Fujitsu PowerFORM Detailed Features & Benefits
The table below lists key features and benefits of PowerFORM.
| New in: | Feature Summary | Detail of Feature | Benefit of Feature |
|---|---|---|---|
| WYSIWYG report design |
With PowerFORM create COBOL reports with: Graphics Colors Fonts Fixed and repeating parts |
You can use PowerFORM reports instead of pre-printed forms, saving money and giving greater flexibility. | |
| V6.1 | Added Report Design Details | Support added for fields spanning several lines ("Block Text" and "Block Static" fields). | PowerFORM helps you create better reports by providing many detailed features. |
|
Ability to print negative numbers in a different color to positive numbers. |
|||
| Numeric fields can be formatted as dates - you supply the 8 digit date, PowerFORM does the formatting of day, month, year and day-of-week according to the template you specify. | |||
| Line styles include long and short dashed lines, double lines, and wavy lines. | |||
| Optionally can retain or remove leading spaces in output text fields. | |||
| For Wizard-generated reports with repeating partitions, can specify characters to be used to replace repeating values (e.g. the double quote "ditto" symbol) | |||
| +V7 | Supports Bitmap, JPEG, TIFF and PNG images in "bitmap" fields. | ||
| V6.1 | Added Form Designer Details | Can scale output to fit the paper size and specify offset margins. | PowerFORM helps make report design easier by providing a full-featured design environment. |
| A print layout editor aids arranging partitions on print preview pages. | |||
| Cut/Copy/Paste of items uses the original item name in generating the pasted item name. | |||
| Editing details such as item groupings, locked items and partition display information is preserved (in a .PSF file) between editing sessions. | |||
| Items can be locked so that their properties cannot be changed during editing sessions. | |||
| Alignment grid spacing can be specified in dots. | |||
| Range of the zoom ratio in PowerFORM is 30 - 500%. | |||
| Items can be moved using the cursor keys, allowing fine control of position. | |||
| Workspace scrolls automatically when dragging items. | |||
| Fields, overlay text and graphics can be grouped together for form editing. | |||
| Overlay items can be colorized to make them easier to distinguish. | |||
| Snap to grid provided with the ability to say whether fields are snapped at the top left or bottom left corner. | |||
| *V4 |
Report Wizard |
The Report Wizard provides a guide through the report setup process: Select paper size and orientation Select report format Configure characteristics of selected report format. Select data items to include in the report from (user-configurable) lists. Report Wizard then generates a pre-formatted report for tailoring. *Improved! |
Speeds report design by simplifying the initial setup stages. |
| Single report design for multiple printers | PowerFORM report definitions are printer independent. Printer-specific details are configured in printer information files. | You can use one report design in several production environments. | |
| Use COBOL file handling syntax | PowerFORM reports are created from COBOL programs using extensions to the standard file handling syntax. |
Creating PowerFORM reports is straightforward for COBOL programmers. Existing COBOL report programs can be quickly adapted to use PowerFORM. |
|
| V4 | Label designs | One of the Report Wizard's report formats generates pages of labels. | Simplifies the creation of COBOL label print programs. |
| Bar codes |
PowerFORM supports several bar code formats, with or without character printing, flag and check characters: UPC-A Code 128 |
Saves the complexities of merging specialist bar-code subroutines with normal print functions. | |
| V6.1 |
NW7 |
||
| V7 | Run-time Features | Use the Printer Information File to select various behaviors such as: - Print Preview - Paper hopper selection - Duplex printing - Print dialog display - Bar code values |
The PowerFORM run-time provides the ability to configure a number of settings and behaviors independent of your COBOL code. |
| +V9 | Use the date set in the @CBR_JOBDATE environment variable when printing forms. | ||
| V10 | Option added to output a trace log that stores PowerFORM usage information such as environment variable settings, form descriptors, printer information file, record data, output printer and fonts, and error information. | Very useful when debugging an application in development or as a means of speading problem analysis of errors in production code. | |
| V10 | Runtime errors recorded in the Windows event log. |