This page is for data modellers or application developers who want to apply special formatting to data that meets specific criteria.

Overview

A formatting rule allows you to specify an expression which evaluated can apply the selected style to the parent object. It allows to apply styles conditionally, depending on current values displayed on the screen.

A formatting rule can be applied to a stream view attribute or to a layout component. If you apply a formatting rule to a layout template, all layout components created from the template will have a copy of the formatting rule applied.

Basic Settings

For information about the properties toolbar, and about the sections Parent Details, Analysis Models, Description and Audit Summary, see Common Properties. For a full list of all the PhixFlow property tabs and windows, see Property Tabs.

Field	Description
Rule Expression	Expression to be evaluated on order to determine should the Style be applied. This expression takes PhixFlow Internal Variables including _current, _field, _itemNumber and _this. See examples below.
Style	Style to be applied when the Rule Expression evaluates to true.
Order	Order of the Rule Expression.
Enabled	Flag showing is the Rule Expression enabled.
Stop If True	Flag showing if other rules shouldn't be applied if the current Rule applies.

Example

For the Status Type attribute in a stream view, set the properties to:

Properties

For the Status Type attribute in a stream view, set the properties to:

Rule Expression:
- either _field.value == "OK"
- or _current.StatusSummary=="Validation Passed"
Style: BackgroundColour-LightGreen
Enabled: Tick

_field.value == "OK" identifies the status type of OK and highlights the cell

_current.StatusSummary=="Validation Passed" identifies the status summary of Validation Passed and then highlights the corresponding status type cell.

Resulting View

This displays the OK field with a green background.

Formatting Rule Expressions

Variables

In formatting rules, the _form, _grid and _current act on a specific record. The record depends on the structure of layout components on the dashboard.

Formatting expression variable	Where
Formatting expression variable	Stream view directly on a dashboard	form on a dashboard	stream view on a form	form on a card	grid on a card
`_form` acts on the record	na	currently displayed on the form	currently displayed on the form	currently displayed on the card	backing the card
`_grid` acts on the record	`na`	currently displayed on the form	na	currently displayed on the card	na
`_current` acts on the record	currently displayed in the grid	na	currently displayed in the grid	currently displayed in the card	currently displayed in the grid

Functions

For quick changes to screen appearance, you want formatting rules to be evaluated quickly. To ensure a quick response, only use the attribute functions that are evaluated by the client rather than the server; see the list of Responsive Attribute Functions.