Conditional Formatting dialog box

Conditional formatting allows you to alert document users to data that is likely to be important for making business decisions. Conditional formatting changes the format of controls (text fields, images, sections, and so on) in your document depending on attribute or metric qualifications. This provides the flexibility to personalize documents based on the data returned by the dataset reports. For more background information on conditional formatting, see Formatting conditional values in documents.

The Conditional Formatting dialog box allows you to create, edit, or delete a conditional format. A conditional format is the combination of an object, a condition, and formatting properties that are applied to the object when the condition is met.

When you apply conditional formatting (or thresholds) to an object in a Grid/Graph, the Thresholds dialog box opens. For details, see Thresholds dialog box.

Conditional Formatting dialog box layout

The Conditional Formatting dialog box has:

• A toolbar across the top of the dialog box. Use this toolbar to select the object to apply conditional formatting to, and then to add, delete, and reorder conditional formats for the selected object. For descriptions of all the toolbar icons, see The toolbar below.

• A list of the conditional formats, if any, defined for the object selected in the toolbar. If no conditional formatting is defined for the selected object, the message "There are no items to show in this view" is displayed.

  Each conditional format displays:

  • The name of the conditional format.

  • A check box that indicates whether the conditional format is enabled (that is, displayed in the PDF) or disabled (that is, not displayed in the PDF).

  • The qualifications (field, operator, and value) that determine whether the conditional format is applied. (Examples of qualifications are "Region In list {Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast}" and "Profit Greater than 10000".)

  • The formatting applied when the qualifications are met.

For more detailed descriptions of this area, see Conditional format list below.

You can also show all or hide all conditional formatting in a document.

The Allow user to display and hide conditional formatting check box at the bottom of the dialog box. This check box determines whether users can switch conditional formatting on and off. If the check box is cleared, the Conditional Formatting icon on the toolbar in the Document Editor and the Show Conditional Formatting option on the Document Properties dialog box are disabled.

The toolbar

The toolbar contains:

• A list, at the far left, of all the controls and sections in the document. Select the control or section to work with. Any conditional formats defined for the object are listed below the toolbar.

  Objects of all control types except Grid/Graph can use conditional formatting.

• Add a new threshold . Click to add a new conditional format to the selected object. The new conditional format, titled New Threshold, is added to the list below the toolbar.

  The drop-down list contains predefined conditional formats, such as Highest Value, that do not apply to documents.

• Copy copies the selected conditional format (the qualifications and the format).

• Paste adds the copied conditional format to the bottom of the list of conditional formats. You can then rename it and edit it to suit your needs.

• Delete deletes the selected conditional format.

• Delete all deletes all the conditional formats for the selected object.

• Move up and Move down allow you to re-order the conditional formats.

• Add a new condition adds another qualification to the selected conditional format.

• Remove all conditions removes all qualifications in the selected conditional format.

• Edit the threshold formatting allows you to change the formatting that is applied when the qualifications are met. The Format Cells dialog box opens.

• Enable threshold on Graph is not available for objects in documents.

Conditional format list

The middle area of the dialog box lists all the conditional formats applied to the object selected in the toolbar. If no conditional formatting exists for the selected object, the message "There are no items to shown in this view" is displayed. Each conditional format has a box that contains:

• The name of the conditional format. The default name is New Threshold, but you can change it by selecting New Threshold and typing the new name.

• A check box in front of the name that enables or disables it. If a format is disabled (the check box is cleared), it is not displayed in the PDF.

  You can also show all or hide all conditional formatting in a document.

• The qualifications that determine whether the conditional format is applied. Qualifications are the actual conditions that must be met, such as "Region = Northeast" or "Revenue > $1 million". Each conditional format can have one or multiple qualifications; multiple qualifications are combined with operators such as AND and OR.

• The formatting applied when the qualifications are met. A sample of the formatting and replacement text/symbol is shown to the right. Click the down arrowto select whether to:

• Format the text. Click Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar.

• Replace the text (Available only when the selected control object is a text field) to replace the text in the text field with new text that you enter. You can change the format of the replacement text by clicking Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar.

  Only static text can be used as replacement text.

• Replace the text with a Quick symbol. (Available only when the selected control object is a text field) Choose the replacement symbol from the box next to the drop-down list. You can change the symbol's formatting (such as size, color, and border) by clicking Edit the threshold formatting on the toolbar.

• Hide the text, which hides the selected object.

Accessing the Conditional Formatting dialog box

1. Open a document in the Document Editor. How?

2. From the Format menu, choose Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog box opens.

   You can also right-click an object in the Layout area and select Conditional Formatting.

Related topic

• Formatting conditional values in documents