Banner pages

Optionally, you can define banner pages to provide additional information in the printed output for individual reports and for report bundles. For example, you can define a banner that contains a description of a report, routing procedures, or special delivery instructions.

Output Manager supports the following types of banner pages:

Report banners—A banner that is associated with a report definition for a custom or basic report. It is printed for each captured report instance that is based on the report definition, including reports that are part of a report bundle.
Bundle banners—A banner that is associated with a bundle definition. It applies to the entire bundle of reports.
Bundle recipient banners—A banner that is associated with a bundle recipient definition. It is printed for that recipient whenever the recipient is included in a bundle instance.

The contents of each banner page, regardless of its type, must reside in a partitioned data set (PDS or PDS-E) member. These libraries should be allocated as FBA with an LRECL of 133. The use of variable length records is not recommended as results may be unpredictable. A sample banner page member is provided in the SBJTSAMP member BJT@PRBN. A banner member can include the following optional items:

Variables that represent information to be inserted into the banner during print processing. For descriptions of banner variables, see Banner page variables. Some variables are available for report bundles only.
The /BEGSEP and /ENDSEP tags divide the content in a banner member into a heading section (/BEGSEP) and a trailing section (/ENDSEP). The syntax is:
```
/BEGSEP
 heading banner content
/ENDSEP
 trailing banner content
```
If you specify Both in the Banner type field of the banner definition, include the /BEGSEP and /ENDSEP tags in the banner member. If you do not include the /BEGSEP and /ENDSEP tags, the content will be printed at the beginning and end of the component to which the banner applies (a report, bundle recipient, or bundle).

Start of Field and End of Field characters:

A Start of Field character signifies that the text following the character is banner text. The Start of Field characters are also used to specify the font size of the banner text or to introduce a banner substitution variable:
- To specify a font size, place a font size character (`, _, or !) at the beginning of a line of banner text to specify the size of the font to be used for all banner text that follows that character. Start of Field characters that control font size include:
  - ( ` ): A backward quote symbol is used for the smallest font size (x'79'). This symbol indicates that subsequent text is to be printed in 5x5 block letters with a single space between each block letter.
  - ( _ ): An underscore character is used for medium font size (x'6D'). This symbol indicates that subsequent text is to be printed in 7x7 block letters with two spaces between each block letter.
  - ( ! ): An exclamation mark is used for large text size (x'5A'). This symbol indicates that subsequent text is to be printed in 12x12 block letters with two spaces between each block letter.
  These font size characters are always replaced with a single space.
- You can include variables in banner page members to automatically insert customized values or text into banner pages at print time. To introduce a substitution variable, place the ampersand character ( & ) before the variable. The "&" introducing a substitution variable identifies the print position where the substitution is to start. A field may include literal text as well as substitution variables.
The End of Field character, the tilde ( ~ ) (x'A1') signifies the end of the banner text. The "~" is included in the field and indicates the last print position of the substitution variable or block lettering.

Multiple fields may be specified on a single line. If multiple font size specifications are used, all block lettering is performed as if all specifications are the same as the first specification encountered. All non-block letter text is repeated on each line. Therefore, it is possible to create boundary boxes in your banner.

Setting up a banner:

After you define a banner member, you must set up the banner in Output Manager by performing the following tasks from the ISPF interface:

Create a banner definition. You must specify a logical banner name, the name of the PDS that contains the banner member, the banner member name, and the banner type (heading, trailing, or both). Also, set the banner definition status to Enabled to make it available for use by Output Manager. For more information, see Defining a banner page.
Link the banner definition to the appropriate object definition (a report definition, bundle definition, or bundle recipient definition). See Linking a report definition to a banner page, Linking a banner page to a bundle definition, or Linking a banner page to a bundle recipient.

Note: You cannot link different heading and trailing banners to a report, bundle, or bundle recipient definition. Only one banner page can be linked to an object definition.

Additionally, you can specify optional "special instructions" to be inserted into a banner during print processing. To do so, you must 1) define the special instructions as part of the report definition, bundle definition, or bundle recipient definition, and 2) include the &INSTnnnn variable in the banner member where the special instructions are to be placed. The special instructions are stored as part of the report definition, bundle definition, or bundle-recipient definition; they are not specified in the banner member or banner definition. For more information about special instructions, see Setting up reports and Report bundling.