# Common colors for many reports in a project? (Think CSS!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** reporting, ignition83, perspective\ **Created:** [September 2, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975 "2026-09-02T19:32:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 7:32pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/1 "2026-09-02T19:32:39Z")
I'm doing a project for a customer which involves many multi-page reports. I'm applying simple styling to them. I've used data key bindings to bind the colors to values set in the report parameters. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/d/2ddb7f81fd0cf203125fd70ac7cd0fe5e899f264.png) The customer may wish to modify the theme so I'd like to set the styles in session.custom variables so I can do a global modification as one would with CSS in Perspective. - Fonts are easy: e.g., `'Dialog, Plain, 9'`. The string gets passed in and works. - How do I pass in a color? If I create an expression binding on the session.custom variable it returns something like, `java.awt.color[r=0,g=85,b=142]` but the report then goes back to default grey values. Any idea on how to pass in a value that the report will understand? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![grietveld](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/grietveld/32/6984_2.png) [@grietveld](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/grietveld)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 7:58pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/2 "2026-09-02T19:58:08Z")
I haven't tried, and don't have an environment with Reporting handy to test on, but will it accept the colors in HTML format? If I remember correctly, it prefers #FF00FF type formats if you want specific colors (even if they reference Java.awt.Color directly in the ReportMill manual) ---
**Author:** ![dkhayes117](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/dkhayes117/32/68344_2.png) [@dkhayes117](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/dkhayes117)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 7:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/3 "2026-09-02T19:59:48Z")
I found this thread that should still be applicable. [Reporting Module Dynamic Key for Font Color - Ignition - Inductive Automation Forum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/reporting-module-dynamic-key-for-font-color/11720) ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/4 "2026-09-02T21:33:02Z")
I had found Kathy's posts in that thread but it didn't seem right at the time. Her proposal does work but at the cost of two parameters per style definition: - One (the passed in external parameter) to take in a color string such as `"0, 200, 0"` or `'#00aa00'` or `'aqua'`. - Another (internal) to reference that and convert it. e.g., `toColor({colorString1})` It works but requires two parameters per color which is a bit messy. I'll play around some more tomorrow. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 1:26am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/5 "2026-09-03T01:26:53Z")
You can put java colors in datasets. Consider defining your entire color scheme in a single dataset parameter. ---
**Author:** ![Transistor](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/transistor/32/3380_2.png) [@Transistor](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Transistor)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2026, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/6 "2026-09-03T21:17:48Z")
Good idea, Phil, and much neater at the expense of only one additional parameter. I created the dataset with `name` (string) and `color` (color) columns. That gave me the color picker, etc., and created the colors. When I came back to it the dataset edit dialog shows that the color column has been converted to 'Column Type: Object'. For now I've recreated the table with `name` (string) and `color` (string) and entered the colors in form `0, 200, 255`, etc. Then in the report I can create the individual styles by setting their default values to `toColor({reportColors}[0, 1])`, etc. Why did I lose the 'Column Type: Color'? ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/common-colors-for-many-reports-in-a-project-think-css/116975/7 "2026-09-04T11:40:20Z")
No idea.