From the three Pop-up
menus on the Chart Inspector, you can inspect and change the following
aspects of the currently selected chart.
- Name
- Each chart has
a unique name. You select a chart by name using Range -> Goto....
You can also print a chart by name in a report. To change the name
of a chart, select the name, be sure that the Graph Inspector is selected
(i.e., the title bar is black not light gray), type the new name,
and press enter. You cannot give a chart the same name as another
chart in the worksheet. If you try to, Mesa will beep and the name
will not change.
- Color
- The Color
view allows the background color, border color, legend background
color, and 3D background color to be changed. If the "Clear"
check box is checked, the background below the graph will show through.
This is especially useful for developing presentations using Concurrence(tm)
or Create(tm). The width of the border can be changed using the slider
below the border color well.
- To change the
color or pattern of the plotted part of the graph you do not need
to use the Graph Inspector. Simply drag and drop color chips onto
the graph itself. Mesa will keep color shading consistent for data
that is grouped together.
- Labels
- The different
areas of the on the Label view if the inspector allow you to
change the appearance of the graph's labels. Labels are placed near
the horizontal and vertical axis of a graph.
- You can adjust
the rotation of the labels using the Label Rotation area. Rotating
labels enhances the visual appearance of the chart and can be used
to display labels that would otherwise overlap. Labels may be rotated
using the sliders or by typing the desired rotation in the text fields
and pressing enter.
- The check boxes
in the Label Location area allow you to designate whether the
top row and/or the left column contains additional labels. You can
also designate ranges containing additional labels using the Range
view of the Graph Inspector. Flat graphs can display one set of additional
labels, and 3D graphs can display two sets of additional labels.
- The font wells
in the Fonts area of the view display the current font used
to draw the labels on the X and Y axis. To change the font, open the
Font Panel by selection Format ® Fonts... (Apple-t)
or by double-clicking in the font well. Build the desired font and
drop the font in the appropriate font well. The fonts of the X and
Y axis can also be changed by dropping a font chip on the X or Y axis
or any label of the chart.
- The Display
Format area of the view allows you to change the format and precision
of the axis labels. You can select any of the Mesa's standard format,
including date formats. This will not affect the format of additional
labels.
- The Label
Position area allows you to select the vertical centering of labels
drawn on the Y axis. Select the setting that you prefer.
- Titles
- Charts can display
titles on the top, bottom and left side. The First and Second
titles are drawn at the top of the chart. The X Axis title
is drawn under the X axis. The Y Axis title is drawn to the
left of the Y axis and is rotated 90 degrees. Enter the text to appear
in the titles. The font of each title can be changed by dropping a
font chip in the font well or by dropping a font chip on the title
of the chart. If Cell Reference is checked, the text is interpreted
as an address and the contents of the cell at that address is displayed.
- Orientation
- The Orientation
defines the order that the data will be accessed when drawing the
chart. Horizontal orientation reads data "across" and additional
data ranges are added under the base range. Data in a column will
show up with the same color and pattern. Vertical orientation reads
data "down" and additional ranges are added on the right
side. Data in the same row is given the same color and pattern. Mesa
tries to choose the correct orientation for your data when you create
a graph.
- Ticks
- This view allows
you to set how the format in which ticks on the X and Y axis will
be drawn.
- Scale
- By default, Mesa
automatically chooses the largest and smallest X and Y values for
data plots. You can change these values manually to enhance the appearance
of a chart. To turn off automatic scaling, click the Auto Scale
check box. Enter the desired scale values in the text fields and press
enter. The minimum and maximum values must be different.
- Graphs are displayed
in linear scale by default, but can be displayed in log scale by clicking
the "Log Scale" check box.
- Grid
- This view allows
you to control the display of a light gray grid in the background
of the chart. You can also select an optional black border around
the graph area on the chart.
- Range
- You can add up
to six discontiguous ranges to the base range of a data plot. Additional
ranges will be added at the bottom or right side of the prior data
range depending on the orientation of the chart. (See "Orientation"
.) To add ranges, type the range into each of the six provided text
fields.
- In addition you
can also add ranges containing titles to your graph using the Top
Titles and Side Titles fields. The contents of these ranges
will be added as additional labels to the graph the same way that
selecting Top Row or Left Column in the Label Location
area of the Label view would, except that the ranges entered as titles
in this range do not need to be in a specific location in relation
to the rest of the data.
- Legend
- This view allows
you to place a data legend on the chart. The legend can be located
on top, below, or on either side of the chart. The legend's font can
be changed by dropping a font chip in the font well or by dropping
a font chip directly on the legend on the chart.
- The color of
the chart can be changed by dropping color chips on the legend or
by dropping the color chips on the item that you want to change directly
on the graph.
- Current
- Some chart types
have special inspector views to change unique parameters. These views
appear in the Current view depending on the chart type.
- You can have
as many charts as you like on the worksheet
- You can move
and resize charts.
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