Using the Chart Expert

Reflecting back on the sample reports used in Chapters 2 and 3, you might find that there are opportunities for enhancement through the addition of meaningful charts. As you learned in Chapter 2 with groupings, it is quite easy to summarize the data you collect for a report into meaningful categories or groups. Chapter 2 reviews some examples of grouping based on fields such as country and employee ID. By hiding or suppressing the detail sections of reports, you learned how to bring the meaningful summarizations around these types of groups to the forefront. To further bring this aggregated data to the business user's attention, you can create a chart on this grouped data using the Chart Expert.

To open the Chart Expert, either click on the Chart icon located on the Insert toolbar or select the Insert Chart option under the main Insert menu and then after placing the chart placeholder on your report in the desired section, access the Chart Expert menu option from the chart's rightclick menu. Figure 8.1 displays the Chart Expert.

Figure 8.1. The Chart Expert dialog enables the rapid addition of valuable charts to reports.

After you access the Chart Expert, several steps are required to actually complete the chart. These are reviewed in the next five sections.

Using the Chart Expert Type Tab

The Chart Expert consists of six different tabs. The initial display tab on the Chart Expert is the Type tab, shown in Figure 8.1. On this tab, the type of graphic or chart is selected. In Crystal Reports version XI, there are more than 40 different basic chart types from which to select.

In addition to the classic bar, line, pie, and area charts, new chart types in versions 9,10, and XI are listed in Table 8.1.

Table 8.1. New Chart Types in Crystal Reports Versions 9, 10, and XI

New Chart Type	Chart Type Description
Numeric Axis (v.9)	A Numeric Axis chart is a bar, line, or area chart that uses a numeric field or a date/time field as its On Change Of field. With Numeric Axis charts you can create a true numeric X-axis or a true date/time X-axis.
Gauge(s) (v.9)	A Gauge chart presents data using a speedometer visual and is often used to measure percentage completed against target type metrics.
Gantt Chart (v.9)	A Gantt chart is a project-focused horizontal bar chart used to provide a graphical illustration of a project schedule. The horizontal axis shows a time span, whereas the vertical axis lists project tasks or events. Horizontal bars on the chart represent event sequences and time spans for each task on the vertical axis.
Funnel Chart (v.10)	Funnel charts are most often used to represent stages in a sales cycle and visually depict proportionality of the different phases in that sales process. A funnel chart is similar to a stacked bar chart in that it represents 100 percent of the summary values for the groups included in the chart.
Histogram Chart (v.XI)	Histograms show the frequency of occurrence of data elements in a data set. The X axis is divided into intervals that denote ranges of data values. Each histogram bar shows the number of data elements whose value falls into that interval.

These charts have been added to expand the visual capabilities of Crystal Reports and enrich your report presentations. Let's create a Sample Customer Order Listing report and add a chart to it that highlights the Company's Top 10 Customers in the following steps:

1.	Quickly create the basics of this sample report by selecting the Customer Name, Order ID, and Order Amount fields from the Xtreme Sample Database (Customer and Orders tables). Then Group by Customer Name and Summarize Order Amount by the Customer Name group.
2.	To restrict the data to the Top 10 Customers, access the Group Sort Expert from the Report menu option. Select a Top 10 Sort based on the Sum of Order Amount and do not include Others or Ties.
3.	Insert a Chart onto the report using the Chart toolbar icon or the Chart option from the Insert menu. You will then decide where to place the chart on your report. Drop the Chart object identified by a colored outline in the Report Header section. The location of the report is important in determining the recurrence of the chart. By placing it in the Report Header, the Chart will only appear once. If you had placed it in the Group Header or Footer for Country, a new and separate chart would be created for every group.
4.	Right-click on the newly created Chart object and select the Chart Expert option. Select a bar chart as the main chart type in the list box by clicking on it. Then click the Horizontal radio button that is present at the bottom of the dialog.
5.	Select the two-dimensional side-by-side bar chart sub-chart type (top left option) by clicking on the associated graphical icon to the right of the Chart Type list box.

Figure 8.2 displays the result of these five steps. You will continue creating this chart in the next four sections.

Figure 8.2. The Type tab on the Chart Expert dialog for the Sample Top 10 Customers report.

Table 8.2 highlights some common reports, their contained graphics, and the benefits of using them.

