How to highlight values in red on a database form
Add conditional formatting to a text box in Base by Zaweba, and it turns red, amber, green, blue or grey when a value is over, under or between limits.
Conditional formatting on a form text box is how it's done. In Base by Zaweba you give the text box a condition and a colour, and it turns red, amber, green, blue or grey (bold too, if you like) whenever the record meets the condition. The condition can test the box's own field or another field in the same record.
It is a small touch that makes a form far quicker to read: problems jump out without anyone studying the numbers.
Setting it up
Open the form in the form designer and select the text box you want to colour. Add conditional formatting and choose the test. Base offers over, under, between, equal to, containing a value, and empty. Then pick the colour and whether it should also go bold.
Switch to form view and step through a few records to see it working. Records that meet the condition show the colour; others look normal.
Testing another field
The condition doesn't have to be about the box it colours. A Name box can turn red when a separate Balance field is over a limit, or an Order number can go amber when its Status is On hold. That lets you put the warning where people's eyes already are, usually at the top of the form, instead of on a field tucked away at the bottom.
Ideas that work well
Stock levels: red when quantity is under a reorder level, amber between that and a comfortable level.
Money: red when an amount owed is over zero, green when it is empty.
Dates and status: amber when a status equals Awaiting payment, red when it equals Overdue. With a value list on the status field, the choices are fixed, so equal to matches reliably.
Missing details: grey or red when a field people often forget, like a phone number or email, is empty. It nudges whoever is typing to fill it in.
Text: blue when a notes field contains a word such as Urgent.
Use colour sparingly
If half the boxes on a form are coloured, nothing stands out. Pick one or two conditions that really need attention and keep the rest plain. Red works best kept for things that need doing, with amber for things to keep an eye on. Some people find red and green hard to tell apart, so adding bold to the most important condition helps.
Conditional formatting versus rules
Formatting warns; it doesn't stop anything. If a value should never be allowed, such as a negative quantity, put a validation rule on the field in the table designer, with a message in your own words. The record is then refused wherever it is entered. Use colour for values that are allowed but worth noticing.
Where it fits in the form
Conditional formatting is one of the properties you set on controls in the form designer, alongside the field each box shows. Forms in Base show one record at a time with record navigation, and moving to another record saves the current one, so the colours update as you step through. Combine it with a sub-form (invoice lines under an invoice, for instance) and a button or two, and the form becomes a small working screen built entirely in Base by Zaweba.
