Bar Series

Bar series have one data value per series element. That value is used to determine the height of a bar that is drawn for each element. A Bar series may be mixed with Area, Line, Base-Error, Hi-Lo, and Hi-Lo-Open-Close series. Bar Series accept dragged colors to set the fill color and to set the line color. Bar Series also accept dragged image files, displaying the image on the face of each bar. All other attributes of a Bar series may be changed through the Bar series Inspector.

2D Bar series are converted to 3D Bar series by turning on the GridÕs 3D Effect. This is done in the Grid Inspector.

To produce a horizontally oriented Bar series, change the orientation of the Grid to horizontal in the Grid Inspector. See the Grid help file for more information.


Bar Series Inspector

When a Bar series is selected in the chart, the Inspector displays the controls that are used to set its attributes.  The Bar Series Inspector contains a tab view with five tabs: Style, Labels, Shared, Trends and Error Bars.  The contents of each of those tabs is addressed separately below.

Style Tab

The attributes set with controls found in the tab labeled ÒStyleÓ apply only to the currently selected series. Changing the values of these attributes does not affect any of the other series in the chart unless they are also selected.

¥ Line Width and Color
The Line Width slider and the color well set the width and color of the lines outlining the bars in a Bar series.

¥ Gradient Fill
Bar series can be filled with a solid color or with a two-color gradient.

 

Start Color - Sets the start color of the gradient fill (color at the bottom of the Bar).

End Color - Sets the end color of the gradient fill (the color at the top of the Bar).

Color Switch - The swap button exchanges the gradient start color with the gradient end color.


¥ Image
A Bar series can contain an image. The image is set by dragging an image file into a Bar series or by using the Set Image button on the inspector.

 

Image Only - Turns off the drawing of the Bar, and only shows the image. This button has no effect on drawing if there is no image for the series.

Stack Image - Stacks the image in the Bar. The size of the image is determined by the major step value of the Y Axis the series is associated with. This button has no effect on drawing when there is no image for the series.

Set Image - Sets the image for the Bar series through an open panel.

Clear Image - Clears any image currently in the series.

¥ Display series on Y1 / Y2 Axis
Associates the series with either the Y1 or Y2 axis (the axis must be active in order to associate a series to it). The data range of the associated axis will determine how the series is drawn.


Labels Tab
 
The contents of this tab are used to control the content, color, position and rotation of the series labels.

¥ Labels
A switch titled ÒLabelsÓ at the top of the tab view panel will enable or disable the series labels for the selected series.

¥ Label Content
The content of the data labels is set to:
Data - numeric labels
Text - textual labels
Text and Data - both textual and numeric values in the labels

The textual labels contain the row labels as they have been provided in the Data View. The numeric labels are the series element values.

¥ Label Position
Label positioning options are relative to each bar.  Series labels can be double-clicked to deep-select them, then dragged freely across the chart. When this is done, the label position is set to ÒCustomÓ.

¥ Label Color
The Label Color sets the display color of series labels.

¥ Label Rotation
The Rotation controls set the rotation of all of the series labels.



Shared Tab

These attributes, found by clicking the tab marked ÒSharedÓ, are common to all Bar series in the chart. Changing the value for the selected Bar series changes the value for all other Bar series in the chart.

¥ Stacked and Non-Stacked Bars
Bar series are by default "non-stacked", or non-cumulative. You can choose to stack your Bar series, making them cumulative. If one Bar series is stacked, then all Bar series in that chart will be stacked. If one Bar series is non-stacked, then all Bar series in that chart will be non-stacked.

¥ Top Shading
If the chart is using a 3D Effect Grid, then Bar series also draw with a 3D effect. The Top Shading slider sets the shading value used to draw the top of a 3D bar. The Side Shading value is the same for all Bar series in a chart.

¥ Side Shading
If the chart is using a 3D Effect Grid, then Bar series also draw with a 3D effect. The Side Shading slider sets the shading value used to draw the side of a 3D bar. The Side Shading value is the same for all Bar series in a chart.

