Using templates

Explains how to create charts by using a template as a starting point.

Describes how to create charts, customize them and interact with these charts in different manners.

Within the New Chart Wizard, you can use templates for creating your chart. A template is a predefined project which includes a style sheet designed for a specific type of application or style of presentation and an appropriate data model.

1. Click File > New from Wizard. The New Chart Wizard starts.

2. Select the option to start from a template and click Next.

The available templates are as follows:

A chart displaying 3 series using 3D vertical bars ordered by category.

A 3D pie chart displaying one series composed of 5 values. The value of each point is displayed as a percentage over each slice.

A chart mixing different representation types: a Bar, a Polyline, a Area and a scatter renderers.

3. From the list of templates, select 3D Vertical Bar.

From here, you can proceed in two different ways:

customize the template by changing the data source and the styling.

Click Finish to exit the Wizard if you are happy with the predefined template you have chosen from the list.

Your chart appears in the Designer with the style and data defined by the template you have selected. In this example you have selected the template “3D Vertical Bar”, your chart displays three series using 3D vertical bars ordered by category, as follows:

The window Choose the Type of Data Source opens.

The Wizard automatically proposes you the data source appropriate for the template you want to customize. In this example, the Wizard proposes the User-Defined Data Model option. Click Next to continue.

2. Edit the data model by adding or removing row and columns, clearing all the data or resetting the model to the default value.

3. Continue through the wizard, clicking Next to move between screens and Finish to complete the wizard.

Redefine the type of chart and the graphical representation. For more details on how to do this, refer to Creating a new basic chart.

If you want to create a family of charts with the same data and based on the same styles, you can create your own template.

1. Create a chart that contains the required data, with all the styling you need.

You can use the TemperaturesCartesianChart.icpr that you created in the Getting started and then apply the customizations proposed in Customizing your chart.

You need the following files:

It is important to have the three files in the same location.

From the menu bar, choose File>Save As and save the project file in the <installdir>/templates directory.

The .css file is automatically created when you create your project. It has the same name ( TemperaturesCartesianChart.css) and is placed in the same directory.

3. Create a .properties file with the short and long descriptions of your template.

The template properties file must comply with a specific syntax so that a custom template is properly integrated into the wizard. The expected syntax for the .properties file is shown in the following extract:

LongDescription = A chart displaying 3 series using 3D vertical bars ordered by category

The properties file must contain the following keys:

The text corresponding to this key is displayed in the list of templates.

The text corresponding to this key is displayed below the list of templates in a text area to provide a detailed description of the template.

Save the file with same name of your project, TemperaturesCartesianChart. properties and place it in the <installdir>/templates directory.

After you have saved this set of files, your template appears with the predefined templates in the New Chart Wizard.