Like what you see? Have a play with our trial version.

Overview


The Chart step formatting menu bar provides you with all the formatting options for your chart. You can use these options to change settings such as the legend, background, axis and label.


Note: the menus and items contained within them will change based on the type of chart you are using.


Reset


The Reset menu allows you to reset your chart or formatting options:


  • Formatting: this will reset your formatting selections, but keep the chart type and field selections defined.
  • Chart: this will reset your chart, including all formatting, field, and chart type selections, returning it to an empty state.


Chart Settings


The chart format options are the most dynamic options and are based on the type of chart selected. For example for a pie chart you will be able to set the shadow colour and exploding slice options. The common options found in the chart format drop down include interactivity options such as visible series selection.



Option

Description

Width

Define the width of the chart in pixels. This option is used instead of resizing the chart using the dragging method.

Height

Define the height of the chart in pixels. This option is used instead of resizing the chart using the dragging method.

Chart Position

Specify the position of the chart in relation to the table.

Horizontal Alignment

Specify which edge of the table the chart should be aligned to.

See Chart Formatting for more information.

Option

Description

Yearly Comparison

Display multiple years on the x axis of the chart, with one line per series.

Units

Select the granularity of the dates to be displayed. Selecting a unit of finer granularity than your data will result in using the level of your data.

See Chart Formatting for more information.

Option

Description

Shading

Define whether the area has shading or is a solid colour.

Curved

Define whether the corners to the bars/columns will be curved or squared.

Glow

Define whether the bars/columns will have a glow applied.

Shadows

Define whether the bars/columns have a shadow applied.

Colour Set

The colour applied to this chart will be based the selection made. Possible options are; Metric, Monochrome, Configuration Defaults.

  • Metric: The colour applied to this chart will be based the default colours applied to metrics in the view. If no colour was defined for a metric, configuration defaults will be used.
  • Monochrome: The colour applied to this chart will be based on different shades of a single selected colour.
  • Configuration Defaults: The colour applied to this chart will be based on the defaults defined in configuration.
  • Reference Code: The colour applied to this chart will be based on the defaults applied to the Org Reference Code.

Colour

This is only available if Monochrome is selected above. Define the colour to be used for monochromatic colouring of the chart.

Opacity

Select the opacity percentage of the chart. The lower the percentage, the more transparent it is.

Other Segment

Select the % of total a segment must be smaller than, in order to be grouped into an 'Other' segment in a pie chart. If 0 there is no grouping.

Shadow Colour

Define the colour of the shadow effect applied to the pie.

Outline Colour

Define the colour of the outline of the pie and segments.

Outline Width

Define the width of the outline of the pie and segments.

Pie Shading Style

Define the shading style to apply to the pie.

Start Position

Select the position relative to an analogue clock face that the first segment in the pie should start.

Explode Slice

Define which segment(s) of the pie should be split from the main pie.

Depth Factor

Select the percentage of the chart display to be used for the 3D height of the pie.

Keep Circular

Display the pie to fill the full chart area. This means the pie may be stretched so there is no empty space.

Hollow Shapes

Display the line shapes with a solid colour centre at each data point, or hollow, depending on the selection.

Curved Lines

Display straight or curved lines between each data point, depending on the selection.

Total Value

Define the total value contained in the proportional infographic image. If left blank the series total will be used. If the series total is less, there will be 'empty colour' for the rest of the image. If it is more, everything after the specified value will be ignored.

Empty Colour

Define the colour to be displayed if the specified Total Value is not met by the selected series.

Orientation

The image used by the proportional infographic will be filled from the top down.

Scale

Display a scale above the comparative infographic that shows the min and max values, and the central point.

Scale Font

Define the formatting for text displayed above the comparative infographic images.

Label Font

Define the formatting for the label text displayed below the comparative infographic images.

Text Font

Define the formatting for text displayed above the comparative infographic images.

Maintain Aspect Ratio

Display the raster map using the same aspect ratio as the original image. This means that it will not be stretched and as such may leave some empty space.

Border Colour

Define a colour to be used as an outline for each region on the map.

