Formatting columns in reports

Apply formatting to individual columns in a report.

How it works

Once you have defined the data in your report, you can apply formatting to individual columns.

You can access column formatting options from the formatting toolbar, or by clicking the down arrow ( or ) next to individual field names, and selecting Format > Edit.

Once you generate your draft report by clicking the Design tab, you can use drag and drop formatting options to change the layout of your report, such as adjusting the order and width of columns.

Example

Scenario

Your report contains a series of custom issue attributes from the Projects app. Some of these custom issue attributes are paragraph (rich text) fields.

When you preview your report, you notice that HTML tags are displayed around the information in the fields. You want to remove these tags so that content is displayed using the appropriate markup: 

What you are seeing What you want to see
<strong>Extreme:</strong> <p>Serious audit observation that leads to significant loss</p> Extreme: Serious audit observation that leads to significant loss

Process

From the Design tab in Report Builder, in the formatting toolbar, you click Column Formatting. Then, you select the custom issue field from the Columns list.

Finally, from the Display options, next to Format, you select HTML Formatter.

Result

The content in the field is displayed using the appropriate markup and the HTML tags are removed.

Permissions

Only Report Admins and Report Writers can format columns in reports.

Format columns

  1. Open the Reports app.

    The Browse page opens.

  2. Open a report and navigate to the Design tab in Report Builder.
  3. In the formatting toolbar, click Column Formatting.

    The Column Formatting dialog box opens.

  4. Select the appropriate field from the Columns list, configure any of the column formatting options, and click to close the dialog box.
    Note

    The formatting options available depend on the data type of the field.

    Display

    Formatting optionDescription
    Displaydefines a display name for the field
    Format

    provides a variety of options for formatting the display of values in a field

    For more information, see Display formatting options.

    Decimal Placesdefines the number of decimal places to be displayed
    Prefix

    places additional characters before each value

    For example, this option can be used to define currency by adding in: $.

    Suffixplace additional characters after each value
    Roundingdefines how a decimal value should be rounded
    Thousand Separator

    turns the default thousand separator on or off.

    For example: 1000 to 1,000

    Bracket Negativesdisplays negative values with or without brackets
    Show Fieldcontrols whether the column is displayed in the report
    Suppress Duplicatesremoves duplicate values from the column and groups the values under a single value

    Sorting

    Formatting optionDescription
    Sort By

    sort the column based on formatted or unformatted values

    Note

    If you need to sort by multiple fields, close the Column Formatting dialog box, click Report Formatting, and configure the sorting options under Table Sort. For more information, see Formatting reports.

    Directionapplies sorting to or removes sorting from an individual column

    Data

    Formatting optionDescription
    Styledefines styling options for the text in the field, including font face, font size, font color, and font style
    Alignmentdefines the alignment of values in the field
    Backgrounddefines a custom background color for the column
    Column Width

    defines the width of the column in pixels

    The minimum column width is 40 pixels.

    Maximum Lengthdefines the maximum number of characters to be displayed in the cell
    Wrap Textwraps long cell text across multiple rows

    Borders

    Formatting optionDescription
    Styledefines styling options for borders in the column
    Positiondefines where borders should be displayed around the edges of the cell
    Colordefines the color of the cell borders
    Widthdefines the thickness of the cell borders

    Summary

    Formatting optionDescription
    Total Aggregationdefines the aggregation to be applied to the column as a total
    Display Total Valueshow or hide the total aggregated value of a column
    Move Total Value Locationchoose to display the table totals at the end of the table or at the start of the table.
    Display Labelsdisplays a text label for the column summary
    Styledefines custom formatting for the column summary, including font face, size, color, style, and alignment
    Background

    defines the background color for the column summary

    Sub Total

    displays a subtotal row for each unique value in the column.

    This option requires another field in the report to have a total aggregation applied.

    Move Sub Total Value Location

    choose to display the table subtotals at the end of each section or at the start of each section.

    Hide Sub Total on Columns

    Select column fields from this list to hide their subtotal.

Adjust the order of columns

Note

To adjust the order of columns, you must work with a draft report that only contains columns.

  1. Open the Reports app.

    The Browse page opens.

  2. Open a report and navigate to the Design tab in Report Builder.
  3. Place your cursor over the column title of the column you want to move, and drag the column to the desired location.

    The page refreshes and the column is displayed in the new location.

  4. Optional. Repeat step 2 for any additional columns you need to move.

    You can only move one column at a time.

Adjust column width

  1. Open the Reports app.

    The Browse page opens.

  2. Open a report and navigate to the Design tab in Report Builder.
  3. Place your cursor over the right hand column border of the column you want to resize.
  4. Drag the column to the desired width and let the cursor go.

    The page refreshes and the column is resized.

Display formatting options

There are a variety of options available for formatting the display of values in a column. The display formatting options available depend on the data type of the field.

Data type Formatting option Description

Character (Dimension)

Note

The following options are not supported for character fields:

  • Flag Formatter
  • HTML5 Video Formatter
  • Reference Code
  • YouTube Formatter
 Text

displays values as plain text
Case Formatter displays the text as uppercase or lowercase
Email creates a hyperlink that opens an email client and pre-populates the send to address
HTML Formatter formats a field containing HTML tags, either by removing them, or using them, depending on user selection
Link to URL

passes the value of the returned data into a URL link and uses hashes (##) to indicate where the column value should be placed in the URL

For example, http://sample.projects.highbond.com/audits/##.
Raw Formatter displays the value as it is stored in the database (removes formatting)
URL Hyperlink creates a hyperlink to a URL and stores it in the column
  Datetime Date

displays values in the column as dates

Note

Date formats are case sensitive. To specify a customized date format, select Other from the Date Format field and manually input the date format.
Time

displays only the time portion of the value (hides the date portion)
Timestamp displays the date and time portions of the value
Date Part Formatter displays only a part of the date portion of the value (hides the time portion of the value and parts of the date portion)
Date Hierarchy Formatter

defines how date values in the field are displayed
Days Hours Minutes Seconds defines values in the field to display as DD:HH:MM:SS
Hours and Minutes defines values in the field to display as HH:MM
Link to URL

passes the value of the returned data into a URL link and uses hashes (##) to indicate where the column value should be placed in the URL

For example, http://sample.projects.highbond.com/audits/##.
Raw Formatter displays the value as it is stored in the database (removes formatting)

Numeric

Note

The following options are not supported for numeric fields:

  • Dollar Bar Formatter
  • Image Bar Formatter
  • Person Bar Formatter
  • Reference Code
 Numeric displays values in the column as decimals, and allows you to define the number of decimal places
Link to URL

passes the value of the returned data into a URL link and uses hashes (##) to indicate where the column value should be placed in the URL

For example, http://sample.projects.highbond.com/audits/##.
Percentage display values as percentages
Percentage Bar converts a percentage value less than or equal to 100 into a bar
Raw Formatter displays the value as it is stored in the database (removes formatting)