Specifying general settings for charts

When using the Specify Chart Settings dialog box to create and configure charts, these settings are all made on the General tab. This tab includes these groups for different types of general settings.

  • Font
  • Tooltips
  • Vertical Divisional Lines
  • Functional Attributes

When modifying a chart by script, use the ChartSetProperty method or the ChartGetProperty method to make these settings. Use the ChartProperty enumeration.

Font group

This group includes settings for:

  • The base font, which is used to render the text on the chart canvas
  • The outside canvas font, which is used to render the text outside the canvas area

This table lists the settings you can make in the Font group box of the General tab. ChartSetProperty and ChartGetProperty property names are also listed.

General tab Field / Option Property name Description / Comments
Base Font BaseFont Specify the font or font family, for example, Arial, to use for all basic text on the chart.
Base Font Size BaseFontSize Specify a font size, in points (0 to 72), for the base font.
Base Font Color BaseFontColor Specify the RGB value for the base font color, as a hexadecimal value (000000-FFFFFF).

You can double-click to display the Color dialog box, where you can select a color or define a custom color for the base font. The hexadecimal code displays after you click OK to exit the Color dialog box.

Outside Canvas Font OutCnvBaseFont Specify the font or font family, for example, Arial, to use for the the text that displays outside the chart canvas.
Outside Canvas Font Size OutCnvBaseFontSize Specify a font size, in points (0 to 72), for the outside canvas font.
Outside Canvas Font Color OutCnvBaseFontColor Specify the RGB value for the outside canvas font color, as a hexadecimal value (000000-FFFFFF).

You can double-click to display the Color dialog box, where you can select a color or define a custom color for the outside canvas font. The hexadecimal code displays after you click OK to exit the Color dialog box.

Tooltips group

These settings control all aspects of whether and how tooltips are displayed on the chart.

This table lists the settings you can make in the Tooltips group box of the General tab. ChartSetProperty and ChartGetProperty property names are also listed.

General tab Field / Option Property name Description / Comments
Show Tooltip ShowToolTip When selected, as it is by default, this option enables tooltips to display.
Show Tooltip Shadow ShowToolTipShadow When selected, this option enables a drop shadow to display behind the tooltip. This option is cleared (disabled) by default.
Series Name in Tooltip SeriesNameInToolTip When selected, as it is by default, this option displays the name of the series being used for the chart, if one exists.
Tooltip Back Color ToolTipBgColor Specify the RGB value for the tooltip background color, as a hexadecimal value (000000-FFFFFF).

You can double-click to display the Color dialog box, where you can select a color or define a custom color for the tooltip background. The hexadecimal code displays after you click OK to exit the Color dialog box.

Tooltip Border Color ToolTipBorderColor Specify the RGB value for the tooltip border color, as a hexadecimal value (000000-FFFFFF).

You can double-click to display the Color dialog box, where you can select a color or define a custom color for the tooltip border. The hexadecimal code displays after you click OK to exit the Color dialog box.

Tooltip Separator Char ToolTipSepChar Specify the character to use as the separator between the name and the value displayed in the tooltip. You can use any string. The default character is a comma.

Vertical Divisional Lines group

Vertical divisional lines are vertical lines that run through the canvas in a chart. They help in relating the data to its respective label, especially when there is a large amount of data. Use the settings in this group to control all aspects of how the vertical divisional lines are to be rendered.

Note: Vertical divisional lines are not functional with all chart styles and types.

This table lists the settings you can make in the Vertical Divisional Lines group box of the General tab.

ChartSetProperty and ChartGetProperty property names are also listed.

General tab Field / Option Property name Description / Comments
Number of Lines NumVDivLines Specify the number of vertical divisional lines to be rendered on the chart.
Color VDivLineColor Specify the RGB value for color to be used to render the vertical divisional lines, as a hexadecimal value (000000-FFFFFF).

You can double-click to display the Color dialog box, where you can select a color or define a custom color for the vertical divisional lines. The hexadecimal code displays after you click OK to exit the Color dialog box.

Thickness VDivLineThickness Specify, in pixels, how thick the vertical divisional lines are to be.
Alpha VDivLineAlpha Specify the amount of transparency to be applied to the vertical divisional lines. Use a number between 0 (transparent) to 100 (totally opaque).
Dashed VDivLineIsDashed When selected, this option causes vertical divisional lines to be rendered as dashed lines, rather than solid.
Dash Len (Length) VDivLineDashLen Specify, in pixels, how long each dash is to be.
Dash Gap VDivLineDashGap Specify, in pixels, how wide the gap between dashes is to be.

Functional Attributes group

This group includes a variety of functional properties that are used to control the colors, labels, values, and other aspects of how the chart is rendered.

This table lists the settings you can make in the Functional Attributes group box of the General tab.

ChartSetProperty and ChartGetProperty property names are also listed.

General tab Field / Option Property name Description / Comments
Palette Palette Specify a palette number, from 1 (default) to 5.

