Format cube views with the Format manager

You can access formatting options for the cube viewer from the Format manager.

Format manager that was opened from the cube viewer toolbar

You can apply and manage the following formats for a view and the members in the current view:

View
  • Cell color for data cells, row headers, and column headers
  • Data formats for data cells
  • Font and string formats for data cells, row headers, and column headers
  • Background color and line dividers for spacer cells
  • Thumb cells on the row and column axis of the cube viewer
  • Customize the cell color by data state (rule-derived cells and read-only cells, and select font color for sandbox values)
  • Customize the background and border colors of selected and highlighted cells
  • Add zebra strips to apply a shaded background to alternating rows in an exploration

You can quickly apply common formats in the view with the Inherit toggle. When you set formats in a view, you can inherit formatting from data cells and apply it to row or column headers.

Member
  • Data formats for data cells
  • Font and string formats for data cells and header cells
  • Member cell alignment
  • Conditional rules for members
Hierarchy
  • Cell color for data cells and header cells
  • Font formats for data cells and header cells
  • Cell alignment
  • Conditional rules for hierarchy
Note: You can inherit formats and apply them to the member data or header cells.

Accessing the Format manager

You can access the Format manager from the cube view toolbar.

Format manager icon on the toolbar

Right-click a member in the view and select Member or Hierarchy to jump right into the member formatting options.

Note: You can no longer clear applied formatting from the right-click menu. Instead, use Format manager or Member format to clear or change formats.

You can manage the availability of Format manager through the Toolbar icon settings in the Properties panel. Disable Format manager under Properties > Custom > Toolbar if you don't want users to see the Format manager icon in the cube viewer toolbar.

Setting hierarchy formats

To create a hierarchy formatting rule, follow these steps on the Hierarchy tab in the Format manager:
  1. Select a dimension and hierarchy and click Add format.
  2. Define the rule by selecting the condition type:
    1. Base format - Applies the rule to all of the members in the hierarchy.
    2. Level - Applies the rule to members of a selected hierarchy level.
    3. Member attribute - Applies the rule to members with a specific attribute value.
    4. Member name - Applies the rule to members that contain a specific value in their name.
  3. (Optional) Specify formats for the data cells and header cells.
  4. Click Apply to save the format.
If you have member and view formats defined along with hierarchy formats, the formatting rules apply in the following order:
  1. Member formats
  2. Hierarchy formats on the Columns
  3. Hierarchy formats on the Rows
  4. View formats

If you have multiple hierarchy formatting rules, the first rule has the highest priority. You can rearrange the priority of a formatting rule by dragging it up or down the list of rules.

You can define a member format to have a specific background and font color and also use hierarchy formatting to define the cell and font colors based on the leaf level.

The following example uses hierarchy formatting to set the background color of the data and row headers based on their level. The leaf-level data values are displayed in gray font color.

A view with member and hierarchy formatting applied