9.1 Barchart Setup Window

Clicking the ``Barchart'' button on the Reports ``Setup'' panel displays the barchart window shown in figure 9.1. The resulting output barchart from the figure 9.1 settings is shown in figure 9.2.

  
Figure 9.1: Barchart setup window

  
Figure 9.2: Barchart for Acme example

There are many options that you can configure for your barcharts; each of these options are briefly described in the next section.

9.1.1 General barchart options

 

Barchart title

You can specify a title to appear at the top of your barchart.

Barchart title font

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

Background

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

Plot background

Sets the background color of your plotting area.  

Barchart width

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

Barchart height

Sets the requested height of the barchart window  

Bar alignment

You can specify one of three bar alignments: (1) normal, (2) aligned, and (3) stacked. The stacked alignment is particularly useful for viewing the individual charts as a grand total.  

Bar relief

You can specify one of three different appearances for the bars: (1) raised, (2) flat and (3) sunken. This setting affects every bar in the graph. You also have the option to specify the stippling, color, and width for each individual bar (see section 9.1.3 for details on the individual bar settings).

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 barchart   

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 width

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

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

9.1.3 Configuring options for each individual bar

  In our Acme barchart scenario, we created four separate search criteria. Hence, on the ``Barchart Setup'' window, we'll see our four barcharts. We can configure each of these bars 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 barchart.  

Width

Sets the line width.  

Stipple

Sets the style of the bar. The style may be solid or one of nine different dashed stippling styles chosen from the drop-down choice box.  

Show

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