Populate the Bar Chart item to Meet the Business Requirements
While our
next steps might focus upon simply dragging fields from the Fields pane
of the Report Designer, we will populate our chart from inside the
multi-tabbed Chart Properties dialog. Because few charts I encounter in
the business environment can be built completely through the “drag-and-drop”
process anyway (expressions are often involved in combination with the date
fields, as an example), I long ago developed the habit of working from the Properties
dialog. (The practice of tabbing through the Properties dialog can
often remind us of other settings we need to make, additional options that are
available in meeting client / employer needs, and so forth, as an another
benefit.)
10.
Right-click
the generic chart item.
11.
Select Properties
from the context menu that appears, as shown in Illustration 11.
Illustration 11: Select
Properties from the Context Menu
The Properties dialog appears, defaulted to the General
tab, where we will begin our examination of the chart properties in the subsections
that follow.
General Tab
1.
Type
the following into the
Title box on the
General tab:
Sales Reason Comparisons
2.
Click
the
Style button, depicted (and also magnified) within the
respective red squares in
Illustration 12, to the immediate right
of the
Title box.
Illustration 12: Click
the Style Button for the Title Box ...
The Style
Properties dialog box appears.
3.
Make
the settings, listed in
Table 1 below, within the
Style
Properties dialog box:
|
Property
|
|
Setting
|
|
|
|
|
|
Family
|
|
Arial
|
|
Size
|
|
12pt
|
|
Style
|
|
Italic
|
|
Weight
|
|
Bold
|
|
Color
|
|
Black
|
|
Decoration
|
|
None
|
|
|
|
|
Table 1: Style Properties Dialog
The Style
Properties dialog appears, with our settings, as shown in Illustration 13.
Illustration 13: Style
Properties Dialog Box with Settings
4. Click OK
to accept changes and to exit the Style Properties dialog box.
We return
to the General tab.
5. Ensure
that Bar is selected in the Chart type selection list.
6. Ensure
that the left-most selection, Bar chart, is highlighted) among the context-sensitive
Chart sub-type selections to the immediate right of the Chart
type selection list.
7. Click
the Chart Area Style... button, which appears in the bottom left
corner of the General tab.
We can
manipulate settings for chart borders and lines via the Borders and Lines
tab, depicted with default settings in Illustration 14.
Illustration 14: Style
Properties Dialog Box – Border and Line Tab (with Default Settings)
8. Click
the Fill tab to expose the chart Fill settings, which appear
(with defaults) as shown in Illustration 15.
Illustration 15: Style
Properties Dialog Box – Fill Tab (with Default Settings)
9. Click
the OK button at the bottom of the Style Properties... dialog,
to dismiss the dialog with all properties settings at default.
We return
to the General tab, once again.
10. Click
the Plot Area Style... button, which appears to the immediate right
of the Chart Area Style... button at the bottom of the General
tab.
The two-tabbed
Style Properties dialog that appears is identical to that which we saw
when we clicked the Chart Area Style... button in the immediately
preceding steps. Since we will be leaving these settings, too, at their
defaults, we will dismiss the associated Style Properties dialog at this
point.
11. Click
the OK button at the bottom of the Style Properties dialog,
to dismiss the dialog with all properties settings at default.
We return
to the General tab, once again, which appears, with our settings, as
depicted in Illustration 16.
Illustration 16: Chart
Properties Dialog Box – General Tab with Our Settings
We will
move to the Data tab in the subsection that follows.
» 
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