The Chart FX User Interface

Chart FX for Java provides not only an API to the programmer to control countless attributes of chart elements, but also a runtime user interface to the end user for further modification. This allows the end user to apply their personal preferences to charts such as color, axis formatting, series attributes, etc. The Chart FX runtime user interface is a tabbed dialog box seen below:

The runtime user interface is accessible by right clicking the mouse over the chart and selecting the properties option from the menu on demand. Chart FX will detect the area of the chart when you selected the properties and will prompt the corresponding tab. For example, if you select properties when your mouse is over the X-axis, the X-axis tab will be displayed on top of the page stack.

General Properties Tab

The general properties tab allows end users to control general properties related to various chart elements. Below is a description of each of the properties that may be modified from the general tab of the user interface:

Colors

  • Palette: Select a specific palette to change the color for all elements in the chart area. (Palette property)
  • Background: Set a new color for the background of the chart. (BackColor property)
  • Chart box: Set a new chart area background color. (InsideColor property)

Effects

  • Stacked: Displays the chart in stacked, stacked 100% or normal mode. (Stacked property)
  • Axes: Used to change the style of the axes surrounding the chart area. (AxesStyle property)
  • Anti-Aliasing: Gives a smooth visual effect to chart elements. (SmoothFlags property)

3D

  • 3D: Toggles the chart between 2D and 3D modes. (Chart3D property)
  • Rotated View: Permits angle and perspective attribute assignments. (View3D property)
  • Cluster (Z axis): Displays a z-clustered 3D chart. (Cluster property)
  • X: Allows you to set a 3D rotation angle around the X-axis. (AngleX property)
  • Y: Allows you to set a 3D rotation angle around the Y-axis. (AngleY property)

Series Properties Tab

The series properties tab allows end users to set attributes for all series or per individual series. Selecting the properties dialog while your mouse cursor is over a specific series will allow you to modify only the selected series' attributes . Selecting the properties dialog in a general area of the chart will allow you to set attributes for all series in the chart. The following is a description of each of the properties available from the series tab:

All Series

  • Gallery: Sets the selected series to a specific chart type. (Gallery property)
  • Point Labels: Displays the value on each data point for the selected series. (PointLabels property)

Fill

  • Scheme: Allows you to change the color scheme in the chart. (Scheme property)
  • Color: Sets a color for the selected series. (Color property)
  • Pattern: Allows you to set a pattern for the selected series. (Pattern property)

Border

  • Border: Shows or hides the marker borders for all data series in the chart. (Border property)
  • Effect: Specifies the border effect for a selected series. (BorderEffect property)
  • Color: Sets a color for the selected series. (Color property)
  • Style: Used to set a line style to the selected item. (LineStyle property)
  • Weight: Used to set the line weight or thickness for the selected series. (LineWidth property)

Depending on the gallery of the selected axis, other property groups will be available on the series tab. For example, if a bar chart is the configured gallery, a bar group will be exposed on the dialog. If a line chart is configured, then a Marker group will be available.

Bar

  • Gap width: Allows you to specify a volume for a bar point markers. (Volume property)
  • Square: Sets a square shape for bar markers. (Default)
  • Cylinder: Sets a cylindrical shape for bar markers. (CylSides property)
  • Cone: Sets a conical shape for bar markers. (CylSides property)

Marker

  • Shape: Used to specify the point type used to paint markers for the selected series. (MarkerShape property)
  • Size: Controls the size of the markers for the selected series. (MarkerSize property)
  • Same color lines: Allows different color lines and markers. (ColorLine flag of the TypeMask property)

Axis Properties Tab

You may access either the X or Y Axis properties tab by selecting the properties option from the menu on demand while the mouse cursor is over a selected X or Y-axis. Chart FX will display the corresponding tab based on the axis selected. This dialog allows modification of axis scale, format, labels and gridlines.

The following is a description of each of the properties available on the axis tab:

Scale

  • Step: Specifies the interval of major tick marks and gridlines on the selected axis. (Step property)
  • Minimum: Defines the minimum value of a selected axis. (Min property)
  • Maximum: Defines the maximum value of a selected axis. (Max property)
  • Decimals: Allows you to set the number of decimals for the selected axis. (Decimals propertyValueFormat class)
  • Format: Used to format the selected axis. (Format propertyValueFormat class)
  • Logarithmic: Used to set a logarithmic scale for a numerical axis. (LogBase property)

Labels

  • Angle: Sets the text rotation for the labels in the selected axis. (LabelAngle property)
  • Staggered: Alternates the level of the axis labels for the selected axis labels. (Staggered property)

Gridlines and Tickmarks

  • Show Gridlines: Allows you to display or hide gridlines at the major intervals for the selected axis. (Gridlines property)
  • Tickmark: Allows you to get or set the style for tick marks at the major gridlines on the selected axis. (TickMark property)
  • Color: Allows you to set the line color for grid lines. (Color propertyLine class)
  • Style: Allows you to set the line style for grid lines. (Style propertyLine class)
  • Weight: Allows you to set the line width for grid lines. (Width propertyLine class)
  • Interlaced: Creates a grid of alternating colors for a selected axis to improve chart readability. (Interlaced property)
  • Color: Set the second color of an interlaced grid color. (AlternateColor property)