This section will give a very brief high level overview of the ChartDirector
object model.
At the top level, ChartDirector classifies charts into four main classes -
PieChart,
XYChart,
PolarChart and
MultiChart. They are all subclass
of
BaseChart.
The
BaseChart class represents features common to all ChartDirector charts,
such as the chart background, legend box, titles and custom text boxes. It also
contains a
DrawArea tool, which allows you to add arbitrary custom drawings to
the chart.
The
PieChart class, as it name implies, represents pie charts. PieChart
objects contain
Sector objects, which represent the sectors in the pie charts.
The
XYChart class represents all chart types that have x and y axes. Each
XYChart object contains a
PlotArea object, representing the rectangular region
where the chart is actually drawn. Each XYChart object also contains four
Axis
objects, representing two x axes and two y axes located objects at the four
borders of the PlotArea.
The actual chart types in a XYChart are implemented as layers. The available
layers are listed below. A XYChart can contain many layers, so combination and
custom chart types can easily be created.
Layer | Description |
BarLayer
|
Represent all style of bar charts, such as simple bar charts, multi-bar
charts, stacked bar charts, multi-stacked bar charts, percectange bar charts,
depth bar charts.
|
LineLayer
|
Represent line charts.
|
SplineLayer
|
Represent spline line charts.
|
StepLineLayer
|
Represent step line charts.
|
TrendLayer
|
Represent trend line charts. A trend line the best fit straight line
computed using the least square method.
|
InterLineLayer
|
A layer used for filling regions between two lines. The lines can come from LineLayer,
SplineLayer, StepLineLayer, TrendLayer, or from Mark.
|
ScatterLayer
|
Represents scatter and bubble charts.
|
AreaLayer
|
Represent area charts.
|
HLOCLayer
|
Represent high-low-open-close charts.
|
CandleStickLayer
|
Represent candlestick charts.
|
BoxWhiskerLayer
|
Represent box-whisker charts.
|
The above layers are subclass of the
Layer class, which represents features
common to all layers.
Each chart layer contains one or more
DataSet objects. A DataSet object
represents a data series. Several chart types require multiple data series, such
as high-low-open-close, candlestick and box-whisker charts. Other chart types
support combining the data series in various ways. For example, in a bar chart,
multiple data series can be combined to form a stacked bar chart, percentage bar
chart, multi-bar chart, multi-stacked bar chart, etc.
The
PolarChart class represents polar and radar charts. Each PolarChart object
contains a
RadialAxis and an
AngularAxis. The actual chart types in a
PolarChart are implemented as layers. A PolarChart can contain many layers, so
combination and custom chart types can easily be created.
The available layers are listed below.
The above layers are subclass of the
PolarLayer class, which represents features
common to all layers.
A
MultiChart object is a container for containing other
BaseChart objects,
including
PieChart,
XYChart,
PolarChart and other
MultiChart objects.
© 2004 Advanced Software Engineering Limited. All rights reserved.