I didn't find anything wrong with your code - could it be the application you use to look at the results doesn't display them correctly? Open your TEST.ERR file in the PROGRESS editor and see if you get the results you expect.
Below is your code that I edited to use a temp-table in place of your database table and the results it produced. As you can see I didn't change any formatting in the FORM definition
def temp-table t-layout no-undo
field dept as char format 'x(4)'
field prg as char format 'xxx'
field bl as char format 'xx'
field ref as char format 'x(45)'
index pri is primary dept.
def var serr as int no-undo.
def var vmatch as char format 'x(60)' no-undo.
def var i as int no-undo.
def stream serr.
FORM HEADER
"Date: " TODAY
"Page: " AT 116 PAGE-NUMBER(serr) FORMAT ">>>9"
SKIP
"Exception/Error - Update ME FROM ARLU" AT 46
SKIP (2)
WITH NO-BOX NO-LABELS PAGE-TOP WIDTH 132
FRAME fheader.
FORM
t-layout.dept
t-layout.prg
t-layout.bl
vmatch LABEL "Error Description" FORMAT "x(60)"
t-layout.ref FORMAT "x(45)"
WITH FRAME frep OVERLAY WIDTH 132.
OUTPUT STREAM serr TO "/nfs2/pwesterm/TEST.ERR" PAGED PAGE-SIZE 68.
VIEW STREAM serr FRAME fheader.
vmatch = fill('0', 60).
do i = 1 to 10:
create t-layout.
assign t-layout.dep = fill(string(i), 4)
t-layout.prg = fill(string(i), 3)
t-layout.bl = fill(string(i), 2)
t-layout.ref = fill(string(i), 45).
DISPLAY STREAM serr
t-layout.dep
t-layout.prg
t-layout.bl
vmatch
t-layout.ref
WITH FRAME frep DOWN WIDTH 165.
DOWN WITH FRAME frep.
end.
The results below aren't shown correctly here because of the text wrap (something like Mike referred to), but you can see that the dotted line is under the column label like you want:
Date: 11/04/03 Page: 1
Exception/Error - Update ME FROM ARLU
dept prg bl Error Description ref
---- --- -- ------------------------------------------------------------ ---------------------------------------------
1111 111 11 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
2222 222 22 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222
3333 333 33 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 333333333333333333333333333333333333333333333
4444 444 44 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444
5555 555 55 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 555555555555555555555555555555555555555555555
6666 666 66 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 666666666666666666666666666666666666666666666
7777 777 77 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 777777777777777777777777777777777777777777777
8888 888 88 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
9999 999 99 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
1010 101 10 000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 101010101010101010101010101010101010101010101