Styling Report Queries

The selected color provides an alternating color scheme for the report. The report output will display alternating rows of data using a white background for one row and a background of the selected color in the next row. This pattern continues throughout the report, as shown in the following image.

Top of page

Procedure: How to Apply Traffic Light Conditional Styling to Data in a Report

You can apply conditional traffic light styling to data displayed in the report output for a selected numeric measure field. By default, the first condition displays values in green and the second condition displays values in red.

Select the desired numeric measure data source field in the Query Design pane.
The Field tab is displayed in the Control Panel.

Select Traffic Lights from the Specific menu.
The Traffic Light Condition dialog box opens displaying the green light selection fields where you can select and enter green light criteria.

From the drop-down menu below the selected data source field name, choose one of the following relational operators:
- Equal to
- Not equal to
- Greater than
- Less than
- Greater than or equal to
- Less than or equal to

In the field to the right of the operator drop-down menu, enter the desired value for the selected operator to display data values in green in the report output for the selected data source field.
or

Select an option from the Values drop-down menu and select the desired data value in the Data Values dialog box that opens. From the Values drop-down menu, as shown in the following image, you can select Fetch All Values from Source, Fetch Values from Disk, Fetch First Value in Source, Fetch Last Value in Source, Fetch Minimum, or Fetch Maximum.

Click Add New.
The red light selection fields are displayed in the Traffic Light Condition dialog box where you can select and enter red light criteria.

From the red light drop-down menu, choose the desired relational operator.

In the field to the right of the red light drop-down menu, enter the desired value for the selected operator to display data values in red in the report output for the selected data source field.
or

Select an option from the Values drop-down menu and select the desired value in the Data Values dialog box that opens.

Perform any of the following options in the Traffic Light Condition dialog box:
- Delete an existing traffic light condition by clicking the Remove button.
- Perform styling and change colors by clicking the Style button. In the Style pop-up menu that opens, clicking the color icon opens the color selection dialog box where you can select a different color than the default green and red colors that appear for the first two conditions. When selecting colors, you can click a color square on the left side of the dialog box or click an area of the color palette on the right side of the dialog box. You can also select colors by typing numbers in the Hue, Sat, Lum, Red, Green, and Blue fields or by using the up and down arrows next to each field to set numeric values.
- Add more traffic light conditions by clicking Add New and selecting a different color for each new condition that you add.

Click OK when you are ready to close the Traffic Light Condition dialog box.

Run the report.

The following image shows the Traffic Light Condition dialog box with criteria to display report output showing Unit Sales greater than 600000 in green and Unit Sales less than 600001 in red.

The following image shows the resulting report output that has traffic light conditional styling applied to the data in the Unit Sales column using red and green text according to the criteria specified in the Traffic Light Condition dialog box.

Top of page

Procedure: How to Utilize Cell Padding in a Report

You can customize the amount of space inserted between rows and columns in a report.

Select the Layout tab in the Control Panel.

Select Custom from the drop-down menu for the Cell Padding button in the Report Menu.
The Cell Padding dialog box opens.

Specify the desired cell padding values in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right fields.

Click OK.

Selecting the Cell Padding button opens the Cell Padding dialog box, as shown in the following image, where you can set specific values to control the amount of space inserted between rows and columns in a report.