Displaying Information

Print: How to Print Reports from Files

Introduction

With the Inquire to File Entries option, you can select entries from a file, one by one, choose a format for displaying the selected entries, and then output the selected entries.

VA FileMan's print capabilities, on the other hand, allow you to select entries, not one by one, but instead by choosing a range of entries based on the sorting order. You can choose all entries in a file, for example, and sort them in alphabetical order for the printout. Alternatively, you can choose all entries sorting between "E" and "F" and sort them in alphabetical order for the printout.

VA FileMan's Print Capabilities

There are two ways in which you'll have an opportunity to use VA FileMan's print capabilities:

• An option that has been set up already to allow you to print from a particular file.
  
  
• VA FileMan's Print File Entries option, which lets you print from any file to which you have access.

In either case, use of VA FileMan's print features is very similar. In most cases, the only difference is that with the Print File Entries option, you have to choose from which file to print.

Unlike the Inquire to File Entries option, which displays individual records, VA FileMan's print can list all records in a file. Thus, the focus of the Inquire to File Entries option is a single or small group of entries while VA FileMan's prints are concerned with the entire file.

VA FileMan's print features allow considerable flexibility in selecting entries, ordering (or sorting) the entries selected, choosing which fields to display, and formatting the output.

The following two basic components can be used to create a report:

1. "SORT BY:" dialogue. Used to sort (and sometimes narrow down) the entries that you want displayed.
   
   
2. "PRINT FIELD:" dialogue. Used to choose the fields you want and the format of their display.

The choices you can make at these two prompts are discussed in detail later in the chapter.

Standard Column Format for VA FileMan Prints

VA FileMan has a standard, columnar format for print output. The file name, current date/time, and page number appear at the top of each report page, followed by column headings that correspond to the labels of selected fields. There are many ways to customize the format, as shown below:

PATIENT LIST NOV 28, 1996 11:32 PAGE 1
 NAME SEX
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 ADAMS,JOHN MALE 
 BROWN,JOE MALE 
 CAPLAN,IRVING MALE 
 DOE,JANE FEMALE

This simple example of a report is generated by the dialogue that follows. It prints information from all the entries in the PATIENT file, ordered by NAME (the .01 field in the file). Only data from the NAME and SEX fields are printed, as requested at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompts:

NOTE: You would have received information about every patient in the file, not just these four. You could have asked for several more fields to be printed. They would appear as columns of output, left to right, in the order specified.

Sorting

Specifying SORT BY Fields

Sorting determines the order that records are printed in your reports. You can accept the default order (by the .01 field), or you can specify your own sorting order. The sort can be a simple sort, based on only one field, or you can sort based on the values of several fields.

For example, if you want to print the entries in order from oldest to youngest patient, you could sort the report by date of birth (the DATE OF BIRTH field in the PATIENT file):

The output then prints in the following order (by DATE OF BIRTH):

In the previous example, the sort criterion (DATE OF BIRTH) is printed with every change in sort value. VA FileMan does this when a sort field is not specified as a print field.

To suppress the printing of sort values (subheaders) in the body of your report, you can either:

• Add the field you are sorting by to the print field list.
  
  
• Place an at-sign ("@") in front of the field label at the "SORT BY:" prompt. In the previous example, you would sort by @DATE OF BIRTH instead of DATE OF BIRTH.

Sorting Order

The ordering of entries within a sort is generally from low value to high value. Some special cases:

• SET OF CODES DATA TYPEs are sorted by the internally stored code, not the value which is output.
  
  
• FREE TEXT fields usually sort from lowest value to highest value following the ASCII sorting sequence: Digits sort before uppercase letters, which sort before lowercase letters (e.g., M1 sorts before MC which sorts before Mc).

Sorting Canonic Numbers and Non-Canonic Strings, and the ;TXT Sort Qualifier

Canonic numbers are pure numbers that do not have leading zeros, or trailing zeros after a decimal point. Thus, 1.1 is a canonic number but 01.1 and 1.10 are not. A non-canonic string is everything else. For example, "8C" is a non-canonic string.

This distinction is important when sorting, because in all VA FileMan sorting, canonic numbers sort first, and everything else sorts second. Usually this works very well. But in a few cases where sort fields contain a mix of canonic numbers and non-canonic strings, unexpected sort orders result. Classic cases include sorting on Social Security Numbers and on ward locations.

Consider Social Security Numbers (SSNs). The SSNs 333333333 and 999999900 are canonic numbers. But the SSN 098769000 is not a canonic number, because of its leading zero. When you use the default sort based on Social Security Number, you get output that looks like the following:

A similar situation occurs when you sort on ward locations. Suppose you have wards 8, 8C, and 9. 8 and 9 are canonic numbers, while 8C is a non-canonic string. Thus, if you sort on ward location, your output comes out in this order: 8, 9, 8C.

To avoid this problem, use the sort qualifier ";TXT" on your sort field. This forces all field values to be non-canonic, with the result that a group of strings like 8, 8C, and 9 sort in the expected order.

NOTE: For more information on the ";TXT" sort qualifier, please refer to the list of Sort Qualifiers below.

Sorting to Select Entries for Printing

Besides using sorting to determine the order of entries printed, you can also use the "START WITH ...:" prompt to restrict what entries are printed to a range. For example, if you accept the default sort range (from first to last), you may get a report with every item in the file listed. You can cut this list down to a subset of the entries in the file by how you sort (e.g., entries that sort from JONES,A to SMITH,Z only).

To specify a sort range, enter the range starting point at the "START WITH...:" prompt, and the range end point at the "GO TO...:" prompt. For example:

SORT BY: NAME// 
START WITH NAME: FIRST// JONES,A
GO TO NAME: LAST// SMITH,Z

Selecting All Entries with the Same Value for One Field

A simple kind of selecting can be done to choose only those entries that have a particular value for a field. For example, to list only those patients who have a DIAGNOSIS equal to CANCER, you can sort as in the example below:

 START WITH DIAGNOSIS: FIRST// CANCER
GO TO DIAGNOSIS: LAST// CANCER 

Other Ways of Selecting Entries

The "START WITH ... GO TO .." dialogue can be used to do sophisticated selecting from a file. Computed expressions can be entered at the prompts to filter the entries to be printed.

NOTE: These powerful techniques are discussed in the "Computed Expressions" chapter of the "VA FileMan Advanced User Manual."

You can also use VA FileMan's search functions to select entries for printing.

NOTE: For more information on the VA FileMan's search functions, please refer to the "Search" chapter in this manual.

Including Entries with Null Fields in Your Sort (Start With @)

When you sort a report on a particular field, if any record in the file has no value in that field, that record will be skipped and not printed, if you accept the default sort start value (FIRST). In other words, in a print from the PATIENT file, if you sort on the PROVIDER field, start sorting from the default of FIRST, and there are some patients with nothing in their PROVIDER field, those patients will be left off of the report entirely.

If you want to include records in your report, even if they have no value in the field you are sorting on, sort from "@" instead of accepting the default of FIRST. As in the example below, enter an at-sign ("@") at the "START WITH:" prompt:

The output of this sort would then include all records, even those with no value in their PROVIDER fields:

Sort Qualifier Reference

As well as entering fields to sort by, you can also enter formatting controls in the "SORT BY:" dialogue. Add these qualifiers to the field label or to the computed expression you're entering at the "SORT BY:" prompt.

