Row header borders -- extend through all cells

[ken (Ken Stanton)]

I have a table with row headers, which of course creates different groupings. We really need a visual separation of the groupings but I just can’t get the borders to work right. Where is the setting to run borders down grouped rows in table visualizations?

Currently, I can do this:

You can see the groupings of foo and bar but when you turn on borders, it adds a border to every row, as shown in both black and blue.

What I want is what I’ve drawn here in red, to visually separate the grouped data:

Anyone know where I can set that up?

[jamie.cherwonka]

Hi Ken - Our tables by themselves currently rely on the traditional method of just using that first column to indicate and delineate groupings. Actually a more traditional table wouldn’t even use most of the borders or backgrounds you have and would be more like our default style of tables on dashboards:

Our Scorecard views though are meant to allow for just about any table design you could want, which can include separator lines between groupings by adding them on an outer group or between tables. It’s possible to use either individual data labels for each column or an entire (small) table, depending on the situation. You didn’t ask for this, but you can also add even more separation between groupings if you want to display essentially separate tables meant to look at more on their own with their own headings:

[ken (Ken Stanton)]

Thanks Jamie. I thought it would be a built-in feature but I was overlooking it. The scorecard suggestion was actually what I tried first when I developed this 6 months ago. However, it just would not display correctly. I would line up the various tables I needed and they would just shift when I moved to View from Edit. Professional Services even tried to help me and we burned a full hour just playing with it. So that’s why I ended up back at the table with row headers - it was my only choice!

So, I’m guessing that it otherwise isn’t an option, right? If so, I’ll go looking for alternatives, and kindly ask that it be added as a feature request. Thanks.

[patrick (Patrick Zeigler)]

Ken, I saw your post and it gave me chills from over the summer when I ran into a similar issue. Not sure how much access you have to the back end data but I was able to force lines into any spot of a report. The process is not fun at all but I was told that it needed to happen in order for the request I was working to be completed. I wrote a brief overview of what I needed to do to get it done. Hope you are not so desperate to need to follow it.

Underline Table Rows

Hello, I’ve created an indented rows table. Is there a way to systematically underline specific rows (Example I want to underling rows that have the header Income Loss, Total and All Expenses)? I know I can draw a line but if the report changes in size due to filtering the line stays put. The need would be to have the line move with the table when filtering. Regards,

[ken (Ken Stanton)]

Hey Patrick! I remember that post and did see your solution, thanks for suggesting. Unfortunately, in my case the tables are highly interactive so when my users engage filters, those lines would get hidden and it wouldn’t work. Glad you found a good fix for your setup, quite clever!

[patrick (Patrick Zeigler)]

Makes sense, mine were strictly for print. Good luck!

[jamie.cherwonka]

Thanks Jamie. I thought it would be a built-in feature but I was overlooking it. The scorecard suggestion was actually what I tried first when I developed this 6 months ago. However, it just would not display correctly. I would line up the various tables I needed and they would just shift when I moved to View from Edit. Professional Services even tried to help me and we burned a full hour just playing with it. So that’s why I ended up back at the table with row headers - it was my only choice!

Scorecards are usually created with columns made up of individual Data Labels in the body and Headers in the header region, although tables are also possible (I used tables in my image). I don’t know what kind of shifting you might have been seeing, unless it was related to automatic sizing of column widths if you used a table (if the columns had no set widths) because each table would determine its column widths separately. The ability to insert lines or any other custom content between groupings is a basic scorecard capability, and my suggestion would be to try support, which as far as I know won’t give up until your issue is resolved! If there is a bug, we will also want to know about it and resolve it on our side. We would also be interested to know about how/whether this option was not a good fit with regards to a new feature request.

I also should have mentioned that tables are effectively able to separate groupings with distinct lines if totals are enabled, using either the top or bottom border color settings in the Total Row Style depending on whether totals are at the top or bottom. This is in the Properties window’s Look tab under both the Headers and Rows categories. I had noticed, though, that the table in your example has no totals.