In this article
Forsta Reportal uses the Dundas chart component by default, and the Highcharts component can be selected if desired. All chart generation and image production is performed on the server, so you do not need to install any components or plug-ins to use the Chart Designer.
The Chart Designer window is where you create and edit a chart. Each chart has its own window.
Note: If when the Page is created the designer chooses a Layout Master that includes both a Table and a Chart element, then the Table and the Chart will be connected automatically. However if the Page is created without both elements then there will be no such connection and you will then have to make that connection “manually”. For example, if you first create a page, then add a table, and then add a chart, there will be no connection between the two elements.
Note also that if you are using a Layout Master that contains more than one table and a chart, the chart will be connected to the first table. And if you are using a Layout Master that has more than one chart, only the first chart will be automatically connected to a table.
Once you have placed a chart onto a page (go to Creating a Chart for more information), you then need to set it up to present the required data. How you go about setting up the chart will depend on which chart design functionality you use; Dundas (go to Setting Up the Chart Using Dundas for more information) or Highcharts (go to Setting Up the Chart Using Highcharts for more information).
Parts of the Chart
Figure 1 - A chart comprises six main parts:
Figure 2 - The various parts of a chart
- Image area – the entire area covered by the diagram, including the chart, the legend, the title and any labels.
- Legend – describes the result series. In the chart shown in the figure above, the chart area is not large enough to include a label for each series. The series are therefore displayed in different colors, and the legend is included to inform the viewer which color represents which set of results.
- Axes – the horizontal and vertical edges of the chart area (normally the lower and left edges), against which the labels can be positioned. The X axis is normally the horizontal axis; the Y axis is normally the vertical axis.
- Series – the sets of results in the chart. For example, in the chart shown above, the bright red series represents the results for CNN.
- Chart area – the area within the image area that is covered by the actual chart.
- Border skin – the border of the image area.
The various parts of the chart are set up using the properties available in the Chart Setting tabs (go to Chart Settings Overview for more information).
To explain the Chart Designer we will use a real chart as an example. The Example Chart shown in the figure lower on the page is based on the following Aggregated Table:
Figure 3 - The Aggregated Table used to create the chart in the example
This table is a cross-tabulation using the multi question “Which is your favorite TV channel?” in the rows and the single question “What is your gender?” in the columns. In this case 47 males and 33 females have completed the survey, giving a total of 80 respondents completed. For these results, the Chart Designer gives the following chart suggestion:
Figure 4- Example Chart
In this chart example a slightly changed version of chart style Crosstab_Bar2DLightBlue0-100 from the Default template # 2b template is used. When creating charts, if you are satisfied with the suggestion provided by the system, save it and move on to the next one. However, if you want to alter the look-and-feel of the chart, the Chart Designer offers a vast selection of variations.