Sort Qualifiers to use at "SORT BY:" Prompts

The following table illustrates the sort qualifiers you can use at the "SORT BY:" prompts:

 SORT BY: +REGION
WITHIN REGION, SORT BY: +STORE

 SORT BY: NAME;L2

 SORT BY: NAME;PFROM-TO
START WITH NAME: FIRST// C
GO TO NAME: LAST// Dzzzzz

 THEN PRINT FIELD: PARAM("FROM")
THEN PRINT FIELD: PARAM("TO")

 WITHIN X, SORT BY: @"";S
START WITH "": FIRST// @
GO TO "": LAST// @

 SORT BY: DATE OF BIRTH;"Birthdate: "

 SORT BY: DATE OF BIRTH;""

 SORT BY: STORE:REGION;"Location:"
START WITH Location: FIRST// 
WITHIN Location, SORT BY: 
PRINT FIELD: STORE
THEN PRINT FIELD:

Saving Sort Criteria (SORT Templates)

You can save your sort criteria in a SORT template. This lets you reuse the same sorting instructions in future prints from the current file. SORT templates are stored in the SORT TEMPLATE file (#.401). If you sort by more than three fields, you are asked whether you want to store your sort criteria in a SORT template:

Forcing Creation of a SORT Template

Ordinarily, you are only asked whether to save your sort criteria in a SORT template if you enter three or more fields at the "SORT BY:" prompts. However, to force this question to be asked, enter a right bracket ("]") by itself at one "SORT BY:" prompt. No matter how few fields you sort by, you'll still be prompted to save your sort criteria in a SORT template.

 SORT BY: NAME// ]
SORT BY: NAME// 

Reusing Sort Criteria in New Reports

The reason to save sort criteria in a SORT template is so that you can reuse your sort criteria in a new report from the same file.

To reuse a SORT template as the sort criteria in a new report, at the "SORT BY:" prompt in the new report, enter a left bracket ("[") plus the template name:

OUTPUT FROM WHAT FILE: NEW PERSON
 SORT BY: NAME// [ADDRESS LIST 
 (Dec 08, 1995@07:53) User #34 File #200 
 WANT TO EDIT 'ADDRESS LIST' TEMPLATE? NO// 
 FIRST PRINT FIELD: 

Choosing Print Fields

Specifying Fields to Print

After you have specified the order in which the output should occur, you are asked to list the fields you want displayed for each file entry. In the simplest case, fields are identified by their label. If you enter a single question mark ("?") at the prompt, a list of all the fields in the file is displayed. If you enter the name of a multiple, you are asked for the subfields you want printed. A subfield must be specified even if the multiple has only one subfield.

To print all fields in the file, enter ALL (uppercase) at the "FIRST PRINT FIELD:" prompt. You are then prompted:

 Do you mean ALL the fields in the file? NO//

Enter YES to indicate all fields. Otherwise, the file is searched for field labels beginning with the letters "ALL".

NOTE: Fields from other files can also be printed using extended pointers. This technique is described in the "Using Computed Expressions in COMPUTED Fields" topic in the "Computed Expressions" chapter of the VA FileMan Advanced User Manual. You can also enter other computed expressions, which are also described in that chapter.

Print Qualifier Reference

VA FileMan's print capabilities provide many ways to format a report. If you don't specify any formatting controls, a format is constructed automatically. The width of each field's print area is computed using information from the field's definition. The default width is the larger of the maximum number of characters allowed for the field and the length of the longest word of the field's label (or other specification) in the print dialogue. Two inter-column spaces are added to separate fields.

However, by using print qualifiers at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompt, for each field, you can indicate how long the field's print area should be, where it should start, how many lines to skip before printing the field, and the column title for the field. You can also insert literal strings within the output.

For fields that have numeric values, you can call for several arithmetic calculations and indicate the number of decimal digits of accuracy. If you have requested subtotals in the sort dialogue (by preceding the field with a "+"), calculations are done at the subtotal level as well.

