Modify formatting

You can modify the formatting of a Dynamic Report by modifying the cell formatting of format definitions.

When you modify the formatting of a cell in the format range, all cells in the Dynamic Report that use the corresponding format definition are updated when you rebuild or repair the form. You can use the standard Microsoft Excel cell formatting options to change format definitions.

For example, if you modify format definition 1 by applying an orange background to cell C3 and then rebuild the Dynamic Report, all Dynamic Report rows that use format definition 1 display the orange background color in column C.

You can also modify the formatting of Dynamic Reports by modifying the named styles that are used in Dynamic Reports. When you modify a named style, all cells in a workbook that use the named style are updated. You do not need to refresh, rebuild, or repair the Dynamic Reports to apply the change.

For example, the named style that is applied by default to the first row of data in a Dynamic Report is AF Data 0 - IBM Cognos. If you change the fill color of this style to green, the change is reflected in all of the cells in your workbook that use the AF Data 0 - IBM Cognos style.

You can apply different formatting to each cell in a format definition. For example, you can apply a different background to each cell for format definition 1. You can apply an orange background to cell C3, a blue background to cell D3, and a green background to cell E3. When you rebuild the form, cells with format definition 1 display an orange background in column C, a blue background in column D, and a green background in column E.

Any text or numbers you enter in a format definition row, other than in the format label column (typically column A), are ignored. You can safely enter notes or characters to make it easy to identify the format of any cell in the format range. For example, you can add a note in cell C3 as a reminder that this cell determines the formatting for row title members.

To modify format definitions, reveal the format range, and then apply cell formatting to the cells in the format range.

To see your changes, rebuild or repair the Dynamic Report.