RCHART TUTORIAL, Chapter 2

Copyright 2003, J4L Components (http://www.java4less.com)
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RChart , The layout

Chart's layout

Charts are made of the following 6 areas (See example):

The previous example was created with the following parameters:

 
Parameters
Description
Equivalent Java[TM] class/property
  LEFT_MARGIN=0.18
RIGHT_MARGIN=0.1
TOP_MARGIN=0.1
BOTTOM_MARGIN=0.1
LEGEND_MARGIN=0.2
LEGEND_POSITION=BOTTOM
LEGEND=FALSE
18 % of the width (default is 12.5%)
10 % of the width (default is 12.5%)
10 % of the height (default is 12.5%)
10 % of the height
(default is 12.5%)
20 % of the height (default)
Legend is at the bottom (default is RIGHT)
Do not display legend, leave space empty (default is TRUE)

Chart.leftMargin=0.18;
Chart.rightMargin=0.1;
Chart.topMargin=0.1;
Chart.bottomMargin=0.1;
Chart.legendMargin=0.2;
Chart.layout =LAYOUT_LEGEND_BOTTOM;
Chart.legend=null;

 

A margin of 0.18 means 18% of the width (or height) of the chart.

The space reserved for the axis isdivided in 2 areas of equal size:

if you are using a second Y2 axis, there is an additional parameter:

Parameters
Description
Equivalent Java[TM] class/property
CHART_SECOND_AXIS_MARGIN=0.05 5 % of the width

Chart.secondYAxisMargin=0.05;

That is the blue rectangle in the screenshot. This parameter is normally set to 0 (default).

 

The title

As already stated, the title is painted in the area reserved by the top margin parameters. The following parameters control the title:

Parameters
Description
Equivalent Java[TM] class/property
TITLECHART=Sales 1999 \n An overview
TITLE_FONT=Dialog|BOLD|12 TITLE_COLOR=0x404040
Text of the title, you can use "\n" to create a new line.
Font of the title.
Color of the text.

Chart.title= new Title("Sales 1999 \\n An overview");

Chart.title.font=new Font(Dialog",Font.BOLD,12);
Chart.title.color=new Color(0x404040);

The result of the above parameters is:

 

The Legend

The legend is the small box next to the chart that describes the content of the chart. The legend is placed in the space reserved by LEGEND_MARGIN and at the position specified by LEGEND_POSITION which can be TOP, BOTTOM or RIGHT.

Parameters
Description
Equivalent Java[TM] class/property
LEGEND_FILL=WHITE
LEGEND_COLOR=0xff LEGEND_FONT=Dialog|ITALIC|10 LEGEND_VERTICAL=FALSE LEGEND_BORDER=0.2|0xff|NORMAL LEGEND_POSITION=TOP LEGEND_MARGIN=0.12
Background color of the legend
Color of the font
Font
Layout of the legend (vertical or horizontal)
Style of the line of the border
Position
Reserved area

Chart.legend.background=new FillStyle(Color.white);
Chart.legend.color=Color.blue;
Chart.legend.color=new Font(Dialog",Font.ITALIC,10);
Chart.legend.verticalLayout=false;
Chart.legend.border=new LineStyle(0.2,Color.blue,LineStyle.NORMAL);
Chart.layout =LAYOUT_LEGEND_TOP;
Chart.legendMargin=0.12;

The result of the above parameters is: