X-axis
Description
The X-axis tab contains a number of properties and property subtrees. With these properties, you can control all X-axis related settings of the 2D chart.
Domain
The most important property of the X-axis tab, is the domain property. By setting this property, you can specify which values will be shown along the X-axis in your chart. The domain can be an index, a one-dimensional parameter or a one-dimensional string parameter. In case you specify a one-dimensional parameter, the X-axis values will be scaled according to the values of this parameter. For example, if you specify a parameter containing the values 1, 4 and 20, a scale of 0 to 20 will be shown along the X-axis. Should you have specified a string parameter with the values “1”, “4” and “20” (or an index with values ‘1’, ‘4’ and ‘20’), only three equidistant values would have been shown along the X-axis.
Unit
If the X-axis domain that you’ve specified has a unit assigned to it, you can specify an alternative unit through this property. The X-axis will be scaled accordingly.
Note that this property only appears in case you use a numeric parameter for the X-axis domain, since the two other possible X-axis domain types (i.e. a set or a string parameter) don’t support units.
Annotation
The X-axis tab contains an annotation subtree. In this subtree, the following properties can be set:
Placement
This property controls where to place the axis annotation and the axis title. The allowed values are:
Min the annotation and title are placed just below the lowest Y-data value in your chart
Max the annotation and title are placed just above the highest Y-data value in your chart
Origin the annotation and title are placed at the level of the Y-axis where the X-axis crosses it
Auto the object decides automatically where the annotation and title are best placed.
You can use the AnnotationPlacementConstants set in Chart2DconstantsModule .
Origin placement
This property controls where to draw the Y-axis on the X-axis. The allowed values are:
Auto the object decides automatically where on the X-axis the Y-axis will be drawn
Min the Y-axis is drawn at the far left of the X-axis
Max the Y-axis is drawn at the far right of the X-axis
Zero the Y-axis is drawn where the X-axis has value 0
You can use the AnnotationOriginPlacementConstants set in Chart2DconstantsModule .
Rotation angle
This property specifies the angle, in degrees, at which the X-axis annotation is rotated. With large labels on the X-axis, a value of 90 degrees is a good choice.
Show every n-th label
This property controls which labels are displayed along the X-axis. If you specify a value n, every n-th label will be printed. With this property, in combination with the number of first label shown property, you can control the X-axis annotation in a straightforward manner. If you need even more flexibility on which labels to display and which not, you may want to consider specifying a one-dimensional string parameter as the X-axis domain and assign it empty strings for the labels that you don’t want to display.
Number of first label shown
This property specified which label will be the first label shown. The first label of your X-axis domain has number 1.
Precision
This property controls the number of decimals displayed in case of numeric X-axis labels. If you specify the value 0 or less, that value indicates the precision in powers of 10.
Tick spacing
This property specifies the number of ticks displayed on the X-axis. If set to 1, every possible X-axis label gets a tick, if set to 2, every second possible X-axis label gets a tick, etc.
Label spacing
In case you have specified a numeric parameter for the X-axis domain, you can control the spacing of the X-axis annotation labels with this property. You can set the (numerical) distance between successive labels.
Y-Axis origin
With this property you have even finer control over the location of the Y-axis. You can specify the exact location (label) on the X-axis where the Y-axis should cross it.
Scale
The scale subtree gives you control over the scaling of the X-axis. It has the following properties:
Data minimum
This property specifies which data is displayed in your chart, with respect to the X-axis values of the data. For example, if your X-axis domain contains a one-dimensional parameter with values ranging from –10 to 10, and if you specify the value 0, your chart will only display data that has an X-value greater than or equal to 0.
Data maximum
This property has the same meaning as the data minimum property, only here you specify the maximum X-axis value of the data to be displayed in your chart.
Minimum
This property specifies the minimum value displayed along the X-axis. Even if no data with such an X-axis value exists.
Maximum
This property specifies the maximum value displayed along the X-axis. Even if no data with such an X-axis value exists.
Origin base
This property can only be specified for polar and (filled) radar charts. It specifies at what angle (in degrees) the Y-axis is located with respect to the X-axis.
Gridlines
The gridlines subtree lets you control the displaying of X-axis gridlines. It contains the following properties:
Spacing
This property determines the spacing between the individual gridlines. If set to 0, no gridlines are shown. In case of a radar chart, any non-zero value that you specify, will result in the same gridline distance (in radar charts, there is only one sensible way of drawing the X-axis gridlines).
Show on top
If you set this property to 1, the gridlines appear in front of the chart. If you set it to 0 (the default), the gridlines appear behind the chart.
Style
There is a subtree style under the gridlines subtree, that lets you control the appearance of the gridlines. It has the following three properties:
Color
This property controls the color of the gridlines.
Pattern
This property controls the pattern of the gridlines (e.g. solid, dotted, etc.).
You can use the LinePatternConstants set in Chart2DconstantsModule .
Width
This property controls the width (i.e. the line thickness) of the individual gridlines.
Misc. settings
The X-axis supports some more properties, that don’t fall into one of the previous categories. Those properties are place in the misc. settings subtree:
Title
With this property you can specify the title that should be displayed along the X-axis.
Show unit in title
If there is a numerical identifier specified on the X-axis, which has a unit assigned to it, this unit can be displayed in the X-axis title. Set this property to 1 (the default) if you want this behavior, set it to 0 if you don’t want the unit to be displayed in the title.
Color
This property set the color of the X-axis, the X-axis labels and the X-axis title.
Reversed
By setting this property to 1, you can reverse the order of the X-axis.
Logarithmic
By setting this property to 1, the X-axis is shown on a logarithmic scale. This property doesn’t have any effect on (stacked) bar charts.