ALV Reports Part 7: Colors, Icons and Traffic Lights

📌 KEY POINTS
✅ Column color: field catalog emphasize = 'C510' (C + color 1–7 + intensified + inverse).
✅ Row color: a 4-char field in the output table named in layout info_fname; cell color: an LVC_T_SCOL field named in layout ctab_fname.
✅ Traffic lights: a 1-char field with 1 = red, 2 = yellow, 3 = green, named in layout excp_fname.
⚠️ Colors must carry meaning users understand — and should not be the only signal (color-blind users); add icons or text.

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▶ WHERE WE ARE
The drill-down from Part 6 helps users find details. Colors and icons help them see problems before clicking.

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▶ 1. COLOR CODES
Format Cxyz: x = color (1 gray-blue, 2 light gray, 3 yellow, 4 blue-green, 5 green, 6 red, 7 orange), y = intensified (0/1), z = inverse (0/1). Example: C610 = intensified red.

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▶ 2. COLUMN COLOR
Field catalog: gs_fcat-emphasize = 'C300'. The whole column gets the color.

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▶ 3. ROW COLOR

• Add ROWCOLOR TYPE char4 to the output structure.
• Fill it per row (e.g. 'C610' for overbooked flights).
• Layout: info_fname = 'ROWCOLOR' (LVC) or info_fieldname (SLIS).

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▶ 4. CELL COLOR

• Add CELLCOLOR TYPE lvc_t_scol to the output structure (a table inside each row).
• Append entries with fname = column and color-col / color-int / color-inv.
• Layout: ctab_fname = 'CELLCOLOR' (LVC) or coltab_fieldname (SLIS).

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▶ 5. ICONS

• Output field TYPE icon_d (4 chars) filled with constants from type group ICON (icon_green_light, icon_warning, icon_locked).
• Field catalog: icon = 'X'. Add a tooltip text in a separate column or via quickinfo.

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▶ 6. TRAFFIC LIGHTS (EXCEPTION COLUMN)

• Field LIGHT TYPE char1 with '1', '2' or '3'.
• Layout: excp_fname = 'LIGHT' (LVC) or lights_fieldname (SLIS); excp_led = 'X' shows LEDs instead of lights.

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▶ STEP BY STEP

1. Run the code example: seat utilisation with traffic lights, red rows for full flights and a colored cell.
2. Change thresholds and watch the colors change.
3. Add an icon column with a lock icon for flights in the past.

✅ CHECKPOINT: your ALV makes exceptions visible with colors, icons and traffic lights.

A production supervisor ALV listed 2,000 open orders; late orders were only visible by comparing two date columns. Adding a traffic light column (red = late, yellow = due within 2 days, green = on time) and a red row color for late high-priority orders let supervisors spot problems immediately.
One supervisor was red-green color-blind, so the team also added an icon column with distinct icons and a text column "Late/Due/On time" — accessibility was added to the team's ALV guidelines.

• Layout field names (info_fname, ctab_fname, excp_fname) not matching the output structure.
• Using SLIS layout field names with LVC layouts.
• Wrong color code format (must be Cxyz).
• Forgetting icon = 'X' so the icon code appears as text.
• Relying only on color to convey meaning.

• Define color rules with the business and keep them consistent across reports.
• Combine colors with icons or text for accessibility.
• Use traffic lights for status, cell colors for single problem values.
• Keep color logic in one routine.
• Avoid too many colors — highlight exceptions only.

Questions: "How do you color a row / cell / column in ALV?", "How do you show traffic lights?", "What does C610 mean?"
Strong answer: column via fieldcat emphasize; row via a char4 field named in layout info_fname; cell via lvc_t_scol field named in ctab_fname; traffic light via char1 field (1/2/3) named in excp_fname; icons via icon_d fields with ICON constants and icon = 'X'; Cxyz = color, intensified, inverse.