The Grid

All Chartsmith series types (except pie series) are drawn on a grid. You can think of the grid as a sheet of graph paper that Chartsmith uses to plot series data to create a chart.

When the drawing order of the grid is changed relative to other chart components, using the Format->Send_To_Back and Format->Bring_To_Front menu items, all series are reordered with the grid. Series always draw on top of the grid, and no other graphic objects can draw between the series and the grid. When the grid is resized, the series are also resized to fit the new dimensions of the grid.

Parts of the Grid

A Chartsmith grid has several parts as described below. Each part of a grid has independently controlled attributes.

 

¥ Grid Axes
Every grid has an X axis and at least one Y axis. These are the perpendicular lines that frame the grid on the lower and side borders. The Y axis can be positioned on the left side, the right side, or you can have Y axes on both sides. Each axis accepts dragged colors, and can have a different color, and line width.

¥
Axis Titles
Axis titles have default values of "Axis Title". Axis titles may be edited by double clicking on them and editing on the chart, or by changing the axis title text fields in the Data View Window. Axis titles accept dragged colors. The font of axis titles may be changed by selecting them and setting the font from the font panel.

¥ Major Lines
Each axis has a set of major lines associated with it. Major lines are placed at multiples of the step value. Major lines accept dragged colors.

¥ Minor Lines
Each axis has a set of minor lines associated with it. Minor lines are placed at user defined increments between the major lines. Minor lines accept dragged colors.

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Tick Marks
Each axis has a set of tick marks associated with it. Tick marks are lines placed on the axis at the same points that major and minor lines are placed. Only major lines and ticks can be labelled. Tick marks can be drawn inside and/or outside the grid boundary, and are always the same color as the major or minor grid lines that they are associated with.

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Tick labels
Tick labels indicate the values measured along an axis and are automatically generated. Tick labels cannot be edited. Tick labels accept dragged colors. The font of tick labels may be changed by selecting the grid and setting the font from the font panel. From the Grid Inspector, tick labels can be rotated.



Grid Inspector

The Grid Inspector is a complex inspector. ItÕs important to understand how to navigate through it. Read this next paragraph carefully.

Across the top of the Grid Inspector are three, sometimes four, tabs, labeled "Main", "X Axis", "Y1 Axis" and/or "Y2 Axis". Each tab allows you to inspect a group of related grid attributes. The "Main" tab inspects attributes that are not specific to any one part of the grid, but are common to all parts of the grid. The "X Axis", "Y1 Axis" and "Y2 Axis" tabs inspect attributes specific to each of those parts of the grid. Each of the Axis tabs contain the exact same controls as the other Axis tabs; however, the controls apply to the attributes associated with the selected axis. This is because all axes have the same attributes whether the axis is the X-axis or one of the Y-axes. Each Axis tab has five sub panels that are accessed by clicking the buttons across the top of the Axis tab labeled ÒAxisÓ, ÒRangeÓ, ÒMajorÓ, ÒMinorÓ and ÒLabelsÓ.

The sections that follow look at the function of each of these sections of the Grid Inspector.


Main Tab of Grid Inspector

From the Main tab you can control the basic attributes of the grid.

 

¥ Axes
The grid can have a Y axis on its left or right side, or on both sides. The axis located on the left side of the grid is the Y1 axis, the one on the right is the Y2 axis. Each has its own set of attributes, including its data range. Each Y axis serves as a display scale only to those series that are associated with that axis. See the Series Help files for instruction on setting the Y axis that a series is associated with.

¥
Grid Range Auto Adjust
Auto Adjust will automatically set the range of the X and Y axes based on the data in the Data View. When data is entered in the Data View , the grid will automatically adjust its range so that all data falls within the grid range. When you manually adjust the range of values for either the X or Y axes (discussed below), auto adjust is automatically turned off. If there is both a Y1 and Y2 axis, they auto adjust independently. The tick label frequency (see Labels Tab below) and the Major Steps Per Major Line (see Major Tab below) attributes are also automatically set by the auto adjust feature. As with the data range, manually adjusting either of these automatically turns auto adjust off. Selecting a new grid type automatically turns on the Auto Adjust.

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Orientation
A one-dimensional grid (as on a Bar chart ) can be oriented either vertically (the default) or horizontally. Note that the Y axis title moves to the X axis when the orientation is changed; all attributes of the X and Y axes are swapped when you change orientation.

