HP 3000 Manuals HP 3000 Manuals
The HP Business BASIC/XL Report Writer
PAGE LENGTH
The default values for the blank space at the top and bottom of a page
are different; so is the default for page length:
Table 17-11. Page Length Comparison
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| | | |
| Space Required For | BASIC/260 | HP Business BASIC/XL |
| | | |
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| | | |
| Page length | 66 | 60 |
| | | |
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| | | |
| top,bottom | 2,2 | 0,0 |
| | | |
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Even though the migration aid fixes this, explicitly define each value in
the PAGE LENGTH statement.
PRINT PAGE Statement in the Report Writer
On the HP 260, the PRINT PAGE statement prints one blank line. It does
not affect the page count or reset the line count. In HP Business
BASIC/XL, the PRINT PAGE statement is equivalent to executing the
following statement:
TRIGGER PAGE BREAK, SUPPRESS HEADER, TRAILER
The page header and page trailer do not print, but the page count and
line count are affected.
For increased compatibility, always use TRIGGER PAGE BREAK instead of
PRINT PAGE.
Reports on the Screen in the Report Writer
When printing on an HP 3000 terminal screen, reports that print beyond
column 79 the terminal do an automatic linefeed. This can make your
report look strange, the line counting will get out of order, and your
program can result in an error 260 ("Insufficient space for printed
output on the current page"). This does not happen if you send the
output to a printer. The problem is worse if the program double prints a
line to enhance it on the paper; lines that print on the screen beyond
column 79 print as two identical but separate lines, instead of
overprinting.
DETAIL LINE 1 in the Report Writer
To reduce the amount of code generated in compiled programs, use DETAIL
LINE 1 only when necessary, for example, only when you need to control
breaks and totals. Otherwise use DETAIL LINE 0 or PRINT.
LASTBREAK in the Report Writer
The LASTBREAK function is different in HP Business BASIC/XL. LASTBREAK
returns a value of -1 when executed outside of a report; no report is
active. In BASIC/260, executing this function outside of a report causes
an error.
BASIC/260 always returns the value "10" when LASTBREAK executes after an
END REPORT statement has processed. HP Business BASIC/XL only returns
the value "10" during END REPORT processing.
Additional Screen Output in the Report Writer
In HP Business BASIC/XL DISP statement output and system output that
occur during a report do not count as REPORT WRITER output. This makes
tracing and debugging easier and usually does not adversely affect
BASIC/260 programs.
HP 260 Page Trailer and Detail Line in the Report Writer
On the HP 260, you can write a detail line in the page trailer area. The
following format causes a line feed, and normal output, then suppresses
the carriage return:
DETAIL LINE 0 WITH N LINES USING Dl_image;A,B...
...
Dl_image: IMAGE #,/,3DX,5DX,...
BASIC/260 looks for a full page before the first item (the slash) and
then prints it. Since the previous line has not printed a carriage
return, BASIC/260 acts like there is still a line on the page. The data
prints in the first trailer line.
HP Business BASIC/XL works differently.
For increased compatibility, change the DETAIL LINE statement to specify
N+1 lines because this is the number of lines printed.