A StyleSheet is a group of declarations, in a text file or in a report request, that describe how you want your report to look. These declarations:

• Identify a report component.
• Describe the desired characteristics of that component.

You can create a StyleSheet using any text editor, including TED, the FOCUS text editor.

FOCUS uses the same default style for all report components if you do not create a StyleSheet.

With a StyleSheet, you only have to define the styles of those components to be displayed differently from the default style. Any component not specifically formatted in your StyleSheet either uses the default style or inherits a style from a higher-level component. Inheritance is discussed in FOCUS StyleSheet Attribute Inheritance.

When you create a styled report, your page layout differs from a standard FOCUS report. This variation is a function of the page layout parameters FOCUS uses for the two kinds of reports:

• For unstyled reports, FOCUS uses the parameters LINES, PAPER, PANEL, and WIDTH to define the page layout.
• For styled reports, FOCUS uses the parameters PAGESIZE, ORIENTATION, UNITS, TOPMARGIN, BOTTOMMARGIN, LEFTMARGIN, RIGHTMARGIN, and SQUEEZE. Any of these parameters that you do not specifically set-either in a report request, in a StyleSheet, or with a SET command-inherits default values.

A style is a description of the physical characteristics of a report component; it consists of four basic attributes:

• A font (typeface) such as Helvetica, Courier, or Times.
• A size for the font such as 12-point or 14-point.
• A text style or combination of text styles such as bold, italic, or bold+italic.
• A color.

You can also define such attributes as background colors, grids, borders, and images in a StyleSheet declaration.

In a non-styled FOCUS report request, you can set values for the maximum number of lines on the output page (LINES), the number of lines on the printed page (PAPER), and the maximum number of characters in a report panel (PANEL). FOCUS then uses the typeface and size defined by your printer setup for all data in the report.

In a styled report, you can specify measurement units such as inches or points, and you can control column width or spacing. You can also change typefaces, type size, and type style for any part of the report.

In a PostScript or PDF report, you can also set margins on the top, bottom and sides of the report, and you can set the page size for letters, envelopes, and many other types of paper. The following table compares your options with and without StyleSheets:

	With StyleSheets	Without StyleSheets
Text font	You can use different font sizes and fonts. You can selectively apply text styles such as bold or italic.	FOCUS uses the default font specified in your printer setup for the entire report.
Colors	You can select a color for the text or background.	The ink and paper in your printer determine the colors in your report.
Individual components	You can assign different styles to individual report components.	FOCUS uses a single style for the entire report.
Conditional styling	You can apply different styles to the same component based on report values.	Report format does not change with changes in report values.
Column widths	You can have column widths based on the column content, the field format specified in the Master File, or specify a width.	FOCUS bases column widths on the column title or the field format specified either in the Master File or the report request.
Column placement	You can specify the starting position of individual columns and arrange columns in any order regardless of the sequence established in the report request. In addition, you can indicate how much space to leave before and after individual columns.	You can specify the starting position of individual columns in the report request.
Page size	You can select from a wide range of page sizes for PostScript and PDF reports.	You can specify the number of lines per page within the limits of your printer setup.
Page orientation	You can select either portrait or landscape for PostScript, PDF, and EXL2K reports.	FOCUS uses the default orientation specified in your printer setup.
Page margins	You can specify the top, bottom, left, and right margins, measured in inches, centimeters, or points for PostScript and PDF reports.	FOCUS uses the default page margins specified in your printer setup.
Justification	You can justify individual report components.	You can justify column titles.

There are two ways to create a StyleSheet:

• You can create a StyleSheet file in a report request. This is useful when you are applying that set of styles to only one report. See How to Create a StyleSheet in a Report Request.
• You can create a separate StyleSheet file. In order to use a StyleSheet file, you must activate it. This option is useful when you want to create a StyleSheet template that you can apply to any report. In addition, you can create a StyleSheet on one platform and then port it to, and run it on, other platforms. See How to Activate an Existing StyleSheet File.

You can take advantage of most StyleSheet options without ever having to create a StyleSheet.

You can select a StyleSheet, page size, orientation, and margins at the FOCUS command level (if you want to apply them to your entire FOCUS session), or in a report request (if you want to apply them to one report).

