Visual Threshold Editor

Special formatting can automatically be applied to data in a report or a grid in a document based on the value of a metric. For example, you can define all employee purchases over $100 in a report to be formatted in a red, Arial font. On the same report, you can define all employee returns over $100 to appear as an image of a down arrow. You can have formatting automatically applied to data in a grid by creating simple thresholds (referred to as conditional formatting in documents) in the Visual Threshold Editor.

To have special formatting applied to the data in a report or grid in a document, you must define a threshold condition. When the report or grid is displayed, the formatting is automatically applied to the data that meets the condition. Simple thresholds consist of one condition; for example, one threshold can calculate an employee purchase that is greater than $50.

The horizontal threshold bar in the Visual Threshold Editor is where you specify the condition by defining different ranges of values and specifying the formatting to automatically apply to data that falls into these ranges. You add and move sliders to create different ranges of values, with each slider on the bar representing a different threshold. For example, suppose you want to create two different thresholds for the Tender Amount metric on an employee purchase report: one threshold to highlight purchase data above $50 and another threshold to highlight return data less than -$50. You can create one slider for 50 and one for -50, then specify the formatting to apply to values that fall into each range.

Steps are below to create a threshold, delete a threshold, and clear the formatting options that will be automatically applied to metric values that meet a threshold's condition when the report or document is run.

To create a simple threshold:

  1. Click the name of the report to run it

  2. Right-click the name of the metric whose values you want to format, point to Thresholds, then select Visual. The Visual Threshold Editor opens. Define the condition to use to format data

  3. From the Threshold For drop-down list, select the metric that contains the values you want to format. For example, to highlight employee purchase values over $100, select Tender Amount from the drop-down list.

  4. Click Type. From the Type drop-down list, select one of the following:

  5. Once you have chosen the metric whose values you want to be automatically formatted in the Threshold For drop-down list, you can choose to have the metric formatted based on itself, or on the value of another metric. For example, For example, you can compare Net Sales to the Net Sales from last year.

  6. Click the Apply icon Apply icon to apply your changes.

  7. In the Enter value field, type the number for which you want to define the threshold, then click the Apply icon Apply icon. For example, you can type 100 to create a slider for $100.

    Specify the formatting to apply to your data

  8. After you define the condition, you must specify the formatting that should be automatically applied when the condition is met. The area between two sliders on the threshold bar represents the range between two values. Hover the cursor over the section of the threshold bar you want to format. In the pop-up menu that opens, select the Format icon Format icon. This displays the Format dialog box.

  9. To format the threshold values by adjusting the font, color, alignment, and other options, make the appropriate selections within the Font, Number, Alignment, and Color and Lines tabs. See Format dialog box for more information on the options available. The text sample on the left of the threshold pop-up menu presents an example of the formatting you specified for the threshold.

  10. To add additional conditions, in the pop-up menu, click the Add Threshold Add Threshold icon icon. A new slider is added to the threshold bar. The slider's initial location differs depending on the kind of condition you specified previously. Repeat the appropriate steps above to define the additional conditions.

  11. To delete a threshold, hover the cursor over the threshold's slider, then click the Delete Threshold Delete Threshold icon icon.

  12. To return any formatting options specified for a threshold to their default values, hover the cursor over the threshold's slider, then click the Clear Format Clear Format icon icon.

  13. Click OK to apply changes and return to the report or document.

    Note    : If the Auto-Apply changes check box is selected, your formatted thresholds are already visible on your report or document.

To delete a simple threshold:

  1. Click the name of the report to run it.

  2. Right-click the name of a metric in the report or grid, point to Thresholds, then select Visual. The Visual Threshold Editor opens.

  3. Hover the cursor over the slider of the threshold you want to delete, then click the Delete Threshold Delete Threshold icon icon.

  4. Click OK to apply changes and return to the report or document.

    Note: If the Auto-Apply changes check box is selected, your changes are already visible on your report or document.

To clear the formatting to be automatically applied to metric values that meet a threshold's condition:

  1. Click the name of the report to run it.

  2. Right-click the name of a metric in the report or grid, point to Thresholds, then select Visual. The Visual Threshold Editor opens.

  3. To return any formatting options specified for a threshold to their default values, hover the cursor over the threshold's slider, then click the Clear Format Clear Format icon icon.

  4. Click OK to apply changes and return to the report or document.

    Note: If the Auto-Apply changes check box is selected, your changes are already visible on your report or document.

 

 

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