Creating a report layout

Creating a report layout is the fist step in the greater task of setting up reports.

When creating a report layout, you must define:

At least one report page.
One or more areas on each page. An area can encompass an entire page.
PAGE and AREA are automatically defined, but a defined FIELD is not required.

Before You Begin: Become familiar with your report SYSOUT, as it is initially produced by an application. You need this knowledge to properly specify the position and size of an area or field within a layout.

To create a report layout:

From the Output Manager main menu, choose option A, Administrative Functions, and press Enter.
From the Administrative Functions menu, choose option L, Report Layouts, and press Enter.
Specify search criteria, or leave the fields blank, and press Enter.
The resulting list is filtered by your search criteria.
Note: If the Layouts panel lists no layouts, either none are defined on your Output Manager system or none matched your saved search criteria.
Type ADD on the command line and press Enter.
The Layout detail panel is displayed.
Tip: Once a report layout has been defined, you can type I (Insert) In the CMD column and press Enter to display the Layout panel.
(Required) In the Layout Name field, type a name for the layout. This name can be up to 64 characters in length.
In the Print Control field, specify one of the following options for the type of print control to use for printing a report based on this layout:
- DCB - To use the spacing that is assigned to the report by the application that produces it (default)
- ASA - To use ANSI-standard spacing
- Machine - To use the machine carriage control
In the Line Count field, type the number of lines that can appear on each page of a report based on this layout. You can specify a value from 0 through 2500. This value determines the page boundaries. If you accept the default value of 0, the page boundaries are controlled by the print control character. (Usually, this default behavior is sufficient.) If no print control character exists in the report, you must specify a value greater than 0 to set the page boundaries.
(Optional) In the Description field, type a description of the layout. This value can be up to 60 characters in length.
Define pages, areas, and fields for the layout by specifying the appropriate line commands in the CMD column, as follows:
- To create a page:
  1. In the CMD column, type IP (Insert Page) and press Enter. A new line is added to table, with PAGE displayed in the Type column.
  2. In the Name field, type a name for the page, and press Enter. This name can be up to 24 characters in length.
- To create an area:
  1. In the CMD column, type IA (Insert Area) next to the page that you just created (the page for which you want to define the area), and press Enter. A new line is added to table, with AREA displayed in the Type column.
  2. In the Name field, type a name for the area. This name can be up to 24 characters in length.
  3. If you want to specify the position of the area relative to a previously defined area, complete both of the following fields:
    - In the Relative field, type the name of the previously defined area to which you want to relate the new area. This relative area must be defined in the layout by using exact coordinates.
    - In the Relative position field, specify one of the following options to indicate where the new area is located in relation to the relative area: Adjacent (starts in the next column to the right, on the same row), Below (starts in the same column, on the next row down), or Diagonal (starts in the next column to the right and in the next row).
      For example, assume that you are defining "AREA2" based on the relative area "AREA1." AREA1 was previously defined at row 1, column 1 with a height of 2. If you specify Below as the relative relationship, AREA2 will start at row 3, column 1.
      
      You can refine the relative positioning by also specifying a starting row or column, a width, or a height for the new area, as appropriate.
      
      Note: If you do not specify a relationship value, the upper-left corner of the new area (starting row and column) will be the same as that of the relative area.
  4. If you want to specify the position of the area by entering the exact coordinates, complete all of the following fields:
    - In the Row field, type a number from 1 through 999 to indicate the starting row (top) of this area.
    - In the Column field, type a number from 1 through 999 to indicate the starting column (left boundary) of the area.
    - In the Width field, type a number from 1 through 999 to define the horizontal width of the area. This value is the maximum number of columns that the area spans. If you accept the default value of 0, no width limit exists other than the limit imposed by the page size.
    - In the Height field, type a number from 1 through 999 to define the vertical height of the area. This value is the maximum number of rows that the area spans. If you accept the default value of 0, no height limit exists other than the limit imposed by the page size.
    Note: If you accept the default value of 0 in all of these fields, the area will encompass the entire page.
- To create a field:
  1. In the CMD column, type I (Insert) next to the area that you just created (the area in which you want to define a field) , and press Enter. A new line is added to table, with FIELD displayed in the Type column.
  2. In the Name field, type the name of the field. This name can be up to 24 characters in length.
    Notes:
    
    Each field name within a layout must be unique. You cannot duplicate a field name within one layout.
    
    When editing an existing field name, ensure that the existing field name is not used in custom report conditions or indexed report index fields.
  3. If you want to specify the position of the field relative to a previously defined field, complete both of the following fields:
    - In the Relative field, type the name of the previously defined field to which you want to relate the new field. This relative field must be defined in the layout by using exact coordinates.
    - In the Relative position field, specify one of the following options to indicate where the new field is located in relation to the relative field: Adjacent (starts in the next column to the right, on the same row), Below (starts in the same column, on the next row down), or Diagonal (starts in the next column to the right and in the next row).
    You can refine the relative positioning by also specifying a starting row or column, a width, or a height, as appropriate.
  4. If you want to specify the position of the field by specifying the exact coordinates. Scroll right using the PF11 key to display the following fields:
    - In the Row field, type a number from 1 through 999 to indicate the top row where the field starts. The default value is 1.
    - In the Column field, type a number from 1 through 999 to indicate the left-most column where the field starts. The default value is 1.
    - In the Width field, type a number from 1 through 999 to define the horizontal width of the field. This value is the maximum number of columns that the field spans. If you accept the default value of 0, no width limit exists other than the limit imposed by the area.
    - In the Height field, type a number from 1 through 999 to indicate the vertical height of the field. This value is the maximum number of rows that the field spans, and determines relative field positioning. If you accept the default value of 0, no height limit exists other than the limit imposed by the area.
    - (Optional) In the Repeat field, type the number of times to repeat the field on the layout. Specify a value in this field if you want matching to look at consecutive lines on the page.
Press F3 (Exit).
Depending on how you set your preferences, you may be prompted to type YES and press Enter to save your changes.

Next, create a report selection rule and a report definition and link them to this report layout.