You can specify colors for the following table elements:

¹ In cell-based tables, an entire row appears in one cell. To set the background color of that "cell," you specify a background color for the row.

Cell background color overrides row background color. The color that indicates a row is selected overrides cell and row background color.

Limit the use of row and cell color. Too much color defeats the purpose of this feature, which is to draw attention quickly to a noteworthy item.

Setting row colors

Colors of individual rows in a table are based on the value of one of the selection fields (see Data fields) in the table. 

You can set row text colors in list view, tree view, and cell-based tables.  You can set row background colors in list view and cell-based tables.  For example, you might make the background of all New requests red and the background of all Assigned requests green, as shown in the following figure. 

Or, as shown in the following figure, you might set the text of engine parts whose status is "Backordered" in red to alert the assembly manager.

Using color in tree view tables

For tree view table fields, only the text of leaf nodes can be colored. If the visible leaf nodes are actually parent nodes associated with multiple child request nodes, the color of a parent leaf nodes is based on the first hidden child request under that parent. 

For example, the color selection in the following figure is linked to the Priority values in level 6: Urgent (red), High (orange), Medium (blue), and Low (green). In the first and second trees, the leaf nodes represent individual requests and their colors are meaningful. But in the third table, the "leaf" nodes can represent multiple requests with different priorities; so, the priority of the first request under each leaf controls the color of the leaf. 

Colored nodes in tree views

To set row text and background colors

1. In Developer Studio , select the appropriate table field.
2. In the Properties tab, select the Results Color property, and click its ellipsis button.
3. In the Results Color dialog box, click the ellipsis button to the right of the Selection Field field.
4. In the Available Fields list of the Field Selector dialog box, double-click the name of the selection field whose value will determine the row color.
   A list of all the field's selection values appears in the Results Color dialog box.
5. Specify the text color for one or more selection values:
   1. Click the Color cell of the value, and select Custom from the drop-down list.
   2. Select a color from the color palette, and click OK.
      The selected color is displayed in the color cell.
6. (List view, cell-based only) Specify the background color for one or more selection values:
   1. Click the value's Background cell, and select Custom from the drop-down list.
   2. Select a color from the color palette, and click OK.
      The selected color is displayed in the Background cell.
7. When you finish setting results colors for the selection field, click OK.
8. Right-click the form, and select Save.

Setting cell background colors in list view tables

You can set the background color of individual cells in a list view table. For example, in the following figure, cell colors help users see at a glance whether the score of a vendor's customer satisfaction survey improved or worsened from 2008 (fourth column) to 2009 (last column)--that is, moved up or down the color scale from dark red (the lowest) to dark green (the highest). 

You can define cell background color for any column in a list view table. The color is based on the value of an associated selection field (drop-down list, radio button, or check box). For example, you might base the color of cells in a Request ID column on the form's Status field. If you set the Status selection value Rejected to red, the cells of all rejected Request IDs will be red. 

You can use different sets of cell background colors in each form view. 

If a field value changes at runtime, the table must be refreshed to update the background color.

To set cell background colors in list view tables

1. In Developer Studio , select the appropriate list view table field.
2. Select the column for which you want to define cell colors.
3. In the Properties tab, select the Column Color property, and click its ellipsis button.
4. In the Column Color dialog box, click the ellipsis button to the right of the Selection Field field.
5. In the Available Fields list of the Field Selector dialog box, double-click the name of the selection field whose value will determine the cell background color.
   A list of all the field's selection values appears in the Column Color dialog box.
6. Specify the background color for one or more selection values:
   1. Click the Color cell of the value, and select Custom from the drop-down list.
   2. Select a color from the color palette, and click OK.
      The selected color is displayed in the Color cell.
7. When you finish setting column colors for the selection field, click OK.
8. Save your changes.