4.5 DEFAULT DISPLAY FORMAT
The display format means the way that the records will appear when you use browse the database or display search results. Display formats can also be used in producing printed output. There must be at least one display format for the database and that must have the same filename as the database. You can always create more formats, or modify existing ones, later.
A message box appears asking “Do you want Winisis to launch the Print Format Assistant?” and you can choose Yes or No. If you are new to CDS/ISIS, or if you just want an off- the-peg format to save time, click Yes. You are then given the choice of five pre-defined formats. The order of fields will be the same as in the Field Definition Table.
Normal style. This uses font 2 (normally Times Roman) and colour 4 (normally blue) and gives a display with the field names in one column and the data in the next.
CDS/ISIS DOS compatible format. This is similar to the Normal style but it uses only black text and
Courier font, and features which are within the capabilities of the DOS version of CDS/ISIS.
Decorated format. Three fonts and various colours feature in the format. The record number
(MFN) and the name of the database appear in a box and the field names appear in italics.
HTML normal. This is a format using very basic HTML (HyperText Markup Language), the language used to create pages for the World Wide Web. No HTML tags are included to separate the contents of one record from the next.
HTML table with headers. This again incorporates HTML tags and displays field names and their contents in the form of a table.
Once the format has been created, it will be displayed in case you wish to edit
it. The next chapter describes the formatting language in some detail, but just to give you a taste:
a) Fields are specified by using v (for variable) in front of the tag: thus v10 means display the contents of field 10.
b) Text between single or double inverted commas forms a literal and will appear in the display just as it is written.
c) The slash (/) means start a new line here.
A simple format for a database containing fields 10, 20 and 30 could be:
v10,v20,v30
This would display field 10, immediately followed by field 20, immediately followed by field 30, e.g.
Walton, C.Good office management practice1990
To display the fields on different lines, they should be separated by slashes, e.g.
v10/v20/v30
This would display the above example as:
Walton, C.
Good office management practice
1990
Unlike in the DOS version of CDS/ISIS, you can use carriage returns in the format to make it easier to read, e.g.
’Author: ’ v10/
’Title: ’ v20/
’Date: ’ v30
Do not worry about getting your display format right first time. It is best to try the format out when you have entered a few records and then edit it as necessary. When you have used the services of the Assistant, or you have written your own format, click the green arrow to go on.
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