The Micro Chart Suite is an extensive set of small charting components by Inovista. It includes a micro version of most of the chart types that are part of the standard SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards components: Bar Chart, Area Chart, Stacked Bar Chart, Bullet Chart, Column Chart, Line Chart, and Pie Chart. In addition, there are components to show micro versions of a plot chart, win/lose chart, shape alerts, a traffic light, and a text/number indicator.
While you can use these components separately, a nice feature by Inovista is the Tree Grid component in which we can present micro charts in a hierarchical format. This recipe shows you how to set up the Tree Grid component with a few micro charts.
Go to the Inovista website (http://www.inovista.com/), browse for the trial downloads section, and download the Micro Chart Suite. Install the components with the Add-On Manager.
- First, we need to add some data to the spreadsheet. Open a new SAP BusinessObjects Dashboards file and add some data, as shown in the following screenshot:
- Add a MicroChart Tree Grid component to the canvas.
- Click on the insert button in the properties pane.
- Select MicroTrafficLight as Chart Type.
- In the Header Text column, enter
Statusas a title for this chart and set the Width Ratio to10. - In the Data Source for Column: 1 section, bind the Chart Data field to cell range K6:K13. Bind the Target Data field to cell range L6:L13.
- Insert a MicroLineChart into the Tree Grid and enter
Monthly sales trendin the Header Text column. Also set the Width Ratio to40. - Bind this chart to cell range E6:J13.
- Insert a Micro100BarChart into the Tree Grid. Enter
Market Shareas the title for this column. Also set the Width Ratio to40. - Bind this chart to cell range M6:M13.
- Click on the Edit Column button. Select the Legends sub-tab.
- Select Use Chart Colors.
- Select a dark color for the first value and a light color for the second.
- Now return to the General tab and select the Tree Column sub-tab.
- Bind the Source Data field to cell range A6:C13.
- Also set the Column Width to
250and the Opening Indentation to0.
- Preview the dashboard and try to navigate through the hierarchy tree.
As we have seen in this recipe, the Inovista Micro Chart Suite offers a good solution to present numerous data visualizations in a compact way. The MicroChart Tree Grid component gives us a framework to display these micro charts in a structured and hierarchical way.
To use the MicroChart Tree Grid component, we have to define the spreadsheet in the right way. We first created a hierarchical structure with three levels—global, continents, and countries. Next, we added all the data for the graphs in the columns, where each node has its own row of data.
If you don't want or don't need to show a hierarchical structure in your dashboard, you can use the MicroChart Table component as another container to present the micro charts in. The only difference is that this component doesn't have the Tree Column and Tree Row Colors sub-tabs.
The following screenshot shows the MicroChart Table component:
Note
Visit the Inovista website (http://www.inovista.com/) for more information on the Tree and Data Grid components and the individual components in the Micro Chart Suite. Here you can also find the other add-ons Inovista offers.