RCHART for .NET, User Guide

Copyright 2005, J4L Components (http://www.java4less.com)
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Configuration objects

 

Label markup language

RChart provides several properties and parameters to define the text to be used as title, labels for the axis , labels for the values and other. It also provides a way to select the color and font to be used in each case.

Starting with version 2.1 you can also use the label markup language to define the appearance of the labels. The language allows you to:

The language is made of tags which are inserted in the label's text and processed by RChart before rendering the text. The format of the tags is:

@tagname attributename1='value' attributename2='value' ....@

Tags start with the character @, followed by the tagname and one or more attributes. Each attribute is made of the attribute name followed by the equal (=) sign and the value enclosed in single quotes ( ' ). Most tags have only 1 attribute , called value. Tags must end with the character @.

There are 2 kind of tags:

The following table shows all available tags

Tag name (and type)
Attributes
Description and example
  • name (global)
  • value
Name of the label (optional). The name can be used in java code to identify which label has been clicked. You can use chart.selectedLabel.getName() to read the name of the clicked label.
  • tip (global)
  • value
Tip of the label (optional)
  • background (global)
  • value

Background color of the label. Example:

@background value='RED'@

  • border (global)
  • value

Line style of the border. Example:

@border value='1|BLACK|NORMAL'@

  • clickinfo (global)
  • value
Additional information. It is normally used to hold a html link which will be opened when the user clicks on the label. You can use chart.selectedLabel.getClickInfo() to read the value of the property in your java code.
  • rotation (global)
  • value

Use this tag to rotate the label. Valid values are: 0,45,90,180 and 270. For example:

@rotation value='90'@

  • position (global)
  • value

Use this tag to change the default position of the label. You can define the position using axis units, pixels or percentages. For example:

  • @position value='10px,20px'@ will paint the label at pixel (10,20).
  • @position value='10%,20%'@ and the size of the chart is 200x200, it will paint the label at pixel (20,40).
  • @position value='10,20'@ will paint at position 10 according to the X axis and at position 20 according to the Y axis.

You can also use the signs + / - to defined a relative position. For example:

@position value='+10px,+0px'@ will paint the label ten pixels to the right of the default position.

 

  • align (global)
  • value
Use this tag to change the alignment of the text and images in the label. Valid values are LEFT, CENTER and RIGHT.
  • size (global)
  • value
Use this tag to change the size of the label (see also position tag)
  • anchor (global)
  • value
  • line

The tag allows you to paint a line from the label to an "anchor" point. The value attribute contains the position of the point and the line attibute the style of the line. For example:

@ANCHOR value='1,2' line='1|GREY|DOTS'@

  • margin (global)
  • value

The margin allows to increase the distance between the text in the label and the border. A margin of 3 pixels is defined as:

@margin value='3'@

  • color (local)
  • value

Use this tag to select the current font color. The new color will be applied to the text after the font tag only. For example:

@color value='RED'@

  • font (local)
  • value

The font is used to change the current font. The new font will be applied to the text after the font tag only. For example:

@font value="arial|PLAIN|10'@

  • image (local)
  • value

Adds an image to the label. For example:

@image value='myImage.gif'@

  • \n

 

You can use the string \n (in java code defined as "\\n" ) to create a new line in your text.

 

The following table includes some examples and the resulting image:

Name
Code
Result
Changes of fonts in the label. @align value='CENTER'@Survey Results\n@Font value='Arial|PLAIN|9'@Coffee machine Customer Satisfaction survey\nconducted by two independent consultants

 

Changes of colors in the label. @position value='15%,12%'@@font value='Arial|BOLD|12'@@color value='RED'@London @color value='BLACK'@/ @color value='BLUE'@Paris
Rotation of the text @position value='72%,20%'@@rotation value='90'@@font value='Arial|BOLD|14'@Weather statistics

 

Border and background

@position value='30%,90%'@@size value='0px,22px'@@border value='1|BLACK|NORMAL'@@background value='WHITE'@@font value='Arial|BOLD|12'@ Last year

 

Adding line to anchor point @position value='0px,94%'@@size value='100%,6%'@ @background value='0x33ccff'@Copyright J4L Examples

 

Adding an image @image value='rain.gif'@\n\nRainy

 

Setting size and position @position value='0px,94%'@@size value='100%,6%'@ @background value='0x33ccff'@Copyright J4L Examples

Note: there are two parameters; SERIE_LABEL_TEMPLATE_* and *AXIS_TEMPLATE which are used to define the label of the value in the chart and the axis. These label must contain the literal #value# which will be replace at runtime with the value to be plotted.

 

Target zones

 

Target zones are used in line and bar charts to remark a range of values in the plotter area. The follwing screenshot shows a chart with 2 target zones:

As you can see target zones can be lines or areas (with start and end positions). The CHART_TARGET_ZONE_* parameters are used to add target zones to the charts. The syntax of the parameter is:

CHART_TARGET_ZONE_*=<start value>;<end value>;<line style>;<fill style>;<label>;<orientation>

where:

The 2 zones in the example above are defined as:

Parameters
Equivalent c# class/property

CHART_TARGET_ZONE_1=3;5;1|BLACK|NORMAL;LIGHTBLUE|0.5;@font value='ARIAL|PLAIN|12'@@Position value=',-25px'@Weekend;TRUE

CHART_TARGET_ZONE_2=30;;2|RED|NORMAL;;@Position value='15%,-25px'@@font value='ARIAL|ITALIC|12'@Profitability threshold;FALSE


Note: you can also use % instead of absolute values:

CHART_TARGET_ZONE_2=30%;;2|RED|NORMAL .....

will create a target zone at position 30% of the Y axis (if vertical, or x axis if horizontal).

string value="3;5;1|BLACK|NORMAL;LIGHTBLUE|0.5;@........";
chart.addTargetZone( TargetZone.createFromString(value));


 

 

Notes

Notes are chart labels which you define using the label markup language. The label includes always the position tag since notes have no default position and you must specify it.

The following example shows a chart note:

Notes are created using the CHART_NOTE* parameter(where * is a counter starting at 1).

Parameters
Equivalent c# class/property

CHART_NOTE1=@image value='warning.PNG'@ @ANCHOR value='1,2' line='1|GREY|DOTS'@ @position value='15%,15%'@Manual tunning\n performed at 6:00

string note="=@image value='warning.P......";

chart.addNote(note);

 

Format of the values

 

When you create a linechart or barchart you will normally display the values next to the bar , point or line.

The format of the values can be configured using several parameters:

The following table shows the equivalent java properties for the parameters:

Parameters
Equivalent c# class/property

SERIE_FORMAT_1=####

SERIE_DATA_LABELS_1=one|two|three

SERIE_LABEL_TEMPLATE_1=@background value='WHITE'@@border value='1|BLACK|NORMAL'@ #value#

dataSerie.valueFormat="####";

dataSerie.dataLabels=new string[] {"one","two","three"};

dataSerie.labelTemplate="@background value='WHITE'@@border value='1|BLACK|NORMAL'@ #value#";