Table 8.2. Common Reports with Corresponding Chart Types

Report	Chart Type	Report and Chart Benefit
Company Sales Report	Pie or Donut Chart	Highlights the regional breakdown of product sales across continents or countries facilitating analysis of revenue contribution.
Product Profitability Report	Horizontal or Vertical Bar Chart	Highlights the profit margin per product that a company sells, facilitating comparative analysis of profitability.
Actual versus Target Report	Gauges	Highlights the progress being made against specified targets through the use of a speedometer visual. When used across projects or divisions, it is relatively easy to compare how they are performing against certain initiatives.

Using the Chart Expert Data Tab

After a chart type has been selected in the Type tab, click on the Data tab. The Data tab enables the selection of the specific data on which the chart is based and the chart's location on the report. Figure 8.3 displays one view of the second tab of the Chart Expert. This view might vary depending on the different Chart Type options you have selected. The Data tab is composed of two sections: Layout and Data. These sections and corresponding options are discussed next.

Figure 8.3. The Data tab of the Chart Expert enables specification of layout and data options.

Specifying Chart Layout

The Chart Layout section specifies the data selection options that the selected chart provides to the report designer. The actual data is selected in the Chart Data section. Note that the options presented in that section are dependent on the specific Chart Layout button you have selected. Table 8.3 lists the different layout buttons and their typical uses.

Table 8.3. Layout Buttons and Typical Uses

Layout Button	Description	Typical Uses
Advanced	This layout button provides complete flexibility in chart creation by providing you with control of all charting options.	Creation of charts based on summaries not already created in the report or charts to be created for every detail record.
Grouping	Although this button is presented second, it is the default layout. This layout limits the Chart Data Selection options (see the following "Chart Data" section) to two drop-down boxes specifying the On Change Of and Show Values and expedites the creation of a chart at the cost of some of the flexibility provided by the Advanced layout button.	Quick creation of charts based on summarized fields already in the report and to be displayed at the Report or existing Group level.
Cross-Tab	This layout button appears as an option only when your current report is a Cross-Tab report.	Creation of a chart based on an existing Cross-Tab in the report.
OLAP	This layout button appears as an option only when your current report is based on an OLAP data source.	Creation of a chart based on an existing OLAP grid in the report.

The Cross-Tab and OLAP layout buttons and their related options are explored in Chapters 10, "Using Cross-Tabs for Summarized Reporting," and 16, "Formatting Multidimensional Reporting Against OLAP Data," because they relate to very specific report types. The next section explores the detailed data options that the Advanced and Grouping layout buttons enable.

Specifying Chart Data

Figure 8.3 displays the Data tab with the Group layout button selected. As previously described, this layout option is designed to facilitate the quick creation of a chart with a minimal amount of effort. To accomplish this rapid chart creation, two pieces of information are requested through two drop-down boxesOn Change Of (grouping item) and Show (field to be shown in the chart) selections. The On Change Of field is used to determine where the selected chart breaks the report data to be displayed. The Show field specifies the summary field to be displayed for each break of the data.

To continue adding a bar chart to the sample report, follow these steps:

1.	Ensure that the Group layout button from the Layout section is selected.
2.	Select Customer Name in the On Change Of field. This indicates that the chart breaks for each different customer.
3.	Select Sum of Orders.Order Amount for the Show field. This indicates that the chart reflects this Sum for each customer. Figure 8.3 should reflect the results of these steps in the Chart Data tab. You will continue creating this chart in the next section.

Note

When leveraging the Rapid Chart Creation functionality of the Group layout option, it's worth noting that you are limited to chart creation based on existing summary fields already created in your reports and inserted into existing group sections. For more flexible chart creation, you can use the Advanced layout option described later.

Figure 8.4 displays the Data tab with the Advanced Layout button selected. The additional options presented here give you more flexibility in the charts that you can create.

Figure 8.4. The Data tab with the Advanced Layout button selected.

The On Change Of and Show Values fields should be recognizable in this new window although they are selected in a much more flexible manner (see the right side of the Data section beside the Available Fields listing) described next.

The On Change Of field is now only one selection option (among three) in its own drop-down box. If you need to create a chart based on changing a specific field (as you did with the standard group layout), select the On Change Of charting option and then specify the field or fields to break the chart sections on by selecting any of the fields in the available fields listing. Unlike the drop-down box under the Group layout, you can select any of the available report fields in this interface, dynamically order them with the Order button or restrict their display on the report to a specified Top or Bottom N with the Top N button.

