Area charts and blank cells
 

Hi,

I'm trying to plot costs vs. time (month) on an area chart. I want to split
up the costs by time, so I've created a bunch of different data series which
look something like:
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1
$1 $3
$3 $8 $4

This is basically just breaking up the original data series... ie
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1 $3 $8 $4

I was hoping this would produce a nice, continuous area chart sectioned off
by colour. The problem is that it interprets the blank spaces as zero and so
I get these weird edges at the end of series... like going from $3 in Apr to
$0 in May. What I would like it to do is just drop straight down from $3 to
$0 in Apr (so just a vertical line). Any way to do this?

If there's a way to shade under line graphs, that would also do the trick...
because those don't plot blank spaces as zero. Thanks for your help!!

Hi Pat,

There is a trick involved. Enter each month twice, change the x-Axis to a time-scale, and enter the value where you wish to drop straight down in only the first occurrence of the month.

That is, enter the data like this...

Jan-05 Feb-05 Feb-05 Mar-05 Mar-05 Apr-05 Apr-05 May-05 May-05
2 6 6 1
1 3
3 8 8

Then create a stacked area chart. Then, select the chart, use menu item
Chart-Chart Options-Axes and change the X-Axis to Time-scale. Format the
X-Axis to use a one-month base unit.

Ed Ferrero
http://edferrero.m6.net/


Hi,

I'm trying to plot costs vs. time (month) on an area chart. I want to split
up the costs by time, so I've created a bunch of different data series which
look something like:
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1
$1 $3
$3 $8 $4

This is basically just breaking up the original data series... ie
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1 $3 $8 $4

I was hoping this would produce a nice, continuous area chart sectioned off
by colour. The problem is that it interprets the blank spaces as zero and so
I get these weird edges at the end of series... like going from $3 in Apr to
$0 in May. What I would like it to do is just drop straight down from $3 to
$0 in Apr (so just a vertical line). Any way to do this?

If there's a way to shade under line graphs, that would also do the trick...
because those don't plot blank spaces as zero. Thanks for your help!!

Area charts and blank cells
 

Great!! Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Just a comment - I'm not
too sure why the stacked chart is needed. I tried it with a plain Area chart
and it worked fine. Thanks again!

Pat

"Ed Ferrero" wrote:

Hi Pat,

There is a trick involved. Enter each month twice, change the x-Axis to a time-scale, and enter the value where you wish to drop straight down in only the first occurrence of the month.

That is, enter the data like this...

Jan-05 Feb-05 Feb-05 Mar-05 Mar-05 Apr-05 Apr-05 May-05 May-05
2 6 6 1
1 3
3 8 8

Then create a stacked area chart. Then, select the chart, use menu item
Chart-Chart Options-Axes and change the X-Axis to Time-scale. Format the
X-Axis to use a one-month base unit.

Ed Ferrero
http://edferrero.m6.net/


Hi,

I'm trying to plot costs vs. time (month) on an area chart. I want to split
up the costs by time, so I've created a bunch of different data series which
look something like:
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1
$1 $3
$3 $8 $4

This is basically just breaking up the original data series... ie
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
$2 $6 $1 $3 $8 $4

I was hoping this would produce a nice, continuous area chart sectioned off
by colour. The problem is that it interprets the blank spaces as zero and so
I get these weird edges at the end of series... like going from $3 in Apr to
$0 in May. What I would like it to do is just drop straight down from $3 to
$0 in Apr (so just a vertical line). Any way to do this?

If there's a way to shade under line graphs, that would also do the trick...
because those don't plot blank spaces as zero. Thanks for your help!!