This chapter contains the following topics:
You can modify the properties of objects to change how they look or behave. Here are some considerations regarding properties:
Some properties are available for all field types.
For example, you can change the font size of a column heading or column variable.
Some properties are available only for specific field types.
For example, you can modify the justification of a column variable, but you cannot justify a column heading.
Some properties enable you to adapt information to meet company requirements.
For example, you can change a column heading to reflect specific company or industry jargon.
This section provides an overview of field lengths and column widths, lists the prerequisites, and discusses how to:
Modify the length of fields.
Modify the width of columns.
Changing the length of a field and changing the width of a column do not yield the same results. You can modify the display length of most fields from the appropriate item properties form. In a columnar section, you can change the display length of the column variable but not the column heading. Changing the display length of a field changes the number of characters that the batch engine places in the field. For example, in a report, you include the Address Number field that is defined in data dictionary to accommodate 20 characters. None of the records in the report include an address number that is longer than five characters. In the appropriate item properties form, you can modify the display length of the address number field to five. The address number field displays five characters on the report. However, because the column width is large enough to accommodate 20 characters, you see a large amount of white space following the five characters. To eliminate the white space, you can size the address number column so that it is only as wide as the five-character display length.
Changing the width of a column changes the amount of space that is allotted for displaying data. You can change the size of columns in the Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Report Design Aid (RDA) workspace. This method of changing the column size does not affect the field length. If you size the column to be smaller than its associated data, the data is truncated. For example, if you change the column width of the alpha name field to display 10 characters, but many of the names in the database are greater than 10 characters, the names are cut off in the report. If the column contains a numeric field, the column contains asterisks rather than truncating the number.
When you modify a column heading and enter text that is too long for the column heading length, the entire column heading appears on the report, oftentimes overlapping other columns. RDA provides two column heading fields for each column so that you can split long column headings into two lines.
When a field is populated with data that is longer than the field length, and the data does not reside in the database, the data is truncated. When a string data type, such as media objects, is fetched from the database, the data text wraps within the column. Text wrapping is controlled by the Absolute Position option on the Advanced tab of the appropriate section properties form.
Before you begin modifying field lengths and column widths, ensure that you:
Create a batch application object.
Complete the design of the report template using a columnar section.
Open a columnar section report template in RDA.
Double-click the column variable that you want to size.
On the applicable properties form, select the Display tab.
If the properties form does not include a Display tab, you cannot change the length of the field.
Enter a new length in the Display Length field, and click OK.
You can click the arrow buttons to increase or decrease the display length.
Open a columnar section report template in RDA.
Click the column heading that you want to size.
Note:
The column heading is outlined and includes a small, solid black box on the right edge. This box indicates that you can manually size the object. Otherwise, the column width can not be changed manually.Place the cursor over the small black box until the cursor changes to a horizontal line with an arrow on both ends.
Ensure that the cursor is not a plus sign with arrows pointing in each direction.
Click and drag the black box until the column is the size that you require.
This section provides an overview of font properties, lists the prerequisites, and discusses how to:
Change font properties of individual fields.
Change font properties for all fields in a section.
Change font properties for all fields in a report.
Create objects with bar code fonts.
A font is a set of print characters that are of the same size and style. Examples of fonts include Courier New and Arial. Typically, fonts include variations such as bold and italic. You can use multiple fonts in a single report. Some fonts may be converted to PDF, PostScript, or Printer Control Language (PCL) files; line printers are fairly limited in the types of fonts that they can print. Properties such as alignment and spacing are not considered font variations and can be applied separately to text in the report template.
Fonts are classified as either proportional or nonproportional. Proportional fonts include different pitches (widths) for different characters. In a proportionally spaced font, the letter I is narrower than the letter B. Examples of fonts with proportional spacing are Arial and Times New Roman. While proportionally spaced fonts generally create a more visually pleasing document, they can be difficult to align because of the varying widths of characters.
Nonproportional fonts are fonts in which every character has the same width. Most typewriters and line printers use these fonts. Examples of nonproportional fonts are Courier New and MS Gothic.
The PDF generation, PostScript, and PCL conversion can support any font size. For line printers, you should generate the PDF file with nonproportional fonts and a font size of 10.
