Whenever a formatting command occurs in a report, it is appended to the member that follows it. For example, in this sequence, {UCOLUMNS}, the underline columns command is appended internally to the member that comes next. In Script 1, it is appended to the row member that can be described as “first child of market, assuming Florida.”
SCRIPT 1 SCRIPT 2 .... .... < ROW Market {UCOL} {UCOL } < Florida (row member) <ICHILDREN Market < TOP .... < BOTTOM ....
Script 2, appends {UCOLUMNS} to the row member Florida. Essbase executes {UCOLUMNS} whenever it encounters a row that has row member Florida. If the TOP or BOTTOM command returns a row that does not contain Florida, the formatting commands appended to the rows are never executed.
Therefore, it is a good idea to place all general formatting commands before a <COLUMN command, or a command that expands into column members to guarantee that the formatting is executed. However, do not use formatting commands that work on rows, because these rows may never be picked up by the <TOP or <BOTTOM command. Also avoid using <SAVEROW and <CALCULATE ROW with the <TOP and <BOTTOM commands.