Aligning Content in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing

The HEADALIGN and COLSPAN syntax described in Aligning a Heading or Footing Element in an HTML, XLSX, EXL2K, PDF, PPTX, or DHTML Report is specific to HTML reports. This topic describes how you can design reports that are printable across HTML and PDF formats. Using the WIDTH and JUSTIFY syntax in a StyleSheet, you can:

You can apply WIDTH and JUSTIFY attributes to report headings and footings, page headings and footings, and sort headings and footings, using either mono-space or proportional fonts.

These techniques rely on internal cascading style sheets, which support WebFOCUS StyleSheet attributes that were not previously available for HTML reports. The syntax associated with these techniques resolves the problem of having to format headings differently for HTML reports (using HEADALIGN and COLSPAN) and PDF and PS reports (using POSITION and spot markers).

While the WIDTH and JUSTIFY attributes are particularly useful when you need to format a multi-line heading or footing, or align stacked decimals, you can also use this syntax to position items in an individual heading or footing line.

Tip: For a summary of other alignment methods, see Choosing an Alignment Method for Heading and Footing Elements.

Align Heading Text and Data in Columns

For a multi-line report or page heading or footing, use the syntax: 

TYPE=headfoot, WRAP=OFF, $
TYPE=headfoot, [LINE=line_#,] ITEM=item_#, [OBJECT={TEXT|FIELD}],
 WIDTH=width,   [JUSTIFY=option,] $

For a multi-line sort heading or footing, use the syntax:

TYPE=headfoot, WRAP=OFF, $
TYPE={SUBHEAD|SUBFOOT}, [BY=sortfield] [LINE=line_#,] ITEM=item_#,
 [OBJECT={TEXT|FIELD}], WIDTH=width, [JUSTIFY=option,] $

where:

headfoot
Is the type of heading or footing. Valid values are TABHEADING, TABFOOTING, HEADING, FOOTING, SUBHEAD, and SUBFOOT.
sortfield
When TYPE=SUBHEAD or SUBFOOT, you can specify alignment for the sort heading or sort footing associated with a particular sort field. If no sort field is specified, formatting is applied to the sort headings or footings associated with all sort fields.
LINE
Is an optional entry that identifies a line by its position in a heading or footing. Identifying individual lines enables you to format each one differently.

If a heading or footing has multiple lines and you apply a StyleSheet declaration that does not specify LINE, the declaration is applied to all lines. Blank lines are counted when interpreting the value of LINE.

You can use LINE in combination with ITEM.

ITEM
Is a required entry when you are using WIDTH to control alignment. An item can identify either:
  • A vertical set of text or data that you wish to align as a columnar unit. You must identify each vertical unit as an item.
  • An item's position in a line. You must identify each line element as an item. See Line and Item Formatting in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing for information about acceptable variations.

You can use either or both approaches for a single heading or footing.

To divide a heading or footing line into items, you can use the <+0> spot marker. See, Identifying a Report Component in an ibi WebFOCUS StyleSheet. The number of items you can identify is limited by the cumulative widths of the items in the heading or footing, within the physical boundaries of the report page.

You can use ITEM in conjunction with OBJECT to refine the identification of an element whose width you want to define. To determine the ITEM for an OBJECT, follow these guidelines:

  • When used with OBJECT=TEXT, count only the text strings from left to right.
  • When used with OBJECT=FIELD, count only values from left to right.
  • When used without OBJECT, count text strings and field values from left to right.

If you apply a StyleSheet declaration that specifies ITEM, the number is counted from the beginning of each line in the heading or footing, not just from the beginning of the first line.

OBJECT
Is an optional entry that identifies an element in a heading or footing as a text string or field value. Valid values are TEXT or FIELD. TEXT may represent free text or a Dialogue Manager amper (&) variable.

It is not necessary to specify OBJECT=TEXT unless you are styling both text strings and embedded fields in the same heading or footing.

width
Is the measurement expressed in units (inches by default), which is required to accommodate the longest text string or field value associated with a numbered item. For details, see Aligning Content in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing.
option
Is the type of justification. Valid values are:

LEFT which left justifies the heading or footing. LEFT is the default value.

