Report Builder - Professional SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services - page 386

Figure 9-19 illustrates the new column headings.
Figure 9-19
Column Width, Alignment, and Number Formatting
Now that your text is displayed correctly, you need to work on the layout of the fields. If you preview
the report, you will notice that the Category and Subcategory column widths are larger than necessary
to accommodate the text returned from the query. You'll want to reduce those columns to give a little
better presentation. To decrease the column width, simply select the table by clicking on it and then
hover your cursor between the columns. When you move your cursor between the columns, it will
change to indicate that you can modify the width. Click between the columns and move the mouse
right or left to increase or decrease the width of the columns.
Once you have adjusted the column widths, you might also notice that the alignment of the Sales Amount
and Order Quantity column headers is incorrect. Number fields are right aligned, and it is good practice
to do the same with their respective column headers. In our report, they are left aligned. To clean this
up, highlight the Sales Amount and Order Quantity cell. To highlight both cells at once, click on Sales
Amount, hold down the shift key, and click on Order Quantity. Once you have selected both cells, click
the Right Justify button in the toolbar, as illustrated in Figure 9-20.
Now that you have your numbers formatted correctly and the alignment set, you'll take a look at work-
ing with the font and background color.