BI Publisher Color list and cell highlighting (colours)

Nice question from a reader, thought it was time for more colour in my life ;-)

What is the list of colors (colours) supported by BI Publisher (BIP / XML Publisher / XMLP) for cell highlighting?

Firstly, how can we specify a color, say "red":

1. By Name, e.g. red
2. By Hex value, e.g. #FF0000
3. By Decimal value, e.g. rgb(255,0,0)
4. By HSL (Hue, Saturation, Light) value e.g. hsl(30,100,50). NB: Couldn't get this one to work.

Secondly, where can we specify a value?

1. As the regular RTF borders & shading for a cell
2. Coded as an XSL attribute

So back to the question, what is the list of colors? Well, that depends on how you specify the color, and what your target output format is.

If you want to specify by name, I think the list is as follows (HTML4 color list):

Color names and sRGB (Hex) values

	Black = #000000		Green = #008000
	Silver = #C0C0C0		Lime = #00FF00
	Gray = #808080		Olive = #808000
	White = #FFFFFF		Yellow = #FFFF00
	Maroon = #800000		Navy = #000080
	Red = #FF0000		Blue = #0000FF
	Purple = #800080		Teal = #008080
	Fuchsia = #FF00FF		Aqua = #00FFFF

If you specify the color by Hex or Decimal value, then your list is pretty big, but bear in mind that the device the user is using to view your output, plus your target output format could be limiting your effective range of colours, hence the short list of colours and the existence of "safe" colors.

Okay, I like trying out these sorts of things, so gave it a go with my Active Users - BIP template.

So threw a few colors at the RTF template:

Where the form fields (grey highlight) are as follows:

YELLOW	Safe	<?if:../../USER_NAME ="GROBERTS"?><xsl:attribute xdofo:ctx="block" name="background-color">yellow</xsl:attribute><?end if?>
6600CC	Not safe	<xsl:attribute xdofo:ctx="block" name="background-color">#6600cc</xsl:attribute>
rgb(210,105,30) chocolate	Not safe	<xsl:attribute xdofo:ctx="block" name="background-color">rgb(210,105,30)</xsl:attribute>
hsl(30,100,50) orange	Not safe	<xsl:attribute xdofo:ctx="block" name="background-color">hsl(30,100%,50%)</xsl:attribute>

How did it turn out? Heres a shot of the PDF output, nice! ... except for the HSL

Here's a shot of the RTF output, similar to PDF.

Here's a shot of the Excel output ... not so close to the chocolate and purple I was hoping for.

So there you have it. If you care alot about your colours, test them out before your release them.

Happy highlighting!

PS. If you're looking to do any templating with BI Publisher, read the Oracle XML Publisher Report Designers Guide Release 12. It's well worth it!