Add Conditional Format (Highlight)

You can apply conditional formatting (highlighting) to Table columns, Images, Text, Crosstabs, and Chart elements. Conditional formatting allows component appearance to change based on the data bound to the element. These conditional formats are called highlights. They are very useful in calling attention to events where data meets (or fails to meet) some specified condition.

To apply a highlight to a Table column, Image, Text, Chart, or Crosstab, follow these steps:

Right-click the component you wish to highlight. (For a Table, right-click a data cell in column to which you want the highlight to be applied. For a Chart, right-click on a plot element or an axis label.) Note: You can also access menu options from the ‘More’ button () in the mini-toolbar.
Select ‘Highlight’ from the right-click context menu. This opens the ‘Highlight’ panel.
Press the Add button. This opens the ‘Name’ dialog box.
Enter a name for this highlight, and press OK to close the dialog box.

Repeat the previous steps to enter any additional highlights, and then follow the steps below for each individual highlight.

Multiple highlights allow you to produce composite formats. For example, if you specify a red-foreground highlight for the condition “Discount is greater than 0,” and a bold-font highlight for the condition “State is equal to NJ,” values that meet both conditions will appear highlighted in red and bold.

Select the highlight in the list that you want to edit.
In the ‘Attributes’ panel, select the highlight format. The formatting is applied when the data meets the highlight condition (specified below):
1. Click the ‘Foreground’ color chip to set the text color.
2. Click the ‘Background’ color chip to set the fill color.
3. Click the ‘Font’ menu to make the desired font selections.
For a Table, select ‘Apply to Row’ if you wish to apply the specified formatting to the entire table row. Otherwise, the formatting applies only to the selected table column.

Cell-based highlights take precedence over row-based highlights.
Press the Edit button below the ‘Conditions’ box. This opens the ‘Conditions’ dialog box.
Select the operand and type of comparison from the menus at the top of the dialog box, e.g., [Company][is not][one of].

For Tables, the left-side operand (e.g., [Company]) is one of the table column names. To use aggregate fields in a highlight condition for a Freehand Table, first assign a ‘Cell Name’ to the aggregate field in the Freehand Table Editor. See Create a Freehand Table for more information.

For Text and Image highlights, the left-side operand is called value, which is the aggregate value associated with the element, as configured in the Data tab of the element’s ‘Properties’ dialog box.
Optional: For Table highlighting, select ‘Value’, ‘Field’, ‘Expression’, ‘Session Data’, or ‘Variable’ from the ‘Value Type’ button .
- If you select the ‘Field’ option, in the adjoining menu choose the Table column for comparison. (The two columns will be compared row by row, and the specified highlight will be applied to every row where the condition holds true.)
- If you select the ‘Value’ option, either enter the comparison value into the provided text field, or press the ‘Browse Data’ button to choose the comparison value from a list.
- If you select the ‘Variable’ option, select one of the Form components listed in the menu to provide the value at runtime. (See Dynamically Set Properties for further details.)
- If you select the ‘Expression’ option, press the JS/SQL button to select JavaScript or SQL syntax, and then press the ‘Edit Expression’ button . This opens the Script Editor where you can enter your expression. (See Dynamically Set Properties for details on using expressions.)
When you have fully specified the condition, press Append.
To create a compound condition with multiple clauses, repeat the steps above, using the [and] and [or] operators to compose the condition clauses. See below:

Create a Compound Condition

Insert a new clause into an existing condition

In the ‘Conditions’ dialog box, click to select an existing condition. Construct the new condition as described above. Select the desired connector, ‘and’ or ‘or’. Press Insert to add the new condition above the selected condition, joining the two clauses with the chosen connector.

Modify an existing condition

In the ‘Conditions’ dialog box, click to select the existing condition (clause) you wish to modify. Edit the condition as desired using the menus at the top of the dialog box. Press Modify to make the change.

Modify the connector between condition clauses

In the ‘Conditions’ dialog box, select the connector, [and] or [or], that you wish to change in the existing condition string. Choose the desired replacement connector using the ‘and’ and ‘or’ buttons at the top of the dialog box. Press Modify to make the change.

Elevate the priority of a connector

In some cases you may need to specify that a particular condition clause evaluation should be performed before others (i.e., override the default order of operations). Select the connector, [and] or [or], that you wish to evaluate first in the condition string. Press Indent. The connector and its accompanying clauses are indented to indicate that they will be evaluated first. Indenting is equivalent to placing parentheses around the specified clauses, and in general changes the meaning of the condition.

Delete a condition clause

In the ‘Conditions’ dialog box, select the existing condition (clause) you wish to delete. Press Delete. To delete all conditions (clauses), press Clear.

Change the position of a condition clause

In the ‘Conditions’ dialog box, select the existing condition (clause) you wish to move. Press Up or Down, as needed.

If the condition contains both ‘and’ and ‘or’ connectors, the reordering of clauses will in general change the meaning of the condition.
Press OK to exit the ‘Condition’ dialog box and return to the ‘Highlight’ dialog box.
Repeat the above steps to add additional highlights.
Press OK to close the ‘Highlight’ panel.

When you add a highlight to a Table column or Crosstab, the highlight condition is tested individually for each cell. When the condition is satisfied, the corresponding highlight format is applied to the cell or row (if ‘Apply to Row’ is selected).