Specifications

Working with display formats
260 InfoMaker
Display formats not used for data entry
When you tab to a column containing a display format, InfoMaker removes the
display format and displays the raw value for you to edit.
If you want to provide formatting used for data entry, you need to specify edit
masks, as described in “The EditMask edit style” on page 278.
Working with display formats
You work with display formats in the Database painter, the Form painter, and
the Report painter.
What you do in the
Database painter
In the Database painter, you can:
• Create, modify, and delete named display formats
The named display formats are stored in the extended attribute system
tables. When you have defined a display format, it can be used by any
column of the appropriate datatype in the database.
• Assign display formats to columns and remove them from columns
These formats are used by default when you place the column in a report
in the Report painter or a form in the Form painter.
What you do in the
Form and Report
painters
In the Form and Report painters, you can:
• Accept the default display format assigned to a column in the Database
painter
• Override the default display format with another named format stored in
the extended attribute system tables
• Create an ad hoc, unnamed format to use with one specific column
Display formats and
the extended attribute
system tables
When you have placed a column in a report or form and have given it a display
format (either the default format from the assignment made in the Database
painter for the column or a format assigned in the Form or Report painter),
there is no longer any link to the named format in the extended attribute system
tables.