This table lists base fonts that RDA supports, along with their valid printer types:
| Font Faces | Postscript | PCL | Line | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courier New | Y | N | Y | Y |
| Courier New - Bold | Y | N | N | Y |
| Courier New - Italic | N | N | N | N |
| Courier New - Bold Italic | N | N | N | N |
| Arial | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Arial - Bold | Y | N | N | Y |
| Arial - Italic | N | N | N | N |
| Arial - Bold Italic | N | N | N | N |
| Times New Roman | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Times New Roman - Bold | Y | N | N | Y |
| Times New Roman - Italic | N | N | N | N |
| Times New Roman - Bold Italic | N | N | N | N |
You can change font properties at three levels in the report template:
Field
When you change the font properties for a field, the change affects only that field.
Section
When you change the font properties for a section, the change affects all fields in the section, except for those fields that have been changed individually. To apply the changes to all fields in the section without exception, select the Apply settings to all Objects option.
Report
When you change the font properties for the report, the change affects all fields in all sections of the report, except for the fields in sections that have been changed at the section level and those fields that have been changed individually. To apply the changes to all fields in the report without exception, select the Apply settings to all Objects option.
Although you can select any color from the Font dialog box for viewing reports online, the system supports only 8 colors for PCL, 16 colors for PostScript, and black for line printers. Both PostScript and PDF generation use the RGB model for color. PCL uses the Simple Color RGB model that provides only 8 colors.
Refer to this color support table, where Y is supported and N is not supported:
| Font Colors | PostScript | PCL | Line | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| Blue | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Cyan | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Dark Blue | Y | N | N | Y |
| Dark Cyan | Y | N | N | Y |
| Dark Green | Y | N | N | Y |
| Dark Gray | Y | N | N | Y |
| Dark Magenta | Y | N | N | Y |
| Dark Red | Y | N | N | Y |
| Green | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Light Gray | Y | N | N | Y |
| Magenta | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Olive Green | Y | N | N | Y |
| Red | Y | Y | N | Y |
| Yellow | Y | Y | N | Y |
| White | Y | Y | N | Y |
Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (CJK) fonts receive special treatment within the universal batch engine (UBE) and for output management. In RDA, you can select any font that is available in the system and assign it to the report, section, or object. However, in a CJK environment, only the fonts that are included in this table are supported when the PDF file is generated:
| Language | Font Name |
|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | STSong-Light-Acro |
| Traditional Chinese | Mhei-Medium-Acro |
| Korean | HYGothic-Medium-Acro |
| Japanese | HeiseiMin-W3-Acro, MS Gothic (true type font) |
JD Edwards EnterpriseOne does not support PCL for Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Korean languages.
You can use bar code fonts to create bar codes in reports. For example, you can add bar codes to reports that include inventory items.
RDA provides base bar code functionality for reports and other batch job output. RDA supports Code 39 fonts for both PCL and PostScript conversion. The True Type font name is BC C39 3 to 1 Medium. Bar code fonts can be viewed in RDA, previewed, and then printed. Bar codes print on both PCL and PostScript printers. Because font vendors do not sell scalable PCL fonts, only fixed-point sizes are supported for PCL. The recommended point size range for PostScript is 8 to 24 points.
To specify a particular bar code, you must enter the encoding for that bar code in the constant properties. The encoding is a series of characters and numbers that are preceded and followed by asterisks (*) to identify the text as a bar code.
After you set up the bar code in the report, you must link the printer font name and the True Type font name to a physical printer in the Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne Bar Code Support (P986166) application before you print to either a PostScript or PCL printer.
Before you begin changing font properties, ensure that you:
Create a batch application object.
Complete the design of the report template.
Open a report template in RDA.
Double-click the field in the report template that you want to change.
On the properties form, select the Font/Color tab.
Change the font properties, and click OK.
Open a report template in RDA.
Double-click the report section that you want to change.
On the appropriate section properties form, select the Font/Color tab.
Change the font properties.
To affect all objects in the section without exception, select the Apply settings to all Objects option, and click OK.
To return all of the fields in the section to their default font settings, click the Defaults button.
Open a report template in RDA.
From the File menu, select Report Properties.
On the Properties form, select the Font/Color tab.
Change the font properties.
To affect all objects in the report without exception, select the Apply settings to all Objects option, and click OK.
To return all of the fields in the report to their default font settings, click the Defaults button.
Open a report template in RDA.
