Workaround – Dynamic dates in Bar chart

Certain analyses produce category series - which by design do not keep any time parameters. With below workaround you can pass time information through analyses and show it in Bar chart.

Add formulas

We have formulas which output time parameters, add needed ones to Series list:
week()
month()
quarter()
year()
From their output you will build dynamic dates.

Cross sampling

  1. Mark series and 'Add selected series as new column' under a Group.
  2. Add each time formula in same Group with 'Add selected series as new single series column'.
  3. Add calculations.
  4. You can also rename columns for easier identification in next steps.

Sorting

If you are using it - don't sort time formulas. See below, that's all it is needed.

Bar chart

Prepare simple chart:

  1. Open Graph layout.
  2. Under Text leave only one series.
  3. Under Bar delete all series.
  4. On the left mark series and use 'Add new Text column' > 'One column per series with value'.

Add dynamic dates:

  1. Double-click on a cell.
  2. Roll out Dynamic properties.
  3. Find the right series for this cell, select Value.
  4. In next column you can use next/previous number i.e.; {s s5.Value}/{s s9.Value}, {s s6.Value}/{s s10.Value} and so on.

Workaround – Covering labels on x-axis

Sometimes you want custom label on x-axis. You can this with a little workaround described below.

Add Vertical line

Go to Chart annotations > Annotations and add vertical line anywhere on the chart.

Modify the line

Click on this line and:

  1. Set Position (for Time chart - date, for Category chart - #0, #1, #2 etc.).
  2.  Check Line > Between observations.
  3. Select Content > Axis value label: 'Show'.
  4. Check Custom style, go to Appearance > Color > […] and change 'Opacity %' to 0.

Modify label

Click on new label on chart and:

  1. Check Custom style, under Appearance > Orientation please select 'Horizontal'.
  2. Under Border > Border width please select 'None'.
  3. Apply other graphical changes if needed.

Paste in text

Double-click on label and type in new number, date or use Dynamic text.

Tooltip

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.28 and later.

Overview

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.28 and later.

Tooltip appears when you hover over any point. They contain information about point-in-time, description, value and (optional) title.

Color and style settings

All the colors and style settings can be controlled through Style sheet functionality. Go to Style sheet tab, assign new settings to tooltip, save style sheet and use it on your chart.

Note, currently Tooltips are available only for Time charts and Scatter charts.

Tooltip

on charts

Tooltips are available only for Time charts and Scatter charts. You can have different setting for each of chart type. 'Title' is the common title i.e., for a group of series like on Scatter chart.

on SVG

When using File > Export image > SVG for Time chart you have an option to enable 'Show data points values on hover'. This will allow to show Tooltip in exported SVG image.

For more information see Animated charts.

Animated charts

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.28 and later.

Overview

This feature is available in Macrobond 1.28 and later.

With this feature you can animate Time charts.

How to create animated chart?

Note that this is an option available only for Time charts.

  1. Go to the File > Export image.
  2. Specify directory, File name, Size (you can use Current) and SVG as image's format.
  3. Check 'Animate chart'
  4. Click Export.

What 'Show data points values on hover' do?

You will be able to hover over image and see each data point with date and value. This is a tooltip and you can change its color/style in Style sheet. For more information see Tooltip - Color and style settings.

How 'Delay per graph' and 'Duration' work?

  • Delay per graph - length of intervals between drawing each line. Set it to 0 to have all of them shown in the same moment.
  • Duration - how long it will take to draw line from the start to the end.


Above file is a GIF. For much smoother SVG file see this link. Chart's settings are 'Delay: 0; Duration: 8'.

Radial bar chart

Overview

There is no dedicated chart type but with formulas and Cross sampling you can create one with Category Scatter chart.

How to create a Radial bar chart?