Null Behaviour

Define how to treat null or missing values in your chart with continuous time series, to fill in any gaps in time granularity. Time granularity refers to the date or timestamp unit of the chart (millisecond, second, minute, hours, day, week, month, quarter, or year). Options include:

  • Break: The line will simply not be displayed for any missing values, resulting in a visible break in the line chart where there is a time granularity gap.
  • Skip: The line is joined from the last available value with the next one, over the missing data points. The gaps are not filled in with any additional values, but rather skipped over.
  • Zero: The null values are treated as zero. This results in filling in the granularity gaps with the value zero. This will alter any calculations included in your data set.

Note: This functionality is provided for all variations of line charts that support continuous time series. Learn more about it here.

Fill in Granularity Gaps for Series

Enable or disable the Null Behaviour functionality on a continuous time series chart. If enabled, this option fills in the missing values based on the time granularity of the chart.

Fill in Granularity Gaps for TrendsEnable or disable the Null Behaviour functionality for trends lines. If enabled, this fills in the missing values in a trend line (for e.g. when a Chart Formatting such as mean, or trend is applied) based on the time granularity of the chart.
Limit Treemap Values by AmountDefine whether or not to set a limit on the number of squares generated in a Treemap chart. Users can specify a maximum number of squares; all other values will be summed together in a separate ‘Other’ square. (Enabled by default.)
Note: Ensure that your metric has been included to the size field.
Treemap Limit Amount Specify how many squares are to be generated by the Treemap chart. (Default value is set to 1,000.)
Limit Treemap Values by Percentage Define whether or not to set a limit on the Treemap squares based on a specified percentage. Users can specify the percentage to be applied to the field’s total; values higher than the specified percentage will be displayed in separate squares, and the remaining (lower) values will be grouped into a single ‘Other’ square.
Treemap Limit Percentage

Select the percentage with which to limit the Treemap squares.

GIS Base Layer

Display or hide a base layer under your GIS map to provide location context.
Only available for GIS maps.

Tooltip Display

Tooltips will be shown on this chart when a user hovers their pointer over data.

Option

Description

Visible Series Selection

Define whether the user can select which series to display when viewing the report.

Series Selection Style

Only available on Time Series charts, select from different display options for the series selection.

Link Field

Select a field formatted to contain a URL in order to use it as a link on the chart.

Visible Unit Selection

Allow users to change the granularity of the dates to be displayed. Selecting a unit of finer granularity than your data will result in using the level of your data.

Date Slider

Display a date slider on the chart to allow users to adjust the date range of the chart.

Slider Position

Define where the date slider will be displayed on the chart.

Slider Initial Range

Specify the percentage of the available date range the slider is set to when the chart loads.

Bottom Navigation

Display navigation buttons in a bar directly below the map.

Hover Navigation

Display navigation hovered over the top left of the map.

Hover Navigation Colour

Select the colour of the navigation hovered over the top left of the map.

Option

Description

Latitude

Define the latitude boundaries of the map. This allows you to reduce the area displayed on the map.

Longitude

Define the longitude boundaries of the map. This allows you to reduce the area displayed on the map.

Option

Description

Sunday

Define the colour to be applied to the Sunday value row.

Monday

Define the colour to be applied to the Monday value row.

Tuesday

Define the colour to be applied to the Tuesday value row.

Wednesday

Define the colour to be applied to the Wednesday value row.

Thursday

Define the colour to be applied to the Thursday value row.

Friday

Define the colour to be applied to the Friday value row.

Saturday

Define the colour to be applied to the Saturday value row.

Option

Description

Show Median

Enable/disable the display of the median value for each label row.

Show Mean

Enable/disable the display of the mean value for each label row.

Option

Description

Bin Count

Specify the number of bins, or intervals, is based on the number of unique values in the dataset. There are three options available here:

  • Auto - the number of bins, or intervals, is automatically calculated by Yellowfin.
  • Values - the number of bins, or intervals, is based on the number of unique values in the data set.
  • Manual - the number of bins, or intervals, is manually defined by the chart creator.
Count

Define the number of bins, or intervals, to be used for the histogram.

Note: only available when Bin Count is set to Manual.

Show OutliersToggle if bins to contain distant outlier values should be included.

Option

Description

Up Colour

Define the colour to fill the candlestick when displaying an upwards trend value.

Down Colour

Define the colour to fill the candlestick when displaying a downwards trend value.

Line Colour

Define the colour to be used for the line or border.

Colour

Define the colour to be used for the volume columns.