Double-click a constant.
On the Constant Properties form, select the Font/Color tab.
Complete these fields:
| Font Properties | Description |
|---|---|
| Font | Select the name of the bar code font (for example, BC C39 3 to 1 Medium). |
| Font Style | Select from Regular, Italic, Bold, and Bold Italic. |
| Size | Select a font size from the list. |
Select the Description tab.
Enter the correct encoding sequence for the bar code in the Name field, and click OK.
View the report in Preview mode to review the bar codes.
When you submit the batch job, the Job Submission form also displays the bar codes properly.
From the Batch Processing Setup menu (GH9013), select Bar Code Support.
On the Work With Bar Code Font form, click Add.
On the Bar Code Revisions form, complete these fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Printer Name | Enter the name of the printer that will be used for printing reports that include bar code fonts. |
| Printer Definition Language | Select the Post Script or PCL option. |
| True Type Font Name | Click the True Type Font button, and select an appropriate font from the list. |
| Printer Font Name | Enter the font name that is given by the font vendor (for example, Code39Three). |
| Symbol Set ID | If you selected the PCL printer definition language, enter the information as indicated by your PCL printer font vendor. |
Use a scanner to test the bar code output.
This section provides an overview of dynamic positioning and discusses how to activate dynamic positioning for a server or client.
Dynamic positioning repositions objects in the report to allow for multiple font usage. This makes dynamic positioning most useful when you print reports in multiple languages. For example, you print a report in English, Greek, and Chinese. You can print the English report in Arial, the Greek report in Haettenschweiler, and the Chinese report in SimSun. Because the Haettenschweiler and SimSun fonts are wider than the Arial font, the objects on the report must be repositioned to prevent overlap.
The dynamic positioning feature:
Enables you to designate a new font when the report is printed on a line printer or in a foreign language.
Automatically adjusts the width of objects on a report so that they do not overlap when a font substitution occurs.
Dynamic positioning is also useful when you send many reports to a line printer and want them in different fonts so that they are easier to read. When sending reports to a line printer, you must use nonproportional fonts.
Dynamic positioning does not adjust for the height of report objects when you substitute fonts. If you use font substitution for a report, ensure that you space the report rows to allow for the different font heights.
To use dynamic positioning:
Activate dynamic positioning in the jde.ini on the machine where the reports are processed.
You must enable dynamic positioning on each machine that runs reports that use dynamic positioning. After you activate dynamic positioning on a machine, you should not deactivate it. You can override dynamic positioning for an individual report.
Define font substitutions for languages and line printers.
If the report is already formatted in the font that you want, you can disable font substitution for the report. After you disable the font substitution feature and save the report, font substitution remains disabled for the report. You must reestablish font substitution by clearing the override if you want to use font substitution in the future. You can view a report with font substitutions applied.
This section provides an overview of font substitutions, lists the prerequisite, and discusses how to:
View font substitutions by language type.
Define font substitutions for language and line printers.
Change font substitutions by language type.
Override font substitutions for reports.
Apply font substitutions to report templates.
Font substitution enables you to select a language and the font that needs to be substituted in report templates. Then you indicate a new font to use for the selected language. This substitution does not include font size. When the font substitution is made, dynamic positioning automatically adjusts the position of items on the report to accommodate the width of the new font. It does not adjust the height of items on the report.
Font substitution is most useful for defining fonts in reports that are intended to be:
Printed in a foreign language.
Sent to a line printer.
Before you define font substitutions, ensure that you activate dynamic positioning in the appropriate jde.ini file, either server or client.
Access the Work with Font Substitution by Language Type form.
Click Add.
On the Font Substitution by Language Revisions form, enter a language in the Language Type field using the appropriate user-defined code.
If you are defining a font substitution for a line printer, leave this field blank to select the domestic language.
In the Original Font Name field, select the font that you want replaced.
For a line printer, enter *JDE LINE.
In the New Font Name field, select the new font that you want to use on the report, and click OK.
For a line printer, you must use a nonproportional font such as Courier New.
Access the Work with Font Substitution by Language Type form.
Open a report template in RDA.
From the File menu, select Report Properties.
On the Properties form, select the Advanced tab.
In the Dynamic Positioning section, click the Apply System Language Font button.
