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Conditional formatting

Each measure of a visual can have a format: colors by rules, a color scale, data bars or icons in tables and matrices; colored bars and shaded zones in charts.

A table with data bars on revenue, a color scale on margin, icons on margin rate, and small numbers of sales in red A table with data bars on revenue, a color scale on margin, icons on margin rate, and small numbers of sales in red

In the designer

Select a measure's chip: the Formatting section edits its format. It only shows what the visual's type uses: on a chart, the rules (with their zone) and the scale; on a KPI, no scale or bars. What it hides is kept.

What a format holds

Applies to ValueFormat property
Fixed style: text color, bold, italic, alignment Tables, matrices, KPIs Color, IsBold, ...
Rules: the first matching one gives its color, background and weight Everywhere Rules
Color scale: a background from one color to another, between the smallest and the largest value Tables, matrices, charts Scale
Data bars: a bar as long as the value compared with the largest Tables, matrices Bar
Icons: arrows, triangles or circles for high, middle and low values Tables, matrices, KPIs, gauges Icons 
new MeasureRef("Amount")
{
    Format = new ValueFormat
    {
        Rules =
        [
            new FormatRule { Operator = FilterOperator.LessThan, Value = 1000, Color = ThemeColors.Error, IsBold = true },
        ],
        Bar = new DataBar(),
        Icons = new IconSet { Kind = IconKind.Triangles }, // (1)!
    },
};
  1. Without thresholds (Low, High), the values are split in thirds.

A rule's comparison is the one of numeric filters: GreaterThan, LessThan, Range...

Colors

Colors are the theme's: ThemeColors.Accent, Success, Warning, Error, Muted. They follow light and dark themes and the control library, and are softened as backgrounds so that values stay readable. A custom #RRGGBB works too.

In charts

Rules and the color scale color each bar, point and slice. A rule with Show its zone on charts (FormatRule.ShowOnChart) also shades its zone of the value axis, labelled with its condition.

Bars under 3 M€ in red, with the zone under 3 M€ shaded Bars under 3 M€ in red, with the zone under 3 M€ shaded

  • Stacked bars are judged as a whole: a rule or a scale compares the total of the stack, and frames the stack in its color, so that the series keep their legend colors.
  • OxyPlot colors bars and slices one by one, but the points of lines by series only.

Compared with what is shown

The scale, the bars and the automatic thresholds compare a value with the cells shown, not with the totals. A matrix leaves its totals unformatted. A format only changes the drawing: the source is not queried again.

For connector and application authors

ValueStyler (Core) computes the ValueStyle of a value for any renderer, and the lookless FormattedValue control draws it in the built-in grids. ChartFormatting.For(request) gives a connector the color of each point (PointColor) and the zones (Bands); each ChartSeries carries the MeasureKey of its measure. LiveCharts2 uses OnPointMeasured and RectangularSection, OxyPlot RectangleAnnotation.