Properties

Basically, there are two possibilities to maintain the features of graphomate charts for Excel: with the Basic Properties Sheet, which lists all parameters in a structured list or with the Additional Properties Sheet. The latter provides a user-friendly interface. There are some special features, which can only be maintained on the Basic Properties Sheet.

The Checkboxes next to the features in the Additional Properties Sheet are used to control the visibility of chart elements.

General Tab

Orientation

All charts can be used in horizontal or vertical orientation:

horizontal for development over time,
vertical for structure comparison.

Use the toggle button to select Structure/Time.

Chart Type

Choose the preferred chart type via mouse click on the corresponding icon. With the Checkbox Base Chart you can display or hide the Base Chart. This way, you may use deviation charts without the Base Chart.

Stacked Bar Mode

This option is visible, if the stacked bar chart ist selected. It switches between the different stacked bar chart modes.
The modes are explained under Standard Properties.

Deviations Configuration

These Checkboxes activate - additionally to the Base Chart - axes for absolute or percentage deviations of two Data Series. A click on Name enables the renaming of the deviation series. This Name is also used as a legend.

Use the dropdown boxes to choose the Data Series for the calculation of deviations according to the formulas on the right. Click the button Type for selecting between absolute and percentage deviation.

Delete deviation series by using the red button and add new by using the green button , which will be shown above the Base Chart. The order of the display corresponds with the order in the Deviations Configuration.

Formula for calculation of absolute deviation:

Formula for calculation of percentage deviation:

Data Tab

Data Series

Here you can link up to 10 Data Series from the Data Source that you want to display by clicking the corresponding button .The Checkbox next to the Data Series determines its visibility in the chart. Change the name of the Data Series by clicking on it. The given names are also used for the Data labels. With the button you delete the assignment of the Data Series.
With a click on the blue 'B' buttons you can toggle the labelling of the according series selectively.

If you click the question mark icon

, you can toggle the chart type for each series separately. By default (question mark selected), the setting from the general tab is used. With this feature you can get automatic chart layering.

Category Labels

Category Labels are shown in the chart, when the Checkbox is activated. Category Labels are automatically created from the meta data of the Data Source.

Base Chart Axis Labels

Define additional axis labeling here. To show these labels the Checkboxes on the Helper Tab must be activated.

Data Types

Specify here the Data Type of each element of the selected Data Series. Each element can be formatted individually.
Data Types are defined on the tab Data Types.

The entered Data Types are converted to uppercase in the background, so they are not case-sensitive in order to prevent possible sources of errors.

Waterfall Calculation Path

To use a waterfall flexibly, it must be first determined whether the value to be displayed is either a total or an in- or outflow using an additional Data Series. This is carried out by using our so-called Waterfall Calculation Path (see input options on the right).

Values for the Waterfall Calculation Path:

Appearance Tab

Labels

Set the font size, the font family and the font color for labels in the chart. In addition, shadows with defined colors can be added to accentuate the labels if the background is colored.

Shadows

If activated, an rect is drawn behind the Element Labels. With Shadow color you can define the color value.

Element Labels

If the Checkbox is activated, all elements of the chart will be labeled. The toggle buttons Fix/Auto determines the visibility of the labels:

Fix
Data labels are always visible
Auto
Labels are hidden or moved in case of overlaps – adjustable with the property Collision Adjustment – see in the standard properties.

Value Format

Select the format of the Category Labels:

Basic
Select the format of the absolute and percentage values according to guidelines of numeral.js.
Extended
If a fixed format is preferred, put the format for absolute and percentage values here.
Choosing a “(“ in the box Negative Sign will show negative values in brackets: (1234).
The parameter in the box Scaling is used as a divisor for scaling the data label.
The resulting format string can also be set via scripting language – for further details see the Number Formatting.
Locale
sets the label country format in the Basic mode. DE, FR, EN and AUTO are available options. Choosing AUTO the Locale is retrieved from the Data Source.

Pick Labels

If this option is activated, the underlying options controls, which labels are shown. Only those labels are shown, which meet one of the criteria. The following options can be picked:

First: The first label of each series is shown
Last: The last label of each series is shown
Min: The minimum value of each series is displayed
Max: The maximum value of each series is displayed
Before Separators: All values leading a separator are shown. This option depends on the setting under separators.
Peaks: When this option is checked, local minimum and maximum values are shown. What is interpreted as a minimum/maximum can be controled with the option Minimum Peak Size in %.
Peaks from Leading Values: The peak calculation only considers leading values; subsequent values are no longer considered

Minimum Peak Size in %: Defines, how large the difference to the neighboring values must be, to consider the value as a maximum/minimum

Waterfall

The colors of the elements of a waterfall can be set here - corresponding to the calculation path. Please note that the use of Data Types overlap this standard format.

