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An advantage of EBB is that you can extract only portions of one or more reports to merge into an output spool file for distribution. You accomplish this using burst criterion. After you create a version that includes one or more reports, you must set up the burst and bind criteria.
To work with Burst and Bind criteria, complete the following tasks:
Set up burst areas using Data Description Specifications (DDS)
Set up burst areas using spool files
Work with burst areas
Print a version information report
You choose burst criteria for an area or portion of data in a spool report. When you define burst criteria, you identify the columns and rows within the report. You are not selecting data.
When EBB processes a report, the report bursts when data in the burst area does not match the burst area on the previous page of the report. For example, suppose the header text, 001 - A Model Accounting Company appears in a specific area on a report. In the same area on another page, the text in that same area reads, 007 - A Model Payroll Company. If you designate the burst area, 001 - A Model Account Company, EBB performs the burst function when the header text changes to 007 - A Model Payroll Company.
You can use EBB for routing only by selecting burst criteria that is the same on every page, such as the header. If the burst area never changes, EBB will not burst the report. The output is the same as the input. You can add multiple routing functions to the version to distribute the reports. See Chapter 21, "Overview to Routing Functions" for more information about routing.
When you select multiple reports for an EBB version, and the data in the burst area exactly matches the data in two or more reports, the reports are burst and then merged into one spool file. If you select more than one area on a report and want to bind it with another report, binding occurs only if the data in all the areas you select match exactly.