Goto it here's what I did Use a frame for your table rows, insert the table fields into the frame. From the main menu select Format > Styles in the Styles dialog there should be the default style. Select it then click modify. Leave the Default condition, click the Add button. In the expression editor pane enter the following: new Boolean($F{ROWNUM}.intValue() % 2 == 0). The ROWNUN field is available in any RDBMS table so don’t worry. All you need to do is the set the bgcolor and ADD another style to the default for the alternate condition as in new Boolean($F{ROWNUM}.intValue() % 2 != 0) Select the row frame in the Document Structure pane, select the frames properties, uncheck the Transparent checkbox, make sure the style is set to the default_frame and that the “Print repeated values†checkbox is checked. That’s it