Understanding Percentage Data Formatting in the Report Designer

Understanding Percentage Data Formatting in the Report Designer

The articles in this section of the Knowledge Base involve Text Formatting for display in your reports. To learn more about Text Formatting and how to access this section within the Report Designer, see Understanding Text Formatting in the Report Designer. This article focuses on the Percentage Format tab of the Text Formatting window.

The data in a report can be output as a percentage. The example report below features cells with relative values. In this report, there are products (Standard Format), their price (Currency Format), and the profitability index (Number Format).

Product
UnitPrice
Profitability Index
1 Door Base
$ 18.00
0.01
2 Door Base
$ 25.00
0.02
1 Door Upper
$ 10.00
0.00

Now let’s add a column for profitability. Add the text component on the right with reference to the Products.ProfitabilityIndex column and apply the Percentage Format to this text component.

Product
UnitPrice
Profitability Index
Profitability
1 Door Base
$ 18.00
0.01
0.84 %
2 Door Base
$ 25.00
0.02
1.58 %
1 Door Upper
$ 10.00
0.00
0.00 %
Previously, there were two ways to determine the format mask:
  1. Local Settings – Using Local Settings, the text is formatted with the settings currently applied to the operating system.
  2. The format mask is manually applied to each parameter.

There are disadvantages to both of these methods of determining the mask, but there is a third option. The local settings can be used to change any parameter format. Set the value of the parameter after you’ve set the flag next to it.


Fig. 01 – Text Formatting > Percentage Tab

  1. Use Group Separator – When the group separator is used, then currency values are separated into number positions. 
  2. Use Local Settings ­– When using the Local settings, currency values are formatted according to the current OS installations. 
  3. Negative in Red – When using the Negative in Red parameter, negative numbers are printed in red. 
  4. Decimal Digits – Number of decimal digits, which are used to format currency values. 
  5. Decimal Separator – Select the delimiter to be used as a decimal separator. 
  6. Group Separator – Select the delimiter to be used as a group separator. 
  7. Group Size – The number of digits in each group in currency values formatting. 
  8. Positive Pattern – This pattern is used to format positive numbers. 
  9. Negative Pattern – This pattern is used to format negative numbers. 
  10. Percentage Symbol – The symbol used as a percent sign.