PROGRAMMING IN COBOL/400: 2nd Edition

Chapter 4. PRINTING REPORTS

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this chapter, you should be able to

• Distinguish between detail reports, exception reports, and summary reports.

• Explain how a printer spacing chart is used to design a printed report.

• Describe what should appear in report headings.

• Explain the difference between report headings and column headings.

• Demonstrate how record types for printer files are defined in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

• Explain the term "editing" and demonstrate how different editing features are used.

• Explain how spacing is controlled when printing a report.

• Explain page overflow and how it is used to print headings on a report.

TYPES OF REPORTS

Printed reports fall into three major categories:

1. Detail reports.

2. Exception reports.

3. Summary or group reports.

DETAIL REPORTS

Detail reports are those reports that include one or more lines of output for each input record read. Thus, a detail report is produced when data from each input record are required. For example, printing employee checks from a master payroll file would be an example of a detail report. Another example of a detail report is a list of each employee and their hours worked, as shown in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1. Example of a detail report.

EXCEPTION REPORTS

Sometimes users ask for detail reports when, in fact, other types of output would be more useful. For example suppose an insurance agent requests a listing ...