Understanding Conditional Formatting
Conditional formatting can be applied to every data grid in NMS, making it a powerful way of configuring the system to draw your attention to important changes of state in the system.
Note: Conditional formatting can be applied to tables by suitably authorized users.
Global and Personal Conditional Formatting
NMS supports Global and Personal Conditional Formatting.
• Global conditional formatting is applied to all users of the system. Users see the formatting the next time they log in. Global conditional formatting rules are usually applied by Administrators.
• Personal conditional formatting takes precedence over any global formatting. Only user types with the appropriate roles can apply personal conditional formatting.
The order of global and personal formatting rules are applied is defined in Conditional Formatting Precedence Rules.
Applying Conditional Formatting to a Table
To apply conditional formatting to a table, right-click any column heading, and then select either Edit Global Conditional Formatting or Edit Personal Conditional Formatting.
Adding a conditional formatting rule requires you to add a rule and then configure the formatting for the rule. These tasks are accomplished using the Conditional Formatting Dialog and the Edit Rule Dialog.
Conditional Formatting Dialog
The Conditional Formatting dialog box allows you to add and manage the conditional formatting rules associated with a table:
The fields and buttons are described below:
• List of Rules: Displays a list of the formatting rules applied to the table. Each rule displays:
• Rule Name: The name of the rule.
• Row: A check box that indicates if the rule is configured to format the row (selected) or just the cell (deselected).
• Column: The name of the column(s) to highlight with the formatting.
• Format: The formatting associated with the rule
Note that the position of the rule in the list determines its precedence. See
Understanding Conditional Formatting Precedence Rules for details.
• Actions that can be performed on each rule:
• Move Up: Moves the selected rule up the list.
• Move Down: Moves the selected rule down the list.
• Edit: Displays the Edit Rule Dialog, which allows you to specify the formatting rule. (You can also double‑click the rule to open it for editing.)
• Remove: Removes the selected rule.
• Duplicate: Creates a copy of the rule and allows you to edit it.
• Insert: Inserts a new rule above the selected rule and allows you to edit it.
• Add: appends a new rule to the bottom of the list and allows you to edit it.
• Actions that can be applied to the dialog:
• Help…: Displays Help for the Conditional Formatting dialog
• OK: Applies any changes and closes the dialog.
• Apply: Applies any changes but leaves the dialog open.
• Cancel: Closes the dialog without applying any changes.
Understanding the Edit Rule Dialog Box
The Edit Rule dialog box allows you to configure a conditional formatting rule. Configuring a conditional formatting rule is a 3-step process:
1. Enter a name in the Name field.
2. On the Conditions tab, define the conditions (filters).
3. On the Formatting tab, specify the formatting to apply when the condition(s) are met.
Each of the fields and buttons in the Edit Rule Dialog is described below:
Using the Conditions Tab
The
Conditions tab allows you to define the filter criteria to be met for the formatting rule to be applied. See
Creating and Editing Filters Using the Edit Filter Dialog Box for more information on filters.
Using the Formatting Tab
The Formatting tab allows you to specify the type of formatting to be displayed if the conditions are met.
Fields and Buttons
• Format Full Row: Specifies whether this rule will apply to the whole row of the table when font or color conditional formatting modes are set to Row.
• Format Columns: Allows you to select the column(s) to apply the formatting to.
Note: If no columns are chosen, then the formatting will apply to the first column of the table when the conditional formatting modes are set to Cells.
• Check Boxes: The check boxes to the left of the following fields control whether a particular field is enabled for the rule. These are automatically enabled when a field is set, but can also be enabled manually. For example, if you wanted a rule to override an earlier rule you could revert the colors or font settings to defaults by checking the box, but leaving the field at its default setting.
• Color: Allows you to select the Foreground (font) and Background (cell/row) colors.
• Cells Mode (Color): is enabled when Format Full Row check box is selected. Allows you to specify which columns the formatting rule will be applied to when the User has set Table Color Formatting mode to Cells:
• Disabled in cells mode: formatting will not be seen by Users who have Table Color Formatting Mode set to Cells or None.
• Apply to format columns only: Formatting will be applied to all columns you specified in the Format Columns field. Users will see this formatting when they have Table Color Formatting Mode set to "Cells" or "Row".
• Apply to Locked columns only: formatting will be applied to all locked columns.
• Apply to full row always: Formatting will be applied across the whole row, even if the User has Table Color Formatting mode set to Cells.
• Font: Allows you to select the font.
