FUJITSU FS Logo
HomeMigrationsProductsServicesInformationNewsPartnersStudentPricingAbout Us
Quick Search  
DowloadSupport
Home > Products
Product title  
Windows Products
What COBOL for Me?
NetCOBOL for .NET
NeoKicks™
NeoBatch®
NeoSort™
NeoData™
EZ Source™
NetCOBOL for Windows
PowerCOBOL
PowerBSORT
PowerFORM
Data Converter
Data Editor
Training Videos
Unix Products
NetCOBOL for Linux
NetCOBOL for SPARC Arch
Data Converter (SPARC Arch)
Data Editor (SPARC Arch)
NetCOBOL for HPUX
PowerBSORT

 

 

PowerFORM

Contents

PowerFORM is a WYSIWYG graphical form designer and layout tool for creating complex print forms. You can easily replace your traditional plain text reports with graphical COBOL reports. PowerFORM lets you design reports with graphical elements, color, and variable fonts and then print them on any laser or inkjet printer. It is closely integrated with NetCOBOL (previously called Fujitsu COBOL) so PowerFORM reports are defined and written using COBOL file handling syntax. In fact, programming for PowerFORM is almost identical to writing a regular print file.

 

Highlights

  • Create forms with ruled and curved lines, shading, and graphics
  • Tailor the character size, density, and printing pitch
  • Incorporate color into your reports
  • Create professional looking business reports
  • Easily create and maintain reports
  • Use familiar COBOL syntax to produce the reports
  • Include useful features such as "Print Preview"


PowerFORM offers highly flexible formatting options and helps you to include graphics that might otherwise have to be printed on pre-printed forms. With minimal effort you can convert character-based reports to attractive reports using your choice of fonts, graphical borders, dividing lines, and colors.

Detailed Features and 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
UPC-E
EAN-13
EAN-8
Code 3 of 9
Code 128

Saves the complexities of merging specialist bar-code subroutines with normal print functions.
V6.1

NW7
IND
INT
EAN-128
U.S. POSTNET - Delivery point code
U.S. POSTNET - ZIP + 4 code
U.S. POSTNET - 5 Digit ZIP code

  
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.  




An In-Depth Look at Fujitsu PowerFORM

The following sequence of screen captures lets you see the features of Fujitsu PowerFORM at work.

PowerFORM Wizard
Form Overlays and Data
Fixed and Floating Partitions
Edited Numeric Formats
Labels and Bar Codes
Coding for PowerFORM

Points to watch for in the Fujitsu PowerFORM walk-through include:

  • Variety of standard forms offered by the Wizard
  • Drag and drop form design
  • Flexibility of form design
  • Professional form designs
  • Integration with COBOL




PowerFORM Wizard
PowerFORM provides a form Wizard to give you a fast start to designing your forms. In the Wizard you:

  • Select the target paper size and orientation
  • Select the basic pattern for your report from (see picture 1 below):
    - Fixed - all data and descriptions are in fixed locations
    - Head/Body/Tail - fixed header and footer information, with repeated items in the report body
    - Labels - for sheets of labels
    - Multiple Parts - for more complex reports where you require one or more control headers or footers as well as fixed headers and footers and repeating items in the body.
  • Configure the details for your report, such as heading text, number and size of repeating parts (see picture 2 below).
  • Place data items in the appropriate parts of your report from pre-configured data item lists (see picture 3 below).

Wizard Picture 1 - Selecting report patterns





Wizard Picture 2 - Configuring details for the Multiple Parts pattern



Wizard Picture 3 - Selecting data for the report

You can select from lists of data items supplied with PowerFORM, or that you set up yourself. You can drag the data item from the list and drop it onto the appropriate part of the report.






Form Overlays and Data
PowerFORM helps you replace pre-printed forms by giving you the ability to incorporate the designs of the pre-printed forms into your software-controlled print output.

  • The static part of your form, which used to be on a pre-printed form, is called the form overlay - shown in part (1) of the picture below.
  • The variable part of your form is defined in fixed or variable partitions - shown in part (2).
  • These are combined to give the printed form - previewed in part (3).



Fixed and Floating Partitions
Report data is grouped into partitions. Partitions can be single or multiple lines.

Partitions can be:

  • Fixed, meaning that the data is always printed at a fixed location on the page, or
  • Floating, meaning that the data is printed at the next available position on the page.

Floating partitions can be printed repetitively on pages.

Also notice in the picture below:

  • Tree view of partitions and included data items (on the left-hand side).
  • Ruler at side of form design area indicating the partitions.
  • Toolbars at bottom of the window containing design items that can be dragged and dropped onto the report.


Edited Numeric Formats
PowerFORM provides a large number of edited numeric formats with configurable currency signs, separators, and plus/minus sign display

Labels and Bar Codes
One of the report patterns lets you create label-print programs.

Bar codes can be used in any PowerFORM design




Coding for PowerFORM
You write PowerFORM reports just like you would write any other COBOL print report. NetCOBOL provides a few extensions to the COBOL language to help the system recognize when you are using PowerFORM reports and give you greater control.

The following screen capture shows:

  1. Declaring the print file. The FORMAT and GROUP clauses identify this file as a PowerFORM print report.
  2. Declaring the data to be output to the file. PowerFORM creates this data definition for you, and the system copies it in from the special library called "XMDLIB".
  3. You WRITE a partition at a time so, before writing, you move the partition name to the data item specified in the GROUP clause of the SELECT statement. You can control the line and page positioning using the standard AFTER ADVANCING LINE/PAGE syntax.




Platforms Supported

  • Microsoft® Windows® Vista®
  • Microsoft® Windows® XP
  • Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003
  • Microsoft® Windows® Server 2005

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What's the difference between PowerFORM reports and normal printed reports?
  2. Is programming with PowerFORM very different from writing standard COBOL reports?
  3. Can I use Bar codes in PowerFORM reports?
  4. Does PowerFORM support double-sided printing and printer tray selection?

1. What's the difference between PowerFORM reports and normal printed reports?

Answer: COBOL reports are written line-by-line and have limited formatting options. Also, it is not possible to include pictures and other graphical features in a normal COBOL report. PowerFORM lets you use similar syntax (WRITE record-name) but lets you create reports with many graphical features and fields placed exactly where you want them - to within hundredths of an inch, depending on the precision of your printer.

2. Is programming with PowerFORM very different from writing standard COBOL reports?

Answer: No, it is actually very similar. The variable data that PowerFORM outputs is defined in a single record. This record may be quite large as it can cover many different types of data to be printed on a single page. You tell PowerFORM which part of the data to use by setting up the group name. You then use a standard WRITE statement. The snapshot above shows the few extensions you need to use when programming for PowerFORM.

3. Can I use Bar codes in PowerFORM reports?

Answer: Yes. The following standards are supported: UPC-A, UPC-E, EAN-13, EAN-8, EAN-128, Code 3 of 9, Code 128, NW7, IND, INT, U.S. POSTNET - Delivery point code, U.S. POSTNET - ZIP + 4 code, U.S. POSTNET - 5 Digit ZIP code. For those formats that support it, you can also print characters with the bar code, have a flag character and a check character.

4. Does PowerFORM support double-sided printing and printer tray selection?

Answer: Yes. You can set up these features using PowerFORM's printer information file - which you define separately from the program.


 © 2003 - 2006 Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation. All Rights Reserved.