A chart object is edited via the Charts Manager.  Each chart has the following sections:

• General
• Boarders
• X Scale
• Y Scale
• Grid
• Data

Charts save automatically so as any changes you make will be live as soon as you make them.  You should therefore create a copy if you are working on changing a live chart.

General Properties

The following general properties can be set for a graph.

Name: Enter the name. The chart will be called in dialogue boxes and dropdown lists. This is only used in Template Studio.

Description: Enter helpful information to help you identify the correct chart in the chart manager.

Title: Change the Font, Size and whether to hide the title completely. It is normal to hide the name of the chart as a title can be added as a label cell on a report.

Engineering Scale: When selected the chart will always provide a scale that creates equal scaling on both the X and Y axis.  Tick this on if you are producing Mohr’s circles graphs so that the lines are always circular.

Border Properties

The chart borders dimensions refer to the distance between the edge of the cell to the axis of the graph. 

X & Y Scale Properties

Label Properties: The Label, Front and Size change the way the axis label is displayed.

Scale Properties: The Font and size change the way the Scale values are displayed. The axis scale labels are added to every major grid line as defined on the Grid tab.

Min and Max values: These can be fixed values by simply entering the number of each. However the scales can be powerfully controlled using expressions.

Example expressions are shown below:

• Set the Y axis maximum to the deepest hole depth selected for a project sheet - Max([AggregateAll.LocationDetails.FinalDepth])
• Set the Y axis maximum to the depth of the deepest hole selected for a header sheet = [LocationDetails.FinalDepth]
• Set the Y axis to round up to the nearest 10 based on final depth- Ceiling([LocationDetails.FinalDepth]/10)*10
• Set the scale to jump based on a single values. = if(Max([AggregateAll.SPT.NValue])<50,50,100)
• Set the scale to jump based on a multiple values. = if(Max([AggregateAll.SPT.NValue])<25,25, if(Max([AggregateAll.SPT.NValue])<50,50,100))

It is best to design charts to work with multiple locations using the AggregateAll function so they can be used on Header sheets and project sheets.

Logarithmic scales: Set this to be true for the scales to be logarithmic.  When this is set the scale major grid lines are set to the power 1 – so 0.001, 0.01,0.1,1 etc.

Positive Direction:  This check box determines whether the scale increases to the left or right and up or down.  Positive means increases to the left or up.  Turn this off reverse the direction of the axis.  For depth plots ensure that this is turned off for the Y axis (as shown below).

 

Grid Properties

The grid tab allows you to set the major and minor gridline styles for both the X and Y Axis

The tab is self-explanatory; however, you must set a thickness and a pattern for a gridline to be displayed. Setting the thickness to zero or the pattern to nothing will hide the gridline.

Major and Minor interval values can be fixed values by simply entering the number of each. However, like the scales, these can be powerfully controlled using expressions.

 

Data Properties

Name: The name will appear in the list box on the left-hand side and on the legend key.

Source: The source options for charts are extensive and have been detailed here

• Creating a data series
• Creating a fixed point series
• Creating an expression series

Line Style

Set up the line style for the data set. Line Styles are set up in the Line Style Set Manager.

Line Curve Mode

Set up how the line will be drawn for different datasets.   

• Linear – join the point up.
• Best Fit Linear – good for displaying lines for tests such as a Liquid Limit test.
• Best Fit Cubic Spline – good for lines that need to be curved, such as a set of proctor tests or an Air Void Line.

Marker Style

Set the type of markers and the Scale.  It is normal to leave the scale set to 1.  Marker Sets are set up in the Symbol Set Manager.

Setting the scale to be larger with circle outline symbols can be used to highlight the labels, as shown below.

Labels

Set the Font style and font size of any labels defined in a Fixed Point dataset.

Order

The order which the datasets are drawn can be important.  The higher the number the later the series is drawn.  For example setting the A line to be Order 0 and the Data points to be 1 will draw the points over the top of the A Line.