1 08/23/83   Formatting Options (General Information):
 2 
 3 Formatting options control the layout of a report.  A formatting option
 4 consists of a name to identify it and a value which it is set to.
 5 Examples of formatting options are "-page_width 80" and "-title_line
 6 on".  Formatting options which deal with columns require an option
 7 identifier to uniquely identify the column.  For example, to set the
 8 width of a column, an identifier is needed to determine which column
 9 the width should be set for.  Identifiers can be given as the number of
10 the column in the LILA selection-expression, the name of the column as
11 defined in the open model or submodel, or a star name which is matched
12 against the column names.  Examples of formatting options with
13 identifiers are "-width salary 10", "-folding 3 fill", and "-width **
14 20".
15 
16 
17 The values of format options are listed and set through the
18 "list_format_options" and "set_format_options" requests.  These
19 requests take control arguments which are the names of the format
20 options.  For example, to find out what the current page width is, the
21 request "list_format_options -page_width" would be given.  To change
22 the page width, the request "set_format_options -page_width 65" would
23 be used.
24 
25 
26 Classifications:
27 
28 The formatting options can be grouped into three classifications:
29 general report options; general column options; and specific column
30 options.
31 
32 General report options control overall characteristics of a report,
33 such as the page width.  They are given a default value when linus is
34 first invoked, and can be changed by the user at any time.  They retain
35 their value across a complete linus session.
36 
37 
38 General column options control overall characteristics of the columns,
39 such as watching the value of certain columns to determine if a page
40 break should be generated.  They are given a default value for every
41 new LILA selection-expression, and can be changed by the user at any
42 time.  They retain their value until the next new LILA
43 selection-expression.
44 
45 Specific column options control the characteristics of one specific
46 column, such as a column's width.  They are given a default value for
47 every new LILA selection-expression, and can be changed by the user at
48 any time.  They retain their value until the next new LILA
49 selection-expression.  These are the only formatting options which
50 require an identifier to determine which column the particular option
51 applies to.
52 
53 
54 Active options:
55 
56 All specific column options are considered active at all times.
57 General column options and general report options are considered active
58 only when their value is different from the default value they are
59 originally given.  For example, if -page_width is always set to its
60 default value it is not considered active.  The moment that it is
61 changed to a value different from its default it is considered active.
62 This, for example, reduces the number of options listed when a user
63 types the "list_format_options" request with no control arguments.  The
64 -page_width option would never be listed if it was set to its default
65 value, unless it was specifically asked for.
66 
67 
68 General report options:
69 
70 -delimiter          -format_document_controls     -hyphenation
71 -page_footer_value  -page_header_value            -page_length
72 -page_width         -title_line                   -truncation
73 
74 
75 General column options:
76 
77 -column_order         -count                      -exclude
78 -group                -group_footer_trigger       -group_footer_value
79 -group_header_trigger -group_header_value         -outline
80 -page_break           -row_footer_value           -row_header_value
81 -subcount             -subtotal                   -total
82 
83 
84 Specific column options:
85 
86 -alignment          -editing                      -folding
87 -separator          -title                        -width