¥ Bar Overlap
The Bar Overlap slider sets the amount of space between Bars in the chart.

¥ Group Margin
The Group Margin slider sets the amount of space between groups of Bars in the chart.


Trends Tab

The contents of the Trends tab is used to add trend lines to the selected series.  Note that Trends cannot be added to 3D Bar series. Any number of trends can be added, each with their own set of attributes, but all associated with the data of the selected series.

¥ Add Trend / Delete Trend
At the bottom of the trends tab are two buttons used to add and delete trends.  Initially only the Add Trend button is enabled.  When the Add Trend button is clicked, a single trend is added.  For each added trend, an item is added to the popup button that is toward the top of the Trends tab.  This popup button displays the trend label for each of the trends that have been added, and is used to select a trend.

To delete a trend, select the trend from the list of trends in the popup button toward the top of the Trends tab, then click the Delete Trend button.

¥ Type
The mathematical model for a given trend can be set using the Type popup button.  If the trend type has a modifier value, the control for that value is displayed to the right of the trend type popup.  For example, the Polynomial trend type has an Order modifier, and the Moving Average trend type has a Period modifier.

¥ Active
The Active switch is used to activate and deactivate a trend.  When a trend is deactivated, it is not displayed in the chart and is not referenced in the chart legend.

¥ Show Entry in Legend
This switch is used to include or exclude an entry that represents the trend from the chart legend. 

¥ Draw in front of series
Allows you to set the trend to draw in front of or in back of the associated seris. 

¥ Label
The default label for a trend is Ò<Series Name>(Trend #)Ó.  This label can be modified with the Label textfield.  This label is used to identify the trend in the chart legend, and is also used to identify the trend in the trends popup toward the top of the Trends tab.  

¥ Line Width and Color
Used to set the width and color of the trend line. 

¥ Equation Annotation
You can drag a textual annotation from this icon well that will display the mathematical equation computed for the associated trend. 


Error Bars Tab

The ErrorBars tab is used to turn error bars off and on for a given series, and to change the error barsÕ attributes. 

¥ Error Bars Switch
Used to turn on and off error bars.

¥ Mode
A set of two radio buttons used to choose whether the positive and negative error bars will be symmetrical - i.e. based on the same mathematical model - or will have a different model for the positive error bars than the negative error bars.

¥ Type
If the Mode is symmetrical, meaning that both the negative and positive error bars are based on the same mathematical model, then a single popup menu will be displayed from which you may set the mathematical model. If the Mode is not symmetrical, you will see two popup buttons used to select the model used to calculate the positive and negative error bars. The options for the mathematical models, or type, are as follows:  

 

Percentage Ð Extends error bars above and/or below series element a distance that is a percentage of that series elementÕs value.  The percentage is set using the modifier field to the right of the popup.

Fixed - Extends error bars above and/or below each series element a distance whose magnitude is set to a fixed amount. The fixed value is set using the modifier field to the right of the popup.

Standard Deviation - Extends error bars above and/or below the mean of the series by some number of standard deviations, as set in the modifier field to the right of the popup.  Standard deviation is calculated as:

     Std_Dev = sqrt( sum(D) / N-1 ), where

     D = square of a valueÕs difference from the mean,

     Sum(D) = sum of all D over the value set

     N = number of values.


Standard Error - Extends error bars above and/or below each series element a distance that is calculated as:

           Std_Dev / sqrt( N ), where Std_Dev and N are defined above.


Variable - Provides an extra data subcolumn in the Data View into which variable error values may be entered. These values serve as the magnitude of the error bars. The extra subcolumn is labeled "Error" if the Mode is symmetric, and, otherwise, the extra subcolumns are labeled "+ Error" and/or "- Error".

 

¥ Bar attributes
Sets the width and color attributes of the error bars.

¥ Markers
By default Error Bars display no marker at the top and bottom of the bar. However, a marker can be added, and three styles are available. The size of the marker can be set here too.