I have a chart with dates along the X-axis and 2 values (high-low) along
the Y-axis. The X-axis dialog box has 4 tabs: Labels, Grids & Ticks,
Scale, Numeric Format. The Y-axis dialog box has only the first 2. Why
it doesn't have all 4 tabs?
Eustace
--
JavaScript Date Calculator
http://www.geocities.com/emfrilingos/tm/datecalc.html
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Eustace:
> The X-axis dialog box has 4 tabs: Labels, Grids & Ticks,
> Scale, Numeric Format. The Y-axis dialog box has only the first 2. Why
> it doesn't have all 4 tabs?
Does your Y-Axis show number values?
I ask because a Chart here that has Labels for the X-Axis offers in
Properties only the first two Tabs; the Y-Axis that runs 0-20 offers
four.
--
Good wishes!
Roy Lewis
C_Tech volunteer
(UK)
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On 2007.04.23 13:13 lemoto wrote:
> Eustace:
>> The X-axis dialog box has 4 tabs: Labels, Grids & Ticks,
>> Scale, Numeric Format. The Y-axis dialog box has only the first 2. Why
>> it doesn't have all 4 tabs?
>
> Does your Y-Axis show number values?
>
> I ask because a Chart here that has Labels for the X-Axis offers in
> Properties only the first two Tabs; the Y-Axis that runs 0-20 offers
> four.
Sorry, I mixed things up. The X-axis has dates while the Y-axis has
numbers though they are in General format. The X-axis dialog shows 2
tabs and the Y-axis 4.... -Eustace
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lemoto wrote:
> Eustace:
>> The X-axis has dates while the Y-axis has
>> numbers though they are in General format. The X-axis dialog shows 2
>> tabs and the Y-axis 4
>>
> Then it would be foolish for QP to offer Scale and Numeric Format for
> the X-Axis.
Actually, these missing options are not as useless as they might at first seem.
In fact, the provision to customize these settings for time-series charts is
one area in which Excel "excels" vs. QP.
When dealing with time series charts, it's often useful to customize both the
scale settings and numeric format of the x-axis, especially in connection with
plotting time series which consist of a large number of data points, where there
is a need to both scale and format the labels suitable for the chart space
available.
QP (apparently at least through QP11, not sure about later versions) handles
chart scale divisions in a manner unsuitable for most time series, making no
provisions for such obvious increments as days, weeks, months, years, etc.
While the desired major division may often be obtained via the "skipped
labels"
option, the inability to specify customized subdivisions (minor gridlines) is a
serious drawback. (E.g., if the primary division is years the desired
subdivision might be quarters or half-years, for decades it might be years, 2
years or 5 years, for centuries it might be decades, etc.) If the internal
frequency of the actual data series is months, this type of custom-setting
cannot be done in QP (with one exception I know of, see below).
An additional limitation is that a time-series chart applies the date format
used in the underlying data series regardless of whether the display format of
the cell containing the date is suitable for the chart. If the date in the data
series is displayed in some verbose form (day-month-year) but the chart only
provides space to display each year, you cannot customize the date display for
the chart but are stuck with the full-date display, which for an annual scale is
unsuitable. Or you are forced to reset the cell display to a format suitable
for the chart (which may in turn be unsuitable for managing the data series
itself and can create problems of its own), or you have to create an additional
column just for the chart display (which is a clumsy imposition as well).
As one might suspect, I've battled this issue in QP for years and found as the
only viable option the XY scatterplot, which does provide the ability to
customize not only major and minor scale divisions and gridlines but also to
customize the numeric format for the x-axis. On the downside, with a
scatterplot you will lose the vertical bar feature of a high-low chart.
In a broader sense, this brings up the question: why can't we have it all, each
feature "perfect" (pun intended) in one package? Neither Excel nor QP
are
optimal in their functionality. Regardless of QP's shortcomings in handling
time series charts, Excel has shortcomings of its own, particularly with certain
charting options. Ironically, it is Excel's shortcomings in the charting realm
which keep my spreadsheet use primarily in the QP camp (90% vs. Excel 10%),
despite the above described shortcomings of QP with regard to time series
charts. Also ironically, the lack of portability of charts from QP8 to later
versions (and other problems) keep me firmly committed to version 8.
Cheers,
Uli
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