SMALLINT # Loop counter CLEAR SCREEN LET pl = NULL WHILE pl IS NULL PROMPT "What Page Length (10-100) ? " FOR pl IF pl IS NULL THEN ERROR "Enter a number between 10 and 100, or INTERRUPT to quit" LET pl = NULL END IF FOR x = 1 TO LENGTH(pl) IF pl[x] NOT MATCHES "[0123456789]" THEN ERROR "Enter a number between 10 and 100, ", "or INTERRUPT to quit" LET pl = NULL END IF END FOR LET pglgth = pl CLIPPED IF pglgth < 10 OR pglgth > 100 THEN ERROR "Enter a number between 10 and 100, or INTERRUPT to quit" LET pl = NULL END IF END WHILE START REPORT rpt_varlgth TO "rpt.out" FOR x = 1 TO 10 FOR y = 1 TO 7 OUTPUT TO REPORT rpt_varlgth(pglgth, x, y) END FOR END FOR FINISH REPORT rpt_varlgth CLEAR SCREEN DISPLAY "Report is in file rpt.out" END MAIN REPORT rpt_varlgth(pglgth, x, y) DEFINE pglgth SMALLINT # Page Length (10-100) DEFINE x SMALLINT DEFINE y SMALLINT DEFINE bm SMALLINT # Bottom Margin DEFINE pt SMALLINT # Number of lines for Page Trailer DEFINE lastln SMALLINT # Last line to print on each page: # pglgth - bm - pt # set the margins and page length to minimum, # because we'll handle it in the body of the report OUTPUT TOP MARGIN 2 BOTTOM MARGIN 0 # for my purposes, I'm going to control the LEFT MARGIN # in the PRINT statements as well, but this isn't required LEFT MARGIN 0 # set page length to maximum PAGE LENGTH 100 # set TOP OF PAGE so that linefeeds are imbedded instead of blank # lines to fill out the page TOP OF PAGE "^L" # we're going to break by group on x, so inform the report that # x is already sorted. ORDER EXTERNAL BY x FORMAT PAGE HEADER IF PAGENO = 1 THEN # use this control block to initialize variables # set the bottom margin LET bm = 2 # set the number of lines in your page trailer LET pt = 2 # calculate the page line we're going to print the body # of the report on LET lastln = pglgth - bm - pt END IF PRINT "PAGE HEADER OF REPORT: ", TODAY USING "mm/dd/yyyy" SKIP 1 LINE BEFORE GROUP OF x # a lot of the code in BEFORE GROUP OF and AFTER GROUP OF are cloned # from the ON EVERY ROW. This is a pain, but necessary. We can't just # CALL functions for the duplicate code, because a PRINT statement has # to be in the REPORT function itself. # make sure we have room for the group header # + at least 1 line of data + 2 lines for group trailer IF LINENO > (lastln - 1 - 2) THEN # close off this page WHILE LINENO < lastln PRINT "" END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", PAGENO USING "<&", " -" SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE END IF # print the group header PRINT "GROUP HEADER: ", x USING "#&" PRINT "----------------" ON EVERY ROW # do we have room to print this line, as well as any necessary # 2-line group trailer? IF LINENO > lastln - 3 THEN # close off this page # let the user know this group continues next page PRINT "(cont)" # close off this page WHILE LINENO < lastln PRINT "" END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", PAGENO USING "<&", " -" SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE END IF # if we're at the top of a page ... IF LINENO < 5 THEN # print the (continued) group header PRINT "GROUP HEADER: ", x USING "#&", " (cont)" PRINT "-----------------------" END IF PRINT "Line ", y USING "#&", " (LINENO ", LINENO USING "<<&", ")" AFTER GROUP OF x # we can't be at the top of a page, because in the ON EVERY ROW # block we made sure at least one row was printed on the same page # as the group trailer PRINT "-----------------" PRINT "GROUP TRAILER: ", x USING "#&" PRINT "" # close off the page if there isn't enough room to start the next group IF LINENO > lastln - 3 THEN # close off this page WHILE LINENO < lastln PRINT "" END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", PAGENO USING "<&", " -" SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE END IF ON LAST ROW # close off this page, unless we're at the top of a page IF LINENO > 4 THEN WHILE LINENO < lastln PRINT "" END WHILE # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT " - ", PAGENO USING "<&", " -" SKIP TO TOP OF PAGE END IF # run the blank page down to the bottom of the page WHILE LINENO < lastln - 3 PRINT "" END WHILE # print the ON LAST ROW STUFF PRINT " ----------------------------------------" PRINT " - END OF REPORT -" PRINT " ----------------------------------------" # print the page trailer PRINT "" PRINT "LAST PAGE - ", PAGENO USING "<&", " -" END REPORT # rpt_varlgth(pglgth, x, y)