Styles

All layout elements, canvases, and patch definitions can be styled with formatting attributes, which are basically defined by what the xlsxwriter module supports.

The language allows you to define and refer back to named collections of formatting attributes.

Format Attributes

You can use sigils like +bold and -text_wrap turn on or off boolean attributes. Other attributes need a specific value. If that value is a number or looks like an identifier, you may supply it without quotes, as in align=center. If the attribute is a complex string, surround it with single-quotes, as in this example: num_format='0.0%;[red]-0.0%' Finally, if the attribute is a color, you can use either a predefined name, like font_color=green or a hexadecimal color code, like bg_color=#ffcccc. (At some point support for decimal RGB colors may be added.)

List of Pre-Defined Colors:

black blue brown cyan gray green lime magenta

navy orange pink purple red silver white yellow

The exact list of supported attributes is defined in the file cubicle/xl_schema.py, which please see.

Note on special cases:

Setting either of the properties border or border_color stands in for setting the corresponding attributes on all four of top, bottom, left, and right.

Defining a named style

To define a style called “example”, include a line like:

example :style +bold +underline align=center

The pattern is:

1. name of the style
2. keyword :style
3. one or more formatting attributes as described in the previous section.
4. newline

Please note: styles can only be defined in the outermost scope of a module. Attempting it nested inside other structures will yield a syntax error upon compiling the module.

Referring back to a style

Assuming you’ve defined a style called “example”, then later on in the module you can refer back to it with the %example sigil wherever formatting attributes are appropriate, including in subsequent style definitions.