Case Study: Designing Complex Chart Views

This article demonstrates how to design complex chart views (like Multi-Axis Charts and Spider Area Charts) on Lambda Analytics.

TOPICS

• Introduction to Designing Complex Chart Views
• Multi-Axis Charts
  • Formatting a Multi-Axis Chart
• Spider Area Charts
  • Formatting a Spider Area Chart

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Introduction to Designing Complex Chart Views

The ability to design complex and visually stunning charts is a key feature to getting the most out of Lambda Analytics. This collection of case studies will walk through the necessary steps to create specific chart views, including:

• Opening the Ad Hoc Editor and selecting the necessary view type
• The amount and relation of fields and measures needed
• Advanced formatting recommendations
• Recreate-able examples based on public domains

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Multi-Axis Charts

To create a Multi-Axis Chart in the Ad Hoc Editor:

1.  From the Home page, select Create > Ad Hoc View from the main menu bar. The Select Data wizard appears.

2.  In the Select Data wizard, select the Quiz Domain.

3.  Click Choose Data. 

4.  In the column between the Source and Selected Fields panels, click the Select All button to select all data from the Quiz Domain for availability in your Ad How View.

The Course, User, and Quiz sets will move from the Source to Selected Fields panel.

5.  Click OK. The Ad Hoc Editor opens.

6.  In the Ad Hoc Editor top navigation, select Chart from the View Type list. 

7.  Click the Chart Detail Selector icon and select Chart Types. 

8.  In the Dual and Multi-Axis section, select the Multi-Axis Column chart type. 

9. Close the Select Chart Type dialog.

10.  To successfully create a Spider Area Chart, you will need at least three measures and a single field.

For the purposes of this case study, drag the following Quiz Domain items from the Fields and Measures panels into the Columns and Rows boxes, respectively:

Attempts Finished: From the Quiz Statistics set (within the Quiz set) in the Measures panel. Drag this measure into the Columns box. This will display the number of finished quiz attempts.

Attempts Total Time Taken: From the Quiz Statistics set (within the Quiz set) in the Measures panel. Drag this measure into the Columns box. This will display the average grade of quiz attempts.

Quiz Name: From the Quiz set in the Fields panel. Drag this field into the Rows box. This will associate each quiz attempt statistic with the corresponding quiz.

Once these three measure and this single field are added, you will see the initial stages of your Multi-Axis chart. 

11.  In the Filters panel, drag the Rows slider all the way to the right, enabling a row for each quiz. 

You will now see a completed basic Multi-Axis Chart of your number of finished quiz attempts, total time taken, and average grade of quizzes. 

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Formatting a Multi-Axis Chart

Using the Advanced Chart Formatting commands, you can easily transform your chart into a visually striking, branded, and dynamic image.

To transform this chart with formatting, follow the steps listed in the Advanced Chart Formatting article, then enter the following formatting commands and values.

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Spider Area Charts

For the purposes of this case study, we will create a Spider Area Chart using the Quiz Domain.

To create a Spider Chart in the Ad Hoc Editor:

1.  From the home page, select Create > Ad Hoc View from the main menu bar. The Select Data wizard appears.

2.  In the Select Data wizard, select the Quiz Domain.

3.  Click Choose Data. 

4.  In the column between the Source and Selected Fields panels, click Select All to select all data from the Quiz Domain for availability in your Ad Hoc View. The course, user, and quiz sets will move from the Source to Selected Fields panel.

5.  Click OK. The Ad Hoc Editor opens.

6.  In the Ad Hoc Editor top navigation, use the View Type drop-down menu to select Chart.

7.  Click the Chart Detail Selector icon and select Chart Types.

8.  In the Line and Area section, select the Spider Area chart type. Then, close the Select Chart Type dialog.

9.  To successfully create a Spider Area Chart, you will need at least two measures and a single field.

For the purposes of this case study, drag the following Quiz Domain items from the Fields and Measures panels into the Columns and Rows boxes, respectively.

Quiz ID: From the Quiz set in the Measures panel, drag this measure into the Columns box. This will display the number of quiz attempts, as represented by ID. 

User ID: From the User set in the Measures panel, drag this measure into the Columns box. This will display the number of users, as represented by ID.

Course Category: From the Course Category set (within the Course set) in the Fields panel, drag this field into the Rows box. This will categorize each quiz attempt through a predefined course category.

Once these two measures and this single field are added, you will see the initial stages of your spider chart.

10.  In the Filters panel, drag the Rows slider all the way to the right, enabling a row for every course category. 

11.  In the Columns box, right-click User ID and navigate to Change Summary Calculation > Count Distinct.

You will now see a completed basic spider area chart of your distinct users and quiz attempts by course category. 

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Formatting a Spider Area Chart

To rotate the axis labels to match the example charts:

1.  Click the Chart Detail Selector icon to open the Chart Format window.

2.  In the Rotation of X-Axis Labels field under the X-Axis heading, change the value from "-45" to "0" and click Apply. This rotates the label text to the most legible position. 

Using the Advanced Chart Formatting commands, you can easily transform your chart into a visually striking, branded, and dynamic image.

To transform this chart with formatting, follow the steps listed in the Advanced Chart Formatting article, then enter the following formatting commands and values.

Back to TOPICS