If the Apply System Language Font button is disabled and the Don't Dynamically Position option is cleared, review the dynamic positioning setting in the jde.ini file.
On the Would you like to reposition the report objects based on the System Language Font? message box, click No to ignore the system language font, and click OK.
When you have saved the report with the override defined, the system does not apply font substitutions to the report.
Open a report template in RDA.
From the File menu, select Report Properties.
On the Properties form, select the Advanced tab.
In the Dynamic Positioning section, click the Apply System Language Font button.
On the Would you like to reposition the report objects based on the System Language Font? message box, click Yes to apply the System Language Font to the report.
If a font substitution is defined for the font that is currently used on the report, the system replaces the current font and dynamically repositions objects on the report to accommodate the new font.
This section provides an overview of True Type fonts and discusses how to assign fonts by report language.
When you submit batch versions, PDF files are generated on the server using True Type fonts. Oracle's JD Edwards EnterpriseOne provides several True Type fonts that are compatible with Arial, Courier, and Times New Roman. In addition to these fonts, you can purchase or download additional True Type fonts.
To download Arial, Courier, and Times New Roman fonts, go to corefonts.sourceforge.net. If you want a PDF to contain Asian and European Long (WGL4) characters, you should purchase or download a font that is similar to Arial Unicode MS.
By default, all PDFs are generated using the Arial font. To override the Arial font, use the Font Override by Language (P98980) program to assign fonts by report language.
In the Fast Path field, enter P98980 to access the Work With Fonts form.
Complete the Language field, and click Find.
The fonts that are assigned to the selected language appear in the detail area.
If you want to add a new assignment for a language, click Add.
If you want to change an assignment for a language, highlight the appropriate line in the detail area, and click Select.
On the Language Font Revisions form, enter the language for which you are adding an assignment in the Language field.
If you are modifying an assignment, this field is unavailable.
Click the Font button next to the Font ID - Report field.
On the Font form, select from these font properties, and click OK:
If you are modifying an assignment, the current font properties are highlighted.
Font
Font style
Size
Script
To make changes to the fonts that appear on forms and grids, click the Font button next to these fields, make the changes, and then click OK:
Font ID - Form.
Font ID - Grid.
To keep the fonts on forms and grids as they are, without the change, select System in the Font list.
This section provides an overview of text justification, lists the prerequisites, and discusses how to change text justification for variables.
Justification refers to how text is presented horizontally within the space allotted for the text. You can affect the justification of text in columns and in most variables. You cannot set text justification for constants or column headings. In RDA, you can select from these justification options:
Right
Center
Left
Justification is relative to the frame of the object. For example, if you center text, the text is centered within the frame of the object. Remember that some data might have spaces either before or after. These spaces affect how the data is justified. For example, the business unit field is a string data type with a character size of 12. If all of the business units in your company use only five characters, the data is held in the database with spaces in front of each business unit value. These spaces are taken into consideration at that the time the system justifies the business unit column.
The batch engine supports left and center alignment for all fonts and languages. Right alignment is fully supported for Japanese 7-, 8- and 9-point size MS Gothic fonts only. For Chinese and Korean fonts, right alignment is not supported.
Before you begin justifying text, ensure that you:
Create a batch application object.
Complete the design of the report template.
Open a report template in RDA.
Double-click the field for which you want to define justification.
On the variable properties form, select the Display tab.
Select the appropriate justification, and click OK.
To return all of the fields to their default justification setting, click the Defaults button.
This section provides an overview of numeric formatting, lists the prerequisites, and discusses how to change the appearance of numeric fields.
In addition to the font and justification properties, you can modify these additional properties of numeric fields:
Display decimals
Enables you to control the number of digits that appear after the decimal of a numeric field.
Edit code
Enables you to control:
Whether numeric values includes commas.
How positive and negative values appear.
How currency values appear.
Decimal scaling
Enables you to scale numeric fields in tabular sections only.
From the Display tab of the variable properties form, you can modify the number of digits that appear in numeric fields and select edit codes.
Note:
You can use processing options to control the presentation of positive and negative numbers. Processing options override the settings that are entered in RDA.Edit codes are user-defined codes that indicate different scenarios for the presentation of numeric fields. The default edit code for a numeric value is derived from the associated data dictionary item. However, you can override the edit code in the field properties in RDA. The Edit Code table that is presented in this section can help you select the edit code that best meets your business needs.
