In this article, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to format negative costs to print in red within standard reports to enhance readability. For demonstration purposes, we will be changing the ‘Total’ cost field in the details section.
By default, negative numbers are enclosed in parentheses when printed.
Video Demonstration:
Detailed Steps:
1. On the Home Tab in Estimator, click on New Report to open Report Designer.
2. In Report Designer, click on the 'Open' button, then navigate to and select your report file to open it.
3. Navigate to the 'Report Explorer' section and Identify ‘Styles’.
4. Right click on Styles and choose Edit Styles
5. Click on the '+' to add a new style
6. Rename the style as ‘NegativeCosts’ under design
7. Select Red from the dropdown menu to set the Foreground color
8. After adding the new style, close the Styles Editor
9. Proceed to the specific field in the report you wish to modify the format, then select the field. In this case its 'TotalCost' for line items in EstimateDetailReport section
10. Click on ‘f’ to open Expression Editor and select 'Style Name'
11. Add the following expression to conditionally use the newly added style based on whether Total Cost is a negative value ie. [TotalCost]<0
- Iif([TotalCost]<0, 'NegativeCosts',true )
12. Select Apply and Ok to close the editor.
The iif condition in the expression changes depending on the field you are trying to format
13. Save and run the report.
14. Your report should look like the below for a negative number.
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