The cell formatting menu allows you to customize how data values will show, add custom borders, and add formatting that is applied only if a condition is met.
Number
If a cell has a numeric, date, or time value, then you can use Number formatting to choose how the value should appear on the report. For example, you could add a dollar sign ($) to monetary values and separate each three digits to make values easier to read.
Numeric values with currency styled formatting
The following options for Number formatting are available:
General
Format the data using the default settings for your environment. This is the default option. The application will assume the data type based on the value.
Number
Format the data as a number, currency, or percentage.
Optional: Choose how the number displays:
In the Decimal Places field, enter a number for how many decimal places to display. Then, in the field to the right, enter a symbol to use as the decimal mark.
To show a delimiter every three digits, select Use 1000 Separator. Then, in the field to the right, enter a symbol to use as the delimiter.
To show a currency symbol before the number, select Use Currency Symbol. Then, in the field to the right, enter the symbol to show.
To show a percent sign (%) after the number, select Append Percent Sign.
To show no value if the number is 0, select Blank When Zero.
To show a minus sign (-) in front of negative numbers, select Show Negative Symbol.
To show parentheses ( ) around negative numbers, select Show Parenthesis.
To show negative numbers in a different color, enter a color code in the Color field or use the color picker to choose a color.
Date
Format the data as a date, time, or date and time.
Optional: Choose which date and time components to display, and how to show them. Either select one of the patterns from the Date/Time Format list, or enter a custom pattern using the following variables:
|
Variable |
Description |
Result for sample date of "Sept-2-1907 5:08:04 PM" |
|---|---|---|
|
d |
day of the month, from 1 to 31 |
2 |
|
dd |
day of the month, from 01 to 31 |
02 |
|
ddd |
day of the week, abbreviated name |
Mon |
|
dddd |
day of the week, full name |
Monday |
|
M |
month, from 1 to 12 |
9 |
|
MM |
month, from 01 to 12 |
09 |
|
MMM |
month, abbreviated name |
Sept |
|
MMMM |
month, full name |
September |
|
y |
year of the century, from 0 to 99 |
7 |
|
yy |
year of the century, from 00 to 99 |
07 |
|
yyyy |
year, from 0001 to 9999 |
1907 |
|
h |
hour using a 12 hour clock, from 1 to 12 |
5 |
|
hh |
hour using a 12 hour clock, from 01 to 12 |
05 |
|
H |
hour using a 24 hour clock, from 0 to 23 |
17 |
|
HH |
hour using a 24 hour clock, from 00 to 23 |
17 |
|
m |
minute, from 0 to 59 |
8 |
|
mm |
minute, from 00 to 59 |
08 |
|
s |
second, from 0 to 59 |
4 |
|
ss |
second, from 00 to 59 |
04 |
|
t |
A/P |
P |
|
tt |
AM/PM |
PM |
Text
Do not apply any formatting to the data, and show it exactly as it appears in the database.
Border
Alter the width and color of the cell borders. To set a color for a cell border, enter a color code or select a color from the picker. To set the width of the border, enter a pixel value, or use the arrows to make the border thicker or thinner.
To set all the cell borders to the same color and width, select Make Borders Uniform.
Tip
If gridlines are enabled for
the Report Viewer, then cell borders will show in addition to the gridlines.
Choosing border colors and widths
Conditional
A conditional format allows you to format a cell according to its output data. The cell and text styles can depend on its data value, and you can even conditionally hide rows or entire sections. This can be useful for highlighting certain values in a data set, such as outliers from a trend.
Conditional formatting uses a formula to set the condition. The formula must evaluate to True or False: If True, the formatting will be applied, and otherwise it will not. Conditional formulas are often based on data in the cell, but they can also be based on other cells, data fields, or other information about the report.
Example of a formula that evaluates to True or False
To set or modify the format of a cell based on a conditional formula:
Click 
Add to create a
new condition.
From the Action list, select an action to occur if the condition is met.
Optional: If applicable, select an attribute for the action from the Attribute list.
Click the Formula Editor
icon and enter a formula for the condition. The formula must evaluate to
True or False.
To use the value of the current cell in the formula, use the function CellValue(). Click Cell Value to insert CellValue() into the formula.
A cell can have multiple conditional formats, each of which is a separate row
in the Conditional page. If two or more overlap, the lower condition takes
precedence. Click the Move Row Up 
and Move Row Down 
icons to reorder the
precedence of the conditions.
A cell with multiple conditional formats
Using Formulas as Conditional Formatting Colors
In addition to selecting a static color with the color selector, a formula may be used to change the colors of a cell when conditional formatting.
A formula which returns a value convertible to a hexadecimal color code can be entered as the Attribute when the Action is Foreground Color or Background Color. When using this option, conditional formatting color properties can be determined at runtime instead of report design time.
One application of this feature is to read color values from a data source and use that color data to apply formatting to a cell.
If the Action selected requires a color value, an additional
Formula Editor icon will appear in the in the
Color Selector 
. Clicking on the
Color Selector's Formula Editor icon will open the standard
Formula Editor. All formula elements available in conditional
formulas are available, including CellValue(),
references to other cells, application parameters and data fields.
Aggregate functions are not available in attribute formulas.
Tip
Hexadecimal color codes may
be upper or lowercase and may contain the # prefix character, but it is not
required.
If the formula returns null or an empty string, the conditional formatting will not be applied. If the formula returns a value that is not convertible to a hexadecimal color code, an error message will be displayed in the cell instead.
Examples
This example uses conditional and logical functions to combine multiple conditions into one clause.
=If(And(CellValue() >=1000, CellValue()<10000), "#FFFFFF", If(CellValue()>=10000, "#ECECEC", "#00000"))
This example uses an application parameter named ConditionalColor to select a color to apply:
=@ConditionalColor@
This example simply refers to a Data Field that contains a hexadecimal color value to apply:
{Products.ProductColor}
A few examples of valid hexadecimal color codes:
#FFF
#c0c0c0
ff4c00
F90