Compaq COBOL AAQ2G1FTK - Manual (Page 388)

Producing Printed Reports
10.10 Solving Report Problems
Table 10–2 (Cont.) Results of Group Indicating
Without Group Indicating With Group Indicating
STATE CITY
STORE
NUMBER
STATE CITY
STORE
NUMBER
Massachusetts Maynard 111111 Massachusetts Maynard 111111
Massachusetts Maynard 222222 222222
Massachusetts Maynard 333333 333333
Massachusetts Maynard 444444 444444
Massachusetts Tewksbury 111111 Massachusetts Tewksbury 111111
Massachusetts Tewksbury 222222 222222
New Hampshire Manchester 111111 New Hampshire Manchester 111111
New Hampshire Manchester 222222 222222
New Hampshire Merrimack 333333 New Hampshire Merrimack 333333
New Hampshire Merrimack 444444 444444
New Hampshire Merrimack 555555 555555
New Hampshire Nashua 666666 New Hampshire Nashua 666666
10.10.3 Fitting Reports on the Page
If you need more columns than physically can fit on a page, you can do the
following:
• Eliminate as many unused spaces as possible between columns. Columns
should not be run together; however, you can use one blank space instead of
several.
• Eliminate nonessential information.
• Print two or more lines with staggered headers and columns.
• Print two reports.
10.10.4 Printing Totals Before Detail Lines
A report that must include totals at the top of the page before the detail lines has
three solutions as follows:
• Store the logical print lines in a table, total the table, and then print from the
table.
• Pass through the file twice. The first time, compute the totals. The second
time, print the report. This method is slow and complicated if there are many
subtotals.
• Write the lines into a file with a sort key containing the report, page, and
line number. When your program writes the last line and computes the total,
have it assign a page and line number to the total line’s sort key. Use an
appropriate page and line number to cause the total line to sort in front of its
detail lines. After the program completes, sort the file, read it, drop the sort
key, and produce the report.
10–88 Producing Printed Reports