{S:X;X;0;0;Charts from the Beginning \– Part 1{ITR-X}by Gerald L Fitton}
{S:X;X;0;1;Keywords:{ITT-X}Charts Fitton}
{S:X;X;0;2;Charts are an advanced feature of Resultz. If you are new to Resultz then I suggest that you familiarise yourself with the more basic features such as those in the Sheets1 directory before attempting this exercise.}
{S:X;X;0;3;In addition to explaining how to use the Resultz charts facility I shall take the opportunity to demonstrate how to import a data file from PipeDream. You will still be able to follow through this tutorial even if you don\’t have PipeDream.}
{S:X;X;0;4;RISC OS Printing{ITR-X}{ITR-X}Although charts make pleasant pictures on a monitor, the result wanted by most users of charts will be \‘hard copy\’\—printed output!}
{S:X;X;0;5;I find the RISC OS output from the so called \‘9-pin\’ printers disappointing because of the large dot diameter. Dot matrix printers with 24 pins are substantially better, bubble and ink jet printers are better still, only marginally poorer than laser printers.}
{S:X;X;0;6;If you have RISC OS 3 then you will have been provided with a suitable printer driver as part of that operating system. If you have RISC OS 2 but you do not have any printer drivers then I suggest that you upgrade to RISC OS 3 (see below under Outline Fonts).}
{S:X;X;0;7;Outline Fonts{ITR-X}{ITR-X}The charts generated by Resultz include text. The numbers which appear along the axes of graphs are text as are the named \‘categories\’ (more of which later) which appear along the \‘x - axis\’ of bar charts.}
{S:X;X;0;8;You will not get very far with any of the Fireworkz packages if you do not have Acorn\’s outline font manager and, at least, the Homerton font. So where do you get these from?}
{S:X;X;0;9;If you have bought a RISC OS 3 machine or upgraded from RISC OS 2 to RISC OS 3 then your purchase will include both the outline font manager and some outline fonts (including Homerton). If you intend to upgrade from RISC OS 2 to RISC OS 3 then, when you buy RISC OS 3, you will find that a (new) font manager and the Homerton (and other) fonts are built into the RISC OS 3 \‘chips\’.}
{S:X;X;0;10;At the moment RISC OS 3.10 is available at about £50.00 so I suggest that, rather than spend money on an outline font starter kit and printer drivers for use with RISC OS 2 at a cost of about £50.00, you may prefer to spend the £50.00 on RISC OS 3. I strongly recommend buying RISC OS 3 rather than \‘upgrading\’ your RISC OS 2 system.}
{S:X;X;0;11;Even if you have RISC OS 2 printer drivers and some outline fonts, I still recommend that, if you are \‘serious\’ about using the Fireworkz packages, you upgrade to RISC OS 3. Colton Software have told me that the Fireworkz packages have been 'optimised' for RISC OS 3. My experience is that with RISC OS 3 they are noticeably \‘smoother\’ and considerably quicker than on my RISC OS 2 machine.}
{S:X;X;0;12;Charts{ITR-X}{ITR-X}The time has come to try out a chart.}
{S:X;X;0;13;If you say \“Graph\” to a Mathematician they will probably think of a graph with x and y axes, a set of points and a line running through the points. The Resultz package will produce such \“x \– y\” graphs but, for this simple exercise I shall use a bar chart. I do this partly because bar charts are generally appreciated more easily by non mathematicians and partly because the bar chart is the default option built into Resultz by Colton Software.}
{S:X;X;0;14;In this directory you will find the files [Timing_1] and [Timing_2]. Resultz charts are saved as graphics within the file so that, unlike PipeDream, there is no extra chart file. The file [Timing_2] is a PipeDream 4 copy of the file [Timing_1] (but without the chart) so that I can use it to show you how to \‘convert\’ PipeDream files to Resultz files.}
{S:X;X;0;15;Double click on the [Timing_1] file to load it. The only font used in [Timing_1] is Homerton. For rows 2 to 13 the font is 12 point. The chart which is loaded into [Timing_1] also uses the Homerton font. If you do not have Homerton then the document will probably look a mess if it loads at all!}
{S:X;X;0;16;Let me say right away that this table of data and the chart do not conform to the standards which I would normally insist on for an illustrative table and an illustrative chart. In particular I have no title and no units on the chart and I do realise that this is bad practice. More of such things in another tutorial\—in any case I shall start that series by discussing how to convert reference tables into illustrative tables using Resultz. What I want to do in this tutorial is to use the defaults provided by Colton Software so that you can learn the basics of creating charts from data.}
{S:X;X;0;17;The data consists of the Names of five people in column a, the time in minutes which they took to get to work Yesterday and Today in columns b and c respectively. The bar chart shows the time taken yesterday in red and today\’s time in yellow.}
{S:X;X;0;18;Place the pointer in slot c10 (Sheila\’s time for today) and change the value from 23 to 80. You will find that the yellow bar corresponding to Sheila will grow. Restore the value in [Timing_1]c23 to 23 and the file will be saved again and the chart will be drawn again.}
{S:X;X;0;19;The file, [Timing_1], has been sorted on column a (in alphabetical order). Mark the block a6c11. Use the menu Extra \– Sort to sort the marked block on column b first in Ascending order. You will find that the hot linked chart will be redrawn with the largest bar at the right when the data is sorted in Ascending order on column b.}
