Creating Charts
In this article we will learn how to use Infinity's interactive query builder create a new chart, and then use configuration options to customize the chart.
Quick How-to
Navigate to Add New Chart screen
Select data source
Use where clause conditions to filter the data
Select chart type from gallery
Format chart area and customize chart
Configure additional settings and publish
Combo Chart Walkthrough:
Throughout this article, we will use this gray informational box to demonstrate how to create a new combo chart (column + line chart) from beginning to end.
1. Navigate to Add New Chart screen
2. Select Data Source
On the Add New Chart screen, select the Source field picklist and select the data source of interest.
The data needed to create our combo chart resides on the global_superstore_orders table under the Uploaded Files section.
Let's start by accessing the data we need by choosing the table and dragging it into the preview pane.
You can also name your chart by editing the field at the top of the page.
3. Use Where Clauses to Filter the Data
For the purposes of our combo chart, we are only interested in the US and Canada markets denoted in the data under the Market column as 'US', 'CA', or 'USCA'. To select only the relevant data, let's add where clause conditions to reflect this criteria.
Using where clause options to filter the data from a source table is highly recommended when working with large data tables with millions of rows.
4. Select Chart Type from Gallery
To create our intended combo chart, let's select it from the chart type selection menu. Infinity offers 35+ chart types, providing you the flexibility to visualize your data in a variety of ways.
5. Add Dimensions (x-axis) and Metrics (y-axis)
Once a chart type is selected, its now time to add the Metrics and Dimensions for the chart. Metrics generally represent the data being plotted (i.e. the Y-axis), and Dimensions generally represent the x-axis of the chart.
In our combo chart example, we will show the quarterly order volume as a column on the primary y-axis, and the quarterly sales revenue as a line data series plotted on the secondary y-axis. The x-axis will be each of the quarters represented by the OrderDate field in the source data table.
Infinity will pre-select the first date field in the source data table as the default Dimension and the first two numeric fields in the source table as the default metrics for the chart.
OrderDate is the first numeric column in the global_superstore_orders table, and was therefore pre-selected as the default Dimension for our chart.
To measure order volume and sales revenue, we now add the relevant columns under the Metrics section in place of the pre-loaded default selections.
The Dimension field can also be used to auto-aggregate the data. You can choose any of the available aggregation functions by clicking on the Dimension field, and selecting the desired option.
In our combo chart, we want to aggregate the sales and order data into quarterly data cuts. However, the incoming data is more granular at an individual date level. By using the Quarterly aggregation option, we can rapidly create quarterly cuts of the data as per our chart-specific needs.
| Dimension Agg Functions | Metric Agg Functions |
|---|---|
Daily | SUM |
Weekly | AVG |
Monthly | MIN |
Quarterly | MAX |
Yearly | COUNT |
Show Last n Records | DISTINCT COUNT |
Custom (flexible date formats - mm/dd/yyyy etc.) | CUMULATIVE (plots cumulative total over time) |
6. Pivot, Sort, and Add Chart Filters
Pivot Columns help break down a single data series into multiple data series. Consider that instead of a showing a single data series showing sales over time, we want to plot sales over time for each of the product segments. With Infinity, pivoting and transforming the data is as simple as dragging and dropping the segment column into the Pivot Columns box.
| Pivot Agg Functions |
|---|
Case Sensitive - Considers case differences while pivoting the data into data series |
Case Insensitive - Ignores case differences while pivoting the data into data series |
Similarly, we can drag and drop columns into the Order By box to sort the data in any order based on the selected set of columns.
In our combo chart, we want to sort the x-axis in ascending order of sales quarters. To achieve this, we select the OrderData column into the Order By box and setting the sort order. The default sort order is Ascending but can be changed by selecting the OrderDate field and choosing the sort order.
Finally, we can add filters to a chart by again dragging and dropping the desired columns of interest into the Filters box.
7. Format Chart Area and Customize Chart
The Style tab exposes a number of options for tweaking the look and feel of your charts.
| Styling Option | Purpose |
|---|---|
Chart Background | Add background color to the chart area |
Titles | Add chart title and customize formatting including font color, size etc. |
Padding & Zoom | Set chart area margins and zoom level |
Chart Area | Set the opacity level for the chart area |
Series | This option is available for time series charts, and can be used to configure primary vs. secondary axis, line vs. column selection for combo charts, data labels etc. |
Legend | Format legend font, style, and location of the legend within the chart area |
Horizontal Axis | Configure x-axis label format and positioning |
Vertical Axis & Right Vertical Axis | Configure primary and secondary y-axis label number formatting, positioning, log scaling, and min-max axis values etc. |
Gridlines | Add major and minor gridlines to primary and secondary y-axes |
Specifically to address the combo chart objectives, we used many of the options outlined above to get the precise intended output
---------------------------------------------------------------
First - Using the Title option, we provided an appropriate title
--------------------------------------------------------------- Second - We used the Type and Right Axis option available under Series to plot the sales data series as a lie chart on the secondary y-axis
Third - We made the x-axis labels legible to read by slanting them 90 ̊
Fourth - We used the currency short option to show the revenue data in the secondary y-axis as currency values.
Our combo chart is now configured. Let's see what it looks like.
8. Configure additional settings and publish
On the Settings screen that follows, there are several options available to further make the chart your own. These include:
the ability to add footnotes to the chart (seen below)
customizing tooltip text
control chart edit and view permissions
customizing excel and PPT download format, and
the ability to drilldown from this chart to another chart
Last updated
