Creating and editing charts
|
•
|
Open the layout in which you want to add the chart. See Creating and managing layouts and reports. If necessary, resize the layout part so there is room for the chart. See Resizing layout parts.
|
Important Charts appear differently depending on the layout part in which they are placed. For more information, see Placing your chart in the appropriate layout part.
|
2.
|
In Layout mode, click the Chart tool
 in the status toolbar, then drag a rectangle on the layout where you want your chart to appear. |
|
3.
|
In the Chart Setup dialog box, for Chart Type choose the type of chart you want to create.
|
|
Bar or Horizontal Bar
|
Chart one or more data series side-by-side. Good for comparing two or more numerical values taken over time or under different conditions.
|
|
Chart a contiguous series of data points connected by line. Good for presenting data trends over time.
|
|
|
Chart quantitative data. Good for comparing aggregate data over time, such as subtotals or averages.
|
|
|
Chart a portion of the whole. Includes percentage information and good for high-level comparisons.
|
Note The chart preview shows your format selections when you change settings, but does not reflect data in your database.
|
4.
|
|
Define a calculation to enter a title for the chart. For example, you can use a calculation to display field data such as the name of a company or country. See Specify Calculation dialog box.
|
Note After you type a title, the title appears enclosed in quotation marks when you click outside the Chart Title text box. When you specify a field or calculation for a title, FileMaker Pro enters the fully qualified field name in the Chart Title text box.
|
•
|
Bar, line, or area charts: For Horizontal (X) Axis, type the fully qualified name of the field representing the data series you want to chart or click
 to specify a data series for the X-axis. |
Note For horizontal bar charts, the horizontal axis is the Y-axis and the vertical axis is the X-axis.
|
•
|
Pie charts: For Label Data, type the fully qualified name of the field representing the data series you want to chart or click
to specify a data series for the X-series. |
|
•
|
Bar, line, or area charts: For Vertical (Y) Axis, type the fully qualified name of the field representing the data series you want to chart or click
to specify a data series. |
|
Click +, then repeat step 6.
|
|
When you specify additional data series on the Y-axis, the chart preview updates to show how your changes affect the chart (if space allows).
|
•
|
Pie charts: For Value Data, type the fully qualified name of the field representing the data set you want to chart or click
to specify a data series. |
Note In pie charts, only one Value Data series is evaluated. If you enter more than one Value Data series, FileMaker Pro ignores all but the first entry.
|
7.
|
For Use Data From, specify the source of data for this chart.
|
|
To chart summary data, select Show data points for groups of records when sorted, sort by the X-axis field, choose a summary field as the Y-axis, and place the chart in the appropriate layout part. For more information, see Charting summary data and Placing your chart in the appropriate layout part.
Tip This setting is useful when you want to place a summary chart in a header, footer, or body layout part.
|
|
|
Chart a data series using fields in the current record that contain multiple data values separated by the carriage-return characters.
|
|
|
Related Records, then choose a table from the list and specify a sort order, if applicable
|
Chart data located in related records. For more information about sorting, see Sorting records. When you chart related records, your chart updates when the current record changes. To learn more by following steps in an example, see Example 4: Charting related records.
|
|
8.
|
To change the display characteristics of your chart, click Format Chart. For more information, see Formatting charts.
|
|
9.
|
Click OK.
|
|
10.
|
Important FileMaker Pro displays only a placeholder image of your chart in Layout mode. You must switch to Browse or Preview mode to see the actual chart. The chart will also display accurately in Find mode.
Tip In Browse mode, you can place the pointer over a data point in a chart (for example, an individual bar or line coordinate) to display the exact value of that chart element.
|
3.
|
Click Format Chart to change format settings.
|
|
4.
|
Close all dialog boxes, click Save Layout, then Exit Layout in the layout bar to switch to Browse mode and view the modified chart.
|
Note If you are charting summary information, you might need to change group or sort settings for data to display correctly in the edited chart.
|
•
|
|
•
|
When you chart data in the found set or in related records, the result of a calculation specifying a Y-data series (Value Data series in pie charts) must be in number field type. When charting delimited data in the current record, the Y- or Value Data series must be in text field type.
|
|
•
|
When you use a calculation to specify a title in a chart, the result is calculated based on the layout part in which the chart is located. For more information, see Placing your chart in the appropriate layout part.
|
To remove zero data points from your chart, perform a find and omit the invalid records by entering only the = operator in the appropriate fields. This removes the zero data points from the found set. Then verify the chart in Browse mode. For more information about omitting records from the found set, see Finding records except those matching criteria.
|
•
|
FileMaker Pro does not recognize individual values in repeating fields as a data series. To chart data in repeating fields, use the List function to combine repeating data in a delimited format, then choose Current Record (delimited data) for Use Data From. For information about the List function, see List.
|