  1. Prepare series.
  2. Prepare position's values - in Formula analysis use a hundred series of each of below formulas (note that bolded parts will change in each formula, see the file in Examples for how to pair those values or just copy them from there):
    • FlagForecast(Cos(25*Pi()/50), fx:s1<=((1/100)*100))
    • FlagForecast(Sin(25*Pi()/50), fx:s1<=((1/100)*100))
    • and add these at the end of each batch a full original series i.e.; fx:s1.
    • We recommend to rename first and last series of hundred's as "series 1,Start" till "series 1, end" and "series 1a,Start" till "series 1a, end" etc.
  3. Add Cross sampling with one 'Calculations: Last'. Create group for each series with:
    • first column with "series 1,Start" till "series 1, end",
    • second column with "series 1a,Start" till "series 1a, end",
    • for third column, mark main series for the group and use 'Add selected series as new single series column'.
    • We recommend to rename columns to X, Y, V.
  4. Add Arithmetic analysis to create a distance between each circle. Multiply them by 0.9, 0.8, 0.7, etc.. We do not recommend to use value equal or above 1.
  5. Add Category Scatter chart. Open Graph layout (Ctrl+L), leave/create pairs from X and Y series.
  6. Graphic style
    • Turn off labels - click on each line, under Presentation properties > Content un-check 'Show value labels'. Use Chart (upper menu) > Select to pick series. Instead use Observation labels or Legend labels.
    • Change line's style - click on each line, go to Presentation properties > Appearance > Graph style: Custom, set Line width.
    • Disable forecast - click on each line, go to Presentation properties > Appearance > Graph style: Custom, Forecast > Line and select 'None'.
    • Scale adjusting:
      • under Presentation properties > Appearance > Tick position select 'None',
      • un-check Presentation properties > Appearance > Show labels, to hide numbers.
    • To turn off borders go to Presentation properties > Border > Width, select 'None'.
    • To turn off grid line, click on one and un-check box under Presentation properties > Appearance > Show grid line.
  7. Chart size - to avoid stretching the chart use Chart view size.

Examples

Radial 'A Countries'

We have chosen five countries and presented their current Human Development Index position as a radial bar chart.

Economic indicators

In this example we have calculated percentile ranks relative to historic data for eight different USA's indicators.

Distribution stack chart

Overview

Dates are represented by cells stacked on each other which create a distribution chart. Whole chart can be then colored by specific rules.

How to create a Distribution stack chart?

  1. Add Formula analysis:
    • Create brackets with if() formulas e.g.;
      if(fx:s1<0, year(), null())
      if(fx:s1>=0 & fx:s1<20, year(), null())
      if(fx:s1>=20, year(), null())
  2. Add Cross sampling:
    • Add Calculations 'Last' and enough Nth last values to cover the elements + 2-3 spares.
    • Create group with bracket-series.
  3. Add Transpose to flip data. Include only 'Nth las values' for Brackets group.
  4. Add Bar chart.
    • Open Graph layout (Ctrl+L). Mark brackets series and use 'Add new Text column' > 'One column per series per value'.
    • To remove all n/a go to Column defaults tab > Default cell text > Edit, paste in:
      {s .Value -m " "}
    • Go to Chart properties > Appearance > check 'Reversed' to flip chart.
    • Go to Chart properties > Chart elements > Rules to apply colors.

Examples

New houses

See the distribution of years (with date) by number of starts of new house construction.

Equity return

We show here distribution of years by S&P 500 index YoY growth rates. Years were divided into four groups and colored to make it easier to read the chart.

Radar chart/Spider chart

Overview

There is no dedicated chart type but with formulas and Cross sampling you can create one with Category Scatter chart.

How to create a Radar chart?

  1. Prepare series - one of the methods would be to use  PercentRank(series1, series1) formulas:
    PercentRank() returns the rank of a value in a series as a percentage (0..100) of the values in the series, e.g.,PercentRank(sek, sek) calculates the percentile value of the series 'sek' for each observation.
  2. Prepare position's values - in next Formula analysis use these four formulas for each series (note that some elements should be changed, see below for more information):
    • fx:s1*Sin((0)*2*pi()/6)
    • fx:s1*Cos((0)*2*pi()/6)
    • 100*Sin((0)*2*pi()/6)
    • 100*Cos((0)*2*pi()/6)
      Changing elements:
      - Each set of formulas should have successive number after Cos/Sin e.g., fx:s1*Cos((1)*2*pi()/6), fx:s1*Cos((2)*2*pi()/6).
      - The number at the end (here '6') is total number of series in initial data set.
      - We also recommend to rename these series as 'series1 X'; 'series1 Y', 'series1 X Max'; 'series1 Y Max'.
      NOTE: If you want to flip the chart by 90 degrees set Cos-series as first (X-series), and Sin-series as second (Y-series).
    • and add these at the end of list:
      • 0
      • 1
  3. Add Cross sampling with four 'Calculations: Last'.
    • Name three of them as 25th %-ile, 50th %-ile, 75th %-ile - these will be needed for intermediate lines. The fourth is your outer shape, the 100%-ile Max-series.
    • To avoid clutter, in Output mode > Label generation select the best option for your data set.
    • In Group panel create columns for X-series, Y-series, X Max-series, Y Max-series. Same series should be at first and last position (without this duplication the shape will not be closed).
    • Select '0' and add press 'Add selected series as new single series column', same for '1'.
    • We recommend to rename all columns to X, Y, X Max, Y Max, 0, and 1.
  4. Add Arithmetic analysis to prepare radar's intermediate lines.
    • Whole '25th %-ile' list multiply by 0.25
    • Whole '50th %-ile' list multiply by 0.5
    • Whole '75th %-ile' list multiply by 0.75
  5. Add Category Scatter chart.
    • Open Graph layout (Ctrl+L), leave/create pairs for:
      • Last X, Y
      • Last, X Max, Y Max
      • 25th %-ile, X Max, Y Max
      • 50th %-ile, X Max, Y Max
      • 75th %-ile, X Max, Y Max
    • Additionally you can create pairs for:
      • 0-point - add two 'Last, 0' series
      • markers - add Bubble graph type and Last X; Last Y; Last 1 (or add them on a line's graph style).
  6. Graphic style
    • Turn off labels - due to how it is constructed there will always be one doubled label. Click on each line, under Presentation properties > Content un-check 'Show value labels'.
      Instead use Legend labels or Observation labels - see here how to add them. You can copy-paste them to other points.
    • To change each line's style click on it and go to Presentation properties > Appearance > Graph style: Custom, set Line width and style.
    • Scale adjusting:
      • under Presentation properties > Scale > Display range set for example -150/150,
      • under Presentation properties > Appearance > Tick position select 'None',
      • un-check Presentation properties > Appearance > Show labels to hide numbers.
    • To turn off borders go to Presentation properties > Border > Width, select 'None'.
    • To turn off grid line, click on one and un-check box under Presentation properties > Appearance > Show grid line.
  7. Chart size - to avoid stretching the chart use Chart view size.

