Formatting a Time Series Slider widget

For an image of a Time Series Slider widget and steps to add one to a document, see Defining a Time Series Slider widget.

The table below suggests formatting ideas and provides steps to format the Time Series Slider widget.

What to Format in the Widget

How to Format It

Display the graph legend inside or outside the graph

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget heading and then click Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Select or clear the Display legend outside of graph check box.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Maintain height of the Y-axis

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Select or clear the Enable fixed y-axis check box.

    • If this check box is selected, the Y-axis of the primary graph remains at a fixed height regardless of the data or any changes to the data.

    • If this check box is cleared, the Y-axis automatically resizes based on the data that is displayed.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

View only a subset of the dataset on the graph

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Select the Enable Data Sampling check box.

    • If this check box is selected, an equally-dispersed set of X-axis values are displayed on the graph to give you an overall impression about the graph's values.

      Note      : Enable this property only if you are working with datasets in which removing data points will not affect the overall meaning of the graph.

  3. To determine the number of points that are displayed, type a number in the Data sampling window size field. If more points than the maximum are displayed, this property is used to limit the size of the graph. This option is only available if the Enable Data Sampling check box is selected.

  4. Click OK to save the changes.

Display all series as line graphs

By default, the first series in the graph is displayed as an area graph. You can choose to display this series as a line graph.

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Select the All series as line graphs check box.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Define the slider position

The slider determines the range of values that are displayed in the widget when the document opens.

The slider can be given a default slider position, or return to the same position it was in when the document was last saved.

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To save the slider position, select the Save Slider Position radio button. When this document is saved and re-executed, the current slider position is used to determine what range is displayed.

    • To set a default slider position, select the Set Default Slider Position radio button. Next, choose one of the following:

      • Select Entire Available Range to display the entire graph.

      • Select Last Points in the Range and type a number in the field to specify the total number of data points, starting from the last point in the graph, to display. For example, type 5 in the field to display the last five data points in the graph.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Define the slider or primary graph as a selector

You can use either the slider or the primary graph portion of the Time Series Slider widget as a selector. For more information, see About using a Time Series Slider widget as a selector.

  1. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  2. Do one of the following:

    • To use the slider as the selector, select Slider from the Selectable Area drop-down list.

    • To use the primary graph as the selector, select Primary Graph from the Selectable Area drop-down list.

      • To change what is displayed in the target of the selector when you hover the cursor over the area you want to see, select the Change selection on mouse over option.

        Note        : This option is only available if Primary Graph is selected from the Selectable Area drop-down list.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Determine whether or not to apply formatting inherited from the widget's Grid/Graph to the widget

The following formatting options can be inherited from the widget's Grid/Graph:

  •  

  • Number formatting

  • Font type, size, and color

  • Background and border color of the widget

  • Legend formatting, including legend position, legend background, and border color

  • The maximum and minimum values that can be displayed in the graph

  • The interval between tick marks on the axes of the graph

  • The fill color of the area graph

  1. In Editable Mode, right-click the widget, then point to View Mode and select Graph View.

  2. From the Format menu, select Graph. The Format: Graph dialog box opens.

  3. From the Graph type drop-down list, select Vertical Area. Click Apply to apply your changes.

  4. Format the widget's Grid/Graph by selecting the appropriate options in the Format: Graph dialog box. For specific steps to format the widget's Grid/Graph, see the Advanced Reporting Guide.

  5. Click OK to return to the widget.

  6. In Flash Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Time Series Slider dialog box opens.

  7. Do one of the following:

    • To apply formatting from the widget's Grid/Graph, select the Inherit grid formatting check box.

    • To display the widget without inheriting formatting, clear the Inherit grid formatting check box.

  8. Click OK to save the changes.

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