Setting chart options

There are a lot of settings that affect how the data in the chart is displayed.

With the chart shown as below as our base chart we will see what happens when changing the various options.

To display items as three dimensional:

•	Right-click on a white space and select 3D.

•	Use the 3D button on the chart toolbar.

•	Click on the button and check the Show as 3D option in the appearance section.

The chart items are shown as 3-dimensional items:

When the results are displayed in 3D, clustering them will display each series on a separate row in the depth. When not clustered, all series will be displayed on the same row.

To cluster the results:

•	Right-click on a white space on the chart and select Clustered.

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Clustered command.

•	Click on the and check the Clustered box.

Note: this option has only effect in combination with the 3d setting.

Scale breaks are intentional breaks on the y-axis that produce more readable results by omitting parts of the axis.

To enable scale breaks:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the enable scale breaks command.

•	Click on the and check the Enable scale breaks box.

Scale breaks turned on

Note: You can influence the position of the break with the scale break threshold setting (in the chart options dialog). This is the percentage of empty chart space before a scale break is displayed.

Often, when viewing data from different aggregation levels in a chart, the results of higher aggregation levels will often be much larger, thus increasing the total scale of the axes. This will result in less available chart space for results on lower levels. This can be solved by using the Hide Aggregate Data option.

To set this option:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Hide Aggregate Data command.

•	Click on the and check the Hide aggregate data box.

When hide aggregate data (options, hide aggregate data), will only display values in the chart for members that are on the lowest available level in the rows and columns. Consider the following example: Measures are on the rows, and Time is on the columns with a drill down on 2005-quarter1, thus displaying the months for 2005-Q1 as lowest level. When hide aggregate data is on, only the months of the quarter are visible in the chart, as the other members contain aggregated data.

Hide aggregate data is off

Hide aggregate data is on

Hide aggregate data is on by default, as it makes it easier to compare data from different members of the same level without the chart scale being distorted by a member of a higher level.

Value labels contain the actual value of a chart item. This can come in handy as it can be hard to read the exact value of a chart item.

To display value labels:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Show values command.

•	Use the button on the chart's toolbar

•	Click on the and check the Show values box.

Show values is on

Note: you can also see the value of a chart item by hovering above it. A tip will be displayed with the value.

By default, the columns in the grid are mapped to legend entries in the chart and rows are mapped to the axis labels (or pies).

To change the row/column mapping:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Swap row/column mapping command.

•	Right-click on the chart and select Swap row/column mapping.

•	Click on the and check the Swap row/column mapping box.

By checking the corresponding option, the columns will be mapped to axis labels (or pies) and the rows to legend items.

By default, all series are displayed together in the same chart. In some cases, for example when creating dashboards, it can come in handy to display each series in a separate chart.

To display each series in a separate chart:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Each series in separate chart command.

•	Use the button on the chart toolbar.

•	Click on the and check the Each series in separate chart box.

Each series in a separate chart

When working with line or area charts, null values will lead to missing line or area parts. To make sure the line or area is continuous, this options can be set. This will treat each null value as a zero.

To set this option:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and check the Treat nulls as zero command.

•	Right-click on a white space on the chart and select Treat nulls as zero.

•	Click on the and check the Treat nulls as zero box.

You can control the location and visibility of the legend to fit the needs of your chart.

To set the location:

•	Click on the arrow next to the options button and select the Top, Bottom, Left or Right command from the Legend submenu.

•	Click on the and select the appropriate option from the Legend position drop-down.

The legend can be displayed both inside or outside the chart; select the Display inside chart checkbox from the options or select the Show Inside Chart command from the Legend submenu.

You can also choose not to display the legend at all, uncheck the Show legend checkbox in the options dialog or the Visible command in the Legend submenu to hide the legend.