Creating a Chart

This example will demonstrate how to add a simple chart to a Banded Report as shown in the figure below.

The chart to be created in this example. It contains a bar for each employee and displays their salary.

The report contains a list of employees (ID and name) within a department and a chart showing the salary of each employee.

The Employees Table within the sample database is the only table used in this example.  A DataBlock form was created in which the user enters the department name.

Four bands are utilized as follows:

Create the Title, Column Header, and Detail Bands

Create a new Banded Report, launch the Banded Report Wizard, then select a “Blank Report” Type.

Populate the Title, Column Header, and Detail Bands with the appropriate fields using methods described in previous examples. As a reminder, note that the Title Band contains the value selected in the DataBlock form using the procedure described in a previous example.

Tip: To quickly center the text within the title bar horizontally or vertically, click on the text, then click the “Align the selected control to the horizontal center of its parent” button, or click “Align the selected control to the vertical center of its parent” button.
align to horizontal center icon
Align to horizontal center of its parent
Align to verical center
Align to vertical center of its parent

The remainder of this example is devoted to creating the chart that will be placed within the Summary Band.

This is the basic report design for this example. The title band is on top followed by the header band and the detail band.

Add a Summary Band

A chart can be added to any type of band.  For this example it is added to the Summary Band.  Click the "Create a new band" icon create a new band icon and select Summary for the type.

Add a Chart Object

Click on the Chart icon chart icon on the toolbar, then click anywhere within the Summary Band to add the chart object.  The chart wizard welcome screen will appear. Click Next to start the wizard.

The first screen of the chart wizard.

Follow the Chart Wizard

The Chart Wizard that will guide you through the process of creating a chart. 

  1. Click the Green Plus icon green plus icon to add a series.  More than one series of data can be displayed on a chart, but for this example only one series will be used.
  2. Select ArgosData within the Dataset field.
  3. Select salary for the Value field.
  4. Select emp_id for the Label field.
    The Data Tab in the Chart Wizard with the series name, dataset, value, and label filled out. The series name is new series, the dataset is Argos Data, the value is salary, and the label is emp_i d.
  5. Click the Type tab where you can select various types of charts (Bar, Pie, Line, etc.).  This example creates a bar chart which is the default selection, so no change is required.
    The available Bar Chart types on the type tab. Includes Normal, Stack, Stack 100 percent, Sides, and Side All. On the left side of the tab are the other chart types, such as pie chart, line chart, and area chart.
  6. Click on the Labels tab to display various label options. 
  7. Uncheck the “Visible Label” box.  This removes the label from the top of each bar in the chart. For more information about labels, refer to the Chart Wizard documentation.
  8. Click Next to continue to the Chart Theme and Panel screen. Here you can adjust the theme, colors, and borders. For this example, we will be using the default settings.
    Chart theme and portal screen. On this screen, you can select a theme and change borders and colors to adjust the look of the chart.
  9. Click Next to continue to the Chart Legend and Titles screen.
    Chart Legend and titles screen. The objects listbox is in the top left corner of the screen. Legend style and title is selected. In the bottom left are the options for the selected object. There are three tabs: legend style and position, title, and format. The legend style and position tab is active.
  10. Highlight Legend Style and Title in the object listbox in the upper left corner.
  11. Uncheck the Legend Visible check box. We will not be using the legend in this example.
  12. Click “Main Title” in the object listbox.
  13. Enter “Employee Salary” into the “Enter Title Here” box.
  14. Click Vertical Axis Title then enter “Salary” for into the “Enter Title Here” box.
  15. Click Horizontal Axis Title then enter “Employee ID” into the “Enter Title Here” box.
    The object listbox in the upper left corner of the chart legend and titles screen. The titles for the main title, left axis, and bottom axis have all been entered.
  16. Click Finish to return to the Band Report Editor.

Info: See the Argos DataBlock Designer Guide for a more complete description of Charting within Argos.

Increase the height of the Summary Band to make room for the chart.  Position the chart to the desired location.

The band report with the completed chart.

Select “Technical Support” for the Department Name, then run the report.

This image shows the query parameter entered for this example. Technical Support was entered as the query parameter.

The final report including the chart. The list of employees in the department are at the top of the report and the chart sits below the list of employees.