RIGHT which right justifies the heading or footing.

CENTER which centers the heading or footing.

DECIMAL (n)
Is the measurement expressed in units (inches by default), which specifies how far in from the right side of a column to place the decimal point. With this specification, you can locate the decimal point in the same position within a column, regardless of the number of decimal places displayed to its right.

The measurement will be a portion of the width specified for this item. For details, see Measure for Column Width.

Note: JUSTIFY is not supported with WRAP.

Line and Item Formatting in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing

Line formatting maximizes your control over the items you identify on each line:

  • You can align and stack the same number of items with uniform widths. For example,

    Line 1

    Item 1

    Item 2

    Item 3

    Line 2

    Item 1

    Item 2

    Item 3

  • You can also align different numbers of items as long as the items on each line have the same starting point and the same cumulative width.

    Line 1

    		   

    Line 2

    		   

Do not use HEADALIGN or COLSPAN syntax, which are specific to HTML reports and may conflict with WIDTH and JUSTIFY settings.

For HTML reports, turn WRAP OFF (ON is the default) to ensure proper processing of WIDTH and JUSTIFY.

Aligning Data and Text in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing

In the following free-form report, content is defined entirely in the sort heading, where text and data are stacked to support comparison among countries. Each set of data is aligned vertically, to appear as a column. To achieve this affect, each vertical unit is identified as an item: the first column of text is item 1, the next column of data is item 2, and so on.

Note especially the last column, in which decimal data with different numbers of decimal places is lined up on the decimal point to facilitate reading and comparison.

The chart below breaks out the structure of the previous report:

Item1:

Text

Item 2:

Data values

Item 3:

Text

Item 4:

Values with decimal places

Country

ARGENTINA BRAZIL, and so on

Exchange Rate

nn.dd

Type

ST.NOTES

Projected Return

n.ddd

Holder

COMM

Balance

nn,nnn,nnn.dd

For each item, you specify the width of the column and the justification of its content, as illustrated in the following code.

DEFINE FILE SHORT
BALANCE/D14.2=BALANCE;
END
TABLE FILE SHORT
BY COUNTRY NOPRINT SUBHEAD 
"Country:<COUNTRY Exchange Rate:<EXCHANGE_RATE"
"Type:<TYPE Projected Return:<PROJECTED_RETURN"
"Holder:<HOLDER Balance:<BALANCE" 
ON TABLE SET PAGE-NUM OFF
ON TABLE SET ONLINE-FMT HTML 
ON TABLE SET HTMLCSS ON 
ON TABLE SET STYLESHEET *
TYPE=REPORT, FONT='TIMES', $
TYPE=REPORT, GRID=OFF, $ 
TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=1, WIDTH=1.00, JUSTIFY=RIGHT, $
TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=2, WIDTH=1.25, JUSTIFY=RIGHT, $
TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=3, WIDTH=1.25, JUSTIFY=RIGHT,$
TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=4, WIDTH=1.5,  JUSTIFY=DECIMAL(.6),$ 
ENDSTYLE
END

This procedure produces a three-line sort heading, broken out as four items, each with a measured width and defined justification. The decimal item (4) uses a variation on standard justification to line up the decimal points. For details, see Aligning Content in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing and Aligning Decimals in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing.

Note: To take advantage of this feature for an HTML report, you must turn on internal cascading style sheets (SET HTMLCSS=ON). This command enables WebFOCUS StyleSheet attributes that were not previously available for HTML reports. This line of code is ignored for a PDF report.

Aligning Decimals in a Multi-Line Heading or Footing

The ability to align heading content in a multi-line heading based on width and justification values has special benefit in reports that contain data with different numbers of decimal places. For example, if a figure is in dollars, it is formatted with a decimal point and two places for zeroes. If in Swiss francs, it is formatted with a decimal place and four zeroes. If in yen, the decimal is at the end with no zeroes. In addition, sometimes the currency or units do not vary, but the number of digits of decimal precision varies.

By aligning the decimal points in a vertical stack, you can more easily read and compare these numbers, as illustrated in the following output:

Floating decimal points

Aligned decimal points 

Bond ------------
Galosh Ltd.
Mukluk Inc.
Overshoe Inc.
 
