How To Customize Graphs

Based on whether you created a blank Graph or one from a Template, you will see different settings populated when you open this tab. Template Graphs come with established settings which will be visible once the settings tab is opened while blank graphs will only show the option to select a Data Source.

Using this dropdown, select one or more Graph Sets to plot on the graph.

Once your Graph Set(s) have been selected, new settings will appear for you to customize. These settings allow you to specify the kinds of data you can plot (Data Source Columns) and which axes (X and Y Axis) to plot them on.

To Plot Data: Drag and drop Data Source Columns to the Axis that you want to plot that data on.

For example, the default Data Source Columns included for a blank graph are "Upload Set Name" and "Total Weight". By dragging the "Upload Set Name" bubble to the X-Axis and the "Total Weight" bubble to the Y-Axis, you can quickly visualize how the weight of a Structure changes between Upload Sets in a trade study.

Once you've specified data for each axis, a new setting will appear: "Graph Type". Here you can change the kind of graph that will display by pressing the button highlighted below or alter settings by pressing the cog button to the right of "Graph Type". More info on these settings can be found here.

Now that we've plotted our data on the graph, we can produce more detailed graphs by adding more data, categorizing it in new ways, and customizing how it's visualized.

Recall that each Graph is a visual representation of a Source Data Table based on all of the data contained in the Graph Set(s) you've selected. You can add more detail to your Graphs by adding new columns to Source Data Table and Categorizing them into different rows.

The simplest way to add new Data Source Columns is to press the green "+" button next to the Data Source Columns you already have.

Pressing that button will open the Data Type Selector Form where you can choose to add a new column based on a number of data types included with the Graph Sets you've collected. You can also add new Data Source Columns from the Source Data Table Form.

Source Data Table

In this form, you can see the Source Data Table that stores the data you can plot in your Graphs. Viewing and editing the data table in this form allows you to organize the data in a way that will make it easier to graph more effectively. As with any table, it is important to understand what makes the columns and the rows.

Data Source Columns make up the columns of the Data Source Table. They can represent a wide variety of data including: Sizing/Analysis results, upload metadata, input Properties and failure criteria, and organizational entities. On the Graph, these columns can be plotted onto the X or Y axis to produce a new entry along that axis as seen in the image below.

Categories categorize uploaded data into rows in the Data Source Table. While the default category is "Upload Set Name", if no categories were defined, each row would correspond to each Zone in each Upload Set. While that may be useful to see in some circumstances, it can lead to a very cluttered graph. For instance, the graph below plots the same Data Source Columns as the graph above with the exception that the graph above categorizes the table by "Upload Set Name".

Tip

Properly using Categories can allow a user to plot multi-faceted data in a more effective manner and as you add more data to your table, the more important they become.

Consider the following example that uses the same source data as before. This time the user wants to view the differences in weight by structure. They can add the "Structure Name" Data Source Column and plot it on the Y-Axis.

The graph shows more information but not in a particularly useful way. However, if the user were to turn "Structure Name" into a Category and then use that with the "Color By" setting instead of plotting it directly, they end up with a more detailed graph.

In summary, the first step to detailed and effective Graphs is properly managing the Data Source Table by adding relevant Data Source Columns and using Categories to create appropriate rows. The second would be employing effective Visual Settings to enhance how the data is displayed.

Data Type Selector

When a user uploads data to the Dashboard, they are uploading a lot of information about their Project - far too much to include on every graph. The Data Type Selector form is how users will select which uploaded data to include as Data Source Columns. The data available to users includes:

• Sizing/Analysis Results - Data about the results of Sizing and Analysis runs in each Upload Set, similar to what you would see in the Legend if viewed within HyperX.

• Upload Metadata - Names and tags related to the source Database and Project as well as Upload and Graph Sets.

• Inputs - Data related to Properties, failure criteria(See Theory section), and Zone Settings.

• Structures - Data related to the Project's organizational structure, namely Sets, Structures, and Zones.

Tip

Users can use the drop-downs or the search function to locate the data they want to include, select them by clicking their checkbox and pressing the select button at the bottom of the form.

Choosing the right data to include and categorizing it properly go a long way to producing detailed and salient graphs and properly utilizing the Dashboard's Visual Settings can take that even further. There are three kinds of Visual Settings:

Using all of these settings together in harmony allows a user to include more information in the graph in a more clear and effective manner.