Formatting Values Using Comparison Rules

• Apr 01, 2021
• 4 minutes to read

The following conditional formats allow you to format cells comparing cell values with static values:

• Greater Than/Less Than - Format cells whose values are greater/less than the specified value. The first image below shows a grid column whose Profit cells are red if their values are Greater Than 10M.
• Between/Not Between - Format cells whose values are between/not between the specified values. The second image shows green Profit cells which have values Between 5M and 15M.
• Equal To/Not Equal To - Format cells whose values are equal/not equal to the specified value. The Profit cells in the third image are yellow if their values are Equal To 5M.
• Text that Contains - Formats cells whose values contain specific text. In the fourth image, the Symbol cells are blue if their values Contain the ‘AT’ text.

Refer to the Formatting Date-Time Values topic to learn how to highlight date-time values that fall into a specified interval. The Formatting Values Using Custom Conditions topic describes how to use custom conditions.

This topic consists of the following sections:

• Adding Rules in Code
• Adding Rules Using Conditional Formatting Menu
• Adding Rules Using Conditional Formatting Rules Manager

Adding Rules in Code

Create the FormatCondition class instance and specify the following settings to create a conditional format in code:

• Specify the comparison logic:

  • Specify the FormatCondition.ValueRule, FormatCondition.Value1 (and FormatCondition.Value2 for Between rule) properties to define how cell values should be compared to boundary value(s), or
  • Specify the custom expression by setting the FormatConditionBase.Expression property.
• Use the FormatConditionBase.FieldName property to specify the column’s field name to which to apply the conditional format.

• Specify the target cells’ formatting:

  • Specify the predefined format using the FormatConditionBase.PredefinedFormatName property, or
  • Set the custom format using the ExpressionConditionBase.Format property.
• Add the resulting FormatCondition instance to the TableView.FormatConditions (or TreeListView.FormatConditions) collection.

The following code sample illustrates how to define a conditional format in markup:

XAML

<dxg:TableView.FormatConditions>
   <dxg:FormatCondition ValueRule="Greater" Value1="10000000" FieldName="Profit" PredefinedFormatName="LightRedFillWithDarkRedText" />   
</dxg:TableView.FormatConditions>

The code sample below illustrates how to define the same conditional format in code-behind:

C#

var profitFormatCondition = new FormatCondition() {
   ValueRule = ConditionRule.Greater,
   Value1 = 10000000,
   FieldName = "Profit",
   PredefinedFormatName = "LightRedFillWithDarkRedText"
};
view.FormatConditions.Add(profitFormatCondition);

VB.NET

Dim profitFormatCondition = New FormatCondition() With {
   .ValueRule = ConditionRule.Greater,
   .Value1 = 10000000,
   .FieldName = "Profit",
   .PredefinedFormatName = "LightRedFillWithDarkRedText"
}
view.FormatConditions.Add(profitFormatCondition)

Adding Rules Using Conditional Formatting Menu

1. Select the Highlight Cells Rules item in the Conditional Formatting Menu, and choose the required conditional format in the invoked sub menu.
2. Specify the required value(s) or text in the invoked dialog.
3. Choose a format to define the applied rule’s visual appearance. The conditional formatting menu allows you to use only predefined formats stored within the TableView.PredefinedFormats (or TreeListView.PredefinedFormats) collection.
4. Enable the apply format to the entire row option to apply a conditional format to the entire row, if necessary.

Adding Rules Using Conditional Formatting Rules Manager

1. Click New Rule… in the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager.
2. Select the Format only cells that contain rule in the invoked New Formatting Rule dialog.

3. Select the required content type:

   • Cell Value - Cells whose values are between (equal to, greater than, less than) the specified value(s).
   • Specific Text - Cells whose values contain (begin/end with) the specified text.
   • Dates Occurring - Date-time values that fall into a specified interval.
   • Blanks - Cells with blank values.
4. Choose the conditional format, and specify the required value(s) or text.
5. To define the visual appearance of the applied rule, click the Format button, and specify the required settings in the invoked Format Cells dialog window. See the Format Cells Dialog Window section of the Conditional Formatting Rules Manager topic to learn more.