What are the asterisks in quotes doing in this VB function for a textbox expression in SSRS?

Question

This changes the decimal places displayed on a percentage in a textbox. Can someone help me break it down and explain the asterisks? Thanks.

=IIF((ReportItems!Textbox68.Value > 1 and ReportItems!Textbox68.Value < 2), "*",
     IIF((ReportItems!Textbox68.Value > 2 and ReportItems!Textbox68.Value < 3), "**",
     IIF(ReportItems!Textbox68.Value > 3, "***", ReportItems!Textbox68.Value))
 )

Instead of using multiple `IIF()`s it would be easier to use `SWITCH()` — Mike D., Sep 15 '14 at 23:37

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 15 '14 at 17:27

This is evaluating the values and when the case is met, the return will literally be asterisks, unless it does not find any of these cases to match, then it will return the value of ReportItems!Textbox68.Value.

Trying to format this as a percentage will be problematic since it does not always return a number.

What are the asterisks in quotes doing in this VB function for a textbox expression in SSRS?

1 Answers1