Crystal Reports: Custom Colors

The easy guide to custom colors.

You get colors on a computer screen by combining different values of Red, Green, and Blue phosphors (RGB) on your computer monitor (or LCD screen).

If you are bored with those primary colors, you can select a custom color from the combo box, and that will display the color form, and if you click the “Define Custom Colors” you get a dialogue box to work with.

But what if you are using a formula? You can specify custom colors in a form by using the  Color (red, green, blue) function. Each of the arguments of this function is a number between 0 and 255 to indicate how much of that color to use.

But what are the values for a specific color? That is where the Custom color palette can help. As well as letting you select a color from the palette, it tells you what the RGB values are for that specific color.

We could, for example, select a color with a value of Red=156, Green=19 and Blue=159. We could then use those numbers in a conditional formatting formula. 

Make sure you don't get carried away with colors, or your reports will look amateurish. Think about the purpose of the report and how colors can enhance that report by supporting that purpose.

So how can you use colors? In the section expert, you can set a background color on a section. This can be an effective way to highlight a colored band for column headings.

But one effect you may not want is that the band goes all the way across the page. If you want a colored band across the report, but would like it to be narrower, we have a solution.

1. Create a second section and move it the above the original section.

2. Set this new section to “Underlay”

3. Make the section slightly larger than the subsequent section

4. Insert a box in this section, change the Border Style to “None” and set a fill color

This can be a very effective formatting technique to add some color to your report.

You want to use the formatting to accomplish such goals as:

• Present a clean but compelling appearance.
• Guide the reader's eye to what's important. That means very little highlighting or bolding.
• Separate information or visually group it.
• Make the report consistent with other company literature. For example, use company colors, company logo, and the official font (if there is one).
• Create a different flavor or appearance for each type of report. For example, financial reports have a green border, sales reports have a salmon border, production reports have a blue border, and so on.
• Show what has changed.
• Highlight problem areas.

Avoid common color usage errors

• Don't just add colors gratuitously. Think of them as spices. They need to bring out the flavor of the report, not bury it. And they need to work together. Some spices clash when used together, and so do some colors.
• A common mistake with colors is to use large blocks of colored text on the page. For example, yellow on a black background. You get maximum readability with black text on a white background. You can use colored text to emphasize or to bring out headings (or subheadings). But when used for the main body of the text, it actually detracts from the report.
• Don't use colored page backgrounds. When people try to print these out, the page becomes saturated with ink and paper jams result. With duplex printers, the problem is twice as bad.
• Use contrasting colors. Many people can't see the difference between two closely related light blues, for example. Variations in printing also cause confusion. Then there's the issue of referring to the color. Bob in Accounting is discussing the report. He can easily ask Beverly compare the total that appears in dark blue text to the total that appears in dark brown text. But how can he refer to the total in tan versus the one in light brown?
• Avoid red backgrounds. These irritate the eye.
• Remember, color costs money. Use it where there's a return on that investment (no need to calculate ROI).
• If there's no particular reason to use color, don't use it.

This article is copyrighted by Crystalkeen, Mindconnection, and Chelsea Technologies Ltd. It may be freely copied and distributed as long as the original copyright is displayed and no modifications are made to this material. Extracts are permitted. The names Crystal Reports and Seagate Info are trademarks owned by Business Objects.