Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/database/rptform.zip/REPORT5

Text File | 1987-04-16 | 12KB | 278 lines

                   REPORT FORM - The dBASE REPORT GENERATOR
                   ========================================

                                   Part 5





Last month we looked at some of the ways printer control codes and the
dBASE CHR() function can be used to create printed reports with an elegant
appearance.  As promised, this month we'll continue by exploring how
printer control codes can be included inside the REPORT FORM itself to
change print styles in specified portions of a report, print column
headings in differing print styles, bold or with underline, and use just
about any other feature your printer provides.

I want to reiterate that different printers often use different printer
control codes to accomplish the same thing, therefore your printer may not
use the specific codes I use as examples in this column.

For illustration purposes I will continue to use control codes for the
Toshiba P351 and P351C printers and control codes that work with most Epson
printers.  Okidata and IBM printers often use the same printer control
codes as the generic Epson ones used here, but since I don't have either of
those printers available (nor their manuals) to test I can not promise all
the generic Epson examples will work with Okidatas and IBMs.

Most printer manuals have a section - or even a chart - giving the Escape
Sequences, Hexadecimal (HEX) and Decimal (DEC) values for the printer
control codes.  You need to look for the Decimal values.  Those are the
numbers that will be placed in the dBASE CHR() function.

Now on to the really fancy stuff!

Using the dBASE CHR() function, printer control codes can be sent to the
printer from within the REPORT FORM by placing them in the expression you
define in the field contents block, just as you would place a data field
there.  As before, the actual numeric values used would depend upon your
particular printer and must be obtained from your printer manual.

The printer control codes can be placed in any definition field, including
subgroup totals and sub-subgroup totals, EXCEPT the page and column heading
definition fields.  But there is even a way to trick dBASE and FoxBASE into
doing that.

Printer control codes can be applied to an entire report or just part of a
REPORT FORM report.  This all gets a little tricky as we create more
complex print-outs with REPORT FORM, so let's start off with an easy
example.


Assume only one field of a particular report is to be printed in bold or
emphasized print.  The printer control code to turn on the bold print would
be placed in the block for defining a column, then you would enter the name
of the data field, and then the control code to turn off the bold print.

For most Epson printers the information you place in the column definition
block in the "Contents" area would be:

        CHR(27) + CHR(69) + <datafield> + CHR(27) + CHR(70)

while you would use the following for the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers:

        CHR(27) + CHR(75) + <datafield> + CHR(27) + CHR(77)

In other words, the information in that column definition in REPORT FORM is
saying to the printer "Turn on the bold print, print the contents of the
data field, then turn off the bold print.  Now go on and print the informa-
tion in the next column [with the bold print off]."

As with the examples given last month for the optional heading feature, you
can combine multiple printer commands in one column definition block.  And
you can place them in various places within the column definition block of
REPORT FORM.

To use a somewhat uncomplicated example of this, let's assume we have a
report where we would like the FIRSTNAME field printed normally and the
LASTNAME field printed in bold or emphasized.  For most Epson printers the
following would be placed in the contents area of the column definition
block:

        TRIM(FIRSTNAME) + " "  + CHR(27) + CHR(69) + LASTNAME;
          + CHR(27) + CHR(70)

and for the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers you would use this code:

        TRIM(FIRSTNAME) + " " + CHR(27) + CHR(75) + LASTNAME;
          + CHR(27) + CHR(77)

Getting a bit fancier, let's try a REPORT FORM where one particular column
has information on the department (DEPT), FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME.  Within
the column we want the DEPT field on one line, underlined and in bold, and
on the next line in the column we want the lastname printed first in bold,
then the first name printed in normal type.  And we want all of this in-
formation aligned within the column.

For the unwary, the trick to this is aligning everything properly.  Since
the CHR() printer control codes are not "printable" most printers produce a
blank space on the paper when the printer code is encountered.  A CHR(27) +
CHR(69) would produce one blank space, for example.

As we saw in previous months, the semi-colon enclosed in quotation marks
produces multiple data lines in REPORT FORM.

The way we would produce our column on most Epson printers would be by
placing the following statement in the contents of the column definition
block:

        CHR(27) + CHR(69) + CHR(27) + CHR(45) + DEPT + CHR(27);
          + CHR(45) + ";" SPACE(2) + TRIM(LASTNAME) + "," + CHR(27) +;
          CHR(70) + FIRSTNAME

and for the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers the statement would be:

        CHR(27) + CHR(75) + CHR(27) + CHR(73) + DEPT + CHR(27);
          + CHR(74) + ";" + SPACE(2) + TRIM(LASTNAME) + "," + CHR(27) +;
          CHR(77) + FIRSTNAME


At first this might look a little crazy, so let's take it apart and examine
it more thoroughly.  To begin the column we have two printer control codes,
one to turn on the bold and another to turn on the underlining.  This means
the printer will "print" two blank spaces in the column before printing the
information in the DEPT field.

After the data from the DEPT field is printed in bold and underlined the
printer control code to turn off the underlining feature is then issued.
This results in another blank space on the paper but does not really effect
the left aligning of data because the next instruction is the semi-colon in
quotation marks which instructs the printer to print the next information
on the next line.

