Creating Complex Printouts

You are now ready to learn about some formatting tasks that might apply to more complex printouts. The basic form definition and page definition elements have been covered. This chapter describes how these elements are combined to create complete print jobs.

The advanced techniques covered in this section are illustrated in the following examples:

Form Definitions and Page Definition Tasks

Tasks Location of Example
Field Processing with Overlay Combining Field Processing and an Electronic Overlay
Suppressing Data Using Suppressions to Vary Data Presentation
Including Fixed Text Incorporating Fixed Text into a Page Definition
Combining Two Reports Combining Two Reports into One Printout

The examples in this chapter build on a single sales application, showing different sales reports being formatted by form definitions and page definitions.

In this section:

  1. Combining Field Processing and an Electronic Overlay
  2. Using Suppressions to Vary Data Presentation
    PPFA and your print server printers enable you to produce variations of the same report in a single job. The essential function for this capability is called suppression. Suppression involves the coordinated specification of elements in both the page definition and the form definition. You create a suppression in the page definition and turn it on or off in a subgroup within a form definition.
  3. Incorporating Fixed Text into a Page Definition
    Fixed text can be incorporated into an electronic overlay through the use of programs, such as Overlay Generation Language/370. Having another place (the page definition) to incorporate fixed text permits you to format documents more efficiently.
  4. Combining Two Reports into One Printout
Parent topic: Examples of Using PPFA