Sparklines

Sparklines are small, stand-alone, graphical representations of the changes in a measured value, often over a period. For example, sparklines are often used to illustrate changes in stock prices over the course of a day.

A key feature of sparklines is that the data on which they are based need not exist in the report. Instead, for two of the three types of sparkline, the data is specified within the data area of the sparkline itself. This makes sparklines particularly useful for creating dashboard-type reports which, typically, display data only graphically. A less flexible alternative to sparklines is to use charts, and store the data on which the charts are based in hidden columns and rows.

You create sparklines with the Sparkline Wizard.

These are the three types of sparkline:

Children
Descendants
From spreadsheet

Children sparkline

The sparkline shows information about the children of a selected parent element. You can display the parent element in, for example, a combo box. The sparkline changes when you select a different parent element from the combo box.

Descendant sparkline

The sparkline shows information about the descendant of a selected parent element, at a selected level of the hierarchy. You can display the parent element in, for example, a combo box. The sparkline changes when you select a different parent element from the combo box.

From spreadsheet sparkline

This is the only type of sparkline which requires the data on which it is based to exist in the report, either in visible or hidden cells. For example, a table of values can be the basis of a spreadsheet sparkline.