How to create a custom function to format the body or text box to use inside an expression in SSRS?

Problem: How to create a custom function to format the body or text box to use inside an expression in SSRS?

Solution: Add Code to a Report

Sometimes when you want to create a custom action inside a text box to fill an expression based formatting.

n any expression, you can call your own custom code. You can provide code in the following two ways:

·         Embed code written in Visual Basic directly in your report. If your code refers to a Microsoft .NET Framework that is not Math or Convert, you must add the reference to the report. For more information, see Add an Assembly Reference to a Report (SSRS). For more information about other references you can make from your code, see Custom Code and Assembly References in Expressions in Report Designer (SSRS).

·         Provide a custom code assembly by using the .NET Framework. If you provide a custom assembly, you must install it on both the computer where you author the report and the report server where you view the report. For more information, see Using Custom Assemblies with Reports.

Example:

In this article, I am going to show we can use a report data column to set alternative color in the rows report based on auto incremented number.

Step 0: Create an invoice detail report using the below set

SELECT orderID

 [Invoiceid]

      ,[itemid]

      ,[unitprice]

      ,[quantity]

      ,[TotalAmount]

      ,[lineitem]

      ,[linetotal]

      ,[invoicedate]

  FROM [dbo].[OrderInvoice]

ORDER BY ORDERID asc

Step 1: Go to the designer, right click outside of the report body to get report properties 

Step 2: from the report properties in the code tab add a function to give alternative color based on ordered column.

 

Step 3: From the report data column go to the text box properties option.

Step 4: from the text properties options click on the fill to set the expression for filling the color.

Step 5: Repeat this to all the textbox properties and execute the report.

Results: