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Working with display formats
228 DataWindow .NET
Working with display formats
You work with display formats in the Database painter and the DataWindow
painter.
What you do in the
Database painter
In the Database painter, you can:
• Create, modify, and delete named display formats
The named display formats are stored in the extended attribute system
tables. When you have defined a display format, it can be used by any
column of the appropriate datatype in the database.
• Assign display formats to columns and remove them from columns
These formats are used by default when you place the column in a
DataWindow object in the DataWindow painter.
What you do in the
DataWindow painter
In the DataWindow painter, you can:
• Accept the default display format assigned to a column in the Database
painter
• Override the default display format with another named format stored in
the extended attribute system tables
• Create an ad hoc, unnamed format to use with one specific column
Display formats and
the extended attribute
system tables
When you have placed a column in a DataWindow object and have given it a
display format (either the default format from the assignment made in the
Database painter for the column or a format assigned in the DataWindow
painter), there is no longer any link to the named format in the extended
attribute system tables.
If the definition of the display format later changes in the extended attribute
system tables, the format for the column in a DataWindow object does not
change. If you want to use the modified format, you can reapply it to the
column in the DataWindow painter.
Working with display formats in the Database painter
Typically, you define display formats and associate them with columns in the
Database painter, because display formats are properties of the data itself. Once
you have associated a display format with a column in the Database painter, it
is used by default each time the column is placed in a DataWindow object.