private function setRealFormat($format) {
        // try to use the _nomax variant if available
        if (!$this->max && null !== self::getFormatDefinition($format . '_nomax')) {
            $this->format = self::getFormatDefinition($format . '_nomax');
        }
        elseif (null !== self::getFormatDefinition($format)) {
            $this->format = self::getFormatDefinition($format);
        }
        else {
            $this->format = $format;
        }

        $this->formatLineCount = substr_count($this->format, "\n");
    }