Adding more lines

You can easily add more lines.

  1. Go to Cross sampling and add, for example, calculation 'Value at: -1y' (for values one year back).
  2. Go to chart, open Graph layout (Ctrl+L).
  3. Adjust series - leave just Line for 'Value at, -1y, X' and 'Value at, -1y, Y'.

Examples

Radar on 'A Countries'

We have chosen five countries and presented their current and 2000's Human Development Index position on a radar.

Spider Pigs

Here we showed latest data for agricultural production from New Zealand. You can also see how to flip the outer shape of radar.

Economic spider web

In this example we have calculated percentile ranks relative to historic data for eight different USA's indicators.

 

Dashboard

Overview

Dashboard can be created from Bar chart using combination of Text, Graph, Symbol columns and Rules applied to them.

How to create a Dashboard?

  1. Add series and perform calculations.
  2. Add Bar chart and open Graph layout (Ctrl+L).
  3. Arrange series the way you want. Each section in Graph layout is a new column:
    • Note that those transparent yellow and blue colors do not appear in the application.
  4. Rename columns and titles.
    • If you need to add a dynamic date - add to Series list: Month() and Year(), and as another Group in Cross sampling. When editing column's title use those series in i.e.,: Data for {s s7.Value}/{s s6.Value}.
  5. Add Rules - see Bar chart conditional formatting rules and the example below.
    • If you want to highlight whole column in one color - set rule that will always be true, for example 'Greater than -1' (for a series that cannot go below 0).
  6. Set width for each section - click on a cell in column and go to Column properties > Column.
    • Note that this is made for 'Expanding' mode. You can change the mode under Chart properties > Width
  7. Add separator between sections - click on a column and go to Column properties > Separator left/right, select Color and Width.
  8. Add general border - go to Graph area properties > Border, select Color and Width.
  9. Add notes - go to Chart properties > Notes, select one of them and type in text. 

Examples

Dashboard - Tourists expenditures

In this example we compare average expenditures from past years to latest month values.

Dashboard - Land use

In this example we compare land area (forest and agricultural) of different countries.

Bubbles on string chart

Overview

Bubble chart can be also modified for specific use, for example when you want to compare series showing values as weights.

How to create Bubbles on string chart?

  1. Add series on a List.
  2. Perform calculations and/or analyses.
  3. Add Formula analysis with values from 1 to x, where x is a number of your series in the list.
  4. Add Time chart, open Graph layout.
  5. Pair series - number-series with regular series - under Bubble graph type. First add number-series.

Other graphical elements

  • You can turn off Legend - click outside chart area and un-check box under Presentation properties > Chart elements > Legend.
  • To add labels on the right side - click inside chart area and under Presentation properties > Elements > Vertical axis value labels check box. Double-click on each label to edit it.
  • Click on y-axis and under Presentation properties > Appearance > Tick position set to None and uncheck 'Show labels'.
  • Click on y-axis and under uncheck Presentation properties > Appearance > Show labels.

Example

Importance of weight

In this example we used bubbles to show change in importance of main US CPI weights.