You work with display formats in the Database painter and the DataWindow 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.
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
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.
