TIPS and TRICKS – Zebra Formatting

Reading large amounts of data in an Excel worksheet can play tricks on the eyes and mistakes are more likely to occur. But, using conditional formatting within the CVTDBFXL and CVTDBFXLSX commands, allows you to add zebra formatting to make your data more readable.

 Product                              Command                                         Available Versions
Database               CVTDBFXL / CVTDBFXLSX                                 V6 / V7

It is really easy to incorporate zebra formatting, by using conditional formatting on the result of a formula, created in your ‘Database to Excel map’. The MOD and ROW formulas are combined, to return the remainder of a number, in this case the row, divided by two. Thus, creating a cell with ’0’ for even numbered rows and ‘1’ for odd numbered rows.

All of your data rows are now formatted by applying styles, based upon the content of the formula cell.

Note, styles with alternating background colours need to be setup, (for example ZEB_C1 and ZEB_C2), as shown below.

The above command will create your Excel Worksheet, with Zebra Formatting.