Axis Position

Display the vertical axis of the volume columns on the left or right of the chart.

OptionDescription
Summarise ValueSpecify if the number should be summarised - shortened to the nearest unit, followed by a unit label.
Decimal PlacesDefine the number of decimal places to be displayed for the summarised value.
RoundingDefine the rounding you wish to apply to the summarised value.



Title


The title option allows you to change the title of the chart as well as the style – such as the font settings.



Option

Description

Title Contents

Define what should be shown in the Chart Title area.

  • Auto Title: Display a title that is automatically generated based on the fields used in the chart. Note: only available for Auto Charts.
  • ReportName: Display the report name as the title of the chart.
  • AnimationField: Display the value of the animation field for each frame as the chart title.
  • Metric: Display the name of the currently selected series as the chart title. 
    Note: the chart has to be a single metric series selection. This means that it can only display one metric at a time. To do this just add one metric to the chart and then enable series selection, rather than adding all metrics and allowing users to toggle multiple at a time.
  • Custom: Display a custom defined chart title.
  • None: Hide the chart title.

Custom Title

Display a custom defined chart title.

Style

Use the system default formatting for the chart title text.


Legend


The Legend is a box that identifies the patterns or colours that are assigned to the data series or categories in a chart. This section of the menu lets you set the following options.



Option

Description

Legend Position

Specify the location of the legend on the chart. Selecting None will hide the legend.

Option

Description

Style

Define the formatting for chart legend text.

Option

Description

Background Colour

Define the background colour for the legend area of the chart.

Border

Specify the border type for the legend area of the chart.

Conditional

Limit the number of values displayed in the legend area of the chart.

Prefix Field NameShow or hide the name of the colour field (prefix) in the legend.
Legend Limit

Enable this button to set a limit to the number of items in the legend. If the item number exceeds this limit, then the legend will not be displayed.

Tip: This helps in stopping a really big legend from being displayed if it contains too many items. (Reveals the Limit option once enabled.)

Limit

Specify a limit for the number of values displayed in the legend area of the chart.

Legend Item Shape

Select a shape for the chart’s legend items using this drop down. You can choose between the square or circle shapes, or even a line.

Tip: The default shape will be based on the selected chart. For example, bar or column charts will have square icons in their legends, whereas line charts or trend items will show lines by default.

Show Trends in Legend

Use this to show or hide trend items in the legend.

Tip: This is a useful feature if you have too many trend items and want to hide them in the legend. The trend lines will still appear in the chart, however.

Variance Field NamesThis setting appears when a variance function is used in the colour field. When switched on, it shows the names of the two variance values on their respective side of the colour range. Disable this toggle to hide the variance names from the sides of the colour range.
Colour Range ValuesUse this toggle to show or hide the numeric values of the colour range.


Axis


A line bordering the chart plot area used as a frame of reference for measurement. The y axis is usually the vertical axis and contains data. The x-axis is usually the horizontal axis and contains categories.


Option

Description

Axis Title

Note: This option is only specific to auto-charts.

This drop down menu lets you choose whether to display the auto generated title (Auto), enter a manual one (Custom) or not display a title at all (None).

Display NameDefine the title text to be displayed on this axis.

Style

Define the formatting for axis title text.

The Axis style drop down lets you determine the formats to be applied to axis.

Option

Description

Show Axis

Display the axis on the chart if enabled.

Show Tick MarksEnable this feature to display tick marks on your axis.

Show Arrow

Display an arrow on the end of the axis bar.

Axis StyleUse this option to view axis customization fields. (This will reveal the Colour and Thickness settings.)

Colour

Define the colour of the axis bar.

Thickness

Define the thickness of the axis bar.

Margin

Define the spacing between the edges of the axis and the first and last categories.

Abbreviate Label

Label text will be abbreviated to display partial values.

Rotate Axis Label

Specify which angle the axis labels are displayed in relation to the axis bar. This allows you to rotate long labels to display more text.

Category Spacing

Define the size of the spacing between each category grouping on the axis.

Series Spacing

Define the size of the spacing between each series within a category grouping on the axis.

Prefix

Define a prefix to be applied to the values displayed on the axis. This is a character to display before the value, such as $.

Suffix

Define a suffix to be applied to the values displayed on the axis. This is a character to display after the value, such as %.

