Horizontal and vertical lines
The record-level define line (DFNLIN) keyword in DDS can be used to draw
a horizontal or vertical line (also known as a grid line). A horizontal line
is drawn at the bottom of the character spaces. A vertical line is drawn on
the left edge of the character spaces. You can draw horizontal lines and vertical
lines to form boxes on the printed output.
The DFNLIN keyword is valid for SNA character string (SCS) printers.
The maximum number of lines that can be printed at one time is 200. The
maximum number of active vertical lines (vertical lines currently being printed
on the page) is 150. More than 200 DFNLIN keywords can be used per page if
all the define lines from the previous records have been printed.
Output considerations at run time:
- Spacing and skipping are processed before the DFNLIN keyword. If you
space or skip past the start of a line, that line will be truncated (or not
printed if the end of the line is passed also).
- A horizontal line cannot extend over a page boundary. A horizontal or
vertical line cannot be started over a page boundary.
- The start line value specified on the DFNLIN keyword cannot be larger
than the page length value specified on the PAGESIZE parameter on the printer.
- The start position value specified on the DFNLIN keyword cannot be larger
than the page width value specified on the PAGESIZE parameter.
- The sum of the length and the start line value for a vertical line (specified
on the DFNLIN keyword) cannot be larger than the page length specified on
the PAGESIZE parameter.
- The sum of the length and the start position value for a horizontal line
(specified on the DFNLIN keyword) cannot be larger than the page width specified
on the PAGESIZE parameter.
A diagnostic message is sent whenever the PAGESIZE and DFNLIN values together
cannot correctly process a request.
The following is an example of using DFNLIN to produce lines in a table:
