New Chart features in OpenOffice.org 2.4

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Wednesday, 30 Jan 2008

New Chart features in OpenOffice.org 2.4

Bjoern Milcke

In the upcoming OpenOffice.org 2.4 release there will be some nice new features in the Chart. And here they are in an overview. You can get more detail on the Wiki page about Chart Features for OOo 2.4. Thanks to Tony Galmiche there are nice screen shots of the new features together with the corresponding dialogs to access them.

If you want to try out the new stuff you can download a pre-release version. See this announcement for more information about the latest developer snapshot.

Equation and Value of R² for Trend Lines
Now, it is possible to display the equation for a trend line (regression curve) next to it. The formula object can be moved around, formatted with a number format, font and graphical formatting.
Alternatively, or in addition, the correlation coefficient R² can be displayed in the formula object.
This has already been announced on GullFOSS.
Wiki
Trend Line Equations

Reverse Axes
Axes can be reversed, i.e. they point in a different than usual direction. In the example the y-axis points down from the top, instead of the usual orientation.
You can also reverse the category labels of a category axis.
Wiki

Display Bars on Different Axes next to Each Other
You can attach some bars of bar or column chart to the first axis, and some to the second one. As a result the bars are grouped for each axis and displayed one group before the other.
Now, it is possible to arrange the bars side-by-side even when they are attached to different axes.
In the example, the blue series is attached to the left axis, while the orange and red series are attached to the right axis.
Wiki
Bars of Different Axes Side By Side

Number Format for Data Labels
You can set individual number formats for the value displayed in a data label, as well as for the percentage. (Wiki)
Display both, the Value and the Percentage
It is now also possible to display the value and the percentage at the same time. You can choose a separator like a comma, semicolon, space or newline. (Wiki)
Number Format and Combination of Data Labels

Flexible Placement of Data Labels
Data Labels can now be positioned at different anchor points of the data point objects.
In the example you can see that in a bar chart there are the absolute positions above, below and center. In addition, it is also possible to set a position depending on the sign of the value. So, outside means below for negative values, and above for positive ones.
Wiki
Data Label Positions

Best Fit Data Label Positioning for Pie Charts
In addition to the before-mentioned positions for data labels, there is a best-fit algorithm for pie charts that tries to place labels without overlapping. Especially for smaller segments overlapping happens quite frequently, which can now be avoided.
Wiki
Best Fit for Pie Labels

tags: chart features openoffice.org

Posted by Bjoern Milcke on 30 Jan 2008 | PermaLink |

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Comments:

Is there any information if user defined error bars (e.g.:http://www.physics.csbsju.edu/stats/bimodal.histogram1.gif) will be possible in future? There was a lot progress during the last OOo release, thus I assume this feature is on the developers list.

Posted by Peter on January 30, 2008 at 08:45 PM CET #

Do you mean error bars taking their values from cell-ranges of a spreadsheet (Issue 366)? I am working on this issue, and it is planned to get this for OOo 3.0.

Posted by Bjoern Milcke on January 30, 2008 at 09:38 PM CET #

More details including usage instructions:

Show bars side by side
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/01/show-bars-side-by-side-double-column.html

Display equations for regression lines
http://www.oooninja.com/2007/12/display-equations-for-regression-lines.html

Posted by Andrew Z on January 31, 2008 at 07:15 AM CET #

That's real great work! Thanks!

Posted by Philipp on January 31, 2008 at 10:25 AM CET #

Bjoern Milcke wrote: "Do you mean error bars taking their values from cell-ranges of a spreadsheet (Issue 366)? I am working on this issue, and it is planned to get this for OOo 3.0."

Yes, that's what I mean. Great to hear. Since OOo 3.0 is coming close I can't barely await to have this functionality. This will solve many problems of people working in science. I can tell you that this issue was one that stoped people in our department to use it and to spread the word about OOo in science to students.

Thanks Bjoern, OOo-Devs., SUN, ...

Peter

Posted by Peter on January 31, 2008 at 07:42 PM CET #

If I compare the first two graphs from:
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/01/show-bars-side-by-side-double-column.html

I get the feeling there is something wrong with "May" and "August". Where are the Avg. Precipitation values in the first graph (I can see it in the second graph)?

Posted by Peter on January 31, 2008 at 07:52 PM CET #

Peter wrote: "I get the feeling there is something wrong with "May" and "August". Where are the Avg. Precipitation values in the first graph (I can see it in the second graph)?"

Note that the first chart is not a stacked one. The bars for Avg. Precipitation overlaps the values for Avg. Temperature. Therefore, you don't see the red bars for May and August in the first graph, as the blue bars are higher. That's what this feature is exactly about: place the bars side-by-side so they don't overlap each other.

Posted by Bjoern Milcke on February 01, 2008 at 10:05 AM CET #

Today your images in this article are all 404 even though they worked a few days ago.

BTW, now I wrote about Reverse axis in charts in more detail:
http://www.oooninja.com/2008/02/reverse-axis-chart-bar-graph.html

Andrew

Posted by Andrew Z on February 04, 2008 at 04:42 PM CET #

Equation and Value of R² for Trend Lines Now, it is possible to display the equation for a trend line (regression curve) next to it. The formula object can be moved around, formatted with a number format, font and graphical formatting. Alternatively, or in addition, the correlation coefficient R² can be displayed in the formula object. This has already been announced on GullFOSS. Wiki
Reverse Axes Axes can be reversed, i.e. they point in a different than usual direction. In the example the y-axis points down from the top, instead of the usual orientation. You can also reverse the category labels of a category axis. Wiki
Display Bars on Different Axes next to Each Other You can attach some bars of bar or column chart to the first axis, and some to the second one. As a result the bars are grouped for each axis and displayed one group before the other. Now, it is possible to arrange the bars side-by-side even when they are attached to different axes. In the example, the blue series is attached to the left axis, while the orange and red series are attached to the right axis. Wiki
Number Format for Data Labels You can set individual number formats for the value displayed in a data label, as well as for the percentage. (Wiki) Display both, the Value and the Percentage It is now also possible to display the value and the percentage at the same time. You can choose a separator like a comma, semicolon, space or newline. (Wiki)
Flexible Placement of Data Labels Data Labels can now be positioned at different anchor points of the data point objects. In the example you can see that in a bar chart there are the absolute positions above, below and center. In addition, it is also possible to set a position depending on the sign of the value. So, outside means below for negative values, and above for positive ones. Wiki
Best Fit Data Label Positioning for Pie Charts In addition to the before-mentioned positions for data labels, there is a best-fit algorithm for pie charts that tries to place labels without overlapping. Especially for smaller segments overlapping happens quite frequently, which can now be avoided. Wiki