You need to create a StyleSheet file if you wish to:

• Style report components individually.
• Apply different styles to the same component based on report values.

ON TABLE SET STYLE *
.
.
.
ENDSTYLE

TABLE FILE EMPLOYEE
PRINT EMP_ID FIRST_NAME LAST_NAME
BY DEPARTMENT 
ON TABLE HOLD FORMAT PS
ON TABLE SET STYLE *
TYPE=REPORT, FONT=TIMES, SIZE=10, $
TYPE=REPORT, COLUMN=EMP_ID, RIGHTGAP=1, $
ENDSTYLE 
END

SET STYLE[SHEET] = styoption

TABLE FILE file 
request 
ON TABLE SET STYLE styoption 
END

A StyleSheet consists of a series of declarations that describe how your report will look. Each declaration:

• Identifies a report component or subcomponent.
• Describes the formatting to apply to that component.
• Optionally, if the component is a heading, footing, or column, specifies a position on the page for the component and a justification.
• Optionally, specifies the distance between columns, column sequence, and column width.
• Optionally, specifies a condition that must be true in order to apply the style. This technique is called conditional styling.

In your StyleSheet, include declarations for only those components whose format to change. Within each declaration, include only those formatting attributes to change.

Each declaration in a StyleSheet consists of attribute=value pairs separated by commas, and terminated with a comma and dollar sign (,$). The attributes that select a component or subcomponent must come first in each declaration. You can specify all other attributes in any order. The syntax is:

TYPE=value1, attribute2=value2, ... ,$

Note:

• You can use uppercase, lowercase, or mixed-case in the StyleSheet file.
• Page layout parameters automatically apply to the whole report. Therefore, declarations that set page parameters do not require a TYPE attribute. For example, the following declarations are equivalent:

  TYPE=REPORT, ORIENTATION=LANDSCAPE ,$
  ORIENTATION=LANDSCAPE,$

  See Styling the Page Layout for a complete description of page parameters.

• Each declaration must begin on a new line.
• A declaration can use more than one line. The terminating dollar sign indicates where the declaration ends.
• You can describe a single report element in more than one declaration.
• You can include blank spaces between the attributes, values, equal signs (=), commas, and dollar sign. You can also include blank lines. FOCUS can interpret declarations with or without blank spaces or lines.
• You can include comments, either on a declaration line after the terminating dollar sign, or on a separate comment line that begins with a dollar sign.

The attributes in the StyleSheet file identify report components, manipulate them, and define styles for formatting them.

There are many ways to structure your StyleSheet declarations in order to make the StyleSheet easy to read. You can do any one, or a combination, of the following:

• Begin a declaration in any column using blank spaces or tabs.
• Include blank lines between declarations.
• Create declarations in all uppercase, all lowercase, or mixed case.
• Use more than one declaration to format a single report component.
• Include blank spaces or tabs in between the attribute, equal sign (=), value, comma, and dollar sign ($).
• Split a single declaration across a line. The declaration will continue to be processed until the dollar sign terminates it. For example, you can split a declaration like this:

  TYPE=HEADING, FONT=ARIAL,
  SIZE=14, STYLE=BOLD, $

• Split an attribute=value pair across a line. Use the backslash (\) character as continuation syntax at the end of the first line if you are splitting an attribute or value in a declaration across a line. For example:

  TYPE=TITLE, COLUMN=N2, STY\
  LE=BOLD+ITALIC, COLOR=BLUE, $

You can add comments to a StyleSheet to give context to a declaration. Comments do not affect StyleSheet behavior.

You can add a comment:

• On a declaration line. Add the desired text after the dollar sign ($). For example,

  TYPE=HEADING, STYLE=BOLD, COLOR=BLUE, SIZE=14, $ Sample comment

• On its own line. Begin the line with either a dollar sign ($), or a hyphen and an asterisk (-*), followed by the desired text. For example,

  -* This is a sample comment
  $ This is another sample comment

Note: You can add comments anywhere in your request, not only in StyleSheets.

You can check the syntax of a StyleSheet from the FOCUS prompt with the CHECK STYLE command.

CHECK STYLE filename