Creating Charts and Graphics in .NET

Print Data Matrix 2d barcode in .NET Creating Charts and Graphics

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If you have multiple shapes on a worksheet, you will find that Excel arranges them from front to back, placing newer shapes in front of older shapes.

To change the order of the shapes, select the shape in the back, click the Format contextual tab, and then, in the Arrange group, click Bring Forward. When you do, Excel moves the back shape in front of the front shape. Clicking Send Backward has the opposite effect, moving the selected shape one layer back in the order. If you click the Bring Forward button s arrow, you can choose to bring a shape all the way to the front of the order; similarly, by clicking the Send Backward button s arrow, you can choose to send a shape to the back of the order. One other way to work with shapes in Excel is to add mathematical equations to their interior. As an example, a business analyst might evaluate Consolidated Messenger s financial performance using a ratio that can be expressed using an equation. To add an equation to a shape, click the shape and then, on the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click Equation, and then click the Equation Tools Design contextual tab on the ribbon to display the new interface for editing equations.

Tip Clicking the Equation button s arrow displays a list of common equations, such as the Pythagorean Theorem, that you can add with a single click.

Click any of the controls in the Structures group to begin creating an equation of that type. You can fill in the details of a structure by adding text normally or by adding symbols from the gallery in the Symbols group. In this exercise, you ll create a circle and a rectangle, change the shapes formatting, reorder the shapes, align the shapes, add text to the circle, and then add an equation to the rectangle. SET UP You need the Shapes_start workbook located in your 10 practice file folder to complete this exercise. Open the Shapes_start workbook, and save it as Shapes. Then follow the steps.

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the Alignment group, click the Middle Align button. The text is centered vertically within the circle.

tab, in the Arrange group, click the Align button and then click Align Center. Excel centers the shapes horizontally.

rectangle and then, on the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click Equation. The text Type Equation Here appears in the rectangle.

Script button, and then click the Subscript structure (the second from the left in the top row). The Subscript structure s outline appears in the rectangle.

16. Click the left box of the structure and type Year. 17. Click the right box of the structure and type Previous. 18. Press the Right Arrow key once to move the cursor to the right of the word Previous

and then, in the Symbols group s gallery, click the Plus Minus symbol (the first symbol on the top row).

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the top row).

group, click the Increase Font Size button four times. Excel increases the equation text s font size.

CLEAN UP Save the Shapes workbook, and then close it. If you re not continuing directly to the next chapter, exit Excel.

You can use charts to summarize large sets of data in an easy-to-follow visual format. You re not stuck with the chart you create; if you want to change it, you can. If you format many of your charts the same way, creating a chart template can save

Adding chart labels and a legend makes your chart much easier to follow. If your chart data represents a series of events over time (such as monthly or