Culture-Specific Formatting within the Data Source (Report Builder)
New: 17 July 2006
The data source that you are using to build your reports probably contains data formatting that is culture-specific. For example, number, date, and currency values are formatted differently according to your culture, and these formatting differences can be built into your data sources. The person designing the data source can apply a culture to the entire data source and also apply a culture to a specific attribute within the data source. For example, the Culture property for the data source can be German (Switzerland) but the DataCulture property for an attribute within the data source can be Japanese. The Culture property is used to apply data formatting that is culture-specific, unless the DataCulture property is assigned. In that case, the DataCulture property takes precedence when formatting attribute values.
In addition, your computer probably has its own default culture settings. These computer culture settings tell your computer how to display your computer's time, date, and currency information.
If the culture settings for your data source conflict with those on your computer, you might experience the following problems when designing or running a report:
- When you design a Report Builder report, your local computer culture is used to format the sample data in the design area, except in instances where the DataCulture property has been set for an attribute within the data source. When you run a Report Builder report, the data source culture is used to format data for the entire report, except in instances where the DataCulture property has been set for an attribute within the data source.
- You can change local computer regional settings without changing your computer culture. When these regional settings are changed, the Report Builder design area reflects the changes. However, when the report is run, the changes are ignored.
- In the Filter Data and Define Formula dialog boxes, and in the parameter area displayed when running a report, your local computer culture and regional settings are used to display values and to interpret data that you type into the filter, formula, or parameter.
- Custom fields and complex formulas use the data source culture, even if they are based on an attribute whose DataCulture property has been set within the data source. They do not inherit culture from the attribute.
- A formula based on an aggregate attribute, where the only change is to add a filter or remove duplicates, is formatted using the attribute's DataCulture property.
- The display language and the culture settings used in Report Builder are determined by the culture and regional settings of your local computer. They are not affected by the language settings of the browser used to launch Report Builder.
See Also
Concepts
Formatting a Report
Formatting Numerical Data
Formatting Data, Text, and Images