Immediately after the instruction to print the next pieces of information
on the next line we have inserted a SPACE(2) command, so the printer will
"print" two blank spaces before beginning to print the trimmed LASTNAME
data.  That then left aligns the printed LASTNAME with the information from
the DEPT field on the previous line.  Information for LASTNAME will be
printed in bold but without underlining.

The next instruction is to print a comma immediately after the trimmed last
name.  Normally the instruction would be to insert a comma and a space and
then print the FIRSTNAME.  But in this case we have entered another printer
control code to turn off the bold print immediately after the comma and
this control code produces a blank space, so we don't need to use that
extra space in our instructions.

The last instruction for this particular column then is to print the data
in the FIRSTNAME field.  Since underlining and bold have both been turned
off, the information from FIRSTNAME will be printed in the printer's
default type.

If you have managed to follow all of this you have probably realized by now
my first example used a space (or " ") where it was not really necessary
and the actual printed report would end up with two blank spaces between
the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME.  OK - you're right - but worse things have been
known to happen.  I just didn't want to confuse the issue at that point.


If you're not thoroughly confused by now, take a deep breath because we're
about to plunge into the most convoluted of the REPORT FORM printing
tricks.

As I mentioned earlier, dBASE and FoxBASE won't let you put printer control
codes in the blocks where you define the page headings and column headings
for the reports produced by REPORT FORM.  But you can trick them into doing
the same thing anyway when you want to, for instance, have all column
headings printed in bold on each page or have each page heading printed in
bold (or bold and underlined for that matter).

Let's assume we are constructing a REPORT FORM in which we want all the
column headings printed in bold type.

When you define the contents of your REPORT FORM include the printer
control codes to turn OFF the print attribute in the contents of the FIRST
column to be printed.  (That's right, turn OFF the bold, underline or
whatever.)

The contents of the first column of your REPORT FORM would begin with the
following for most Epson printers:

        CHR(27) + CHR(70) + <datafield>

and for the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers:

        CHR(27) + CHR(77) + <datafield>

Next, in the LAST column to be printed on the page include the printer
control codes to turn ON the bold print immediately after you enter the
field definition(s) to be printed.  For most Epsons it would be:

        <datafield> + CHR(27) + CHR(69)

and for the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers:

        <datafield> + CHR(27) + CHR(75)

The last piece of this puzzle requires you to send the printer control
codes to turn ON the desired print attribute (in this case the bold print)
before issued the REPORT FORM xxxxx TO PRINT command.

With all the pieces of the puzzle in place, it works out this way: (a) Set
the bold print on; (b) print the column/page headings; (c) sent the bold
print off and print the contents of the data fields; (d) set the bold print
on after the last column has been printed.

If you are confused, try following the instructions through and it may
begin to make sense.



After you have created your REPORT FORM the command code would look like
this for most Epson printers:

        USE <database> INDEX <whatever>
        SET PRINT ON
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(69)                 && Set bold ON
        REPORT FORM xxxxx NOEJECT TO PRINT
        EJECT
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(70)                 && Set bold OFF
        SET PRINT OFF
        CLOSE DATABASES


while the Toshiba P351 and P351C printers would need the following:

        USE <database> INDEX <whatever>
        SET PRINT ON
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(75)                 && Set bold ON
        REPORT FORM xxxxx NOEJECT TO PRINT
        EJECT
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(77)                 && Set bold OFF
        SET PRINT OFF
        CLOSE DATABASES


Printer control codes can, by the way, be used in a similar way when you
LIST TO PRINT or perform other print jobs that do not use the REPORT FORM
report generator.

One last little touch.  Instead of having the information being sent to the
printer also scroll on screen, try flashing up a screen that says something
similar to "REPORT PRINTING..." and then SET CONSOLE OFF.  When the report
has finished printing SET CONSOLE ON again.

Since reports often use more than the 80 column display available on most
monitors the material scrolling past on the screen often looks like so much
garbage and confuses or alarms unwary users.  The SET CONSOLE OFF method
provides a much neater approach.  It would go something like this:

        USE <database> INDEX <whatever>
        SET COLOR TO W/N
        CLEAR
        SET COLOR TO +BR/N
        @ 04,20 TO 11,56 DOUBLE
        SET COLOR TO +GR/N
        @ 05,21 CLEAR TO 10,55
        @ 06,30 SAY "REPORT PRINTING..."
        @ 08,25 SAY "PLEASE DO NOT TOUCH KEYBOARD"
        SET CONSOLE OFF
        SET PRINT ON
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(69)                 && Set bold ON - most Epsons
        REPORT FORM xxxxx NOEJECT TO PRINT
        EJECT
        ?? CHR(27) + CHR(70)                 && Set bold OFF
        SET PRINT OFF
        SET CONSOLE ON
        SET COLOR TO BG+/N
        @ 21,0 CLEAR
        WAIT "REPORT COMPLETED.  Press any key to continue..." TO NEXT
        CLOSE DATABASES
        RETURN