Print Qualifiers to use at "PRINT FIELD:" Prompts

The following table illustrates the print qualifiers you can use at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompts:

 THEN PRINT FIELD: "";S

 THEN PRINT FIELD: DOB;"Date of Birth"
THEN PRINT FIELD: DOB;"Date_of_Birth"

 FIRST PRINT FIELD: "Patient's name:"
THEN PRINT FIELD: NAME;"" 

 FIRST PRINT FIELD: "Patient's name:"
THEN PRINT FIELD: NAME;X

You can string together several of these print qualifiers at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompt. For example:

 THEN PRINT FIELD: +WEIGHT;S1;C3;L6;"Patient Weight"

These specifications translate to: total, count, and give the mean for all values of the WEIGHT field, which must be a NUMERIC valued field. Skip one line before printing the values. Start the output in column three, left justify and truncate it to six character positions, and print the column heading "Patient Weight" on two lines.

Saving Print Criteria (PRINT Templates)

PRINT templates let you store your print field specifications for use at a later time. You can retrieve the template at a later time by using the template name surrounded by square brackets. Template names must be unique with respect to any other PRINT template created for the same file. VA FileMan will notify you, if you try to create a template with a template name that already exists for a file. PRINT templates are stored in the PRINT TEMPLATE file (#.4).

To see a list of all existing templates that pertain to the file you are dealing with, enter a left bracket and a question mark ("[?") at the prompt where you can retrieve templates. For example:

 FIRST PRINT FIELD: [?

This gives you a list of the PRINT templates available for your use with the file.

You are automatically prompted for a template name when it is determined that a considerable amount of information has been specified. If you choose five or more print fields, or if some of your print fields have special formatting specifications, you are prompted to store your print field specification in a PRINT template, as follows:

 STORE PRINT LOGIC IN TEMPLATE: 

If you do not want to store your specifications in a template, simply press the Enter/Return key. If you do want to save these print specifications for future reuse, however, respond to this prompt with the name of a template (either new or existing). Do not enclose the name in brackets; use brackets only to invoke a template, not to name one.

Forcing Creation of a PRINT Template

Ordinarily, you are only asked whether you want to save your PRINT template if you enter five or more fields at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompt, or enter complex print specifications. However, by entering a right bracket ("]") by itself at one of your field prompts, you can force the prompt that asks you for a template name, no matter how few fields you specify. You must designate at least one field to be printed to receive the template prompt, though.

For example:

PRINT FIELD: ]
PRINT FIELD: NAME
THEN PRINT FIELD:
HEADING: 
 STORE PRINT LOGIC IN TEMPLATE: ID PRINT

Using and Editing PRINT Templates

If a PRINT template has already been defined for a file, you can answer the "FIRST PRINT FIELD:" prompt with the template name, enclosed within brackets. For example:

FIRST PRINT FIELD: [PATIENT DATA]
WANT TO EDIT 'PATIENT DATA' TEMPLATE? NO// Y 
 NAME: PATIENT DATA// 
READ ACCESS: 
WRITE ACCESS: 

After you retrieve a template that you yourself have created, you are asked if you want to edit the template. If you answer YES (as shown above), you are allowed to edit the template name. To delete the template, enter an at-sign ("@"). After the "NAME:" prompt, you can edit the template security codes for READ ACCESS and WRITE ACCESS.

Next, you are prompted to edit each "PRINT FIELD:" value, containing each print field stored in the template. You can leave each print field as is, edit it, or delete it with the at-sign character ("@").

To insert a new print field ahead of the print field being displayed in your template, precede the print field you want to insert with an up-arrow ("^"). See the following example of adding to a PRINT template (INPUT and SORT templates have this feature also):

FIRST PRINT FIELD: FIELD1//
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD2// 
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD4// ^FIELD3
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD4// 

To insert a Multiple field and its subfields ahead of the field currently displayed in the template, do the following:

1. Enter an up-arrow ("^") followed by the name of the Multiple field.
   
   
2. Ignore the default presented at the "THEN PRINT FIELD:" prompt and insert each subfield by entering an up-arrow ("^") followed by the name of that subfield.
   
