The look and feel of a chart can be configured using the Display Options Icon.
A pop-up window appears and the chart can be formatted and configured using the Chart - Display options Screen.
Note: Changes can be previewed using the 'Apply' button. Pressing 'OK' will save the changes.
The Display Options screen is divided into numerous sections
1 Sorting
2 Attribute Columns
3 Measure Columns
4 Dimension
1 Sorting - This allows the chart (X-Axis as standard) to be sorted by an attribute or measure which is present on the chart. If, for instance, the chart is to be sorted by 'Name' then the column holding the name would be selected.
The chart can also be sorted by any measure field to give largest/smallest first. The sort order can be ascending or descending or none.
The number of results returned (displayed) can also be set here using the Results Count field. This option can be used to show 'Top 10' or 'Bottom 10' type results. Typing zero will show all results returned.
Note: if the chart type is changed to Horizontal Bar, the X and Y axes are flipped and the sort is applied to the Y-Axis
2 Attribute Columns - This is where items relating to the chart attribute (X-Axis) are configured. This includes, titles, sizes, location, position, display types etc.
Note: the Attribute column field just shows which dataset attribute is currently mapped to the chart.
2.1 X Axis - Allows the user to specify how the X-Axis is orientated. The default is Automatic (recommended) meaning the X-Axis adjusts itself based on the space available to the chart.
Other options include:
Title - The title for the X-Axis is entered here. The title can be removed by unticking show title tickbox
Size - The size of the title is chosen here, Small/Medium/Large
2.2 Enable Zoom - Tickbox. Ticking this option allows the chart to be 'Zoomed' into. Particularly useful for very busy charts with lots of data making it difficult to read.
2.3 Reverse data - Tickbox. Ticking this option will reverse the direction sorted items are displayed (Left-to-right or right-to-left). In the case of Horizontal bar-charts (Top-To-Bottom or Bottom-To-Top)
2.4 Reverse Axis Position - Tickbox. Ticking this box will switch the side on which the axis is shown. i.e. The standard X-Axis is shown on the bottom. Reversing the Axis here will show the X-Axis on the top of the chart.
2.5 Legend - This allows the legend to be positioned differently. Where only one measure is shown on a chart the legend may be no longer required hence the 'No Legend' option.
Size - The size of the legend is chosen here, Small/Medium/Large
3 Measure Columns - This is where items relating to the chart measure(s) (Y-Axis series) are configured. This includes, titles, sizes, location, position, display types etc. You can also set a Minimum and Maximum value range of the bar chart, e.g. 0 and 100.
3.1 Y-Axis - Allows the user to specify how the Y-Axis is orientated. The default is Automatic (recommended) meaning the Y-Axis adjusts itself based on the space available to the chart.
Other options include:
Title - The title for the Y-Axis is entered here. The title can be removed by unticking show title tickbox
Size - The size of the title is chosen here, Small/Medium/Large 3.2 Enable Zoom - Tickbox. Ticking this option allows the chart to be 'Zoomed' into. Particularly useful for very busy charts with lots of data making it difficult to read.
3.3 Reverse data - Tickbox. Ticking this option will reverse the direction sorted items are displayed (Top-To-Bottom or Bottom-To-Top).
3.4 Reverse Axis Position - Tickbox. Ticking this box will switch the side on which the axis is shown. i.e. The standard Y-Axis scale is shown on the left. Reversing the Axis will show the Y-Axis on the right of the chart.
3.5 Calculate Origin - The Origin (Y-Axis Scale) usually starts at zero. This option is useful to dynamically calculate where the Y-Axis scale should start and end based on the data. i.e. if every value being plotted is between 100 and 200 then the Y-Axis would start at 100 and go up to 200.
3.6 Series Configuration - A chart can display many measures (series) i.e. Total Sales, Total Costs, Profit or Loss. Each series displayed on the chart can be configured separately to show differently on the chart. i.e Profits in green, losses in red etc.
3.6.1 Series Name - Each series is displayed in its own section in Chart - Display Options. In the example below we have 'Revenue Potential' and 'Revenue Expected'.
3.6.2 Chart type - Each series can be given a different chart type i.e. Bar - Vertical. You can mix and match chart types but there are restrictions. i.e. A pie chart and a bar chart can't be displayed on one chart.
3.6.3 Series Colour - Set the colour of the series using the colour selection dropdown
3.6.4 Series Position/Order - Choose the order in which multiple series are layered on the chart. i.e. You may want area charts to show behind bar charts. The order of each series can be altered.
3.6.5 Stacked - You may stack certain series of the same type to create a stacked bar/area/line graph for instance. i.e. you may have 4 series showing sales for North/Midlands/South region. If you tick the stacked option for each series, the graph will show stacked on top of each other giving sales for all regions in a single column.
3.6.6 Smoothed - If you plot a line graph the lines between each point plotted will be straight lines by default. This option allows the line graph to be smoothed out automatically.
3.6.7 100% - If you have a stacked series this option allows each stack to be plotted as as a proportion of 100% irrespective of the absolute values being plotted. i.e. you may wish to look at the proportion of sales each month by North/Midlands/South irrespective of the actual sales value each month. Example:
3.6.8 Labels - Tickbox. You can add labels to a chart by ticking the Labels tickbox. When ticked, another panel of options is presented below:
Here you can select the Foreground colour of the label, whether there is a background (tickbox) and the background colour.
Here you can also select the size of the label font (Small/Medium/Large) and the Position of the label on the chart.
Example (options from section 3):
4 Dimension - Here, you can specify the dimension of the component in pixels.
From V6.1 onwards is is also possible to remove axes from the chart using the Hide Axes Tickbox