The articles in this section of the Knowledge Base involve Text Formatting for display in your reports. To learn more about Text Formatting and how to access this section within the Report Designer, see Understanding Text Formatting in the Report Designer. This article focuses on the Number Format tab of the Text Formatting window.
It is recommended to use the Numeric Format type to display numeric values. Below is a report with the General Format type applied:
Product |
ProductID |
CategoryID |
UnitPrice |
1 Door Base |
1 |
1 |
50 |
2 Door Base |
2 |
1 |
75 |
1 Door Upper |
3 |
2 |
50 |
2 Door Upper |
4 |
2 |
75 |
1 Door Diagonal Corner Base |
5 |
3 |
75 |
To change the above numeric values from the General Format to the Numeric Format, select the text components that contain references to the relevant data columns and click the
button of the Text Format property. In the Text Format window, select the Number tab and define the settings.
Product |
ProductID |
CategoryID |
UnitPrice |
1 Door Base |
1.00 |
1.00 |
50.00 |
2 Door Base |
2.00 |
1.00 |
75.00 |
1 Door Upper |
3.00 |
2.00 |
50.00 |
2 Door Upper |
4.00 |
2.00 |
75.00 |
1 Door Diagonal Corner Base |
5.00 |
3.00 |
75.00 |
There are two ways to determine the format mask:
Local Settings – Text is formatted according to the current settings of the operating system.
The format mask is manually applied to each parameter.
There are disadvantages to both cases. To use local settings, you should edit formats of the operating system. For the second option, when one parameter needs to be changed, you should adjust others as well.
There is a third method of determining the format. You can change any parameter format using the local settings. First, set the flag next to the parameter and then set its value.
Fig. 01 – Text Format > Number Tab
Use Group Separator – When the Group Separator is used, the number is separated into number positions.
Use Local Setting – When using the Local settings, numerical values are formatted according to the current OS installations.
Use Abbreviation – Selecting the Use Abbreviation option abbreviates numbers.
Negative in Red – When using the Negative in Red parameter, negative numbers are printed in red.
Decimal Digits – Number of decimal digits, which are used to format numerical values.
Decimal Separator – Select the delimiter to be used as a decimal separator.
Group Separator – Select the delimiter to be used as a group separator.
Group Size – The number of digits in each group in currency values formatting.
Negative Pattern – This pattern is used to format negative numbers.
Thus, for columns ProductID and CategoryID, we change only the number of digits in the fractional part.
Product |
ProductID |
CategoryID |
UnitPrice |
1 Door Base |
1.0 |
1.0 |
50.00 |
2 Door Base |
2.0 |
1.0 |
75.00 |
1 Door Upper |
3.0 |
2.0 |
50.00 |
2 Door Upper |
4.0 |
2.0 |
75.00 |
1 Door Diagonal Corner Base |
5.0 |
3.0 |
75.00 |
The example above is not formatted with the Currency Format. The UnitPrice column should be set to the Currency format.