Hi Sheldon,
Regarding the single/multiple dial charts,
let me try to clarify things. Charts with Axes in general, can possibly have multiple
axes (an axis hold a scale and marker line/ranges) and multiple series (dials),
each being associated with an axis. If we apply this to Dials, I would say a
given axis with several series results in a superimposition of the dials like
shown in your mockup. However several axes will result in several charts being
drawn (sharing the legend), one chart for each axis. Furthermore, each serie(Dial)
can define several DialRegions (also called DialRange?) to allow a given needle
to go through different colors. I am not sure if that was what you had in mind,
in your design I got the impression each Dial is an axis and a serie at the
same time. But how can you have several scales within the same chart?
Another question is how many dials and/or
axes do you want the builder to support? So far the builder allows at most 2
axes and 2 series/axis for existing types.
Let’s first agree on what we support
here, before making a ChartWithoutAxes/ChartWithAxes decision. In the meantime,
I have merged the Dial spec with the latest version of the type spec. There are
some dial mockups for the two first screens of the new chart builder, let us
know your comments about them. Besides that, it includes minor updates, not
dial-related.
Thanks,
David
From:
birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Milind Padhye
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005
9:19 PM
To: For developers on the BIRT
Charting project
Cc: Christine Knight; Monika
Mikolajczyk
Subject: RE: [birt-charting-dev]
Chart functional specifications update-MeterCharts
Sheldon, David,
I am a little concerned about using a ChartWithAxis mechanism directly for a
Dial / Meter chart type. To be sure, this is something that the underlying
framework supports. However, as far as I can tell, the only thing you are
looking for is to use the Scale and MarkerRegion concept from the axis. I think
creating a ChartWithAxis has some implications as far as handling of axis
rendering etc. is performed in the library and needs to be investigated before
going down that route. E.g. do you want to see the Axis UI in the builder for a
Dial/Meter chart? I would think not. This will however happen if you use a
Chart with Axis.
Further, by creating a ChartWithAxis structure, you will need to use / set a
bunch of properties and will need to follow the structural restrictions it
imposes while not necessary applying to this chart type. E.g. The actual data
carrying series in the chart with axis will be residing under an axis which
itself resides under a separate axis. This looks like a very convoluted
structure for a dial chart (from an API standpoint).
I think this can be done by creating a type that extends ChartWithoutAxis but
has a collection of scales associated with it. To make it possible to associate
a MarkerRange, you could consider specifying the color regions as statically
defined for the ‘DialSeries’ at design time or alternatively the
Scale structure can be modified to support MarkerLines and MarkerRanges. This
would allow for maximum re-use of the existing structures without placing
unnecessary structural restrictions on the chart type.
Just my 2 cents.
Thanks,
Milind
From: birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sheldon Lee-Loy
Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005
10:43 AM
To: For
developers on the BIRT Charting project
Cc: Christine Knight; Monika
Mikolajczyk
Subject: RE: [birt-charting-dev]
Chart functional specifications update -MeterCharts
The current design doesn't prevent you from creating separate charts
with a single dial. I believe one of the driving requirements for
specifying several dials within a meter chart is to fit in as much information
as possible within limited space. Usesablity wise this may not be good
however in some cases working in limited space may be necessary.
I
guess a dial can be modelled after an axis since a dial has a scale and marker
regions are associated with a dial. This seems to be the way to go.
Thanks,
Sheldon
______________________________________
Sheldon Lee-Loy
Problem Deterministic Group, IBM Toronto Lab
email: sleeloy@xxxxxxxxxx
phone: 905.413.2610
"David Michonneau"
<dmichonneau@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent
by: birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
08/10/2005
12:31 PM
Please respond
to
For developers on the BIRT Charting project
|
|
To
|
"For developers on the
BIRT Charting project"
<birt-charting-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx>
|
cc
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Christine Knight/Toronto/IBM@IBMCA, Monika
Mikolajczyk/Toronto/IBM@IBMCA
|
Subject
|
RE: [birt-charting-dev] Chart functional specifications
update - MeterCharts
|
|
Hi Sheldon,
Thank you for the specifications of this dial type. I have a
few questions:
In case of multiple dials, did you consider as an alternative
to show them next to each other, like we do for pie charts? I think one of the
advantages of this approach is to allow multi-coloring of one given region, to
act as a dashboard indicator. For instance if the temperature is higher than
50, the region color could change to red, then if the needle goes in the red,
the user knows it requires specific attention. It also minimizes the complexity
of the chart graphics, as it’s easier to read three separate dials than
three superimposed dials (imagine if your car speedometer, engine rotation
counter, and gas tank indicator were all in one same dial with three needles).
Regarding the model, I thought DialRegion would in fact be
DialSeries in the types.xsd. I also assume this new type falls in the
ChartWithoutAxes category. If we follow my suggestion above, it seems Dial and
DialRegion will fusion together. If we keep the current design, maybe Dial
should subclass ChartWithoutAxes instead of being a component, or maybe the
other way would be to make it a ChartWithAxes and subclass the Axis interface
with a DialAxis (Dial).
Thanks,
David
From:
birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:birt-charting-dev-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Sheldon Lee-Loy
Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2005 10:47 PM
To: For developers on the BIRT Charting
project
Cc: Christine Knight; Monika Mikolajczyk
Subject: [birt-charting-dev] Chart functional specifications update
- MeterCharts
Hi All,
I updated the funtional specification document that covers the meter/dial chart
type. In this document I have included schema updates and mockups of the
chart builder. Let me know if you have any concerns and questions.
Thanks,
Sheldon
______________________________________
Sheldon Lee-Loy
Problem Deterministic Group, IBM Toronto Lab
email: sleeloy@xxxxxxxxxx
phone: 905.413.2610_______________________________________________
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