You can also dynamically select multiple fields for the chart to break on, and none of the selected fields need already be on the report or have summary fields previously existing on the report for them.

The remaining two options in the On Change Of drop-down box are For Each Record and For All Records. These two options enable charts to be created either against all data in a report or for each detailed record in a report.

Tip

When using the For All Records charting option, you can select the field to be displayed for each break by selecting a field from the Available Fields list in the list box beneath the For All Records drop-down box.

After selecting any of these options, you need to select a Show Value(s) field to enable the chart's creation. This selection specifies the summary field to be displayed for each break of the data and can come from any field (database, report, formula, and so on) that is listed in the available field's list. To select the Show Value fields, highlight the intended field and use the selection arrow buttons adjacent to the Show Values list box.

Note

You do not need to have an existing summary on your report to use it for a graph in the Advanced Charting layout options. You can add any field to the Show Values list and then dynamically create a summary by clicking on the Set Summary Operation button. These dynamically created summaries are created automatically and used by the chart. This is one of the unique features of Crystal Reports that provides you with more charting flexibility.

Using the Chart Expert Axes Tab

The fourth tab in the Chart Expert dialog, the Axes tab, only appears if the Automatically Select Chart Options check box has been deselected on the Type tab. You can then select the Axes tab by clicking it. This tab enables you to customize chart gridlines, data value scales, data value ranges, and data value divisions. Figure 8.6 displays the Axes tab of the Chart Expert dialog for a bar chart.

Figure 8.5. The Axes tab of the Chart Expert allows specification of gridline display, axis ranges, and divisions.

Figure 8.6. The Chart Expert Options tab allows specification of data points and legends for the involved chart.

Note

This tab only appears when the selected chart type has axes within it (for example, a bar chart or line chart) and does not display for other chart types such as a pie chart.

To continue adding a bar chart to the sample report, try the following step: Select the Major Gridlines check box for the data axis. This facilitates the reading of the bar charts. You will finish creating this bar chart in the following section.

Tip

By manually setting both the Min/Max Data Ranges and the Number of Divisions, you are able to customize your data axis gridline display labels.

Using the Chart Expert Options Tab

The Options tab in the Chart Expert only appears if the Automatically Select Chart Options check box has been deselected on the Type tab. The Options tab enables you to customize chart coloring, data-point labeling, legend placement, legend format options, and several other chart typespecific formatting options. Figure 8.7 displays the Options tab of the Chart Expert dialog for a bar chart.

Figure 8.7. The Text tab of the Chart Expert allows specification of text labels for the associated chart.

To continue customizing the bar chart you have been adding to your working sample report, follow these steps:

1.	Select the Show Value button in the Data Points section.
2.	Select the 1K format from the Number Format drop-down box.
3.	Click the OK button.

Using the Chart Expert Color Highlight Tab

New to XI, the Color Highlight tab provides you with an easy method of controlling the color of the different elements (such as bars, pie slices, and so forth) in your created charts. This functionality was hard to find in previous versions of Crystal Reports, yet it was previously available through the Format button under the Chart Expert Options tab.

Tip

The color highlighting functionality enables you to create charts with consistent coloring both within and across your reports. In the sample report in this chapter, you could specify the color of any particular customer(s) or you could specify the color of multiple bars based on the sum of the Orders Amount field. An example might be that where the sum of Orders Amount is greater than 75,000, the involved bar should be colored black to highlight the positive impact on Xtreme's bottom line.

Using the Chart Expert Text Tab

After a chart type and data have been specified, select the Text tab. This tab on the Chart Expert dialog enables you to specify titles and title formatting that the chart displays when it is placed on the report. Figure 8.7 shows the Text tab of the Chart Expert.

To finish adding the bar chart to the sample report, follow these steps:

1.	Deselect the Auto-Text check box beside the Title entry. You should now be able to modify the text box for the title. Change the title to Crystal ReportsChapter 8 Sample Chart.
2.	Deselect the Auto-Text check box beside the Data Title entry. Change the Data Title entry to Order Amounts. Click OK and you will find a bar chart similar to that in Figure 8.8, providing a snapshot of the Top 10 Customers for this report.

Figure 8.8. A sample Customer Orders report with a bar chart highlighting the visual benefits of charting.

If you find your chart is slightly different in appearance or imperfect, that is okay. You have plenty of powerful fine-tuning tools at your disposal, and they will be explored at the end of this chapter.