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AX1514

Using thematic formatting for Formatted Grids

By default, Formatted Grid components are set up to use thematic formatting—meaning, the Grid Formatting option for a Formatted Grid component is set to Thematic. We strongly recommend creating all new grids as thematic grids, as thematic grids support more options than spreadsheet-formatted grids, and will be the focus of all new grid enhancements moving forward.

From a formatting perspective, thematic grids have many advantages over spreadsheet-formatted grids. By using styles to define formatting instead of using the spreadsheet formatting, it is much easier to apply consistent formatting to many different grids in many different forms. It is also much easier to update the formatting—if a change is made to the style then that change automatically flows through to all grids using the style. When using spreadsheet formatting, you would have to manually edit each grid for the desired change.

When using a thematic grid, the grid formatting is determined by the following elements:

  • The style used by the Formatted Grid component. This style is set in the component properties, and only affects the grid "container-level" formatting, such as an external border. It does not affect the formatting of the grid contents.

  • The row and column styles defined in the Grid data source. Each row and column can be flagged with different styles to set the formatting as appropriate for its contents. Styles can apply formats like bold font, borders, background colors, and more.

NOTE: If your form uses a legacy skin (any skin other than the default Axiom2018 skin), then the grid formatting is also affected by the assigned theme. By default, this is inherited from the form-level theme, though it can be set at the component level if necessary. Different themes have different default formatting, and provide access to different row and column styles. For example, the form theme may be set to Report to support display of data, or to Worksheet to support user inputs. Themes do not apply when using the Axiom2018 skin, because that skin uses a different set of styles that are designed to accommodate all of the display variations that used to require themes.