By the end of this exercise you will be able to:

• Create a line chart (time series)
• Create a 3D bar chart
• Create a 3D pie chart
• Create an aggregate view
• Create a pivot view

Note in this exercise that you set series, Data Point attribute and Horizontal Axis Attribute by dragging stream attributes into the boxes against these fields.

Create a line chart (time series)

• Open the model Dashboards and Forms 01-08: Views, filters and dashboards
• Open the stream configuration form for Overall Debt Levels
• Go to the Views section

You will create a line chart, plotted over time, of debt levels broken down by payment means:

• Press  - Insert

• Set:

• Name: Debt levels by payment means

• Display Type: Line Chart (time)

• Press OK

The best way to configure views is to add them to a dashboard first. Create a dashboard for this view:

• In the repository browser, find - Dashboards
• Press  - Add Dashboard
• Set the dashboard name to Debt levels by payment means
• Drag your view Debt levels by payment means onto the dashboard pane
• Because you are in design mode, you will see a set of configuration fields

To complete the configuration:

• In the stream view configuration form open the list of attributes with - Show Stream Attributes
• Drag attributes from this list into configuration fields in the chart builder as:

Notice that as you drag attributes across, they are added to the list of stream view attributes, with the appropriate role set.

• In the stream view configuration form, update the following settings

• Press 
• To update the dashboard into display mode (from design mode), anywhere on the view in the dashboard:
  
  • Right click → Dashboard Options → Lock the layout
• You will now see you chart

To go back into design mode - that is, to see the chart builder - on the chart:

• Right click → Unlock the layout

When you are in design mode, from this right click menu you can also bring up the configuration for the view, and for the underlying stream.

Setting an upper limit

There is one data point in the data which is much greater than all the others, so movements in the levels of debt cannot be seen. Add a maximum value in the chart layout to exclude this outlier and generate a more useful graph:

• under Vertical Axis, set Maximum Value to 30000

Then view the chart to see the results.

Setting a lower limit

You decide you are only interested if there is a debt level of more than 5,000:

• under Vertical Axis, set Minimum Value to 5000

Then view the chart to see the results.

Fixing the scale

You now decide that you want to show the graph always including the Y-Axis starting at zero:

• Set the Minimum Value to 0
• Tick Fixed Scale

Then view the chart to see the results.
Note: Fixed Scale is relevant when the graph data changes. The Minimum Value and Maximum will always be plotted on the Y-Axis, even when the largest data value is lower than the Maximum Value and the lowest data value is larger than the Minimum Value.

Create a 3D bar chart

Now you will create a graph of the same data, but this time using a bar chart. Add a new view on the stream Overall Debt Levels:

Create a view with:

• Name: Debt levels by payment means 2
• Display Type: 3D Barchart
• Press Apply
• Create a dashboard with Name: Debt levels by payment means 2
• Drag the view onto the dashboard
• Then complete the configuration using the chart builder and the stream view configuration view to update the following settings:

• Save the new view, and view the results

The view looks very cluttered – but we will filter this later to make this more useful.

Create a 3D pie chart

Now you will create a further chart on the stream Overall Debt Levels, to give an overview of proportions of debt by various payment means. Create a new view and dashboard with the settings:

Create an aggregate view

Now you will create a grid view on the data in Overall Debt Levels, but to show aggregated totals by payment method:

• Add a new grid view, called Debt totals by payment means
• Drag the attribute PaymentMeans into the View Attributes list
• Drag the attribute Count() into the View Attributes list (this attribute is available on any grid view in PhixFlow, regardless of what attributes have been set up in the stream)
• Drag the attribute DebtLevel into the View Attributes list
  • Now double-click on this attribute in the View Attributes list
  • You will see the stream view attribute configuration form:
    • Set the Name to TotalDebtLevel
    • Select the Stream Function: Sum
    • Press 
• Press  on the main stream view configuration form to save your changes

View the results.