Multi-Record Format Reports

Learning Objective

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to distinguish a report-level heading, printed once for the whole report, from a page-level heading, printed again on every page, as two separate record formats.

Simple Explanation

The Page Overflow Basics lesson reprinted HDGFMT on every new page, which works well for column headings that should appear on every page. Some reports also need something printed only once, at the very start of the whole report, such as a report title or the date it was run. This calls for a second, separate record format, used only once, alongside the page heading that repeats.

dcl-f CUSTRPTP printer;
dcl-f CUSTMAST disk;

write RPTHDG;
write HDGFMT;

read CUSTMAST;
dow not %eof(CUSTMAST);
  if *inof;
    write HDGFMT;
  endif;

  write DTLFMT;

  read CUSTMAST;
enddo;

Here, RPTHDG is a new record format, written exactly once, before anything else, showing something like the report's title and run date. HDGFMT keeps its role from earlier lessons: printed once at the start and again on every page after that, via the overflow indicator check. The result is a report whose very first page shows both the one-time report title and the recurring column headings, while every later page shows only the recurring column headings.

Why It Matters

Recognizing that a report can combine several record formats, each serving a distinct purpose, print-once, print-per-page, and print-per-row, explains why real IBM i reports often have more structure than a single heading and a single detail line. Choosing the right record format for each piece of a report is what makes its layout come out exactly as intended.

Practical Example

Imagine the daily customer balance report needing a title page element reading "Customer Balance Report -- Run Date: Today," shown only once, at the very top of the very first page, while "Customer Number," "Name," and "Balance" column headings should still appear at the top of every single page so a reader flipping to any page can see what each column means. Using RPTHDG for the one-time title and HDGFMT for the recurring column headings, exactly as shown above, achieves both at once.

This is a simplified, illustrative example rather than a specific real report, but it reflects a genuinely common structure for longer, multi-page IBM i reports.

Common Confusions

"Why not just put the report title inside HDGFMT itself, since it already prints on every page?" That would work, but it would repeat the report title on every single page, not just the first one. Using a separate, print-once record format for the title keeps it appearing exactly once, while HDGFMT continues to repeat only the column headings that are actually useful to see again on every page.

"Does RPTHDG need its own overflow check, like HDGFMT has?" No. RPTHDG is written exactly once, before the loop even begins, so there is no need to check the overflow indicator for it; the overflow check in this lesson's example still applies only to HDGFMT, reprinted on later pages.

"Can a report have more than two kinds of heading, beyond RPTHDG and HDGFMT?" In principle, yes, additional record formats could serve other specific purposes. This lesson focuses on the common, practical case of a print-once report heading alongside a print-per-page column heading, which covers the vast majority of everyday reports.

Quick Recap

• A report-level heading, printed exactly once for the whole report, and a page-level heading, printed again on every page, are best kept as two separate record formats.
• The report-level heading is written once, before the loop begins, with no overflow check needed.
• The page-level heading keeps the same overflow-indicator pattern covered in the Page Overflow Basics lesson.
• Choosing the right record format for each part of a report, print-once, print-per-page, or print-per-row, is what gives a report its intended structure.

Try Asking the AI Tutor

Use the AI Tutor to ask follow-up questions about this lesson. For example, try asking:

• "What would this report look like if RPTHDG were accidentally written inside the read loop instead of before it?"
• "Could a report have a different one-time closing format, similar to RPTHDG but printed at the very end instead of the start?"