Decimal Places

Define the number of decimal places to display on the axis label text.

Desired Trend

Display an arrow in the corner of the chart to demonstrate the desired trend.

Axis Location

Specify which side of the chart the axis is displayed on.

Show Tick LabelsEnable this feature to display the labels showing tick values. (This reveals the Label Font option.)

Label Font

Define the font formatting for axis label text.

Secondary Prefix

Define a prefix to be applied to the values displayed on the axis. This is a character to display before the value, such as $.

Secondary Suffix

Define a suffix to be applied to the values displayed on the axis. This is a character to display after the value, such as %.

Secondary Dec. Places

Define the number of decimal places to display on the axis label text.

The Axis scale drop down lets you determine the scale dimensions. Generally you will only be able to set the Y Axis attributes – unless you are using XY charts in which case you can set both X & Y attributes.

Option

Description

Scale

Define the boundaries of the axis.

Lower Bound

Define a custom starting point for the axis.

Upper Bound

Define a custom cut-off point for the axis.

Scale Unit

Define the scale unit for the axis. Labels will be displayed at these increments, or multiples of the unit.

Reference Line

Define the position (by providing the exact value or by selecting a drop down option), colour, and label for this reference line. More than one reference lines can be added by using the Add Item option.


Background


The Background options let you set the style and colour of the main chart elements such as the plot and chart areas. You can apply elements such as background images and or gridlines.



Gridline options are available for all category charts, bubble and scatter charts.

Option

Description

Show Gridlines

Select which axis gridlines to display.

X Gridline Colour

Specify the colour to display x axis gridlines in.

Y Gridline Colour

Specify the colour to display y axis gridlines in.

Gridline options are available for all category charts, bubble and scatter charts.

Option

Description

Band Colour

Define the colour to be used for grid band shading on the chart.

Band Opacity

Select the opacity percentage of the grid band shading on the chart. The lower the percentage, the more transparent it is.

The plot area is the area bounded by the axes, including all data series. The drop down options let you set the background colours applied to the plot area.

Option

Description

Style

Specify the background shading style for the plot.

Direction

Specify the gradient shading style for the plot background colour.

Colour

Specify the colour(s) to be used in the plot background.

Image

Select an image to use for the plot background.

Image Opacity

Select the opacity percentage of the plot background image. The lower the percentage, the more transparent it is.

The plot area is the area bounded by the axes, including all data series. The drop down options let you set the background colours applied to the plot area.

Option

Description

Style

Define the border style for the plot.

Colour

Define the colour of the border for the plot.

Width

Define the width of the border for the plot.

The entire chart and all its elements are described as the chart area. The drop down options let you set the background colours applied to the chart area.

Option

Description

Style

Specify the background shading style for the chart.

Direction

Specify the gradient shading style for the chart background colour.

Colour

Specify the colour(s) to be used in the chart background.

Image

Select an image to use for the chart background.

Image Opacity

Select the opacity percentage of the chart background image. The lower the percentage, the more transparent it is.

The entire chart and all its elements are described as the chart area. The drop down options let you set the background colours applied to the chart area.

Option

Description

Style

Define the border style for the chart.

Colour

Define the colour of the border for the chart.

Width

Define the width of the border for the chart.


Labels


Labels can be added to charts to print out the values of the data point onto the chart in text format. Charts that support labels include line, pie, and bar charts. Note: These settings will differ according to the selected chart type.




Option

Description

Labels

Display the labels for each value on the chart.

Label Contents

Specify the contents of the label, if applicable.

  • Category: this is the dimension value.
  • Value: this is the metric value.
  • Percentage: this is the % of total for the metric value.

Style

Define the formatting for chart labels.

Label Font

Define the custom font formatting for the label contents.

Hide Label Lines

Display or hide the lines connecting the chart to each label.

Align Value Label

Choose the position of value labels. Options include:

  • Centered: Displays the value label in the center of the bar.

  • Axis aligned: The value label is position according to the axis.

  • Above: The value label is displayed outside the bar.

Note: This setting is specific to bar charts.

Rotate Value Label

Specify the angle the value labels are displayed, in relation to the axis.

Note: This setting is specific to bar charts.

Show Long Labels

If enabled, labels that do not fit a horizontal bar will be moved to the end of the bar. If disabled, the labels that do not fit, will not be displayed at all.