   
3. After all subfields have been added, enter an up-arrow and a right bracket ("^]").

For example:

FIRST PRINT FIELD: FIELD1// 
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD2// 
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD3// ^MultField (multiple)
 THEN PRINT MultField SUB-FIELD: FIELD3// ^SubField1
THEN PRINT MultField SUB-FIELD: FIELD3// ^SubField2
THEN PRINT MultField SUB-FIELD: FIELD3// ^]
THEN PRINT FIELD: FIELD3//

You can use Print Templates that others have created.  Type [?] after the 
FIRST PRINT FIELD:
prompt to see the names of all the PRINT TEMPLATES that you are allowed to use.

FIRST PRINT FIELD: [TEMPLATE NAME]

In this case, some developer has designated the Template whose name is shown as the 'canonic' template for this File.   This will be the "most likely" kind of print output for the File.  Either hit <return> to accept this default, or answer as above.  

The CAPTIONED PRINT Template: [CAPTIONED]

Every file has a pre-defined CAPTIONED PRINT template that you can select at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompt. The CAPTIONED PRINT Template can be very useful; it prints out all non-empty fields for each entry in your report. Use it is a quick way to get all the fields for each entry in your report (much quicker than entering each field individually)!

Use it as follows:

 FIRST PRINT FIELD: [CAPTIONED 

COMPUTED Fields and Record Numbers in CAPTIONED OUTPUT

When you choose the CAPTIONED PRINT Template, you're prompted with "Include COMPUTED fields". At this prompt, you can decide whether to include COMPUTED-type fields in the output for each record, as well as record numbers.

NOTE: For more information on COMPUTED fields, please refer to the "COMPUTED DATA TYPE" topic in the "VA FileMan Advanced User Manual."

FIRST PRINT FIELD: [CAPTIONED 

 Include COMPUTED fields: (N/Y/R/B): NO// ?
Enter a code from the list.
Select one of the following:
N NO - No record number (IEN), no Computed Fields
Y Computed Fields
R Record Number (IEN)
B BOTH Computed Fields and Record Number (IEN)
Include COMPUTED fields: (N/Y/R/B): NO// BOTH Computed Fields and Record Number (IEN)

 *************************
 Heading (S/C): NEW PERSON LIST// 
 DEVICE: 

Printing Statistics Only (Totals, Counts, etc.)

If you precede all of the fields that you choose for printing at the "PRINT FIELD:" prompts with a +, &, !, or #, the individual field values are not printed in your report. Instead, you only get the requested statistics, which (depending on the print qualifiers and fields used) can be the total, count, mean, maximum, minimum, and/or standard deviation.

NOTE: For more information about print qualifiers, please refer to the "Print Qualifier Reference" topic.

Other Print Features

• Multiple Copies of a Print
  
  
• Report Headings
  
  
• Suppressing Report Headings (and Page Feeds)
  
  
• Custom Headings and Footers
  
  
• Printing Sort Criteria in Header or Footer

Multiple Copies of a Print

To generate more than one copy of a report, you must have an output device on your system (such as a spool device or a sequential disk processor [SDP]) which stores data in a linear format. If you choose to send the output to such a device at the "DEVICE:" prompt, the system prompts you as follows:

ENTER NUMBER OF COPIES: 4
OUTPUT COPIES TO DEVICE: PRINTER

In this example, you are asking to print four copies to the device called PRINTER.

You must be using VA FileMan with Kernel or with a device handler similar to Kernel's to produce multiple copies. If you exceed the maximum spool lines allowed you as defined in the KERNEL SYSTEM PARAMETERS file (#8989.3), your report will be stopped.

