From the REPORT GENERATOR menu select Format Sationery > Title (on the text file ring menu).
The Title screen defines some basic parameters required by the Format such as page and section sizes. This first example will cover a typical page set-up for printing a letter. The fields that can be edited on this screen are as follows.
What do you want to do?
Title: This is simply the Title of the format definition. It is not used on the letter but aids identification when selecting it from a list of other letter definitions.
Alignment document: A 'Y' or 'N' answer is required. If 'Y' is chosen, the user will have the opportunity to produce a test print to ensure the document lines up properly on the page. This is particularly important when designing forms where text has to appear in pre-defined boxes on pre-printed stationery. Standard letter production will normally have this flag set to 'N'.
Suppress form feeds: Answer 'Y' or 'N' depending on whether you want form feeds to be suppressed. If they are suppressed then the form feed command normally generated at the end of a page will not be generated, this means the form size must be defined exactly so as not to 'creep' up or down subsequently printed pages. It is common to say 'Y' only when forms of an abnormal length are being printed, when a form feed command issued to the printer would advance the paper by an amount not equal to the page length.
Tip: If the output is being printed on paper whose size is equal to the page length set in the printer, then it is easier to leave this prompt as 'N' and let the printer handle advancing the paper to the top of the next page.
Special printer: If a special printer is required for the output you may define the printer type here. Input the name of the printer or key in a question mark to select from the list. If a printer is named here then it will override any printer selection already made prior to running the format. Please be aware of this if the format is going to be printed as part of a batched run.
Page width: You may input any page width from 80 to 255 columns. Input as required. Letter output is normally left as the minimum 80 columns to allow large letter quality type fonts to be used on the printers.
Total lines in header: If a header is required, you may define the number of lines required in the range 0 to 255. A standard letter might not require a header, a formatted document or multi line report however will often benefit from the use of the header option.
Tip: Some people will define a header for a letter in order to make sure the text on the body of the letter will not overwrite headed paper. If the header is not required it may be left with a value of zero.
Total lines in body The main body of the document can also be defined in the range 0 to 255. Enter a number as required but remember not to exceed 66 lines in total when the header, trailer and body are added together, if normal size paper is being used. A normal letter may have header and trailer set to zero while body gets a full 66 lines.
Total lines in trailer: Once again the range of 0 to 255 is allowed for the trailer. This enables you to define a footnote for your document. If your headed note paper also has text embedded at the foot of the page you may wish to define a footer deep enough to protect this area of the page.
Lines - Normal line: This prompt is asking how many of the lines you defined for the body can be used for the actual document. Letter writing will commonly use them all, in which case the number entered here is identical to that entered at the body prompt.
The Title screen set-up for a multiple line per item report will differ from that used for producing letters. The header and footer will often be much smaller and the body quite long. The normal line section is a divisor of the body indicating how many records will fit onto one page. This example will cover a typical page set-up for printing a multiple line per item report. The fields that can be edited on this screen are as follows.
Title: This is once again the title of the format definition. It may also print at the top of the page if Autoline banners are defined in the Suppress form feeds option below.
Alignment Document: A 'Y' or 'N' answer is required. 'N' is the common response in this type of output.
Suppress form feeds: Answer 'Y' or 'N' depending on whether you want form feeds to be suppressed. If they are suppressed then the form feed command normally generated at the end of a page will not be generated, this means the form size must be defined exactly so as not to 'creep' up or down subsequently printed pages. It is common to say 'Y' only when forms of an abnormal length are being printed, when a form feed command issued to the printer would advance the paper by an amount not equal to the page length.
Tip: If the output is being printed on paper whose size is equal to the page length set in the printer, then it is easier to leave this prompt as 'N' and let the printer handle advancing the paper to the top of the next page.
Special printer: If a special printer is required for the output you may define the printer type here. Input the name of the printer or key in a question mark to select from the list. If a printer is named here then it will override any printer selection already made prior to running the format. Please be aware of this if the format is going to be printed as part of a batched run.
Page width: You may input any page width from 80 to 255 columns. Input as required. Report type output is commonly 132 or 255 columns to allow wide reports in small fonts to be printed.
Total lines in header: If a header is required, you may define the number of lines required in the range 0 to 255. A multi line report may not require a large header, just three or four lines perhaps. Alternatively it may be left as zero if Autoline banners have been set.
Total lines in body: The main body of the document can also be defined in the range 0 to 255. Enter a number as required but remember not to exceed 66 lines in total when the header, trailer and body are added together, if normal size paper is being used. A multi line report often gets all 66 lines.
Total lines in trailer: Once again the range of 0 to 255 is allowed for the trailer. This enables you to define a footnote for your report.
Lines - Normal line: This prompt is asking how many of the lines you defined for the body can be used for printing each of the records found. If 60 lines were defined for the body and 6 were to be entered here, then the report will print ten items on each page of the report. Whatever number is used here, the system will print as many records as it can by dividing the body depth by the line depth, and then printing a number equal to the integer of the answer. It will only print complete records, therefore if 63 lines were in the body and 6 in the line, it would still only print ten items on the page, not ten followed by half of the next record.
Lines - Page header: If Autoline banners have been defined then this extra body, together with a grand totals body, is definable. It is reserved for priority 9 AUTOLINE support users only.
Lines - Grand totals: If Autoline banners have been defined then this extra body, together with a Page header body, is definable. It is reserved for priority 9 AUTOLINE support users only.
Title screen summary: The Title screen for the Format Stationery definition is a little fuller than that for a report definition, however it is no more complicated. An ordinary letter will require a simple set up on the screen while a multi line report will need a little thought as regards how many lines the system will devote to each record printed.