The Diagram Wizard helps you when creating new 2D and 3D diagrams and offers a host of pre-configured diagram types for you to choose from.

Before you call up the wizard, you should select the data to be displayed. You can select complete data sets in the Object List or in the name row of the open folder's data view. Alternatively, you can select cell ranges in the Data View, in an Excel workbook or in a data set window. Another option is to use the section between the active cursors in a diagram as the data selection.

If you select the data sets in the Object List, the series of curves corresponds to the series of data sets in the diagram. If applicable, you should re-sort them before launching the wizard.

Step 1 - Diagram Type & Diagram Style

First click on the relevant tab below to choose whether you want to add a standard diagram or use a diagram template (style sheet): Standard or From Template.

a) Standard

Choose a diagram type and the preferred subtype. The diagram will immediately appear in the preview window. For large data sets, FlexPro automatically enables the option Preview with decimated data. If you want to view all of the data, deselect this option. In the Diagram Style drop down list you can switch between the standard and scientific styles. The latter produces diagrams in DIN 461 format. Click on the button to the right of the field to change the style sheet for the selected diagram style. These settings will then apply to all diagrams that you create going forward.

The Dynamic Axes and Curves option controls the layout of 2D diagrams when creating lists and 2D data sets. If you deselect this option, lists and 2D data sets will be split into several curves—one per list element or data column. The individual curves will be assigned their own axes, depending on the diagram type and unit. The advantage of this is that you can create axis end values and other attributes of the individual axes separately. The disadvantage is that the number of list elements or data columns cannot be changed if you update diagram later. If you select this option, only one curve and one axis per Y and X direction will be created for the entire data set. When displaying the diagram, this curve is then used as a template for drawing all list elements or data columns and the two axes are used as a template for drawing all of the necessary axes. The advantage of this is that the number of displayed axes and curves dynamically adjusts to the particular number of list elements or data columns. The disadvantage is that the same settings are used for all curves and axes. In particular, no individual axis end values can be set for the individual curves.

Use the Colors field to select the color palette that you want to use to color the curves. You can use the first grayed out palette to customize in the style sheet.

The background determines the diagram background color.

If you select the Use data set colors option, the colors specified on the Formatting tab of the data sets have priority over the colors of the color scheme.

Note:   The attributes Diagram Style, Colors and Background as well as the style sheet are copied to the diagram when it is created. You can change them on the Style tab of the diagram Properties dialog box at any time.

In the Display field, specify how the data is to be transformed before display:

If you like the diagram as it is now, you can click on Finish. Otherwise, click Next to move on to the next step.

Note:  The Diagram Wizard stores all settings that you choose for the selected diagram type and subtype on the subsequent pages of the wizard and uses these settings as the default, default settings for future diagrams. You can use the two Reset buttons for diagram type and subtype to reset the settings either for all subtypes of the selected diagram type or only for the selected subtype to the default values.

b) From Template

In the first step of the wizard, first select the template database containing the diagram template that you want to use and then select the preferred template. FlexPro now replaces the links in the template with the links of the data sets selected in the Object List and displays the result in the Preview pane. For large data sets, FlexPro automatically enables the option Preview with decimated data. If you want to view all of the data, deselect this option.

If you select the option Exact object assignment by name, comment or category, then only the data sets will replaced whose names either match the name of the object link in the template or whose comments or category match the descriptions specified in the column Used as when the template is saved.

If you like the diagram as it is now, you can click on Finish. Otherwise, click Next to move on to the next step.

Step 2 - Curves and Axes

a) Standard

This step depends on the type of diagram you selected in the first step.

On the Curves tab you can now see how FlexPro has assigned your data to the curves. You can use the buttons above the list to add additional curves or change the order of the curves. Curves that appear further down in the list appear in the diagram above curves that are higher up in the list. You can assign a particular Y axis and X axis to each curve. The curve data is scaled across these axes. A curve requires at least two data components, which are Y and X. These can come from the same data set or from different data sets. The Separate Data Sets button lets you view components separately, and the Swap button lets you swap individual components. The curve then appears mirrored on the main diagonal.

Various design options are available to assist you. Vary colors assigns a different color to each curve. Vary line & fill styles uses different line types or fills. Label curves labels each curve with the name of the data set. When you increase the transparency, curves in the background become more visible. The default settings of the selected diagram style are used based on the options that you select.

In addition to displaying curves in the selected style, you can add the following special formats as additional curves:

•Horizontal line labeled with value
Click on Add Curve, and in the Y field enter the Y value for the height at which a horizontal line is to be displayed. Alternatively, you can also specify a data object that provides a scalar value.

•Vertical line labeled with value
Click on Add Curve, and in the X field enter the X value.

•Multiple vertical lines labeled with value
In the X field, enter a data object that provides a data series with the X values. If you want to input the data manually, you have to input the data as an FPScript data series, such as { 1.2, 4.2, 9.6 }.

