alternating background colors in a crosstab report 1

[buck149]

how could I format the background color in a crosstab report so that each every other column or row will display a different color?

 

[lbass]

Please see thread149-1213140 and thread767-1154875.

-LB

 

[buck149]

a friend of mine offered an easier way to do this and he was using the following formula:

Global BooleanVar colorrow := not(colorrow);

if colorrow
then white
else silver

 

[GJParker]

Using this formula to format the cell fields will actually give a checkerboard effect rather than alternating rows.

Gary Parker
MIS Data Analyst
Manchester, England

 

[buck149]

yeah, you are right.

 

[lbass]

This is a nice solution that works if there are no column fields or if there is a column field and there is an even number of rows. If there is a column field and an odd number of rows, you get a checkered affect. I've used something similar, but because of this caveat, it isn't the best solution. I would be interested in knowing if your friend has a remedy for this issue and what it might be.

-LB

 

[GJParker]

I couldn't resist playing around with this and eventually I managed to get it to give the desired effect using 3 separate formulas for eacg crosstab object

Formula 1 for formatting the row labels, this is basically the formula supplied by buck149

Global BooleanVar LabelColor := Not(LabelColor);

If LabelColor Then
    CrNoColor
Else
    Color(238,238,238)

Formula 2 for formatting the cells , replace {RowGroup.Field} with the filed used as rows in your crosstab

Global NumberVar CountRow := CountRow + 1;

If CountRow Mod DistinctCount ({RowGroup.Field}) = 0 or 
    (CountRow Mod DistinctCount ({RowGroup.Field})) Mod 2 <> 0 Then 
    CrNoColor    
Else
    Color(238,238,238)

Formula 3 , once again the same formula as used for formatting the labels but with a different counter

Global BooleanVar TotalColor := Not(TotalColor);

If TotalColor Then
    CrNoColor
Else
    Color(238,238,238)

HTH



Gary Parker
MIS Data Analyst
Manchester, England

 

[buck149]

Gary,

Since I only wanted to make alternating colors for rows, I used your second formula. Somehow, it was not stable by which I meant that for the first few columns (5, actually), the alternating colors for rows lined up without any problems but it went weired after that. I am still trying to figure out why.