The orientation of a two-dimensional grid (as on a XY chart) cannot be changed. And a grid which has a Y2 axis cannot be made horizontal.

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Grid Type
The grid type sets the type of "graph paper", or scale the grid will use to plot data. By default the grid type is linear. Semilog sets the grid's Y Axis to use a logarithmic (base 10) scale, and the grid's X Axis to use the linear scale. Log sets both the X and Y Axis to use the logarithmmic scale. The Log option is only enabled when inspecting an XY,Scatter or Bubble chartÕs grid.

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3D Effect
The grid can have a 2-dimensional or 3-dimensional (3D) appearance. When using the 3D effect, the controls in the 3D Effect box are enabled. The Line Width slider and color well set the width and the color of the 3D grid frame. The depth slider and text field set the depth of the Z axis of the 3D grid. The Angle slider and text field set the angle that the Z axis forms with the X Axis.

On a 3D grid, all Bar series will be drawn in 3D, and all other series types will be displayed on the back wall of the grid.

¥
Background Color
The Background color well sets the fill color that is drawn behind the grid.



X, Y1 and Y2 Axis Tabs of the Grid Inspector

The X, Y1 and Y2 Axis Tabs of the Grid Inspector all have the same controls, and inspect the same attributes, but only for the specified axis. Near the top of each axis tab are five buttons, labeled "Axis", ÒRangeÓ, "Major", "Minor" and "Labels". Each button, when clicked, displays a sub-panel. Each sub-panel allows you to inspect a group of related attributes for parts of the axis. The "Axis" button inspects attributes of the axis line and axis title. The ÒRangeÓ button inspects the min, max and step increment for the axis. The "Major" and "Minor" buttons inspect attributes specific to the Major and Minor grid lines for the axis. The "Labels" button inspects the tick labels for the axis.

Each of these five sub-panels are covered below.

Axis Sub-Panel

The Axis Sub-Panel allows you to change attributes of the axis, such as color and line width.

 

¥ Axis Type
This control is disabled if the axis is logarithmic. It allows you to change the type of the axis to Numeric (a basic number line), Duration (values are based on time intervals) or Date (values are based on calendar dates). For Date axes, values in the data sheet can be calendar dates(most date formats are accepted). For Duration axes, values in the data sheet can be lengths of time in weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds (e.g. 3w 2d 42s)(stardard numbers are assumed to be seconds).

¥
Title Position
This control is only enabled when you are inspecting the Y axis. It allows you to place the title either horizontally above the grid (the default) or vertically down the left side of the grid.

¥
Title Color
The Title Color well sets the color of the Axis title. The axis title also accepts dragged colors.

¥ Axis Line
The Line Width slider and color well set the width and color of the axis line. The On/Off switch turns the axis line on or off.



Range Sub-Panel

The Range Sub-Panel allows you to change the range of values along the axis being inspected, as well as the size of increments, or step, between the min and max.

Each Axis Tab of the Grid Inspector has three fields, displayed in the Range Sub-Panel, that are used to set the Minimum, Maximum and Step values. The Minimum and Maximum set the range of the axis values. The Step sets the increment between major grid lines. When Auto Adjust is on all three of these fields are automatically set by Chartsmith based on the range of values provided in the Data View. Manually entering a value into any of these three fields will turn Auto Adjust off, and set the new value for the axis.

For Axes of type Date or Duration (this type is selected in the Axis Sub-Panel discussed above), the minimum, maximum and range values are date or time interval values. These values are set using the Time/Data panel. This panel is retrieved by clicking the Set button next to the Minimum, Maximum and Step fields. The Time/Date panel functions just like a standard Color panel, where dates or durations are dragged to their respective wells in the sub-panel.


Major Sub-Panel

The Major Sub-Panel allows you to change attributes of the major lines associated with the selected axis.

 


¥ Show Lines
Turns the major lines on or off.

¥ Show Ticks
Turns the major ticks on or off and allows the choice of ticks being drawn inside the grid and/or outside the grid.

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Major Steps Per Major Line
Sets the frequency of major lines. E.g., if the value is 1 every major line is active; if the value is 3 every 3rd major line is active. This value is set automatically when Auto Adjust is on. And when this value is set manually, Auto Adjust is turned off.

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Line Style
Sets the line style used to draw the major grid lines to solid, or one of three dash patterns.

¥ Line Width and Color
The Line Width slider and color well set the width and color used to draw the major grid lines.



