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Chart planning guidelines

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Creating a quick chart doesn’t require much planning. FileMaker Pro sets up the chart for you based on the current state of the file. You can adjust settings, if needed, to make your comparison clear. You can print a quick chart, save it on a new layout (if you have the correct privileges), or you can copy and paste a quick chart into another application. See Creating quick charts.

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Identify the audience for the chart and decide what you want the chart to emphasize. For example, a chart for a marketing presentation might show how a product line has grown in the months after an advertising campaign was launched. Think about the data in your database and how it might be compared or contrasted graphically to make your point.

•	Choose the best type of chart to convey your comparison. Some chart formats compare similar data from different sources, some show trends over time, and some show percentages of a total. See About chart types.

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Consider sketching the chart on paper to help you determine the data series you need to assign to the x-axis and y-axis (category labels and slice data in pie charts). Charts typically show category labels on the x-axis (values you are comparing, such as companies by name) and values on the y-axis (values you are measuring, such as quarterly sales figures for each company).

•	Decide whether you need to modify data to show your comparison.

•	Do you need to perform any calculations on the data before you create the chart? For example, do you need to add summary fields to the database to calculate quarterly sales figures or does your database already contain quarterly information?

•	Do you need to sort data to show your comparison?

 

To	Consider this
Chart summary data	If you’re creating a chart in Layout mode, make sure data is grouped and sorted correctly and that you place your chart in the appropriate layout part. See Placing your chart in the appropriate layout part.
Chart data in related records	You can sort data based on related fields, but you must set the sort order in the Chart Setup dialog box, not the Sort dialog box. See Specifying the data source for a chart.
Use Instant Web Publishing to publish a chart	Charts published using Instant Web Publishing are converted to bitmaps. When viewed in a browser, they cannot be edited. Chart tooltips are inactive when charts are viewed on the web. See Publishing databases on the web.
Chart multiple data values located in single fields (for example, data in repeating fields or delimited data in a single field)	To chart delimited data, your database must contain multiple data values in single fields. You can use a calculation or a function (such as the List function) to do this. You then specify one delimited data field for the x-axis (category labels in pie charts) and one data field for the y-axis (slice data in pie charts). When you chart delimited data, values from the x-axis field correspond to values in the y-axis field in the order they were entered. See Example 2: Charting delimited data. Note  FileMaker Pro recognizes only the carriage-return character as the data delimiter.