Report Headings

The heading in a report is what is printed at the top of each report page. Ordinarily, there is a heading (report title), date of report, time of report, page number, and column headers (field titles for fields in the output), as shown below:

 PATIENT LIST JUL 19,1996 14:49 PAGE 1
 SSN NAME
 -------------------------------------------------------------------

You can customize the report heading when you print. If you ask for Help at the "Heading (S/C):..." prompt, VA FileMan displays the following instructions:

Thus, at the "Heading (S/C):" prompt, you can:

• Enter "S" to not print the heading (i.e., not print anything), if no records are found to print.
  
  
• Enter "C" to print sort criteria in the report heading on the first page.
  
  
• Enter a new heading to replace the default heading or press the Enter/Return key to accept the default heading.

Suppressing Report Headings (and Page Feeds)

If you do not want headings to be printed in your output, enter an at-sign ("@") at the "HEADING:" prompt:

 HEADING: PATIENT LIST// @

If you want neither headings nor page feeds in your output, enter two at-signs ("@@") at the "HEADING:" prompt.

If you suppress the headings in your output and also save your print criteria in a PRINT template, you will be asked:

 DO YOU ALWAYS WANT TO SUPPRESS SUBHEADERS WHEN PRINTING TEMPLATE? 

Subheaders are the names of SORT BY fields you see in the body of your report, when you don't include those SORT BY fields as print fields. To automatically suppress all subheaders, answer YES at this prompt.

NOTE: When you are sorting, you can suppress subheaders individually at each sort level by entering an at-sign ("@") in front of the field on which you are sorting. For more information, please refer to the "Sorting" topic.

Custom Headings and Footers

You can print complex, multi-line headings by using a PRINT template to hold your heading format. Suppose, for example, that you want the patient's name and date of birth to appear as the heading at every page break. You could first create a PATIENT HEADER template as follows:

SORT BY: NAME
START WITH NAME: FIRST// 
FIRST PRINT FIELD: "PATIENT NAME: " 
 THEN PRINT FIELD: NAME 
 THEN PRINT FIELD: "DATE OF BIRTH: ";C50
THEN PRINT FIELD: DATE OF BIRTH
THEN PRINT FIELD: 
*************************
Heading (S/C): PATIENT LIST//
STORE PRINT LOGIC IN TEMPLATE: PATIENT HEADER
Are you adding 'PATIENT HEADER' as a new PRINT TEMPLATE? No// YES (Yes) 
 DEVICE:

Then, at a later time, when you do another print, at the heading prompt, enter the template name:

 Heading (S/C): PATIENT LIST// [PATIENT HEADER]

When you enter a PRINT template name such as PATIENT HEADER at the "Heading (S/C):..." prompt, the format of the template is used as a replacement for the full normal report heading on each page of your report (it replaces the full default heading, including title, time, date, page number, field names, and separator line). Thus, the header, as defined above, would contain no column headings and would not be separated from the body of the report by a horizontal line or even a blank line. You can add these in yourself as print fields in the template, if you so desire.

Custom Footers

You can also add footers to the bottom of each page of a report. First, save the contents of the footer in a template as you do to create a custom heading. Then, use the template at the "HEADING:" prompt with a dash ("-") before the first bracket:

Heading (S/C): PATIENT LIST// -[PATIENT FOOTER]

You can specify both a heading and a footer like this:

 Heading (S/C): PATIENT LIST// [PATIENT HEADER]-[PATIENT FOOTER] 

NOTE: Specifying only a footer at the "Heading (S/C):" prompt suppresses the default heading. If you need a header as well as footer, you must use custom templates for both.

Printing Sort Criteria in the Heading or the Footer

You can print the sort criteria (values used to sort the report) in the header in two different ways:

• At the "Heading (S/C):" prompt, entering "C" prints the sort criteria in the automatically generated report heading.
  
  
• Use the sort qualifier ;Pa-b to save the FROM and TO values used to sort a report. Then, in a customized header or footer (stored in SORT templates), you can retrieve the sort values with PARAM("a-string").
  
  NOTE: For more information, please refer to the description of the ;Pa-b sort qualifier.

Reviewed/Updated: October 2016