VERTICALLY, VERT

The VERTICALLY display option keyword causes a vertical format report to be produced. The synonym VERT may be used.

Format

VERTICALLY {FMT {"name.format"} {, "data.format"}}

where

The LIST and SORT commands normally produce a tabular report unless the total width of the data to be reported exceeds that of the display or printer to which it is directed. The VERTICALLY keyword forces a vertical format report regardless of display width. A blank line is produced between each record in the report.

In the absence of any of the overrides discussed here, the default action of the query processor is to show the field heading text (display name) as a left justified 12 character wide column, effectively using a format code of ".L#12". The optional FMT qualifier to the VERTICAL keyword can be used to change this. Note that the default code uses a mask rather than "12.L" which would insert text marks if the name was longer than 12 characters.

These defaults can be overridden by including a record named $VLIST in the dictionary of the file being processed. This must have a type code of X in field 1. If field 2 is not blank, the content is used as the default name format. If field 3 is not blank, the content is used as the default data format. This will impact all vertical mode reports from the data file(s) that use this dictionary. Placing the $VLIST record in the VOC will apply the revised format codes to queries against all files except those for which there is a $VLIST record in the dictionary.

For either use of the $VLIST record or the FMT qualifier, specifying the name.format as the word FIT (case insensitive) will apply a name format that exactly fits the longest field display name in the report.

The FMT qualifier also allows a default format to be applied to all data items included in report with the exception of those that are defined in the dictionary as being right justified. Thus, for example, a field defined in the dictionary as having a format of "20T" may be good for tabular reports but introduce unwanted line breaks in a vertical report. Use of the data.format element of the FMT qualifier to the VERTICALLY keyword  allows a more appropriate field width to be used. Any display clause element that itself includes a FMT qualifier will override the data.format default for that one field.

Examples

The command

LIST INVOICES VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME WITH NO AMT.PAID

would produce a display such as that below.

LIST INVOICES VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME WITH NO AMT.PAID

Invoice  ...Value  Customer...................

74529    £1712.43  J McTavish

74273      £95.23  County Newspapers

63940     £141.00  R Bryant

3 records listed.

Including the VERTICALLY keyword would modify the display format to become

LIST INVOICES VERTICALLY VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME WITH NO AMT.PAID

Invoice... : 74529

Value..... : £1712.43

Customer.. : J McTavish

Invoice... : 74273

Value..... : £95.23

Customer.. : County Newspapers

Invoice... : 63940

Value..... : £141.00

Customer.. : R Bryant

3 records listed.

Adding a format code to the VERTICALLY keyword reduces the name width as below.

LIST INVOICES VERTICALLY FMT "8.L" VALUE CUSTOMER.NAME WITH NO AMT.PAID

Invoice. : 74529

Value... : £1712.43

Customer : J McTavish

Invoice. : 74273

Value... :  £95.23

Customer : County Newspapers

Invoice. : 63940

Value... :  £141.00

Customer : R Bryant

3 records listed.

In this second example, the same effect could be achieved with VERTICALLY FMT "FIT".