EGL text reports offer a simplified alternative to more
complex reporting tools.
Text reports require two EGL logic parts:
- The Program part initiates the report process and passes control
to a generic Handler part.
- The generic Handler part contains functions that are associated
with specific events during the report generation process.
EGL uses ExternalType parts to perform the work of generating the
report (see
ExternalType part).
These external types are designed to correspond to Java™ classes in Java environments
and to COBOL programs in a COBOL environment. Typically you work with
no more than three of these external types:
- TextReports
- You create a variable based on this external type in the handler.
That variable becomes the report engine. The handler passes control
to the engine and calls functions from the engine. Create your report
layout (headers, margins, and so on) when you declare this variable.
For more information, see Creating a TextReport variable.
Remember: For z/OS, the format of the output report should
be: RECFM=VB,LRECL=255. For example,
//REPORT1 DD SYSOUT=*,DCB=(RECFM=VB,LRECL=255,BLKSIZE=2550)
- TextReportEvent
- Use this type only when declaring handler functions that you associate
with events in the report generation process. See Text report variables.
- TextReportDriver
- Use this type only if you need to interact with the generated
report file, or if you require a report file with a unique name. See The text report driver.
Remember: COBOL
generation does not support the TextReportDriver external type.
After you create the report engine variable, you can call functions
from that variable to create the body of the report. For information
about those functions, see Text report functions.