Re: UTL_FILE and FormFeed character

From: Thomas Kyte <tkyte_at_us.oracle.com>
Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2001 21:08:56 GMT
Message-ID: <9f1hge0bc1@drn.newsguy.com>

In article <#Dp7c4G6AHA.291_at_cpmsnbbsa09>, "David says...
>
>Hello All,
>
>I'm looking for a reporting solution that will allow server side reporting
>of data that can generate reports in the thousands of pages. We are using
>CrystalDecisions Crystal Reports 8. It doesn't operate on the server side
>and drags the data back the client and does all the report generation on the
>client workstation. Our reports contain a few subreports. To cut a long
>story short, CR fails to deliver what we need. In my research, it appears
>that UTL_FILE package can give us a raw ASCII image of the report. However,
>I can not find a way to embed a control character into the VARCHAR2 string.
>So, is there a way to do this that I haven't found? If so, what is it. If
>not, is there a way to get UTL_FILE to issue the Form Feed character?
>

ctl-l is the form feed and thats ascii 12. Using the chr() function, we can do this:

ops$tkyte_at_ORA8I.WORLD> declare

  2          l_output                utl_file.file_type;
  3  begin
  4          l_output := utl_file.fopen( '/tmp', 'foo.txt', 'w' );
  5          utl_file.put_line( l_output, 'this is a form' || 
                                                  chr(12) || 'feed' );
  6          utl_file.fclose( l_output );

  7 end;
  8 /

PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

ops$tkyte_at_ORA8I.WORLD>
ops$tkyte_at_ORA8I.WORLD> host od -c /tmp/foo.txt 0000000 t h i s i s a f o r m \f f 0000020 e e d \n
0000024

>Lastly, if any of you have any suggestions on a Server Side reporting tool
>that can be itegrated, or easily called from, a separate application (VB
>executable), please share the information.
>

sounds like the Reports Server -- runs anywhere on the network and generates the reports.

>Thank you all,
>
>David Stidham
>
>

Thomas Kyte (tkyte_at_us.oracle.com) Oracle Service Industries Howtos and such: http://asktom.oracle.com/ http://asktom.oracle.com/~tkyte/ Oracle Magazine: http://www.oracle.com/oramag Opinions are mine and do not necessarily reflect those of Oracle Corp Received on Sat Jul 21 2001 - 16:08:56 CDT