Charts are graphical representations of your data. The Ad Hoc Editor creates a bar chart by default, but another chart can be selected at any time. There are two categories of charts:
- Summarized charts: show data grouped and summarized
- Unsummarized charts: show each data point individually and do not support grouping
When creating a chart, indicate how to arrange the data by specifying:
- A group field: Similar to the table's grouping option, a chart's group field determines how data is categorized. For example, in a bar chart, the category field determines how the bars are grouped; in a pie chart it determines what each slice represents.
Time series and scatter charts are not summarized charts and don't support grouping; instead, each data point is mapped individually.
- Measure fields: Measures determine the length of bars, size of pie slices, location of points (in line charts), and height of areas.
Chart Types
There are six chart types to use in order to present the data. Choose the chart that best conveys the information you are trying to present. Each chart type has several design options to help present the data in an easy to understand manner.
Type |
Description |
Category |
Design Options |
|---|---|---|---|
Bar Chart |
Compares values displayed as bars |
Summarized |
Bar charts can be displayed as flat Bars or 3D Bars, Horizontal Bars or Vertical Bars, Stacked or Simple Series |
Pie Chart |
Compares values displayed as slices of a circular graph |
Summarized |
When creating a pie chart, you can indicate whether to use a Flat Pie (which is two dimensional), or the default, which is three dimensional (3D Pie). |
Line Chart |
Compares values displayed as points connected by lines |
Summarized |
When creating a line chart, you can indicate whether to display markers at each data point and lines that join them. Select Hide Lines or Hide Points to remove the indicators from the chart. |
Area Chart |
Compares values displayed as shaded areas |
Summarized |
When creating an area chart, you can indicate whether the groups should be displayed as transparent overlays or as solid areas. Select Stacked Series to display the groups as solid areas arranged vertically, one on top of another; select Simple Series to display groups as transparent overlays. As compared to line charts, area charts emphasize quantities rather than trends. |
Scatter Chart |
Plots pairs of values against one another |
Unsummarized |
When creating a scatter chart, you can indicate whether to display markers at each data point and lines that join them. Click Hide Points to remove the marker at each data point. Click Show Lines to add lines that join the data points. |
Time Series |
Compares values based on times or dates associated with the data |
Unsummarized |
When creating a time series chart, you can indicate whether to display markers at each data point and lines that join them. Click Show Points to add a marker at each data point. Click Hide Lines to remove the lines that join the data points. |
In addition to the above, all chart types have the following design options:
- Remove Gradient or Apply Gradient: The background can be either graded or solid. When the gradient is removed, the background is filled with a solid color.
- Remove Background or Fill Background: Choose whether the background should be filled with a color or not.
Note: When a report is run, the gradient does not appear.
Design Notes
- Before any fields are added to the chart, the Ad Hoc Editor displays a simple mock-up with the legend displaying a single entry: "No Data." As you add groups and measures, the mock-up changes to reflect the data in the chart.
- Fields can be added as groups or measures.
- To add a field as a group, drag it to the group target to the left of the report area.
- To add a field as a measure, drag it into the report area or click it in the list of fields and select an option from the context menu.
You can add fields more than once (ex. fields can be added as both a measure and a group).
- You can rename the measures displayed in your chart by
- Clicking on the measure's label in the legend and selecting Change Legend Label from the menu that appears. The text you enter replaces the field's name.
- This option is also available on the chart context menu.
- You can change the size of the chart.
- Place your cursor over the right-hand or bottom edge of the chart, the re-size arrow appears.
- Click and drag the edge of the chart to increase or decrease its size.
- By default, the page is set to Actual Size, which re-sizes the page to fit your chart's dimensions. If the size is set to A4 or Letter Size, the Ad Hoc Editor will limit the chart's size to the corresponding selection.
- Time series charts plot your data against the passage of time. They can help you understand the nature and underlying context of your data, identify trends, or forecast future results. In a time series chart:
- The horizontal axis must represent a date or time field, such as Purchase Date.
- If a datatype other than a date/time is used, the Ad Hoc Editor renders the chart as best it can, but the result is likely to be meaningless.
- Unsummarized charts (scatter and time series) can only be run or saved if the fields selected for the X and Y axis are
appropriate:- For scatter charts, both fields must be numeric.
- For time series charts, one field must be a date or date/time, and the other must be numeric.
- You can hide legends and labels to allow the chart more space, or you can show them to make the chart easier to understand. In the chart context menu,
- Click Legends and Labels,
- Specify whether to display:
- The Legend: the list of measures in the chart (for a pie chart, it is the list of groups).
- The Group Title: the name of the group field.
- The Measure Titles: the names the measures.
- In bar, line, and area charts that display multiple measures, you can change the order of measures by dragging the legend entry right or left. This reorders the measures in each group. While the order of measures is changed, the order of colors is not. Thus, the measures change color as they are reordered. This can be helpful improving a chart's legibility and visual appeal
- Remove measures from the chart using the legend or chart context menu.
- If the chart only displays a single measure, click the chart and select Remove Measure.
- If the chart displays multiple measures, the context menu lists them under the Measures menu option. The measures are listed in the order they appear within your groups. On the chart context menu, click Measures > [Measure Name] > Remove Measure .
- Remove a chart's group by clicking the chart and selecting Remove Group from the context menu. You can also select a different field in the list of fields, and click Replace Group, or simply drag the new group field and drop it on the group control.
- When working with a chart that displays two measures with very different ranges of values, the chart may be difficult to read or understand. To make the ranges of values more similar
- Create a custom field that multiplies or divides one of the measures.
- Note the changes in the legend or title of the chart.
Ex. Consider the case where you are comparing the number of items sold (values ranging from 0-50) and the total sales revenue for each product (values ranging from 0-50,000), you could create a custom field that divided the revenue measure by 1000. Adding this measure in place of the actual revenue measure yields a chart in which the two measures are depicted in closer scale.
- To add a field in a specific position in a chart, you can drop it in the legend in the desired location. The new measure appears in the correct location in the chart