Formatting and Setting Properties
A point that I constantly
make within the context of reporting engagements, as well as enterprise
reporting classes and workshops that I give on a recurring basis, is that we
are best served by resisting the temptation to format reports until the data is
largely in place. This is because formatting is more efficient when performed
as a single step; early formatting, such as setting column widths or
establishing numerical formats, often has to be reworked as the report evolves,
and a myriad of small steps, although easily accomplished at various times on
their own, add significant time to the creation of the information product.
Let's perform a few
formatting steps here, if only to provide an overview of their accomplishment
within the Authoring phase. Keep in mind that we will delve much
further into more elaborate concepts (such as conditional formatting) in
articles where it makes sense to do so, and that we are only inspecting a
sample of features in the overview articles. It should be evident with only
casual perusal that the Properties dialogs that we examine (among many
others) contain advanced features that meet and exceed those that are available
in the enterprise reporting packages that have dominated the market to date.
NOTE: Expect to hear the shrill voices
of the marketing arms of the dominant enterprise reporting vendors attempting
to trivialize Reporting Services as "a low end solution." In
this, as in myriad other features we will cover throughout our series, one can
see readily that the capabilities of Reporting Services easily meet, and
often exceed, their offerings.
This series will focus on
these scenarios in future articles, and show how Reporting Services can
match - indeed, overcome - the offerings of the "Big Sisters" in all
material respects. My opinion is that, once the marketing arms of these outfits
realize that the public is capable of performing revealing functionality
comparisons, the next mantra will be that we need their products for "specialized"
functions - in addition to Reporting Services. This will be the
indicator that the inevitable "boutique" or "add on" play
that I have forecast has begun in earnest.
1.
Click the Layout
tab to return to the Design Surface.
2.
Right-click
the cell containing the Line Total in the Detail row of the table
(the middle row, fourth from the top, in the Line Total column).
3.
Select Properties
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 30.
Illustration 30:
Select Properties from the Context Menu
The Textbox
Properties dialog appears.
4.
Select the Standard
radio button, as appropriate, on the right side of the dialog.
5.
Select Number
in the left list box underneath the radio button.
6.
Select the
following from the number format options that appear in the right list box:
1,234.00
The Textbox Properties
dialog appears as depicted in Illustration 31.
Illustration 31: The
Textbox Properties Dialog for Line Total - Detail
While we will not be
using the Name box in our practice in this article, we will see in
subsequent sessions how we can name each component of the report for numerous
purposes, and can reuse formats and other properties both within other reports
as well as programmatically - all with great ease and efficiency.
7.
Click OK.
8.
Select the Properties
dialog for the Line Total subtotal in the SubCategory Footer (created
when we grouped on Product SubCategory earlier), the cell below the
Line Total - Detail cell we formatted above.
9.
Select Standard:
Number and the associated format exactly as we did for the previous cell.
10.
Click the Advanced
button at bottom left in the dialog.
The Advanced
Textbox Properties dialog appears, defaulted at the General tab.
11.
Click the Font
tab.
12.
In the Weight
selector, select Semi-bold.
13.
In the Decorations
selector, select Overline.
The Advanced Textbox Properties
dialog appears as depicted in Illustration 32.
Illustration 32: The
Advanced Textbox Properties Dialog for Line Total - SubCategory Footer
14.
Click OK
to close the Properties dialogs.
15.
Select the Properties
dialog for the Line Total subtotal in the Category Footer (created
when we grouped on Product Category earlier), the cell below the Line
Total - SubCategory Subtotal cell we formatted above.
16.
Select Standard:
Number and the associated format exactly as we did for the previous cell.
17.
Click the Advanced
button at bottom left in the dialog.
The Advanced
Textbox Properties dialog appears, defaulted at the General tab.
18.
Click the Font
tab.
19.
In the Weight
selector, select Semi-bold.
20.
In the Decorations
selector, select Overline.
21.
Click OK
to close the Properties dialogs.
» 
Comment and Contribute
