Types of Charts

Areas

Charts in this category display values as points connected by lines, and shade the area between the lines and zero value. The shading emphasizes the magnitude of the values, while the lines emphasize change over a temporal or categorical dimension.

An Area Chart draws straight lines between data points. ClosedExample

An example of an area chart.

A Multitab Area Chart shows an aggregate of values. ClosedExample

Example of a multitab area chart.

A Spline Area Chart draws curved lines between data points. ClosedExample

An example of a spline area chart.

A Stacked Area Chart show stacks areas on top of each other, visualizing change in composition or sum total. ClosedExample

An example of a stacked area chart.

For more information about MultiTab Area, Spline Area, and Stacked Area charts, see MultiTab Chart Variants.

Bars

Charts in this category display values as rectangles, either horizontally (bars) or vertically (columns). Bar charts are best for comparing magnitudes across categorical dimensions.

A Bar Chart displays data as horizontal bars. ClosedExample

An example of a bar chart.

A Column Chart displays data as vertical bars. ClosedExample

An example of a column chart.

A Gantt Chart displays the duration of tasks and their dependencies during a project life span. ClosedExample

Sample Gantt chart

A Histogram displays the distribution of numeric data across several dimension values. ClosedExample

Dimension data must be binned into categories before it can be used in a histogram. For more information, see What Is Data Binning? and Binning Data.

An example of a histogram chart.

A Sparkcolumn Chart is a simplified column chart without labels or axes. It is ideal for small multiples or finding trends at a glance. ClosedExample

An example of a spark column chart.

A Stacked Bar Chart or Stacked Column Chart stacks values together, visualizing composition and sum total. ClosedExample

An example of a stacked bar chart.

An example of a stacked column chart.

A Waterfall Chart displays rectangles that represent the change in a single value, rather than the magnitude of the value. ClosedExample

An example of a waterfall chart.

For more information about MultiTab Bar, MultiTab Column, MultiTab Stacked Bar, and MultiTab Stacked Column charts, see MultiTab Chart Variants.

Combination

Charts in this category combine multiple charts into one display.

A Combination Chart displays multiple values as superimposed Area, Column, Line, Spline, or Spline Area charts. ClosedExample

Example of a combination chart.

Connection

Charts in this category show connections between source and target nodes.

An Arc Chart displays nodes on an axis and arcs connecting the nodes. ClosedExample

  • The height of an arc is proportional to the distance between its source and target nodes.
  • The color of an arc indicates the direction of the connection; that is, which connected node is the source and which is the target.
  • The thickness of an arc line is indicates represents the magnitude of a single value for that connection.

A Chord Chart displays segments around a circle, one for each dimension value, and chords connecting the segments. The thickness of a chord at each end represents the magnitude of a single value where the attached segment is the target. The color of a chord corresponds to the connected segment with the greater output, that is, the greater value where that segment is the source. ClosedExample

Sample chord chart.

A Sankey diagram visualizes major transfers or flows within a system. ClosedExample

Sankey diagram

Finance

Charts in this category are typically used to visualize price movements of a security, derivative, or currency. In particular, the charts show the high and low (maximum and minimum) prices as well as the prices at open and at close times.

A Candlestick Chart displays boxes with edges at the open and close values and lines with endpoints at the high and low values. The color of a box represents the direction of movement from open to close: up (white) or down (black). ClosedExample

Example of a candlestick chart.

An Open-High-Low-Close Chart displays vertical lines with endpoints at the high and low values. To the left of each vertical line is a tick mark representing the open value, and to the right another tick mark representing the close value. The color of each line represents the direction of movement from open to close: up (green) or down (red). ClosedExample

Example of an open high low close chart.

Lines and Points

Charts in this category display values as points, optionally connected by lines. Line charts are best for visualizing change over a temporal or categorical dimension.

A Line Chart draws straight lines between data points. ClosedExample

An example of a line chart.

A Scatter Plot displays the relationship between two values. Scatter plots are best for visualizing correlation between variables, the clustering or distribution of data, or anomalies and outliers. ClosedExample

An example of a scatter plot chart.

TIP: Scatter plot charts are a good choice when you need to show many data points.

A Sparkline Chart is a simplified line chart without labels or axes. They are ideal for small multiples or finding trends at a glance. ClosedExample

An example of a sparkline chart.

A Spline Chart draws curved lines between data points. ClosedExample

An example of a spline chart.

TIP: You can emulate a Closedpoint chart by using a Line Type and changing the Point Style and Line Style Closedvalues.

Edit chart portlet value settings.

Sample point chart

MultiTab

Charts in this category have two categorical axes. They use colors or tile size to show values.

A Heatmatrix uses a color scale to represent a single value for each cell of a matrix. ClosedExample

Heat map chart.

See also Click Actions on Heatmatrix Charts.

Pies

Charts in this category display values of a single dimension as wedges. By default, they display up to 12 values. If there are more than 12 values, the chart displays the first 11 values, and combines the remaining values in a 12th wedge called Other. They are best for visualizing percent composition or part-to-whole relationships.

Donut Chart ClosedExample

Sample donut chart.

Pie Chart ClosedExample

Example of a pie chart.

Statistics Charts

Statistics charts display the relationship between variables or show the value spread of a specified dimension.

A Box Plot or a Horizontal Box Plot displays the minimum, maximum, median, and first and third quartiles of a distribution for each dimension value. It can also show outliers. ClosedExample

Example of a box plot graph.

MultiTab Chart Variants

In the following multiple value chart types, values are defined when the portlet is configured:

  • MultiTab Area Chart
  • MultiTab Spline Area Chart
  • MultiTab Stacked Area Chart
  • MultiTab Bar Chart
  • MultiTab Column Chart
  • MultiTab Stacked Bar Chart
  • MultiTab Stacked Column Chart
  • MultiTab Line Chart
  • MultiTab Sparkline Chart
  • MultiTab Spline Chart

Each of these multiple value chart types has a MultiTab variant in which the values are defined not by the portlet configuration, but by a second dimension called category. The chart show one value or color for each distinct value of the category column. In other words, a MultiTab chart shows one value divided into multiple categories.

See also: