SQL/MP Report Writer Guide

Customizing a Report
HP NonStop SQL/MP Report Writer Guide—527213-001
4-48
Redefining Special Characters
RAYMOND JANE Sales
RUDLOFF THOMAS Shipping
SAFFERT KLAUS Sales
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You can use decorations to specify conditions for printing information within a print
item. For a description of decorations, see Monetary Values
on page 4-32.
For another type of conditional printing, see Filler Characters
on page 4-38.
Redefining Special Characters
The report writer has special characters that have default values. You can change
these values with the SET STYLE command as follows:
To change a style option, you enter a SET STYLE command and specify one or more
options as shown:
>> SET STYLE UNDERLINE_CHAR "=", OVERFLOW_CHAR "+";
You can display the current default characters by entering the following:
>> SHOW STYLE *;
You can reset an option to its default with the RESET STYLE command. For example,
the next command resets the default underline character to the underscore (_):
>> RESET STYLE UNDERLINE_CHAR;
Note. Because the value in a column specified by using an IF/THEN/ELSE clause is always in
character format, you cannot use the SUBTOTAL or TOTAL command to calculate totals on the
column. For another method, for totaling columns containing conditional values, see
Calculating Subtotals on Conditional Values
on page 4-56.
UNDERLINE_CHAR The default single-byte character used for underlining. Underline
characters are printed below headings, subtotals, and totals. The
default is a hyphen (-). You can specify any printable single-byte
character.
DECIMAL_POINT The default single-byte decimal character. The decimal point you set is
used in numeric print items. You can specify a period(.) or a comma (,).
The default decimal character is a period.
NEWLINE_CHAR The default character used to indicate where a new line begins in a
multiple-line heading. The default character is a slash (/). You can
specify any single-byte character except circumflex (^) and hyphen (-).
NULL_DISPLAY The default character used to indicate a null value. The default
character is a question mark (?). You can specify any single-byte
character.
OVERFLOW_CHAR The default character used to fill a field when the value is too large for
the display format. The default character is an asterisk (*). You can
specify any single-byte character.