Create Dynamic Formatting with Cell Attributes

Author: Ian Britz

Introduction

Cell Attributes are used to create dynamic formatting, validate input, and override certain properties of a cell. Cell Attributes are an important Kepion feature to understand as they're utilized in nearly every application. Furthermore, it's considered a best practice to add formatting through Cell Attributes whenever you need the formatting to dynamically affect your Dimensions Members as the Form changes.

Add Cell Attributes

To create Cell Attributes, right-click on a Form and select Add Cell Attributes. It's best to give your Cell Attributes descriptive names, as you may be managing several different attributes in each Form.

Scope

The first tab in the window defines the scope. For example, if you select Account and then select Health Insurance, any cell that intersects with that Dimension Member will have your formatting applied to it. If you add on the FiscalYear attribute and the FY20 member, only cells intersecting the Health Insurance account, in Fiscal Year 2020, will be affected.

Tip: The initial scope for the cell attribute is determined by which cells you selected when you added the cell attributes. To scope your attributes more quickly, start by selecting all the cells you want affected.

Attributes

In the ATTRIBUTES tab, you can override the cell input option here. For example, if you wanted a non-inputable Dimension Member to be inputable on one Form, you could override the option here by selecting Allow. You can also choose to hide aggregated values on a Form. This is useful for percentage accounts that don't have meaningful aggregations.

Validation

In the VALIDATION tab, select the Validation checkbox in the bottom-left corner to enable this area. Here you can define conditions that will trigger warnings, errors, or prevent users from posting data if the values they entered are not allowed.

Use the FORMAT pane to modify the icon alignment, size, and position.

Format

In the FORMAT tab of the Cell Attributes window, select the Enable formatting checkbox in the top-left to enable this area. You can format the cell(s) defined by the SCOPE any way you want. This definition will override what is defined in the Form.

Modify Cell Attributes 

To modify the Cell Attributes definition, right-click on any cells in the Form and choose Manage Cell Attributes.

In the pop-out window, you’ll find all the Cell Attributes that are defined in the Form. If there are multiple Cell Attributes defined for one cell, their priority is based on the order of the list. Use Move Up and Move Down to reorder the Cell Attributes. To modify a Cell Attribute, click Edit. To delete a Cell Attribute, click on the checkbox next to the Cell Attribute and select Remove.