These predefined palettes determine the default colors for the non-data parts of the chart, including the chart background and border, the canvas border and background, fonts, divisional lines, tooltips, anchors and legend labels. Most of these colors can be overridden by individual settings elsewhere.

For samples of the default chart palettes, see Predefined palette samples.

Palette Colors PaletteColors Specify the RGB values for colors to be used to render the data elements, as hexadecimal values (000000-FFFFFF). You can specify multiple colors for multiple data elements in a series.

Data elements include all parts of the chart to display data values, such as bars, lines, pie wedges, doughnut segments, and so on. Each value specified in this field controls each successive color for a data element in a series. For example, the first color specified here determines the color of the first data bar in a chart; the second color determines the color of the second data bar, and so on. If there are more data elements in the series than colors specified here, then the data elements cycle through the color seies specified here.

Label Display LabelDisplay Specify how you want long X-axis labels to be displayed:
  • AUTO: Automatically use the best display mode (rotate or wrap).
  • WRAP: Wrap labels using multiple lines if necessary.

    If there is not enough space, labels are automatically truncated, with ellipses (...) added and tool-tips displayed on mouseover.

  • STAGGER: Distribute labels along multiple lines under the chart.
  • ROTATE: Rotate labels so that they display vertically.
  • NONE: Do not display labels.
Label Step LabelStep If X-axis labels represent an incremental quantity such as dates, specify a number (n) here, to display every n-th label instead of all labels. This can make a chart less cluttered.
Click URL ClickURL  
Y-Axis Values Step YAxisValuesStep If Y-axis values represent an incremental quantity with divisional lines or grids, specify a number (n) here, to display a value on every n-th line. To display a value on every line, specify 1 or leave the field blank.
Y-Axis Min Value YAxisMinValue Specify the minimum value to display on the Y-axis. Otherwise, the system determines the value automatically based on the available data.
Y-Axis Max Value YAxisMaxValue Specify the maximum value to display on the Y-axis. Otherwise, the system determines the value automatically based on the available data.

For example, a percent chart normally ranges from 0 to 100. If your allowable data range is only from 1 to 10, you can use those values as the min and max.

Animated Animation When selected, this option specifies that the data elements are to be animated when they are first displayed. On column charts, for example, the columns "grow" out of the X-axis when the chart is first displayed.
Otherwise, data is displayed all at once in a static fashion, when the chart displays.
Note: When using the chart in a form designed for report output as a background task, we recommend that you NOT use this setting. This is because it can slow the rendering of the chart and cause a blank area in the output.
Show Labels ShowLabels When selected, this indicates that X-axis labels are to be displayed on the chart.

Otherwise, X-axis labels do not display.

Rotate Labels RotateLabels When selected, specifies that X-axis labels are to be rotated 90 degrees (displayed vertically).
Slant Labels SlantLabels When selected, this option specifies that X-axis labels are to be slanted at a 45-degree angle.
Show Values ShowValues When selected, this option specifies that data values are to be displayed on the chart.

Otherwise, data values do not display.

Rotate Values RotateValues When selected, this option specifies that data values are to be displayed vertically, rather than horizontally.
Place Values Inside PlaceValuesInside When selected, this option specifies that data values are to be displayed inside the chart elements that represent them.
Show Y-Axis Values ShowYAxisValues When selected, this option specifies that Y-axis data values are to be displayed on the chart.
Show Limits ShowLimits When selected, this option specifies that the Y-axis upper and lower limit values are to be displayed on the chart.
Show Div Line Values ShowDivLineValues When selected, this option specifies that values for divisional lines are to be displayed on the chart. Divisional line are horizontal lines that divide the Y-axis into smaller segmenets.
Show Shadow ShowShadow When selected, this option specifies that a drop shadow is to be applied to each data element (bar, column, line, etc.) on the chart.
Auto Div Line Adjust AdjustDiv When selected, this option specifies that the number of divisional lines between the Y-axis upper and lower limits is to be set automatically.

When this option is cleared, you can use the Num Div Lines field on the Other tab to specify the number of divisional lines to display.

Rotate Y-Axis Name RotateYAxisName When selected, this option specifies that the Y-axis name is to be displayed vertically, rather than horizontally.
Set Adaptive Y Min SetAdaptiveYMin When selected, this option specifies that the minimum value displayed on the Y-axis can be adjusted automatically to allow the range of values to be displayed more effectively.

When cleared, the minimum Y-axis value is determined by the type of chart selected. Typically, it is zero (0).

Center Y-Axis Name CenterYAxisName When selected, this option specifies that the Y-axis name is to be centered horizontally beside the Y-axis.
Connect Null Data ConnectNullData When selected, this option specifies that data values in a series that are null are to be connected to other data points in a line chart.

If this option is cleared, and there are null data points, the data points on either side are not connected. This results in a broken data line.

Use 3D Lighting Use3DLighting When selected, this option specifies that a three-dimensional effect is to be applied to the entire chart.

Otherwise, the overall effect is two-dimensional.

For more information about these and other chart properties, see the FusionCharts Developer help (www.fusioncharts.com/dev/).

Related topics