DataScene Documentation

Graph Document

A graph document is one type of document of a project. It may contain one or multiple graphs. The first graph in the graph document is called the master graph. A master graph cannot be deleted from the parent graph document. Subsequent graphs added to the same graph document are called sub-graphs. Sub-graphs can be deleted from the parent graph document. To add a sub-graph to a graph document, select one of the menu commands on the Graphs: Add Sub-Graph sub menu on the Graph menu (which is also the context menu of the graph document). To delete a sub-graph from the graph document, select the corresponding menu command on the Graphs: Delete sub menu of the Graph menu.

If there are multiple graphs in a graph document, the one that receives the user input and responds to the user operations is called the active graph. To change the active graph in a graph document, use the Active Graph combo-box on the Graph Toolbar, or choose the Active Graph menu command on the Graph menu. Upon activation, DataScene highlights the new active graph by temporarily drawing a semi-transparent rectangle around it.

The canvas area of a graph document is called the panel of the graph document. Each graph in the graph document occupies a certain rectangular area in the graph document. Such a rectangular area is called the bounding rectangle of the graph. The location and size of a graph's bounding rectangle is determined by its margins properties, which can be customized on the Margins tab-page of the Panel Editor. Alternatively, the user may use the Graph Layout tool on the Toolbox to interactively change the size and location of the bounding rectangle of the active graph.

Fig. 1. A graph document with four graphs shown in the float-window mode.

A number of graphical objects may be drawn in a graph:

Walls - for a graph that does not contain the Donut, Pie, Polar, Polar Bar, Radar, or Smith series there are four walls: Left, Right, Bottom, and Back. The properties of the walls can be customized with the Walls Editor. The cube enclosed by the walls of a graph is called the graph cube. If the view dimension of the graph is set to 2D, all walls except the Back wall degenerate into lines and the graph cube degenerates into the rectangle of the Back wall.

Titles - a graph has four titles: Header, Sub Header, Footer, and Sub Footer. The properties of these titles can be customized with the Title Editor.

Axes - there are six axes for a graph that does not contain the Donut, Pie, Polar, Polar Bar, Radar, or Smith series: Left, Right, Top, Bottom, Depth Bottom, and Depth Top; there are two axes for a graph that contains only Polar, Polar Bar, or Radar series: Radial and Angular; there is no axis for a graph that contains only Donut, Pie, or Smith series. The properties of the axes of the active graph can be customized with the Axis Editor. The series-axes association is specified by the Axes property of the series and can be customized with the Series Editor.

Series - zero or multiple compatible series may be contained in a single graph.

Legend - a graph has a legend. The properties of the legend can be customized with the Legend Editor.

Lines - line items (including arrows) can be added to the active graph with the LineTool on the ToolBox. Added line items are anchored to the graph coordinate system.

Rich Text - rich text items can be added to the active graph with the TextTool on the ToolBox. Added rich text items are anchored to the graph coordinate system.

Fig. 2. The anatomy of a graph document (in the float-window mode) containing two graphs.

A graph document can be set to fixed or auto size. An auto-sized graph document resizes itself as the size of the document window changes, while a fixed size graph document stays in a fixed size regardless of the size of the document window. To change the size mode of the graph document, select the Size menu command on the Graph menu to open the Graph Size dialog box. The default size mode for a newly created graph document can be customized on the Appearance: Size tab-page on the Program Options dialog box.

The menu commands on the Graph menu can be used to customize the properties of the active graph document (e.g. Size) and most properties of its elements (e.g. Axes, Panel, Legend, Titles, and Walls). A few graph properties, however, can be customized with tools on the Graph Tools tab on the ToolBox. For example, the graph aspect settings can be customized with the Aspect Editor; the graph Rotation and Elevation angles (which are part of the graph aspect settings) can be changed with the Rotate Tool; the axis scales and ranges can be changed with the Pan Tool, the Magnifier, or the Auto Scale tool. A few other properties can be changed with controls on the Graph ToolBar: Graph Theme combo-box, View Dimension combo-box, Graph Quality combo-box, and 3D Zoom combo-box (which is visible only if the View Dimension is set to 3D).

See Also