Xerox Printer User Manual

HOST FORMS DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE

If you draw additional lines horizontally and vertically away from
the form origin so that each additional line is one unit of
measure apart, you create a grid.  You can now position form
elements by specifying a grid position.

You can use negative 

x and y values to place the form elements

above and to the left of the form origin.  You can only specify
negative values within the system page boundaries.

You can specify the unit of measure you want to use to position
form elements on the page.  However, predefined formats
automatically select the grid values for you.  The “FMT grid
format properties” appendix lists the predefined grid format
properties for various page sizes.

There are two types of data: forms data and variable data. Make
sure you consider them when you create forms for printing on
Xerox LPS printers.

Forms data is the information on a form that remains the same,
such as form titles and column titles.  Typically, fixed–length
forms data changes only when you modify the form.  Forms data
is the only data you enter in the design process.

When designing a column size you must consider the amount of
variable data the column accommodates, not the size of the
fixed–length column title.

Variable data is the data you overlay in the space provided by the
designed form.  Variable data varies in length.  An example of
variable data is a name and address.

You must allow sufficient space in the columns to accommodate
the variable data.  Otherwise, variable data may be invalid or
unusable.  For example, if you do not provide sufficient space for
an address, the zip code could be truncated.  Spacing for
variable data is extremely important and is more accurately
calculated with fixed spacing of the font characters.

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HOST FORMS DESCRIPTION LANGUAGE 3.2 FOR IBM MVS CREATING FORMS