Minor Sub-Panel

The Minor Sub-Panel allows you to change attributes of the minor lines associated with the selected axis.

 

¥ Show Lines
Turns the minor lines on or off.

¥ Show Ticks
Turns the major ticks on or off and allows the choice of ticks being drawn inside the grid and/or outside the grid.

¥
Minor Lines Per Major Line
Determines how many minor lines are drawn between each major line.

¥
Line Style
Sets the line style used to draw the minor grid lines to solid, or one of three dash patterns.

¥ Line Width and Color
The Line Width slider and color well set the width and color used to draw the minor grid lines.




Labels Sub-Panel

The Labels Sub-Panel allows you to change attributes of the tick labels associated with the major lines of the selected axis. Some of the attributes only apply to the labels on a numeric axis (i.e., one axis of a one-dimensional grid, both axes on a two-dimensional grid). When you are inspecting an axis to which they don't apply, their controls are disabled.

The Format section of the Labels Sub-Panel changes based on the axis type, i.e. whether the axis type is Numeric, Date or Duration.

 

¥ Show Labels Every __ Major Lines
Turns the tick labels on or off, and sets the frequency of tick labeling. For example, a value of 1 will label every major tick, a value of 2 will label at every other major tick. This value is set automatically when Auto Adjust is on. And when this value is set manually, Auto Adjust is turned off.

¥
Last Label
Forces the last tick label to be displayed regardless if the Label Every__ attribute (described above) would otherwise remove the last tick label.

¥ Label Color
This color well sets the color of the tick labels. Tick labels also accept dragged colors.

¥
Label Prefix
The label prefix allows you to place any string of characters at the front of the labels. The "To All" switch controls whether the prefix is applied to all the labels, or just to the top- or right-most label. For example, this allows you to construct labels such as pH 7.5 .

¥ Label Postfix
The label postfix allows you to place any string of characters at the end of the labels. The "To All" switch controls whether the postfix is applied to all the labels, or just to the top- or right-most label. For example, this allows you to construct labels such as $375/oz.

¥ Rotation
Sets the angle at which tick labels are drawn.

¥
Format
The contents of this section of the sub-panel vary based on the Axis type (i.e Numeric, Date or Duration) which is set in the Axis Inspector discussed above.

 

 

  ¥ Decimal Places
"Auto" tells Chartsmith to automatically determine the number of decimal places. "Manual" sets the number of decimal places used for tick labels to the number specified in the "places" text field. Note that the number of decimal places is applied after all of the other numeric formatting, so that the number 1520.25, would appear as 1520.3 when shown in ones with 1 decimal place, but as 1.5K when shown in thousands with 1 decimal place.

¥ Numeric Format
There are six numeric format options:

e format forces all labels into scientific notation. For example, 15 is shown as 1.5e+01.

$ format places a dollar sign at the front of all labels. For example, 15 is shown as $15.

% format forces all labels into percent notation. The label value is multiplied by 100, and a percent sign is placed at the end of the label. For example, 0.15 is shown as 15%.

() and - formats control how labels with negative values are shown. Only one of these formats is allowed at a time.

() format shows negative numbers surrounded by parentheses, with no minus sign. For example, -15 is shown as (15).

- format shows negative numbers with leading minus signs. For example, -15 is shown as -15.

, format divides large numbers into groups of three digits for better legibility. For example, 1500000 is shown as 1,500,000.

With the exception of () and -, all of the above numeric formats can be mixed. For example, -1500000 can be formatted to appear as ($1,500K).


¥ Label Divider
Allows scaling of all of the labels to show them in ones, thousands, millions or billions. Below is an example of the same number, shown in each style.

150000000
1500000K
1500M
1.5B

 

For Duration Axes

 

 

  ¥ Decimal Places
"Auto" tells Chartsmith to automatically determine the number of decimal places. "Manual" sets the number of decimal places used for tick labels to the number specified in the "places" text field. Note that the number of decimal places is applied after all of the other numeric formatting, so that the number 1520.25, would appear as 1520.3 when shown in ones with 1 decimal place, but as 1.5K when shown in thousands with 1 decimal place.

¥ Time increment label
For each time increment (Weeks, Days, etc) a label can be attached to the numeric value. Each such label can be enabled or disabled using the ÒEnabledÓ switch.

 

For Date Axes

 

 

  ¥ Date Format / Time Format
Specifies the format of the date and time labels. Each permits the choice of None to omit that component of the label.