8.6 Setting up your graph

Click the ``Graph'' button in the Setup panel to display the ``Graph setup'' window shown in figure 8.2.

  
Figure 8.2: Window to setup your Acme graphs

There are many options that you can configure for your graphs. Each of these options is briefly described below:

8.6.1 General graph options

 

Graph title

Sets the title of the graph. The title appears centered above the graph.

Graph title font

Clicking the ``Font'' pushbutton to the right of the ``Graph title'' entry box displays a dialog box(see figure 8.3)

  
Figure 8.3: Font dialog box for graphs/barchart settings

to allow you to choose the font for the graph title. From this dialog, you choose (1) Family, (2) Slant, (3) Size and (4) Weight by clicking the pull-down menu adjacent to the setting labels. To activate your new font, choose the ``Ok'' button. To cancel your modifications, choose the ``Cancel'' button.  

Background

Sets the background color of the graph, including the margins and legend but not the plotting area.  

Plot background

Sets the background color of your plotting area.  

Graph width

Sets the requested width of the graph window. For example, a value of ``4i'' sets the width of the window to four inches.  

Graph height

Sets the requested height of the graph window

Configuring options for the X/Y-Axis

 

 

Attribute

Use the drop-down listbox to choose the attribute that you want to plot. In our Acme scenario, we chose ``NumberOfDaysSinceLaunch'' for the X-axis attribute and ``CumulativeNumberOfBugs'' for the Y-axis attribute.  

Descending

Checkbutton to denote whether or not the values along the axis are monotonically increasing or decreasing. If you want the values to increase, do not check the ``Descending'' checkbutton. By default, the ``Descending'' option is not turned on.   

Color

Sets the color of the axis components(label, ticks, etc).

  

Label

Sets the title of the axis. By default, nxqddb populates this value with the attribute name that you've chosen for the Axis. However, you have the ability to modify this value if you so desire.   

Title font

Sets the font of the title using the standard font selection dialog box(see 8.3).

  

Tick font

Sets the font of the axis ticks using the standard font selection dialog box(see 8.3).

Range Analysis

This checkbutton turns on/off range analysis. If turned on, then nxqddb will perform the range analysis based on the settings you choose. If turned off, then nxqddb will ignore your settings and exclude range analysis.

Range

Dates and strings can be used on the X-axis for performing range comparisons. Dates can be displayed in any format that strftime can handle. You can also choose to specify ranges for summaries; some examples are listed in table 8.3

  
Table 8.3: Sample range values

Dates are processed with the range specification, and like values are lumped together for sum, avg, stddev, min, max, count, or prod operations on the Y values. The X-axis is sorted by ASCII comparison. Some examples of aestheticly pleasing range/format pairs are illustrated in table 8.4.

  
Table 8.4: Aestheticly pleasing range values

Format

Tell nxqddb how you want your data formatted.

Range analysis Drop-down options

Choose the type of range operation from the pulldown menu shown in figure 8.4.

  
Figure 8.4: Range operation pull-down menu

    

Tick width

Sets the width of the axis and tick lines. nxqddb defaults this value to one(1).

  

Rotate label

You can specify the degrees to rotate the axis labels.

  

Log scale

If turned on, the scale of the axis is logarithmic. If turned off, the scale is linear. The default scale is linear.

  

Loose fit

If turned on, nxqddb makes the limits of the axis loose fitting at the outer tick intervals. The default nxqddb loose fit option is turned off.

  

Show ticks

If turned on, nxqddb will display minor ticks. If turned off, minor ticks will not be displayed. The default is to show ticks.

  

Tick subdivisions

Indicates the number of minor axis ticks that are displayed. If number is two, only one minor tick is displayed. If number is one, then no minor ticks are displayed. nxqddb defaults this option to two.

  

Major tick length

Sets the length of major ticks. If the value is negative, the axis will be inverted with ticks drawn pointing towards the plot. nxqddb defaults this option to 0.1i

Step size

Sets the step size between the major axis ticks. You must enter a value greater than zero and less than the axis range or your entry will be ignored and the step size is automatically calculated based on the element data points.

8.6.3 Configuring options for each individual graph

In our Acme graph scenario, we created four separate search criteria. Hence, on the ``Graph Setup'' window, we'll see our four graphs. We can configure each of these graphs separately by setting the following options:

  

Legend

Enter the text to appear as the legend. In our example, we entered (1) nasty, (2) cosmetic, (3) fluff and (4) documentation as our 4 legends.   

Color

Clicking the ``Color'' button displays a window for you to specify a color for the graph

  

Width

Sets the line width.   

Symbol

Drop down list of symbols to choose from including: none, circle, cross, diamond, plus, etc.   

Style

Sets the style of line connecting the plotted points. The style may be one of solid line or dash style lines chosen from the drop-down choice box.   

Show

Checkbutton that when turned on displays the legend. If turned off, then the legend will not be shown.