Formatting a Form Page

Use

The process of formatting the output is controlled by the text contents in the BODY area of the main window. If the main window is completely filled, or if the control statement NEW-PAGE appears in the main window, the system executes a page break. Only at this point in time the system formats the contents of the windows of the other types and replaces the variables with the current values.

Procedure

For each other window, the system first outputs the default text element, if it exists. Then it processes and formats the list of the active text elements of this window, which you set using the function module WRITE_FORM with the parameter FUNCTION (SET, APPEND, DELETE). Any text that does not fit into the page window is truncated.

As a consequence to this processing order of the composer, the reservation of space for the TOP and BOTTOM areas must be made beforehand. If the BODY area of the main window already contains text, a new text output to the TOP area does not appear on the current page but on the subsequent page in the TOP area. The same applies for the BOTTOM area. If the BODY area is filled to such an extend that the new BOTTOM text no longer fits into the current main window, this text appears on the subsequent page in the BOTTOM area.