Chart Types¶
Known issues
Some chart features have known issues in the current release. See Known issues.
This page lists every chart type and template in the visualization gallery, the fields each one maps from a datamodel's columns, and the shape of data each one expects.
Overview¶
To build one of each from an example table, see Chart type walkthroughs.
The gallery offers chart types on 3 tabs: "Cartesian", "Radial", and "Flow". Each tile is either a single chart type or a template:
- Chart type: draws one layer, such as bars or a line.
- Template: builds several layers and axes at once, such as the wick and body of a candlestick, from the columns mapped to it. Template tiles have a dashed border.
Once placed, a chart built from a template is edited like any other chart. Over MCP, web_create_chart creates the bar, horizontal bar, line, scatter, area, pie, and donut charts, and web_create_chart_from_template the templates; a radial bar or a speedometer is created in the gallery (see Building charts over MCP).
Each tile maps columns to named fields, such as "Category:" and "Value:". The gallery fills them in from the table's column names and types, and the mapping can be changed before the chart is placed. See Creating charts.
The gallery's other tabs offer other panel types: "Grid" (tables, tree grids, heat maps), "3D" (3D surfaces), "HTML" (HTML panels), and "Plugins" (such as maps).
Cartesian charts¶
Charts drawn on horizontal and vertical axes. In the "Cartesian" tab, the first 5 tiles are chart types and the rest are templates.
| Tile | Draws | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| "Line Chart" | A line graph: a line through each point, per series | "X Axis:", "Y Axis:", "Order by:" (optional), "Series:" (optional) |
| "Area Chart" | A filled area between a top line and a bottom line | "X Axis:", "Top:", "Bottom:", "Order by:" (optional), "Series:" (optional) |
| "V Bar Chart" | Vertical bars, one per category: a column chart or bar graph | "Category:", "Value:", "Color by:" (optional) |
| "H Bar Chart" | Horizontal bars, one per category | "Category:", "Value:", "Color by:" (optional) |
| "Scatter Plot" | A marker at each x-y point | "X:", "Y:", "Color by:" (optional) |
| "Candlestick" (template) | An OHLC candle per period: a wick from low to high and a body from open to close, teal when the close is above the open and red when below | "Time:", "Open:", "High:", "Low:", "Close:" |
| "Combo" (template) | Bars on the left axis and a line on a second axis on the right, a dual-axis chart | "Category:", "Bars:", "Line:" |
| "Waterfall" (template) | Floating bars from a bottom value to a top value, with value labels and connectors | "Category:", "Bar Bottom:", "Bar Top:", "Order by:" (optional) |
| "Bullet" (template) | A bar per category against a target mark and up to 3 range bands | "Category:", "Value:", "Target:", "Range 1:", "Range 2:" (optional), "Range 3:" (optional) |
| "Boxplot" (template) | A box and whiskers per category from 5 values | "Category:", "Min:", "Q1:", "Median:", "Q3:", "Max:" |
| "Stacked Area" (template) | Bands stacked by series | "X Axis:", "Series:", "Band Bottom:", "Band Top:" |
| "Gantt" (template) | A timeline: a floating bar per task from its start to its end | "Task:", "Start:", "End:", "Bar label:" (optional) |
| "Calendar" (template) | A heat calendar: one cell per date, colored by value | "Date:", "Value:" |
| "Bump" (template) | Ranks over time, a point per series per period | "Period label:", "Period:", "Series:", "Rank:" |
Radial charts¶
Charts drawn around a center. In the "Radial" tab, the first 3 tiles are chart types and the last 2 are templates.
| Tile | Draws | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| "Pie Chart" | Slices proportional to a value, with percentage labels | "Slice size:", "Slice label:" |
| "Radial Bar" | A wedge per category, its length set by a value | "Data:", "Data label:" |
| "Speedometer" | A gauge needle at a value | "Value:", "Name:" (optional) |
| "Donut" (template) | A ring of slices; every slice the same size until its "Stack On:" is changed (see below) | "Slice size:", "Slice label:" |
| "Stacked Rose" (template) | Wedges stacked by series | "Wedge:", "Stack by:", "Value:" |
The "Donut" tile draws a ring, but puts "Slice size:" inside sum(...), so when each row is one slice every slice is the same size. To size the slices by value, change the layer's "ANGLE STACK" "Stack On:" in Plot -> Edit Layers to the plain column, such as Qty, as in the donut walkthrough. A "Pie Chart" draws as a ring when its "Inner Radius:" is set and "Auto Min Value:" is unticked; see Layers.
Flow charts¶
Charts of stages, nodes, and links. Every tile in the "Flow" tab is a template.
| Tile | Draws | Fields |
|---|---|---|
| "Funnel" | A centered funnel, one band per stage, narrowing with the value | "Stage:", "Value:", "Order by:" (optional) |
| "Network Graph" | Nodes at given x-y positions, joined by edges to their parents | "Node X:", "Node Y:", "Label:" (optional), "Node size:" (optional), "Parent X:" (optional), "Parent Y:" (optional) |
| "Tree / Org" | Boxes and connectors at given positions, such as an org chart | "Row kind:", "X (left / from):", "Y (top / from):", "X2 (right / to):", "Y2 (bottom / to):", "Label:" (optional), "Colour by:" (optional) |
| "Sankey" | Flows between stages as ribbons, from 2 tables: one of nodes and one of links | Nodes: "Node column:", "Node bottom:", "Node top:", "Node colour:", "Node label:" (optional). Links: "Link column:", "Link x offset:", "Ribbon top:", "Ribbon bottom:", "Ribbon id:", "Source colour:", "Target colour:" |
Some field labels use British spelling ("Colour"). They are shown as they appear in the product.
Data each template expects¶
A template draws the columns it is given. It does not aggregate or reshape them, so the datamodel's table must already have the shape the chart shows:
- Boxplot: Each row is one category, with its minimum, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, and maximum already computed.
- Waterfall: Each row is one bar, from the level before its step to the level after it, so a fall has its top below its bottom; falls are then drawn red and rises teal.
- Stacked Area: Each row is one x value of one series, with its band's bottom and top.
- Calendar: Each row is one date. With no "Date:" mapped, it draws a single meaningless cell.
- Network Graph, Tree / Org, Sankey: The rows hold the position of every node, box, and ribbon. With raw rows, Network Graph draws nodes but no edges unless "Parent X:" and "Parent Y:" are mapped, and Tree / Org draws overlapping boxes.
- Sankey: A second output table holds the links. The gallery accepts a single table and then draws empty axes; over MCP, a Sankey without a second table is refused.
What this does not support¶
- Reshaping data in the chart: no template computes quartiles, running totals, stacks, or layouts. The datamodel computes them, and the template draws the result.
- Laying out a graph: Network Graph, Tree / Org, and Sankey place nodes and links where their columns say. None of them computes a layout.