> #### How to create a formatting rule

> 1 | In the layout editor, select the report element to format conditionally.

> 2 | Choose the Highlights tab in Property Editor. The Highlights page appears, as shown in Figure 6-11. It is empty if you have not yet specified any formatting rules for the selected element.

> Figure 6-11 Highlights page

> 3 | Choose Add to add a new formatting rule.

> 4 | In New Highlight, create the rule for applying a particular format to the report element by completing the following steps:

> 1 | Think of the rule in plain English first. For example:

> If the order total is greater than $50,000.00, then set
> the font color to blue and the font style to bold.
> There are two parts to the rule: If (condition) and Then (format). The New Highlight dialog helps you specify the condition and format parts of the rule by breaking them down to more specific parts.

> 2 | Specify the condition part of the rule by completing the following steps:

> 1 | In the first field, specify the first part of the conditional expression. Using the example rule, this part is order total:

> | If the order total values come directly from the selected element, from the drop-down list, choose Value of this data item.

> | If the order total values come from another data element, choose that element’s column binding name from the drop-down list.

> 2 | In the second field, specify the second part of the conditional expression by selecting an option from the list. Using our example rule, this part is Greater than.

> 3 | In the third field, specify the third part of the conditional expression. Using our example rule, this part is a value of 50000, as shown in Figure 6-12.

> Figure 6-12 Elements of the conditional expression
> You have now completed the condition part of the rule, which specifies the following:
> If row["OrderTotal"] is greater than 50000

> 3 | Specify the format part of the rule, which is “then set the font color to blue and the font style to bold,” by completing the following steps:

> | Choose Color, then select a color from the color picker.

> | Choose B to select the Bold format, as shown in Figure 6-13.

> Figure 6-13 Elements of the formatting expression in New Highlight

> | Alternatively, if you created a style named order_data_highlight, for example, that specifies the formats, you can select the style from the list of styles next to Apply Style.

> 4 | Choose OK to save the highlight rule.

> The rule that you created appears in Highlight List, as shown in Figure 6-14. The rule takes effect the next time you run the report.

> Figure 6-14 Highlight List

> 5 | Preview the report to test your formatting rule.

(c) Copyright Actuate Corporation 2013