When you double-click the Format Editor file for a project, you initialize and start the Format Editor. Having been initialized, it reads the editor configuration file contained in the project. This file identifies definition file for the formatters of the project. By default, the definition file for formatters is called dsefmts.xml. The Format Editor loads and parses the definitions contained in the definition file for formatters to build the formats used by the project applications. The editor's configuration file also identifies the name of the CHA Editor file with which a Format Editor file works.
Working with the CHA Editor file, the Format Editor displays the CHA contexts, data elements, format elements, and their definitions in its views.
When you make an addition, modification, or deletion to either format elements, CHA contexts, or data definitions within one view in the Format Editor, the editor updates the other views to reflect the changes. For example, if you create a format definition within the FMTE page of the Editor view, the editor adds the format definition to the Outline view and adds the definition to the format definition file. This means you can use either the Editor view or Outline view to create, modify, and delete format elements.
Note that because Branch Transformation Toolkit does not support forward references (that is, the definition being referred to must appear before the definition making the reference), the order in which format definitions appear in definition files might not match the order used to display the format elements, data elements, and CHA contexts in various views of the Format Editor.