Legend
Tab
- Click
the Legend tab.
We advise
our client colleagues that, since the default position for the legend is to the
right of the chart area, and since our Stacked Bar chart may be wider than
expected, due to its nature and the amount of data we are presenting, placing
the legend underneath the chart will offer another means of compressing the
overall presentation.
- Ensure
that the Show legend checkbox is checked, in the upper left corner of the
tab.
- Ensure
that the Column radio button is selected, in the upper left corner of the
tab.
- Click
the bottom middle button underneath the Position selection diagram, to
align the Legend box underneath the Column chart area.
- Click
the Legend Style button that appears immediately beneath the checkbox
labeled Display legend inside plot area (ensure that the box remains
unchecked).
The Style
Properties dialog box appears, defaulted to the Font tab.
- Make
the settings, listed in Table 6 below, within the Font tab of the Style
Properties dialog box:
Property
|
|
Setting
|
|
|
|
Family
|
|
Arial
|
Size
|
|
9pt
|
Style
|
|
Normal
|
Weight
|
|
Normal
|
Color
|
|
Black
|
Decoration
|
|
None
|
|
|
|
Table 6: Style Properties Dialog Font Tab
The Font tab
of the Style Properties dialog appears, with our settings, as depicted in Illustration
38.
Illustration 38: Font Tab of the Style Properties Dialog Box, with Settings
We note
the presence of the Border and Line and Fill tabs, but we will leave the
settings within each at default, at this point.
- Click OK
to accept changes, and to exit the Style Properties dialog box.
We return
to the Legend tab, once again, where we will leave all else at default. The Legend
tab appears, with our settings, as shown in Illustration 39.
Illustration 39: Chart Properties Dialog Box Legend Tab with Our Settings
We will
move to the 3D Effect tab in the next subsection.
3D Effect Tab
- Click
the 3D Effect tab.
We inform our client colleagues that the 3D Effect tab
offers us a means of transforming the ordinarily flat appearance of our Bar
chart to a highly customizable, three dimensional presentation. Here we can
enable 3-D visual effects (via the checkbox to the immediate left of the Display
chart with 3-D visual effect label). The four variables that we can manipulate
are:
-
Horizontal
rotation
-
Perspective
-
Wall thickness
-
Vertical
rotation
Once 3-D visual effects are enabled, a slider becomes
enabled for each of these variables, which we can move to adjust each variable
until we achieve just the degree of readability we desire within the chart.
We will
leave the settings of the 3D Effect tab at default at this point. The 3D Effect
tab appears, with default settings, as depicted in Illustration 40.
Illustration 40: Chart Properties Dialog Box 3D Effect Tab with Our Settings
We will
examine the final remaining tab, Filters, in the next subsection.
Filters Tab
- Click
the Filters tab.
The Filters tab is but one option we have, within Reporting
Services, to filter the data that is displayed within our chart. We advise our
client colleagues that we performed all desired filtering at the dataset level
earlier within our practice session. When this is adequate (that is, when we
can afford to filter at the dataset level for the entire report) we may achieve
performance gains at report runtime, due to the overall retrieval of less data
from the Analysis Services data source. But, we caution the client
representatives, due consideration should be given to the various points at
which we can filter within a given report, to ascertain that we optimize
performance while retaining complete and accurate information for presentation.
The Filters tab allows us to choose either simple dataset
columns or expressions to filter data at the chart level. This might make
sense as a filter point if we were, say, using multiple data regions (charts,
matrices, tables, lists, or a combination of these, perhaps) that were sharing
the same common dataset(s), but where each region had different filtering
requirements and needed to present different subsets of data from the
underlying dataset(s). Whatever our needs, Reporting Services, once again,
offers flexibility in ways to meet the challenges involved.
The Filters
tab appears, with default settings, as shown in Illustration 41.
Illustration 41: Chart Properties Dialog Box Filters Tab with Our Settings
- Click OK
to accept all the settings we have made in the multi-tabbed Chart
Properties dialog box.
The Chart Properties dialog
closes, returning us to the placeholder chart item in Report Designer, Layout
tab. We will conclude our practice session in the next section, where we will
verify the operation of our new Stacked Bar chart.
Verify Operation of the Bar Chart item
Lets ascertain the
accuracy and completeness of our construction efforts. We will execute the
report with the following steps:
- Click
the Preview tab, to the right of the Layout tab atop the design surface.
- Select Bikes
within the Product Category report parameter picklist, as depicted in Illustration
42.
Illustration 42: Select Bikes as the Product Category ...
- Click
the View Report button.
The new
report generates, displaying both the original matrix and new Bar chart data
regions.
The Stacked
Bar chart data region appears as shown in Illustration 43.
Illustration 43: The Stacked Column Chart Report, Preview Tab
We can
easily verify the displayed simple Stacked Bar chart totals against the matrix
data region (by adding together each of the two years totals for any given Territory
Group / Sales Reason, and comparing that total to the corresponding total in
the matrix data region).
Our Stacked
Bar chart meets the expressed business requirements and demonstrates many
details surrounding its property settings. The client representatives express
satisfaction with our efforts, and state that, with a few cosmetic changes
(including the simple removal of the existing matrix data region, and the
subsequent realignment / resizing, as appropriate, of the Stacked Bar chart on
the canvas), the report will be ready for deployment to the targeted
information consumer group. Moreover, they assure us that the details they
have examined within the practical exercise we have undertaken can be
extrapolated to their creation efforts of other Stacked Bar charts.
4.
Experiment
further with the report, if desired.
5.
When finished
with the report, click the Layout tab.
6.
Select File -> Save RS065_Stacked_Bar_Chart.rdl As ... to save our
work, up to this point, to a location where it can be easily accessed for later
reference.
As we
can see from our examination above, Reporting Services offers a wide range of
options for Stacked Bar chart creation and
manipulation to assist us in the delivery of information within the business
environment. We
extend our examination of chart types, specifically examining each type,
together with the properties and methods we can manipulate for the precise
presentations we seek to be able to deliver, in other articles of this series.
7.
Select File -> Exit to leave the design environment, when ready
(saving as desired), and to close the Business Intelligence Development Studio.
Conclusion
In this article, we
performed a relatively straightforward examination of the Reporting Services Stacked Bar chart type,
from within a copy of an existing sample Reporting Services report that we
created for this purpose. Our focus, as we stated in the introduction, was to
create a basic, working Stacked Bar chart, using an Analysis Services data source (the Adventure Works DW sample OLAP
database / Adventure Works cube that accompanies the installation of Reporting
Services), and
to discuss
various characteristics of the Stacked Bar chart type as we progressed.
We examined relevant chart
properties, and got some hands-on exposure to the manipulation of those
properties to support the delivery of information to meet the needs of a hypothetical group of organizational
information consumers.
We noted that this article would serve as a basis, in some cases, for other,
more advanced articles within the MSSQL Server Reporting Services series, where
we use the Stacked Bar chart we created here as
a starting point from which we can concentrate on in-depth procedures and
nuances to achieve precision in meeting specific requirements and data
presentation effects that we might deliver in the business environment.
About the MSSQL Server Reporting
Services Series ...
This
article is a member of the series MSSQL Server Reporting Services. This monthly column is designed
to introduce MSSQL Server Reporting Services (Reporting Services), presenting
an overview of its features, with tips and techniques for real-world use. For
more information on the series in general, please see my initial Database Journal article, A New Paradigm for Enterprise Reporting.
»
See All Articles by Columnist William E. Pearson, III