Ensure that the time series functionality is disabled for this to work.

Note: This setting is specific to bar charts.

Overlapping Labels

Specify how labels that overlap other labels or data points are displayed. Choose to hide them or show the overlapping labels anyway.

Note: This setting is specific to line charts.

Option

Description

Style

Specify the background shading style for the label.

Direction

Specify the gradient shading style for the label background colour.

Colour

Specify the colour(s) to be used in the label background.

Shadow Colour

Select the colour to be used as the shadow effect on the chart labels.

Border

Define the border style for the label.

Border Colour

Define the colour of the border for the labels of the chart.

Border Width

Define the width of the border for the labels of the chart.


Series



Series Format

To update the formatting of a selected, individual value in a series (i.e. a singular value of the dimension field). Ensure to select a non auto chart to format the series.

This includes the following buttons on the left-side panel:

  • +Add Series - This button is used to format a series existing in the data set of the selected dimension color field. Note that it does not create a new series; the series specified here should match a value in the selected field. Click on this button, and provide the series formatting details.
  • +Populate Series - This button is used to retrieve all the series values from the selected dimension field, and add them to this column. You can them select each one and format them.



OptionDescription
Series FormatName of the selected value of the series. It should match a data value from the data field for these settings to apply.
Style

Choose if a style should be specified for the series value. Options include:

  • Default: Select this to apply the default settings to the selected series value.
  • Solid: Select this to specify a custom solid color for the selected value.
  • Gradient: Choose this to specify custom gradient colors for the selected value.
Custom ColorSpecify if a custom color should be applied only to this value.
DirectionChoose the direction the gradient should follow. (This only applied to gradient styling.)
ColorThe color to be applied to the selected value. In case of gradience, choose the inner and outer colors.
ShapesDefine whether line shapes are on, off, or system default.
ThicknessDefine the width of the line in pixels.
Line StyleDefine the style of the series line as solid, dashed, or dotted.


Customize the border of the selected value. This refers to the data value represented in the charts, and the legend.

OptionDescription
ColorCustomize the border color.
WidthChoose the border width. Select from thin, medium, and thick.

This section only appears if conditional formatting has been applied in the report, and the color field has not been used in the chart builder.

OptionDescription
DisplayUse this toggle to apply a conditional formatting rule on the chart.
Style

Define how to display the conditional formatting rule on the chart. Options include:

  • Line: displays the rule as a line, which will be positioned at the lowest value in the alert range.
  • Area: displays the rule as a range on the chart. Creates a block of color for the whole range of the formatting rule.
Position

Specify how the conditional formatting rule should be positioned. Options include:

  • Background: displays the rule behind the chart data.
  • Foreground: displays the rule in front of the chart data.



Series


Option

Description

Style

Specify the shading style for the series.

Aggregation LabelThis allows you to toggle the display of a label in front of the field name, based on the chart level aggregation applied.
Tooltip Formatting

This allows you to display field formatting applied at the report level on tooltips. This will ignore all chart level formatting.

E.g. if in the report data, the field has been formatted to include a % suffix, enabling this will display the suffix in the chart tooltip.

Direction

Select the direction of the gradient shading to be applied to the series.

Colour

Define the colour(s) to be applied to the series.

Combination Sub Chart

Specify which sub chart this series belongs to. This will define the type of chart, and which vertical axis it will use.

Shapes

Define whether line shapes are on, off, or system default.

Thickness

Define the width of the line in pixels.


Option

Description

Colour

Define a colour for the outline of the series.

Width

Define the width of the outline of the series.

Option

Description

Style

Define the colour set and bounds to be applied to the series.

Bounds

This is where you can define the bounds of the colour when using a gradient or colour set. Options include:

  • Auto - this automatically works out the min and max values of the chart.
  • Range - this allows you to provide the min and max values for the bounds of the chart colour range.
  • Centre - this allows you to provide the mid point value for the chart colour range.

Colour Set

This allows you to select from a list of pre-defined colour sets for your chart, or alternatively define your own.

Pre-defined Colour Sets

Custom Colour Set

Option

Description

Speed

Define how long each frame is displayed for.

Option

Description

Display

Enable/Disable the display of conditional formatting alerts on the chart.