 Face Value ------------
22375.5784596
 1212345.457
232.45484
 
Bond ------------
Galosh Ltd.
Mukluk Inc.
Overshoe Inc.
 
    Face Value -------------
  22375.5784596
1212345.457
    232.45484

The technique uses a width specification for the item that contains decimals, combined with a variation on the standard left/right/center justification to achieve the proper decimal alignment. For the syntax that generates this output, see Align Heading Text and Data in Columns.

Measure for Column Width

Determining the width of a heading or footing item is a three-step process:

    Procedure
  1. Identify the maximum number of characters in a text string or field.
  2. For a text string, simply count the characters. For a field, refer to the format specification in the Master File or in a command such as a DEFINE.
  3. Measure the physical space in units (for example, in inches) that is required to display the number of characters identified in step 1, based on the size of the font you are using. For example, the following value of the COUNTRY field would measure as follows:

    Font

    Font size

    Comparison

    Inches

    Helvetica

    10

    England

    .5

    Times New Roman

    10

    England

    .44

    Courier

    10

    England

    .56

    Tip: Consider using a consistent set of fonts in your reports to make your measurements reusable.

Measure for Decimal Alignment

After you have determined the width of an item, you can do a related measurement to determine the physical space required to display decimal data with a varying number of digits to the right of the decimal point.

    Procedure
  1. Determine the maximum number of decimal places you need to accommodate to the right of the decimal place, plus the decimal point itself.
  2. Measure the physical space in units (for example, in inches) that is required to display the number of characters identified in step 1, based on the size of the font you are using.

Combining Column and Line Formatting in Headings and Footings

By combining column and line formatting, you can create complex reports in which different ranges of lines in the same heading or footing have different numbers of aligned columns in different locations.

Combining Column and Line Formatting to Align Items in a Sort Heading

This request produces a free-form report in which content is defined in a seven-line sort heading. Text and data is stacked in two groupings:

  • The first grouping identifies the country and region (continent).
  • The second grouping provides financial information for each country/region pair.

Although this is a single sort heading, our goal is to format the information in each grouping a bit differently to provide emphasis and facilitate comparison. The request also demonstrates a coding technique that makes formatting changes easier for the report designer. See the annotations following the code for details.

As you review the sample request, keep in mind that a heading can contain two kinds of items: text and embedded fields. A text item consists of any characters, even a single blank, between embedded fields and/or spot markers. In particular, if you have a single run of text that you want to treat as two items, you can separate the two items using a <+0> spot marker. For example, in the heading line:

" <+0>Country:<COUNTRY"

item #1 is a single blank space.

item #2, separated by the <+0> spot marker, is the text Country:

item #3 is the embedded field <COUNTRY.

For details about the <+0> spot marker, see Identifying a Report Component in an ibi WebFOCUS StyleSheet.

Request and annotations: 

    DEFINE FILE SHORT
    BALANCE/D14.2=BALANCE;
    END
    TABLE FILE SHORT
    BY COUNTRY NOPRINT SUBHEAD 
1.  " <+0>Country:<COUNTRY" 
2.  " <+0>Region:<REGION"
    " " 
3.  "Type:<TYPE <+0>Exchange Rate:<EXCHANGE_RATE" 
4.  "Holder:<HOLDER <+0>Projected Return:<PROJECTED_RETURN" 
5.  "Risk class:<RISK_CLASS <+0>Balance:<BALANCE"
    " "
    ON TABLE SET PAGE-NUM OFF 
6.  ON TABLE SET HTMLCSS ON 
    ON TABLE SET STYLESHEET *
    TYPE=REPORT, FONT='TIMES', $
    TYPE=REPORT, GRID=OFF, $
    -* Bottom section of subhead: 
7.  TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=1, WIDTH=1.00, JUSTIFY=RIGHT, $ 
8.  TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=2, WIDTH=1.25, JUSTIFY=RIGHT, $ 
9.  TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=3, WIDTH=.5, $ 
10. TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=4, WIDTH=1.25, JUSTIFY=RIGHT,$ 
11. TYPE=SUBHEAD, ITEM=5, WIDTH=1.5, JUSTIFY=DECIMAL(.6),$
    -* Top section of subhead (overrides above ITEM defaults
    -*   for lines 1 and 2): 
12. -SET &INDENT=1.5; 
13. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=1, ITEM=1, WIDTH=&INDENT, $ 
14. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=1, ITEM=2, WIDTH=1, JUSTIFY=LEFT, $ 
15. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=1, ITEM=3, SIZE=14, WIDTH=2, JUSTIFY=LEFT, $ 
16. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=2, ITEM=1, WIDTH=&INDENT, $ 
17. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=2, ITEM=2, WIDTH=1, JUSTIFY=LEFT, $ 
18. TYPE=SUBHEAD, LINE=2, ITEM=3, WIDTH=2, JUSTIFY=LEFT, $
    ENDSTYLE
    END

