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Formatting Charts

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to format a chart

Format: Chart

Selecting the right charts is a crucial step of the reporting process, as they are the canvas of a future analysis.

Your report is the gateway to insights and actionable information. Using the right charts means that your audience interprets data the right way and gets the right insights without any confusion. We broke them down into groups so you can identify the one that is most relevant depending on what you are trying to demonstrate.

Select a chart and the Report Element Format tab to view formatting settings.

Formatting a pie chart: See text after image for more details.

Display Settings

The table below shows the options available in the Display sub-tab:

Section	Sub-Section	Option
Display	N/A	Title, Data label, Plot Area Title
Display	Legend	Display, Title
Hide Chart	N/A	Hide when empty, Hide always, Hide when formula is true
Dimensions and Measures	N/A	Avoid duplicate row aggregation, Show measure values with empty dimension values, Show dimension values with empty measure values, Shows measure values when value = 0, Shows measure values for which the sum of values = 0
Errors And Warnings	N/A	Show alert when incompatible data present

Procedure: To Edit and Format a Chart Title

Follow these steps to edit and format a chart title:

Select the chart.
Choose Build Side Panel → Report Element Format tab → Display sub-tab.
In the Display section → Title option, choose More.
In the Style sub-tab → Label section, choose Custom.
Enter the title text.
Choose Validate the formula.

Appearance Settings

The table below shows the options available in the Appearance sub-tab:

Section	Option
Background	Color and transparency
Borders	Border color, Border styles, Border thickness, All borders, No border, Border top Border left, Border bottom, Border right

Style Settings

The table below shows the options available in the Style sub-tab:

Section	Option
Palettes	Color palette
Pie	Effect, Sector Edge Color, 3D Pie Chart Sector Edge
3D	3D
Light And Shadow Effects	Light And Shadow Effects, Shadow X Offset, Shadow Y Offset, Shadow Color, Shadow Rendering

Procedure: To Select a Palette for a Chart

Follow these steps to select a palette for a chart:

Select the chart.
Choose Build Side Panel → Report Element Format tab → Style sub-tab.
In the Palettes section, open the Color Palette list.
Select the palette.

Layout Settings

The table below shows the options available in the Layout sub-tab:

Section	Sub-Section	Option
Size	N/A	Width, Height
Relative Position	N/A	Left edge of this chart is, Top edge of this chart is
Layout	Vertical	Avoid page breaks, Start on a new page, Repeat on every page
Layout	Horizontal	Avoid page breaks, Start on a new page, Repeat on every page

Warning Icons in Charts

Warning icons in charts can let you know when there are chart and data object errors.

You can enable or disable warning icons in the Format panel in the Display Settings tab, under the Errors and Warnings section, using the Show alert when incompatible data present option.

Warning icons can signal general warnings; icons are displayed on the top left corner of the chart.

Warning icons	Description
Red X in a white background	Impossible to generate the chart. This could be due to a cache problem - try clearing temporary objects from the cache.
White X in a red circle	Can't find the image, ask your BI administrator to check the load balancing settings and enable service monitoring.
Yellow warning	For example, the dataset is too large (technical limit of the server), need to refresh the dataset, other cube errors.
Blue alert	Limit for optimal rendering.

In an incompatible chart data warning, a small yellow warning icon is displayed on the data point.

This happens if Show alert when incompatible data present is activated in the chart format options, and the dataset is inconsistent with the chart parameters. For example, a warning can appear in a pie chart with negative values, negative values for a logarithmic scale, or inconsistent hierarchical values for a tree map.

Format Charts

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