Saving / retrieving the display Layout

Once you have adjusted the layout of the data display according to the way you wish to view it, you can save this layout information with View > Save Layout. The layout information includes:

• display caption
• column order
• column alignment
• column formatting
• column sorting
• whether columns are hidden
• whether columns are locked
• column widths
• column grouping
• column sub-totals
• other attributes of the grid
• cell highlighting

Some (though not all) of these attributes can be specified in Formatting Data.

Default Layout File

The default name of the layout file is:

• (for saved-queries) layout_queryname.txt in the directory where the query is located
• (when displaying a table) layout_tablename.txt in the Location of saved queries directory.

It is generally recommended that you use the Default Layout name when saving the layout.

If Options > File Locations > Location of Layout Files is specified, the layouts will always be held in that directory.

Applying a Layout

When you display a table or query, AQT will see whether the Default Layout File exists for the table / query. If so the Layout button will displayed in the toolbar. Clicking on this will apply the layout to the current display. You can also do this with View > Apply Layout (Shift+F3).

If you wish to apply another layout file to the display, go View > Load Layout. You will be prompted for the layout file to use. Note that this window will only show you layouts named layout_*.txt, so if you have given your layout a name not in this format you will not see it in this list.

Refreshing Data

If you refresh your data in the Data Display window, it will retain some, but not all of the current formatting. Click on View > Apply Layout to reapply the layout.

Examples

To see some examples of display layout, see the demo database aqtdemo. Display the customer_details or order_line tables then click on the Apply button.

Automatically Applying a Layout

If you want the layout to be applied automatically, you can do this in a number of ways:

• before running a query, specify the layout file to be used with an --aqt layout command, Eg:

  --aqt layout,file=layout_emp.txt

  select * from Hr.Employees

  If this is an unqualified file name, it is taken to be in the Location of saved queries directory.

• to automatically apply a layout when you run a saved-query, specify Options > Display Options > Automatically apply Layout to Queries. When you run a saved-query, AQT will check whether the Default Layout file for that query exists. If so, AQT will apply that layout to the query data.
• to automatically apply a layout when you display the table, specify Options > Display Options > Automatically apply Layout to Tables. When you display a table, AQT will check whether the Default Layout file for that table exists. If so, AQT will apply that layout to the table data.