{S:X;X;0;20;It is more usual to display bar charts in descending order from left to right. Repeat the sort operation but this time click on the radio button so that a red square is displayed alongside the Descending order text. Notice that the chart is not redrawn until you click the pointer somewhere in the document so that the \‘marked block\’ becomes unmarked.}
{S:X;X;0;21;Change Bill to William. The chart is redrawn only when you move the cursor from slot [Timing_1]a6 and not before.}
{S:X;X;0;22;Creating the Charts{ITR-X}{ITR-X}This covers the basics of using a Resultz\’ chart that someone else has created\—but how do you make your own? Well, you could start with a blank sheet and type in the data but I\’m going to take the opportunity to show you how to load a PipeDream spreadsheet into a Resultz worksheet.}
{S:X;X;0;23;Let me assure you that you don\’t have to have PipeDream to work through this exercise. Make sure you work with a back up copy of the files. In the Templates directory of this disc you will find a template called [ZLSheetPD] which is suitable for this (and many other worksheets). Double click on [ZLSheetPD] to load it (it will appear as the Resultz or Fireworkz worksheet window [ZLSheetPD1]) and then drag the PipeDream file, [Timing_2], into [ZLSheetPD1]. There is something special about [ZLSheetPD]\\\; if you compare it with the template file [ZLSheeT] you will find that there is no ZL text style in [ZLSheetPD]. It is this special \‘feature\’ of the template used for loading PipeDream files which \‘speeds up\’ the Fireworkz version of any PipeDream spreadsheet.}
{S:X;X;0;24;Perhaps the first difference you will notice that all the data in the block b6c13 is displayed to two decimal places. The best way of changing this in Resultz is to apply a Style which displays numbers to zero decimal places. Mark the block b6c13 by dragging the pointer from a6 to c13 (an alternative is to click select in a6 and adjust in c13) and apply the style ZL 0dp which I have supplied in the template [ZLSheeT].}
{S:X;X;0;25;If the block b6c13 is not still marked then mark it. Click on the Create chart button (in the button bar) and then run the pointer through Bar in the Chart menu. The Bar chart sub menu shown below will \‘pop up\’.}
{S:X;X;0;35;If you look carefully at the above screen shot you will see that, of the eight types of bar chart, the radio button for the top left type is selected. If it not selected then click on it to select it. Also, you may have to \‘press\’ (by clicking on it) the 3D button. When you click on OK then the chart will be drawn in your Resultz document below row 13.}
{S:X;X;0;36;Click on the chart to select it. Now drag it upwards and to the right to reposition it as I have in [Timing_1]. You may want to make the chart larger. If you drag the corners of the chart then it will change size without changing the aspect ratio (height to width ratio remains constant) but, if you drag the sides then you will be able to change the aspect ratio.}
{S:X;X;0;37;Save the modified file as [Timing_2a]. To prove that all is well, close the [Timing_2a] window and load it again\—if you have succeeded then you will find that the chart loads.}
{S:X;X;0;38;Straddling Columns{ITR-X}{ITR-X}In a typical PipeDream file you would have both a column margin (defined with <Ctrl W> and a wrap margin (defined with <Ctrl H>). You will find that the text in row 2 has forced column a to be wider than is desirable. Let\’s see if we can fix this.}
{S:X;X;0;39;Click on the {ITT-X}{ITT-X}{ITT-X}{ITT-X}a at the top of column a so that the button appears to be pushed in. Place the pointer on the right hand border of the a button and drag it to the left. You will find that, when you release the mouse select button, column a is narrower.}
{S:X;X;0;40;You will find that the text in row 2 has wrapped around automatically and that row 2 has grown downwards to two or three lines of text. Now let me explain \‘straddling\’. Mark the block a2c2. Place the pointer over the right end of the a column border button and double click using the mouse adjust (right) button. You will find that, in row 2 but only row 2, the a column has grown wider to fill the width previously occupied by the (marked) a, b and c columns. This operation of widening a column to fill a marked block is called \‘straddling\’.}
{S:X;X;0;41;The Line Break{ITR-X}{ITR-X}You still may not have exactly what you want. I would prefer to see the words \“Time Taken to Get to Work\” on the first line and the words \“in Minutes\” on the second line. Of course you could juggle the widths of various columns to this but I prefer to use a \‘Line break\’. Place the pointer between the words \“Work\” and \“in\”, hold down the <Shift> key and tap <Return>. You will find that this forces the line to split between the two words without creating a new \‘paragraph\’, which, in Resultz, implies a new row. Finally, if this title is not centred you can click on the \‘Apply centre justification\’ button in the \‘Wordz\’ part of the button bar.}
{S:X;X;0;42;Over to you{ITR-X}{ITR-X}If you have succeeded in creating this \‘default options\’ chart you may like to experiment and see if you can \‘improve\’ the chart. As I implied earlier, I am not particularly proud of the chart as it stands. Apart from missing text (such as title and units), I would like to see the bars narrower so that there is a gap between bars. I would prefer the \‘3D\’ turned off and settings such as Bar size 60% width and 60% overlap. As I have only a pre release version of Resultz at the moment I am not sure if these are achievable unless I save the chart as a drawfile (so losing the hot-linking facility).}
{S:X;X;0;43;Please let me know how you get on and, if you have real trouble producing the type of chart which you want, then write to me enclosing a disc file of your data and I will try to help you.}
