Cell coloring in reports

Applies to version: 2020.1.x and above; author: Katarzyna Cypser
Update: 08.01.2026; author: Katarzyna Cypser, Lily Adamowicz 

The functionality for coloring reports on forms and dashboards was introduced in WEBCON BPS 2020. 

In addition to coloring cells, it is also possible to add icons, apply cell shading, and create multiple advanced configurations using, among others, conditional instructions. 

The option is available in the report configuration in the Portal: 

When editing the report, a new “Style” column appears in the “Views” tab. By clicking the “Pencil” icon next to the selected column of the report, a window with the option of choosing one of four coloring modes is opened: 

• Data bar

In the Data bar coloring mode, the cells will be colored according to the percentage of data contained in them to the range between the minimum and maximum value.

In the configuration select the color from the available color palette and specify the minimum and maximum values.

Below is an example configuration for a column contains numbers between 1-11, with introduced min=1 and max=10 values.

The report view after configuration:

All values falling between the minimum and maximum range are represented by a proportionally distributed bar of the selected color: values ≥ 10 reach 100% of the color, while values ≤ 1 have 0%. When additional instances are added to the report, the min/max values may change, and along with them, the width of the bar for each cell. 

• Color scale

The configuration of the Color scale mode follows a similar approach—here as well, coloring is based on calculating the percentage share of the value in a cell relative to the min/max range. In this mode, however, it is the color saturation that changes. Four color types are available, each consisting of 10 shades. 

In the example below, for a column containing numeric data in the range of 100–1000, the color type Red–Transparent–Green was selected in the configuration. This means that the cell color will change its shade, gradually transitioning from red to green. This time, the default min/max values were selected: 

With these settings, the minimum and maximum values are retrieved from the report: min = 100, max = 1000. As a result, values in the range of 0–100 are displayed in red with maximum saturation, while values in the range of 900–1000 are displayed in green. The remaining values are shown in colors with proportionally distributed shades. 

This is how the selected column appears in the report: 

• Conditions

The Conditions mode operates based on conditional instructions, using operators available depending on the data type of the selected column. In this mode, it is possible to change the background and font color, as well as reference the contents of other columns. 

Below is an example configuration of a column in which several conditions have been added, referring both to the values of the column itself and to values from other columns:

The report view after configuration:

• Advanced

Configuration in Advanced mode is possible using the JSON format. The schema for creating such a configuration can be found at the following link: files.webcon.com/bps/reports/column-formatting.schema.v3.json 

Advanced mode allows for much more complex settings, in which it is possible to manipulate the contents of cells, add images, and use, for example, conditional instructions.

An example of an advanced configuration that allows text to be added to a cell along with its border is shown in the screenshot below: 

The report view after configuration: 

In the next example of Advanced mode, expressions with the if function are used. Depending on the value in the cell, its color and background color change, and appropriate icons with defined styles are added. 

The report view after configuration: 

The column names CurrentField and CurrentRawValue are used to reference the data contained in the current report cell. When it is necessary to refer to values from other columns, the technical database column names must be used, written in the appropriate format. 

Rules for using column names: 

• Process columns (form fields)—the WFD_ prefix must be removed, e.g. WFD_AttChoose7 → AttChoose7. 
  Typical form field names: 
  -picker form field: AttChoose1, AttChoose2 
  -text form field: AttText1 
  -decimal form field: AttDecimal1 
  -int form field: AttInt1 
• Item list  process columns—for these columns, the original database column name should be left unchanged, e.g. DET_Att1, DET_Att2, DET_Att3. 
• System columns—in conditions and expressions, only constant system identifiers are used: DEF (process), STP (step), and WF (workflow). In column names, the underscore character must be replaced with a dot, e.g. DEF_Name → DEF.Name. 

For example:

{ 

 "$schema": "https://files.webcon.com/bps/reports/column-formatting.schema.v3.json", 

 "style": { 

  "background-color": "=if(pickerCompareById(STP, '1'), '#bf3592', '')", 

  "color": "=if(pickerCompareById(STP, '1'), '#FFFFFF', '')" 

 }, 

 "attributes": { 

  "class": "webcon-conditions" 

 }, 

 "children": [ 

  { 

   "element": "children" 

  } 

 ] 

} 

An additional convenience is that after saving a configuration in Basic mode and switching it to Advanced mode, the automatically generated JSON file is displayed in the text field. This configuration can then be freely edited and customized to meet specific requirements.