Using Composite Displayers

The base class used to represent a composite displayer is the IlvCompositeChartDisplayer class. All composite displayers are defined as a combination of other displayers, which can be single displayers or composite displayers. The child displayers that make up a composite displayer are automatically created by the composite displayer. The type of the child displayers to be created by default is not defined at the level of the IlvCompositeChartDisplayer class, but is defined only in the subclasses. However, at the level of the IlvCompositeChartDisplayer class, you can:

A displayer model is an instance of a subclass of the IlvAbstractChartDisplayer class. If a displayer model is specified, the child displayers that are created by default are copies of the displayer model. A displayer model can be set on a given composite displayer by using the setDisplayerModel method.

Note: The displayer model is considered only if the type of the child displayers to be created by default is not specified for a given composite displayer. For example, if you set a displayer model on a stacked bar displayer (an instance of the IlvStackedBarChartDisplayer class), the displayer model will not be considered. It will be considered if you set it on a stacked displayer (an instance of the IlvStackedChartDisplayer class).

Specify a displayer factory that will be used to replace the child displayers created by default by the displayers you want.

A displayer factory is an instance of a subclass of the IlvChartDisplayerFactory class. If a displayer factory is specified, the child displayers that are defined in the displayer factory will be created instead of the default child displayers. A displayer factory can be set on a given composite displayer by using the setDisplayerFactory method.

Note: A displayer factory can be used with all types of composite displayers whether or not the type of the child displayers to be created by default is specified for the composite displayer.

Once the child displayers are created, they can be accessed by using the getDisplayer method and can then be customized individually.

The following sections describe the composite displayers of the Charts Library. For each displayer, you will find a table that describes the conditions for using the displayer, including the number of real data sets that are displayed with the displayer and whether the displayer can be used no matter what the type of the projection is.