On the Axes tab FlexPro lists all axes of the diagram. You can add additional axes in 2D diagrams. You can select the following scaling options for each axis separately:

In the Position field, specify where the axis and axis label are to be displayed. When In axis origin is selected, the axis crosses the axis origin of the other axis, resulting in an axis intercept.

In the Unit field, specify how the physical unit of your data is to be displayed.

You can add divisions and subdivisions to each axis and labelthem with values, if necessary. The wizard automatically selects number of divisions. You can specify the subdivisions yourself.

The wizard can perform axis labeling automatically using the name of the data set, or you can select Manual and enter your own text.

For all axes as a group, the following options apply:

Stack Y axes Creates a diagram with several planes. Autoscaling via data minimum/maximum always uses the extreme values of the data set to autoscale the Y axes. Otherwise, the data range limits are used, if present. Adjust axes isometrically extends the end values of the first Y or X axis so that the result is an isometric graph. Display orientation arrows Adds orientation arrows to the axes. The default settings of the selected diagram style are used based on the options that you select.

On the Polar Transformation tab first enter for the polar diagrams whether the angle axis (axes) scaling should be in degrees or radians. If the data does not already exist with angles in the X component, i.e. polar transform must be performed, this setting is also taken into account when transforming the data.

The Starting angle field specifies the start value for metrically scaled X axes. Enter -180° here, for instance, if the angle axis should extend from -180° to +180°, or 0° if it should extend from 0° to 360°.

You can use the Angle of rotation field to rotate the polar diagram counterclockwise.

The fields Opening angle and Inner radius determine whether the rectangular area of the diagram should be mapped to a full circle, a segment of a circle or a ring.

For the Scaling of the X axis (axes), Metric is preset for polar diagrams, i.e. the unit and end values of the axis are the result of the settings Angular dimension, Starting angle and Opening angletab. If you set 0° for the starting angle and 360° for the opening angle, then metrically scaled X axes are scaled cyclically, i.e. data points with angles smaller than 0° or larger than 360° are mapped to the interval 0° to 360°.

b) From Template (dynamic)

If in step 1 you selected a dynamic diagram template, the number of curves is variable and depends on the number of selected data sets.

On the Curves tab you can now see how FlexPro has assigned your data to the curves. You can use the buttons above the list to add additional curves or change the order of the curves. Curves that appear further down in the list appear in the diagram above curves that are higher up in the list. You can assign a particular Y axis and X axis to each curve. Use the Style field to assign one of the curve style sheets from the diagram template to the selected curve. In the Assign objects field, create the object links required from the selected template; this is usually the data set that will provide the data for the curve, but could also be additional data sets or a different object.

On the Axes tab FlexPro lists all axes of the diagram. You can add additional axes in 2D diagrams. Use the Style field to assign one of the axis style sheets from the diagram template to the selected axis. If there are external object links in the template of an axis, e.g. for axis scaling via an external data set, then you can create these in the Assign objects field.

b) From Template (static)

If in step 1 you selected a static diagram template, the number of curves cannot be changed once specified.

In the Assign objects field, create the object links required from the selected template; these are usually the data sets that will provide the data for the curve, but could also be additional data sets or different objects.

Step 3 - Diagram Options

Set various style options here. The step is omitted in the case of diagrams generated from templates. On the Grid tab select the divisions for which grid lines are to be drawn in the diagram.

On the Diagram Title tab you can add a title to the diagram and place it above or below the diagram.

You can use the Data Labels tab to label the data of the curves. Click on the elements to be displayed. Use the fields Angle and Position to determine the writing angle and position of the text relative to the point to be labeled in the curve. Use the fields Spacing and Start at to reduce the number of labels, if applicable. In the Decimal places field, specify the number of digits to be output. The Avoid overlapping labels option moves the labels when necessary so that there is no overlapping of text.

On the Legend tab you can display a legend for curves in the diagram. Specify in the Position field their position relative to the diagram. You can specify the color for the border and background. Select No Line so that no border will be displayed, or No Fill for a transparent background. As another option, you can add a Title to the legend.

On the 3D View tab you can select one of the perspectives provided for 3D diagrams. Select Free position to set the angle of rotation and inclination yourself.

On the Projections tab you can project the curves of 3D diagrams on the different axis planes to make it easier to read the diagram.

You can provide the curves of 3D surface diagrams with labeled contour lines in all spatial directions on the Contour Lines tab.

Step 4 - Diagram Positioning

Here you can finally specify whether you want to create the diagram as an independent object or as an object embedded in a document. You can create a blank document or select a document template for this. Enable the option Enable cursors in diagram if you want to edit the diagram using cursors immediately after creating it. This lets you zoom or mark data, or you can add dimensioning using the Dimension Curve function from the Cursors menu.

See Also

2D and 3D Diagrams

Presentation and Document Templates

Manually Sorting the Object List