Not all fields that present a numeric value can be formatted using edit codes. The Company field displays a number, but the field is actually defined as a string data type in data dictionary. Typically, you can select edit codes for fields that are defined as either numeric or currency in the data dictionary.
To select the appropriate edit code for the report, review the Negative Amount Notation column in the Edit Code table that is included in this section and select the appropriate option. The Negative Amount Notation information helps you narrow the possibilities to four codes. For example, if you select a trailing minus sign as your negative amount notation, your search is narrowed to the selection of options J, K, L, or M.
Next, review the Zero Balance column in the Edit Code table that is included in this section and determine whether you want to print zero balances in the report. The Zero Balance information narrows the search to two codes. For example, if you print zero balances, your search is narrowed to the selection of J or L.
Next, review the Commas column in the Edit Code table that is included in this section and determine whether you want to include commas in the numeric values on the report. For example, if you want commas in the numeric value, select J. If not, select L.
This Edit Code table lists the available edit codes and their characteristics:
| Edit Code | Commas Y/N | Zero Balance Y/N | Negative Amount Notation |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Y | Y | Cr |
| B | Y | N | Cr |
| C | N | Y | Cr |
| D | N | N | Cr |
| J | Y | Y | - Trailing |
| K | Y | N | - Trailing |
| L | N | Y | - Trailing |
| M | N | N | - Trailing |
| N | Y | Y | - Preceding |
| O | Y | N | - Preceding |
| P | N | Y | - Preceding |
| Q | N | N | - Preceding |
| R | Y | Y | < > |
| S | Y | N | < > |
| T | N | Y | < > |
| U | N | N | < > |
| 1 | Y | Y | No sign |
| 2 | Y | N | No sign |
| 3 | N | Y | No sign |
| 4 | N | N | No sign |
Before you begin changing numerical formatting, ensure that you:
Create a batch application object.
Complete the design of the report template.
Include a numeric field.
Open a report template in RDA that contains numeric fields.
Double-click the numeric field for which you want to change the formatting.
On the variable properties form, select the Display tab.
Enter the number of decimal places to appear in the Display Decimals field.
You can click the arrow buttons to increase or decrease the number of decimal places.
Note:
Setting display decimals is ineffective if currency has been enabled for the system.If it is available, select the Edit Code field, use the visual assist to select a formatting style, and then click OK.
To return all of the fields to their default display settings, click the Defaults button.
This section provides an overview of lines and boxes, lists the prerequisites, and discusses how to add lines and boxes to fields.
Use boxes to bring attention to specific data; use lines to set off totals and grand totals. You can apply rectangles and other line styles to most fields in a report section. Single and double lines are available to position either above or below fields.
You cannot enclose columns or entire report sections in boxes. However, with some experience, you can use rectangles in group sections to group fields. You must create the group section manually, instead of using the Director, because the rectangles must be added to the section before any fields are included in the section layout.
These line options are available for both constants and variables:
No Lines
This option is selected by default for variable fields. You must clear this option to activate the remaining options.
Single Rectangle
Single Line Over
Double Line Over
Single Line Under
This option is selected by default for column headings.
Begin by creating a batch application report object.
Use the Director initially to create the page header and group section.
Select a business view for the group section, and then click Finish on the Navigation Assistant to quit the Director.
Click the group section and from the Insert menu, select Constant Field.
Position the constant in the group section.
Double-click the constant and on the Description tab of the Constant Properties form, enter spaces in the Variable Name field.
The number of spaces that you enter determines the size of the box. When you begin laying out fields, you might need to adjust the number of spaces.
Select the Style tab, and clear the No Lines option.
Select the Single Rectangle option, and click OK.
Access the Business View Columns Browser, and move fields to the group section, placing them inside the rectangle.
Preview the report to review the layout and sizing of the boxes.
Modify font, font size, and spaces to perfect the layout.
You can add another rectangle to the right of the current rectangle.
Before you begin associating lines and boxes, ensure that you:
Create a batch application object.
Complete the design of the report template.
Open a report template in RDA.
Double-click the field for which you want to add lines or boxes.
On the appropriate properties form, select the Style tab.
If you selected a variable, clear the No Lines option to activate the other options on the form.
Select a line style, and click OK.
To enclose the field in a box, select Single Rectangle.