Play with Colors

Most fresh SSRS report developers already accustomed to the way of life in the CR 10 days should find this pretty useful. I was doing some report development this morning and realized how stressful it can get when you try to mix methodologies for very different technologies. In CR 10, to alternate colors when rendering data to get that pop effect was stupid easy. In SSRS 2008, not so intuitive my friend.

However, we all know the importance of rendering data in the most user friendly sense, such that the difficulties you have to conquer in making this possible, becomes worth it.

Anyways, let me get to the meat of this post right here. To get the alternating color scheme in your SSRS report similar to the ones you had in CR 10, here's what you do:

• Make sure your entire Tablix is selected.
• Press F4 to pull up your properties tab
• Go to Background color
• Pull up a code screen for a new custom expression and enter the following code
• "=IIF(RowNumber(Nothing) Mod 2, "YourChoiceOfColorHere", "White")

Note: You want to replace "YourChoiceOfColorHere" with whatever color you wish to alternate with white. You run into issues, feel free to shoot me an email.

Losing those lines...

If you have in the past, or currently do any form of SSRS (SQL server reporting services) development in .NET, then you must have encountered those annoying grid lines that appear by default.
These lines, besides irritating the developer does not enhance the look or functionality of the report you seek to design.

So today, after some fruitless scholarly research (on google and yahoo) here is what you do to make those lines go away, leaving you with a clutter free work space

1. Click on the top-left corner of your report body to highlight your tablix. make sure you see all 6 pull knobs
   
2. Hit F4 (here's the short cut they don't teach you in school :)...that "Properties" window pops right out. 
3. Look for "Border", click in the property value box and type "None"
4. Hit "Enter", then press the "Esc" button.
5. Click "Save" then find and click on the "Preview", "Deploy" your changes and enjoy.