• Cells Mode (Font): Enabled when Format Full Row check box is selected. Allows you to specify which columns the formatting rule will be applied to when Table Font Formatting mode is set to Cells:
• Disabled in cells mode: Formatting will not be seen by users who have Table Font Formatting Mode set to Cells or None.
• Apply to format columns only: Formatting will be applied to all columns you specified in the Format Columns field. Users will see this formatting when they have Table Font Formatting Mode set to Cells or None.
• Apply to locked columns only: Formatting will be applied to all locked columns.
• Apply to full row always: Formatting will be applied across the whole row, even if the Table Font Formatting mode has been set to Cells.
• Bold: Enables to apply bold font formatting.
• Italic: Enables you to apply italic font formatting.
• Underline: Enables you to apply underline font formatting.
• Strikethrough: Enables you to apply strikethrough font formatting.
• Cell Tooltip: Enables you to enter a descriptive tooltip for the rule. The tooltip is displayed when a user holds the mouse pointer over any cells highlighted with the formatting.
• Preview: The Preview pane shows what the formatting rule will look like for users under different formatting modes: None, Cells, or Row. Conditional formatting modes are set by each user from the Web Workspace User menu's Table Settings sub-menu. The preview table shows two example locked columns and two example not locked columns.
Understanding Conditional Formatting Precedence Rules
The order that formatting rules are displayed in the List of Rules determines which formatting takes precedence.
If only global conditional formatting is used on your system, then cell formatting takes precedence over row formatting:
If both Global and Personal conditional formatting are used on your system, then the order of precedence is organized like this:
Quick Start for Effective Conditional Formatting
There is a lot of flexibility in how you apply conditional formatting. The following topics provide a selection of common conditional formatting tasks. It is not an exhaustive list, but designed to get you started with conditional formatting.
Conditional Formatting Best Practice
• Use conditional formatting sparingly.
• Try to avoid background coloring of entire rows. Instead use cell-based formatting where possible and encourage Users to set their Table Settings to Cells mode.
• Where the whole row does needs to be formatted, try changing the font color or other font attributes.
Quickly Apply a Formatting Rule
This procedure summarizes the process of adding a global formatting rule to a table.
1. Right-click on the table column heading, then select Edit Global Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog box is displayed.
2. Click Add. The Edit Rule dialog box is displayed.
3. Add the condition(s) to be met for the formatting rule to be applied.
a. Select the Column, Operator, and Value(s), then click Add to List.
b. Repeat this step if the formatting rule requires more than one condition to be met.
4. Click the Formatting tab.
6. Click OK. The dialog box closes and the rule is added to the List of Rules.
7. Click OK to close the Conditional Formatting dialog box.
Apply a Formatting Rule to More than One Cell
It is possible to apply a formatting rule to more than one cell. To do this:
1. In the Conditional Formatting dialog box, double-click a rule to open the Edit Rule dialog box.
2. In the Formatting tab, click on the Format Columns field, and select any additional columns you want to apply the formatting rule to.
3. On applying the change, the additional columns are also highlighted.
Apply a Formatting Rule Based on Multiple Matching Conditions
You can apply formatting to a cell or row where multiple conditions need to be matched. For example, you can highlight outage events in a New state where the number of customers off supply is more than 50 customers.
To do this, you need to create a rule, then in the Edit Rule dialog box, simply add two conditions:
• Status is in NEW
• #Out >=50
Add Personal Conditional Formatting
Applying Personal conditional formatting allows users, such as Administrators, to overlay conditional formatting on top of the globally applied formatting. This might be done to check how a new formatting rule looks before applying it as a Global formatting rule or by an individual to highlight things important to their role or current activities.
To create a personal conditional formatting rule:
1. Right-click on a column heading, the choose Edit Personal Conditional Formatting.
2. On displaying the Conditional Formatting dialog box, note that any globally applied formatting rules are displayed, but they are not editable.
3. Add your personal formatting rule.
4. After adding it, note that you can move it up or down in the list, within the constraints of the Conditional Formatting Precedence Rules, using the Move Up and Move Down buttons.
Note: The ability to place personal conditional formatting before global conditional formatting is role based.
5. After applying your changes and closing the dialog box, the table displays the personal and global formatting, but only you can see the personal formatting.
Promoting Personal Conditional Formatting to Global Formatting
If you have applied some personal conditional formatting to a table to test what it looks like, and you permissions to do so, you can promote the personal formatting to be a global rule.
To do this:
1. Right-click the table heading and choose Edit Global Conditional Formatting.
2. At the dialog prompt, click Yes to assimilate the personal formatting into the global formatting. The personal formatting rule is now promoted to a global formatting rule.