Series of the Graph
The series is a sequence of data points that represents individual measurements.
Setting the Style
The styles of the series items relate and affect each other in a hierarchical way. The relations among the styles are visually explained in the article on series style propagation and resolving fallback algorithm.
Data points, data point labels, legend marks, and legend items declare their own style that inherits the style and the base series color of the series. However, if these items have an explicitly set property, it will override the series style property.
The Area and the Line series have an additional pair of properties named respectively AreaStyle and LineStyle, and ConditionalFormatting. They affect the way the series is drawn, defining the line color, style and width, and the background color for the Area Series.
For example, if the series DataPoints have its Style.LineWidth property set to 5pt, this will affect the line width of the DataPoint markers and the legend item marker. However, if the MarkStyle.LineWidth property of the legend item is set to 2pt, the legend item marker will be drawn with a 2pt-wide line, because the series style property will be overridden.
Formatting Data Points
Each data point has graphical representation in accordance with the selected chart type. To set its styling, use the DataPointStyle property. To modify the appearance at runtime, use the DataPointConditionalFormatting property. Depending on the chart type, you can also change the shape of the data point by using the MarkerType enumeration.
To modify the shape of the series data point:
- On the design surface, click the series. The selected bar series properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- Locate the MarkerType property in the Data Point Marker section. If the property doesn't exist for the selected series, for example, Bar or Column, you will not be able to change the shape of the data point.
- Set the type of the marker from the drop-down menu. Set the MarkerSize properties if necessary.
Only the marker types that form a closed contour support the BackgroundImage property. If set, the markers that consist only of lines, that is, X, Plus, and Minus, will not render a background image.
Formatting Data Point Labels
Each data point provides a data point label which displays some content. You can format, position, and rotate the data point label by using the available Graph properties.
Depending on the series type, the default locations of the series labels are:
- (Bar series) Labels are placed outside of the bars that represent data points.
- (Line series) Labels are placed above the line that represent data points.
Changing the Position
To change the position of the data point labels in a Bar series:
- Create a Graph with a Bar series.
- On the design surface, click the Bar series. The selected Bar series properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Data Point Label section, select a value for the DataPointLabelAlignment property.
- In the Data Point Label section, set a value for the DataPointLabelOffset property. The label offset direction depends on the DataPointLabelAlignment value.
Changing the Rotation Angle
To change the rotation angle of the data point labels:
- Create or select a Graph.
- On the design surface, click the desired series. The selected series properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Data Point Label section, set a value for the DataPointLabelAngle property. The value must be an integer in the 0-360 range and will represent the rotation angle in degrees. By default, the value is
0.
Modifying the Style
To change the style of the data point labels:
- Create or select a Graph.
- On the design surface, click the desired series. The selected series properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Data Point Label section, select and edit the DataPointLabelStyle property.
Adding Conditional Formatting
To add conditional formatting to the data point labels:
- Create or select a Graph.
- On the design surface, click the desired series. The selected series properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Data Point Label section, select and edit the DataPointLabelConditionalFormatting collection.
Modifying the Color
The Graph comes with built-in color palettes and also enable you to select or define an additional, custom palette of colors. The series colors will appear in the legend too.
When multiple series are added to the chart, the chart assigns the series a color in the order in which the colors have been defined in the palette.
Using the Default Palette
The built-in series color palettes are only available in the Standalone Report Designer.
To change the series by using the built-in color palette:
- Click the chart series you want to change. As a result, the Graph Tools.Design ribbon context tab is activated.
- In the Chart Style group, select a color palette from the Change Colors drop-down.
Defining Custom Palettes
Custom palettes are report-specific.
If there are a greater number of series than there are colors in the palette, the chart will begin reusing colors, and two series may have the same color. To avoid confusion, define a custom palette with at least the same number of colors as you have series on your chart.
If you are using a custom color palette, you can change the order of the colors to change the color of different series.
To define a custom color palette:
- Click the chart series that you want to change. The selected axis properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Appearance group. Set the ColorPalette property to - Color Palette.
- One of the three options must be selected from the drop-down menu no matter which one.
- In the Colors property, click the Edit Collection (…) button. The Color Collection Editor opens.
- Click Add to add a color and select a color from the drop-down.
- Click Add to add more colors to the palette.
- When you are done, click OK.
To define a custom monochromatic palette:
- Click the chart series you want to change. The selected axis properties are listed in the Property Browser.
- In the Appearance group, set the ColorPalette property to Monochromatic Palette.
- Set the BaseColor, MaxLightness and MinLightness properties.