The output highlights the key information and its relationship by aligning text and data, including decimal data in which decimal points are aligned for easy comparison.

Line #

Description

1-2

Defines the content for the top, two-line section of the sort heading. Each line contains three items: the first is a blank area (denoted by a space, separated from the next item by a <+0> spot marker), the second contains text, the third contains data values related to the text.

3-5

Defines the content for the bottom, three-line section of the sort heading. Each line contains five items: text, data values related to the text, a blank column (denoted by a space, separated from the next item by a null spot marker), text, data values related to the text.

6

Turns on internal cascading style sheets, a requirement for these formatting options. This command enables WebFOCUS StyleSheet attributes that were not previously available for HTML reports. This line of code is ignored for a PDF report.

7-11

Specifies the basic formatting characteristics for the sort heading by breaking the content into five columns, each identified as an item with a defined width, and justification information for all but the empty column.

Important: Had additional formatting code (annotated as 12-17) not been included in the request, the specifications annotated as 7-11 would have applied to the entire sort heading (that is, the formatting of the three columns in the top section of the heading would have been based on the specifications for the first three columns described below). However, that is not the effect we want to achieve, so a second section of StyleSheet code is defined to override this formatting for lines 1 and 2 of the sort heading. See annotations 12-18.

The formatting of the bottom, three-line section of the heading is controlled by the following specifications:

Item 1 identifies a columnar unit that contains text (that is, Type, Holder, Risk Class). It has a defined width of 1 inch and the text is right justified.

Item 2 identifies a columnar unit that contains data values related to the text in item 1. It has a defined width of 1.25 inches and the data is right justified.

Item 3 identifies a columnar unit that contains blank space and serves as a separator between columns. It has a width of .5 inches. Justification is not relevant.

Item 4 identifies a columnar unit that contains text (e.g., Exchange Rate, Projected Return, Balance). It has a defined width of 1.25 inches and the text is right justified.

Item 5 identifies a columnar unit that contains a decimal value. The width of the column that contains the value is 1.5 inches, with the decimal point anchored .6 inches in from the right edge of that column.

The common width and justification definitions enforce the proper alignment of each item.

12

Defines a variable called &INDENT, with a width setting of 1.5 inches. This variable defines the width of the blank area (item 1) at the beginning of lines 1 and 2 of the sort heading.

Defining the width as a variable enables you to experiment with different widths simply by changing the value in one location. For a complex report, this technique can potentially save a lot of development time. For details, see the documentation on Dialogue Manager in the ibi™ WebFOCUS® Developing Reporting Applications manual.

13-18

Specifies line-by-line formatting for the top, two-line section of the sort heading. This code overrides the previous formatting for lines 1 and 2 of the sort heading because it specifies a line number.

Item 1 on each line refers to the blank area. The width is defined as a variable and implemented based on the current value of &INDENT.

Item 2 on each line refers to the text area. It has a defined width of 1 inch and the text is left justified.

Item 3 on each line refers to the data values. It has a defined width of 2 inches and the data is left justified.

The common width and justification definitions enforce the proper alignment of each item.

Notice that item 1 in line 15 defines a font size for the data values associated with the COUNTRY field. All other items on both lines use a default font. Line-by-line formatting enables you to define a unique characteristic for a single item.