Specifications

13 – Configuring Reports
272 R400
Free Format Report Reference
This section gives details about the structure and contents of a Free Format
Report. It contains:
• Information about the structure of a Free Format Report definition file and
how it should be stored
• A description of report variables by function
• An alphabetical listing and detailed description of variables
• An example of a Free Format Report definition file and its output
Structure of a Report Definition File
To create a report definition file, you can use any text editor supported by
Windows.
A report definition file is a text file that is made up of two sections:
When a Free Format report is run, it reads the report definition file and produces
a report based on the entries in this file.
Variable Definition Section
There are 14 different types of entries you can use in creating variable definitions.
Entries consist of one line starting with either:
• An alphabetic character representing a variable definition (instruction), or
• An asterisk representing a comment line.
The different types of variable definition entries and their parameters are listed in
“Variable Definitions by Functions” on page 273.
Within a variable definition line:
• The fields must be space or tab-separated.
• Index numbers can be used to identify variables.
Variable
definition
This section defines the variables and gives them
values that will be used in the report.
Formatting This section defines how the data that is generated
via the variable definition section is to be presented
in the report output.
plscpcg.book Page 272 Monday, May 28, 2001 10:11 AM