Deviations

Set the colors for deviations. If positive deviations between measures and base values are not regarded as positive, for example for comparisons of actual vs. budget costs, activate the Checkbox Invert.

Outlier Mode

Choose the appearance of the outliers here. In the mode Short the outliers are shown as small triangles on the axis. In the mode Long they are drawn over the entire available area – according to the rules by IBCS.

Series Styles Editor

In this editor the appearance of the Data Series is determined, as long as you do not use Data Types. Data Types overwrite the Series Styles. The handling is similar to the definition of Data Types on the Data Types tab, the name is derived from the data series name. Color, Fill and Shape determine the appearance of the elements. Shape refers to the pin heads. Navigate via mouse click through the alternative representations. Width determines the width of the elements. The values can be given in percentage of the category width as well as in absolute values in [px] – just toggle %/abs.

The parameter Width can only be used in bar or column charts. If necessary, please use the parameter Bar Width in the Standard Properties Sheet for the elements width of other chart types.

Data Types Tab

Data Types Editor

This editor is used to define Data Types. The abbreviations can be used on the tab Data and it is possible to format each element individually. The abbreviations are defined in the column Name. Color, Fill und Shape define the appearance of the elements. Shape refers to pin or line heads. Navigate via mouse click through the alternative representations and view the changes in the chart, after you assigned the corresponding Data Type. The column Width determines the width of the elements. The values can be given in percentage of the category width as well as in absolute values in [px] – just toggle %/abs. The last column Bold sets the font type of the label of the Data Type to bold. With the red button next to Data Type you delete Data Types and with the green one you add new Data Types. Data Types are used globally within an Excel workbook. For this reason Data Types will automatically be adopted for all other graphomate components which use Data Types.

Behavior Tab

Scaling

The default Auto scales the chart according to the Min and Max-values of all selected data.

Several charts can be scaled identically by using the same Comparison Group, which is activated by the Checkbox. That way the Min and Max of the data basis in this group is used.

Comparision Groups are used inside a worksheet.

Alternatively it is possible to set the Min and Max scaling values under Manual. Retrieve values proposes valid values!

Chart Min values > “0” cut the value axis. The script method getClickedPositionValue enables an interactive zooming.
See example in the script documentation.

Padding in [px] gives a margin to the chart. Spacing also in [px] denotes the space between base and deviation chart.

Category Axis

Activate the Checkbox to show the category axis. Size defines the thickness of the axis in [px].

With Category Width the width can be defined as Fix in [px] or automatically set with Auto.

The parameter Element Offset determines the shift of elements on the Category Axis. Using the toggle button %/abs allows you to set the value in percent or absolute in [px]. Use negative values for a shift in the opposite direction.

Data Types in Axis

If the Checkbox is activated, Data Types of the first Data Series are shown in the axes as long as the Size is at least 3 [px].

Suppress Zero Labels

If the Checkbox is activated, the labels of zero values are hidden – both in the Base Chart and in the deviation charts.

Helper Tab

Series Labels

Activate the Checkboxes to show the data label on the Data Series.

Axis Labels

Activate the Checkboxes to show the legend at the axes.

Highlight

This function enables you to highlight the absolute or percentage difference between two elements. Activate the Checkbox and set an index for elements where the highlighting should start and end.
Choose between a Single highlighting on the side and the highlighting of Multiple elements above the graph. If you select Single, the first element of the list is displayed and all other elements are ignored.
You can also choose whether the absolute and/or percentage values should be displayed.

Value Axis/Flip Value Axis

Activate the Checkbox Value Axis to show value axes and help lines approximately according to the interval.
Activating the Checkbox Flip Value Axis flips the Axis – from right to left and from top to bottom). If Force Axis Interval is active, the tick interval is calculated exactly according to the entered value.

Separators

You have the option to set so-called Separators in the chart. These can be set automatically in case of changed Data Types or Categories, or they can be set Manually – according to the selected toggle button.
Source Row determines the category row and Series the Data Series according to which Data Type the Separators are shown. Furthermore, you can define the Length, Thickness and Color of the Separators in [px].

Scaling Helper

Activate the appearance – line or area – and the position of the Scaling Helper at this point.
Retrieve Value proposes valid values!

Threshold Lines Configuration

In this panel you can configure custom horizontal lines, e.g. to indicate certain thresholds. You can define the thickness, color and style of the line and label it.

Info Tab

Here you will find the version number of our graphomate charts as well as a link where you may report bugs or propose wishes for new features. A list of all open-source libraries that we used can be found under Credits.