Removing Blank Lines From a Report

How to:

Reference:

The DROPBLNKLINE parameter controls whether blank lines display in a WebFOCUS report. With the options provided, you can affect blank lines that are automatically generated in different locations within a report. You can choose to drop the blank lines around subtotals, subheadings and subfootings, as well as certain data lines that may be blank and appear as blank lines on the report output. Additionally, when using borders, you can select to remove blank lines inserted around the headings and footings. You can eliminate these blank lines from the report output using the SET DROPBLNKLINE options.


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Syntax: How to Control Automatic Blank Lines on Report Output
SET DROPBLNKLINE={OFF|ON|BODY|HEADING|ALL}

or

ON TABLE SET DROPBLNKLINE {OFF|ON|BODY|HEADING|ALL}

where:

OFF

Inserts system-generated blank lines as well as empty data lines. OFF is the default value.

ON|BODY

Removes system-generated blank lines within the body of the report, for example, before and after subheads. In addition, certain data lines that may be blank and appear as blank lines on the report output will be removed from the output. BODY is a synonym for ON.

HEADING

Removes the blank lines between headings and titles and between the report body and the footing. Works in positioned formats (PDF, PS, DHTML, PPT) when a request has a border or backcolor StyleSheet attribute anywhere in the report.

ALL

Provides both the ON and HEADING behaviors.


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Reference: Usage Notes for SET DROPBLNKLINE=HEADING


Example: Comparing DROPBLNKLINE Parameter Settings

The following request against the GGSALES data source has a heading, a footing, and a subtotal. Initially, DROPBLNKLINE is set to OFF.

TABLE FILE GGSALES
HEADING CENTER
"Gotham Grinds Sales By Region"
FOOTING CENTER
"Generated on: &DATETMDYY"
SUM DOLLARS UNITS
BY REGION SUBTOTAL
BY CATEGORY
BY PRODUCT
WHERE REGION EQ 'Northeast' OR 'West'
ON TABLE PCHOLD FORMAT PDF
ON TABLE SET DROPBLNKLINE OFF
ON TABLE SET PAGE NOPAGE
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
SQUEEZE = ON,
FONT = ARIAL,
TYPE=HEADING, BORDER=LIGHT,
$
ENDSTYLE
END

The output has a blank line below the heading, above the footing, and above and below the subtotal lines and the grand total line.

Changing the DROPBLNKLINE setting to HEADING produces the following output. The blank line below the heading and the blank line above the footing have been removed. The blank lines above and below the subtotal and grand total lines are still inserted.

Changing the DROPBLNKLINE setting to ON (or BODY) produces the following output in which the blank lines above and below the subtotal and grand total lines have been removed, but the blank lines below the heading and above the footing are still inserted.

Changing the DROPBLNKLINE setting to ALL produces the following output in which the blank lines around the subtotal and grandtotal lines as well as the blank lines below the heading and above the footing have been removed.


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