Data Sources in .NET

Generation Data Matrix 2d barcode in .NET Data Sources

As already indicated, a chart does not have to be based on a related data range, but can instead contain information jointly displayed from different sources that don t have much in common with each other . You can set and edit the particular references to source areas individually and also if the entire data source is a complete table block, as in the worksheets of the 0101_BasicSamples.xlsx sample file . See Figure 1-25: Note You will learn how to deal with the individual features (for example, how to go to the Select Data Source dialog box displayed in Figure 1-25) in the Basic Techniques section . Chart Data Range The Chart Data Range is the reference to all chart data, not just to the numbers but also to the data from which the Axis Labels, Legend, and possibly Chart Title are created .

Legend Entries Legend entries contain the data (generally, texts) that can be used to interpret the chart s data series . If there is only one data series, as is the case in the Chart 1 worksheet of the sample file, Excel automatically creates the text for the legend and for a chart title from the legend entry reference . If there are several data series, the reference is used for labeling the legend only . Axis Labels The reference for the axis labels refers to those source ranges (and also to text entries in the majority of cases) that are used to label the chart s categories . Note The terms Value Axis and Category Axis are no longer instantaneously used in Excel 2007 .

You can format all the chart elements listed below in many ways . There are some enormous differences here compared to previous versions of Excel . This applies both to the available options and to ways of dealing with the program in technical terms . Not everything that has been added will appear useful or helpful at first glance, and some not even at second or third glance .

1

Overall, however, the abundance and designability of visualization effects make them very important and beneficial in many ways for this book s discussion of presentation charts . In relation to the chart formatting topic, I d like to make a very important comment in advance, because this formatting will be implemented quite frequently in subsequent chapters . Each formattable chart element can be:

Removed from the chart; Hidden using a specific coloring (element color = ambient color); Made transparent partially or fully by setting a color transparency between 0% and 100% . This new feature in Excel 2007 in particular, offers the chart designer many new and interesting approaches that not only affect the lovely appearance, but also help to considerably improve the value of information about visualization .

A chart created using default editing operations is normally composed of a chart area, plot area, one or more data series, axis, various labels, and (optionally) different analysis elements .

Figure 1-26 Chart area (1), plot area (2), data series, (3) and data point (4)

The chart area (identified by the number 1 in Figure 1-26) is the graphical base element of the chart, effectively the container of all elements that exist in the chart . You select the chart area by clicking an empty space of this element with the mouse . In the selected status, the chart area displays an object frame with small selection points on its corners and edges known as selection handles . When you click one of these points with the mouse, the mouse pointer becomes a double-headed arrow and you can scale that is, reduce or increase the object continuously while holding down the mouse button .