Style

Select how to display the alerts on the chart from three styles:

  • Area: display the conditional formatting alert as a range on the chart. This will create a block of colour for the whole range of the alert.
  • Bar: display the conditional formatting alert by highlighting bars that fall into the alert range.
  • Line: display the conditional formatting alert as a line on the chart. This will create a line positioned at the lowest value in the alert range.

Position

Define whether the alert should be displayed in the foreground (in front) of the chart, or in the background (behind) the chart.



Color

OptionDescription
Ordering

Specify how to display the legend values. Options include:

  • Alphanumeric: displays the legend values alphanumerically. This means any custom sorting options applied to the field will be ignored.
  • Table: displays the legend values according to the output of the table. This means that if a field has custom sorting applied through the use of Ref Code, then this sorting order is applied.
Sort Direction

Define the direction in which the values of the chart should be sorted. Options include:

  • Ascending: order the values from low to high.
  • Descending: order the values from high to low.


The color applied to the chart will be based on the selection made here.

OptionDescription
Reference CodeThe color applied to this chart will be based on the default values defined in the reference code of the color field.
MonochromeThe chart color will be based on different shades of a single selected color.
ColorThis is only available if the Monochrome option is selected above. Define the color to be used for monochromatic coloring of the chart.




Category


OptionDescription
Sort By

Specify how the data in the chart is ordered, from one of these options;

    • Data Order - order this data based on the order the values appear in the report table.
    • Alphanumeric - order this data based on the values in the chart, alphabetically.
    • ReferenceCode - order this data based on the values in the chart, by Reference Code custom sort order.
    • Series - order this data based on the values in the Sort Series field.
Sort SeriesSpecify which series should be used to order the data in the chart.
Sort DirectionSpecify if the data should be sorted in ascending or descending order.
OptionDescription
Category HighlightSpecify if certain category values should be highlighted in the chart, changing the colour specified by the series.
Highlighted ValueSelect the value(s) to be highlighted in the chart, from the list provided.
Highlight ColourSelect a colour to use as the category highlight.


Allows you to remove dimensions/categories from charts, in order to decrease the chart size. This is ideal for situations in which charts contain too many categories, making it difficult to view them properly. This feature allows you to select a specific number of categories to display.

Supported bar types: Bars, areas, line (except Z charts), auto charts (with only a single dimension field).

Note: This does not work for charts with dimension colors.

OptionDescription

Trim Value

Use this toggle to enable or disable the functionality to trim dimension fields from charts.

Metric to Trim by

(Mandatory field) The chart dimensions are ranked according to the value of a metric field. This is the field specified here. This ranking is important for the system to determine the top or bottom dimensions in the chart. Note that this does not change the sorting of the chart, which is a separate functionality.

Trim Top or Bottom

Specify whether dimensions on top or bottom are cut from a chart. Options include:

  • Top N: Select this to keep the top dimension fields in the chart, removing all others. Here N denotes the number of fields specified by the user in the following parameter.

  • Bottom N: Select this to keep the bottom dimension fields in the chart, removing all others. Here N denotes the number of fields specified by the user in the following parameter.

Dimension Display Count

Specify the number of dimension fields that you wish to display in the chart. The chart will show only this many fields, removing all others.

Metric Value Type

You can choose to ignore the negative sign of all values, so they are treated at positive values when the chart is ranked according to values. Options include:

  • Relative: Use this to treat all negative values as negative. For example, -55,300 will be treated as a negative value and sorted in the bottom of a chart.

  • Absolute: All negative values will be treated as positive. For example, -55,300 will be treated as a positive value and possibly sorted higher in the chart.

Show Other Dimension

Enable this toggle to display a total of all other values (after the user specified count) into a separate category on the chart.

GIS Settings




Option

Description

Selectable

Allow the user to enable and disable the layer when viewing the map.

Default

The layer will be enabled when the map is initially loaded.

Colour

Define the colour to be applied to the layer.

Foreground

The layer will be displayed in front of the map.

Zoom Levels

Define the number of zooms it takes for the layer to show and then hide on the map display.

Labels

Display the labels for each value in the layer.

Point Size

Define the diameter (pixels) of each point.

Bubble Fill Type

Define the shading effect to be applied to the bubbles.


Combination Charts




Option

Description

Chart Type

Define the type of display this chart will use.

Secondary Y Axis

Define which vertical axis this chart will use.