When you use an external Cascading
Style Sheet (CSS) to format a report, be aware of the following
requirements:
-
Generate HTML report output. You
can use an external Cascading Style Sheet to format any report that
you generate as HTML, whether you save the report output in a file
or send it directly to a Web browser. You cannot use an external
CSS for a report generated in a different format, such as PDF or
Excel.
If you wish to use an external CSS with a report that you
will sometimes generate as HTML and sometimes as a different format,
such as PDF, see Using External Cascading Style Sheets With Non-HTML Reports.
- If you are not generating an internal Cascading Style Sheet,
do not specify external CSS classes (CLASS=) and native WebFOCUS StyleSheet attributes in
the same WebFOCUS StyleSheet (other
than the exceptions noted in the next paragraph). Doing so could
create formatting conflicts.
Exceptions. Even
when specifying external CSS classes, you should use native WebFOCUS StyleSheet attributes to:
- Create hyperlinks (using the FOCEXEC, JAVASCRIPT, and URL attributes). However, if
you wish to format a hyperlink, you should do so using the Cascading
Style Sheet.
- Make a WebFOCUS StyleSheet declaration
conditional (using the WHEN attribute).
- Embed an image (using the IMAGE attribute). However, if you
wish to format the image (for example, to position it), you should
do so using the Cascading Style Sheet.
For more information,
see Combining an External CSS With Other Formatting Methods.
-
Do not specify the same formatting using TABLE
/GRAPH
and CSS. You
can use TABLE language (or GRAPH language) formatting
instructions, such as HEADING CENTER, PAGE-BREAK, and spot markers
(for example, </3). However, you should not apply both a TABLE (or GRAPH) language instruction, and
an external Cascading Style Sheet rule, to perform the same formatting
on the same report component. For more information, see Combining an External CSS With Other Formatting Methods.
-
SET STYLEMODE. If you wish to use
Cascading Style Sheets to format a report in the usual way, you
can set STYLEMODE to FULL (the default) or PAGED. If you set it
to FIXED and link to an external Cascading Style Sheet, the report
will inherit formatting from the BODY and PRE elements, but you
will not be able to format the report using classes and the TD element.
-
Use a Cascading Style Sheet-enabled Web browser. Each
user who wishes to display a report formatted using a Cascading
Style Sheet must have a Web browser that supports CSS. All versions
of Microsoft Internet Explorer that are certified for use with WebFOCUS support Cascading Style Sheets.
Note
that how a Cascading Style Sheet rule formats your report is determined entirely
by the support of your Web browser and implementation of Cascading
Style Sheets, not by WebFOCUS. Some
Web browsers may not fully support the latest CSS version, or may
implement a CSS feature in different ways.
-
Do not override the Cascading Style Sheet specified for the report. If
a browser has been customized to ignore Cascading Style Sheets or
to employ the personal Cascading Style Sheet of the user, and the
user wishes to view reports as they were intended to be seen (with
the specified Cascading Style Sheet), the user must reset his or
her browser to accept the Cascading Style Sheet of each document.
For
instructions about checking or changing a browser setting, see the
browser Help. For information about how conflicts between CSS rules
are resolved (for example, between a rule specified in a CSS document
and a rule specified in the reader Web browser CSS), see your third-party
CSS documentation.