An Area Chart is similar to a line chart that is connected using line segments. The Area Chart arranges a period horizontally, connects them by line, encodes values into points, and fills the area between the line segments and x-axis with color. An area plot is a good chart option when you want to observe the volume change over a period. It gives the summation of the quantitative data.
A Stacked Area chart is a type of area chart that helps in breaking down data values into subcategories by placing corresponding area subsections on top of each other. The Create Stacked Area Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the Net Sales over a year with stacked areas for each Product Category.
Stacked Area
A Percentage Stacked Area chart combines the stacked area and the Percentage axis scale. Apart from showing changes in data values, the chart can also show each subcategory's contribution to a total. The Create Stacked Percent Area Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the percentage share of Product Categories in Net Sales.
Percentage Stacked Area
A Clustered Area chart is used to break down data values into subcategories for granular analysis. For example, the Clustered Area Chart can be used to depict the total sales changes over a year segregated into clustered areas per product category.
Clustered Area Chart
The Area Plot properties discussed below can be accessed from the Properties Panel by selecting the Chart > Plot from the Report Explorer. You can access some of the important properties from the Plot's Smart Panel too. See Chart Smart Panels topic for more information. Both the Properties Panel and the Smart Panel can be accessed by right-clicking the plot in the design area.
The action to perform when the area plot is clicked. The action can be a hyperlink, a bookmark, or a drill-through.
The data labels for each area chart.
The line style for the area plot borders.
The name of the plot. By default, a chart containing a single plot has the plot name as 'Plot1'.
Contains the tooltip template settings. You can choose from the list of predefined settings or set your own in the Expression Editor.
The Clipping Mode determines how a plot extends within the plot area. The ClippingMode can be set to
The Line Aspect determines the line style that connects data points.
The Opacity determines the opacity of areas filled with color. 100% opacity means that the plot fill color is opaque while 0% opacity means that the plot fill color is completely transparent.
Overlays property is a collection for superimposing the data trend on a plot. For more information, see Trendlines topic.
Rules control the appearance of plots based on specified conditions. For more information on conditions, see Rules.
Represents how null or empty values should be shown in the plot - Gaps (default), Connected, or Zeros.
Determines whether to display multiple data fields as a single data field. By default, the property is set to 'False'.
The BarSettings specifies the bar style settings.
The Category Encoding of an Area plot creates an area between the axis and the line generated from the connected data points representing the periodic change. The Category encoding includes the following properties.
Values
The Values property is the collection and takes the field as a category.
SortingField
The SortingField defines the order in which the categories are displayed. It takes the default same as the Values field, but you can also specify another field to sort the categories.
SortDirection
The SortDirection defines the ascending or descending order in which the categories should be sorted.
SortingAggregate
The SortingAggregate property specifies the aggregate to use for sorting the categories.
The Colors Encoding enables the color legend of the Details or Category Encoding. It includes the following properties:
Action
The action to take when the color legend is clicked.
Aggregate
Aggregates the value of Color expression.
ShowValuesName
If set to True, the legend is displayed based on the value specified in Details encoding or Color encoding.
Values
The Values is the collection where the value of the Color expression is specified. However, the Area plots take the first item from the collection.
The Details Encoding breaks down the data values into subcategories and produces additional groups. The Details property is the collection of items and each item includes the following properties that define the Details encoding:
The Values encoding specifies the data values, and represents the collection of items and each item includes the following properties.
Type
The Type property provides 'Simple' and 'Complex' options to choose from. However, for Area plots, 'Simple' is acceptable.
Value
The Value property is the collection and usually takes a bound field. However, the Area plots take the first item from the collection.
Aggregate
To show aggregated values such as Average, Count, and Sum instead of individual values, specify an Aggregate function.
The Text Encoding provides support of any dataset field in chart labels and tooltips and allows displaying additional info on the chart. When two text encodings are added, they are displayed by default with the ";" delimiter. A text encoding includes the following properties:
Aggregate
Aggregates the value of the Text expression.
Target
Specifies whether this text is for a Label or a Tooltip Label. The label format is controlled with the chart's Labels > Template property or Tooltip Template property.
The Template property can use both the predefined values and the added text encoding fields, for example:
Count:{Text0}
Sum:{valueField.value}
Template Key
A unique key, used in the chart plot's Labels > Template and Tooltip Template to access the text encoding value.
Value
A field, constant or expression to be displayed.
