The 60FRX.Descriptio column has been updated in almost every record, to better explain usage of fields by reports and labels. The updated information you see in this field applies to all versions of Visual FoxPro, and adds a separate section indicating any new usage in Visual FoxPro 9.0.

The following example is the 60FRX.Descriptio entry for the 60FRX.Fields value RULERLINES.

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RULERLINES is used only in the header record. 0 = Show Ruler Lines: No 1 = Show Ruler Lines: Yes ============================== Visual FoxPro 9-only Information Below ============================== RULERLINES is reserved in VFP9 for OBJTYPE=8 (Field) for StringTrimming. Default is StringTrimmingEllipsisWord. 0 or not entered = Default 1 = StringTrimmingCharacter 2 = StringTrimmingWord 3 = StringTrimmingEllipsisCharacter 4 = StringTrimmingEllipsisWord 5 = StringTrimmingEllipsisPath (for filenames).

To help you find how each type of report and label field is used for different types of layout elements, the Visual FoxPro 9.0 version of 60FRX.DBF contains a new field, 60FRX.Usedby_obj. The 60FRX.Usedby_obj field contains a list of keywords for all report elements that uses a given field.

For example, if you wanted to find out all fields used in the header record of a report or label file, and a description for how these fields are used, you could issue this command:

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SELECT Fields, Descriptio FROM 60FRX WHERE ATC("Header",Usedby_obj) > 0

The Fields column in the resulting cursor gives you the name of each field in an FRX or LBX table used in the Header record. The Descriptio column tells you how each field is used.

Tip:

If a report field has new uses in Visual FoxPro 9.0, the keywords for elements newly using the field follow a symbol, "|", in the 60FRX.Usedby_obj list. For example, for the 60FRX.Fields value RULERLINES, the 60FRX.Usedby_obj value reads HEADER | EXPR. As indicated in the 60FRX.Descriptio entry for RULERLINES above, previous versions of Visual FoxPro used this field in the header record only. Visual FoxPro 9.0 also uses this field for Field (or Expression) layout elements. As a result, the two keywords appear separated by the "|" symbol in the 60FRX.Usedby_obj column.

The following table gives you the 60FRX.Usedby_obj keywords for each type of report object.

Visual FoxPro 9 supplies reference code to show you how to locate and size the various objects used in reports and labels in Foundation Classes. For more information, see FRX Cursor Foundation Class and FRX Device Helper Foundation Class. These classes are part of the default ReportBuilder Application. They give you the ReportBuilder Application's tools to use, when you want to determine appropriate placement and metrics for new report and label elements.

A new report in the FILESPEC directory, 90FRX.FRX, provides consolidated information on full report and label table usage in all versions, while highlighting new-to-Visual FoxPro 9 usage. The earlier reports available for 60FRX.DBF, 60FRX1.FRX and 60FRX2.FRX, are still included in FILESPEC.

There are 100 total possible Objtype values (0 through 99). Visual FoxPro 9 explicitly reserves Objtype values 49 and below for internal or native Report Designer use. Only records with recognized and documented Objtype values, and only records containing Objcode field values natively associated with these Objtype values, are manipulated in the native Report Designer.

Users and add-ons such as ReportBuilder Applications can alter the contents of records with natively-recognized values in the Objtype field of the report or label. They can also add new records with native Objtypes, taking care to follow standard usage of columns for all native types.

Users and add-ons should not add unknown or undocumented Objcode values to records with native Objtype values (49 and below). They may be removed by the native Report Designer without warning.

You can add records with user-defined Objtype values of 50 and above. These records can have any Objcode values. The native Report Designer preserves and ignores all content of such records, but ReportBuilder Applications and other add-ons can be used to add and modify them.

Note:

Although user-added records with Objtype values of 50 and above are preserved, the position of such records within the report or label table is not guaranteed. A Report Designer session may change the order of records in the report table. User-defined records will usually appear at the end of the table after the report is saved by the Report Designer. If record order is significant to your application, store information relevant to record order in an additional column.

Extra content in any records without UniqueID values,including content in native fields such as the User field, will not be preserved. The restriction holds for records with native Objtype values as well as user-defined Objtype values.

Tip:
Use the SYS(2015) function to create values for the UniqueID field of new records. Use the FRXCursor Foundation Class's getFrxTimeStamp method to create appropriate Timestamp values.

Reports and labels have a few native Objtype values without UniqueIDs, notably font (objtype 23) and data environment-related resources (objtypes 25 and 26), used in specific ways by the Report Engine at runtime. It is also possible to have a “comment” record (objtype 0 or blank). The Report Designer and ReportBuilder Application are not guaranteed to preserve user-defined content in these records. You can add new records of the appropriate objtypes for these resources, giving them standard contents. You can also extend these resources by associating user-defined object types with them. For example, a record of objtype 53 could represent an "extended font resource record.

User-added columns must be at the end of the Report or Label table structure. If native columns are re-ordered, deleted, edited for size, type or name, etc., Visual FoxPro will consider the report or label to be invalid.

The header record of the table, describing global report or label attributes, must remain in its standard position (first record in the table).

The Expr, Tag, and Tag2 columns in the header record (used for printer setup attributes) are reserved for internal use.

In some limited cases, users may edit the values in the Expr column and, if these values are reasonable for the associated attributes, they will be recognized by the Designer, remain stable and be available during design sessions, and used by the Report Engine at run time. However, this behavior is not supported and not extensible. In particular, user-defined value-pairs in the Expr field will not be saved back to the report table after design sessions, even if no explicit changes to Page Setup are made during these sessions. You can use the Picture field of the header record to store user-override information for printer instructions, instead. For more information, see SYS(1037) - Page Setup Dialog Box.