The Column and Bar charts present the comparison of data values across categories. The plot settings of these two charts are similar, however, they represent the data differently.

Column Charts

Column Charts plot the data values as vertical columns against the categories that are arranged horizontally. The y-axis values determine the heights of the columns, while the x-axis displays the category labels. The Column charts are vertical versions of bar charts and use the x-axis as a category axis.

Clustered Column Chart

A Clustered Column chart is used to compare different values across different categories. See Create Clustered Column Chart walkthrough to learn how to create this chart.

Stacked Column Chart

A Stacked Column chart is used to display the relationship of specific items to the whole across different categories and plot values. This chart stacks the data series vertically. The Create Stacked Column Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the Net Sales for each Product Category by Sales Channels.

Stacked Percentage Column Chart

A Percentage Stacked Column chart is used to perform comparisons of percentages that each of the values are contributing to the total, across all your categories. This chart stacks the data series vertically and also equalizes the plotted values to meet 100%.

Bar Charts

Bar charts compare categorical data through horizontal bars, where the length of each bar represents the value of the corresponding category. In bar charts, categories are organized along the vertical axis and data values along the horizontal axis. For example, sales of various product categories can be presented through a bar chart. The Bar charts are preferred when the number of categories is too large to be used on an x-axis.

Clustered Bar Chart

A Clustered Bar chart can be used to display the comparisons of values across different categories. The Create Clustered Bar Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the chart comparing the Sales for different Product Categories and Sales Channel.

Stacked Bar Chart

A Stacked Bar chart is used to display the relationship of each category to the whole.

Stacked Percentage Bar Chart

A Percentage Stacked Bar chart is used to display the comparisons of the percentage that each value contributes to the total across different categories. The Create Stacked Percentage Bar Chart walkthrough showcases the Net Sales for each Product Category by Sales Channels with the percentage contribution of each subcategory within a category.

 

Column and Bar Plot Properties

The Column and Bar Plot properties discussed below can be accessed from the Properties Panel on 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.

Common

Action

The action to perform when a column or a bar is clicked. The action can be a hyperlink, a bookmark, or a drill-through. 

Labels

The data labels for each column or bar.

• Template: The template for the data label.
• Offset: The pixels by which the data label should move relative to the column or the bar edge.
• OverlappingLabels: Indicates the handling of labels in case they overlap. The property takes the following values:
  • Auto: Hides labels that overlap.
  • Show: Shows the labels even if the labels overlap.
  • Hide: Hides the labels that overlap.
• ConnectingLine: The line that draws connecting the column or bar edge with the data label. Customize the appearance of the connecting line using the following properties:
  • LineColor: Specify the color of the connecting line.
  • Position: The position of the connecting line relative to the data label. 'Auto' (default) draws the line connecting the data label and the edge of the column or the bar, while 'Center' draws the line connecting the data label to the center of the column or bar.  
  • LineStyle: Specify the line style as 'Dashed', 'Dotted', 'Double', etc.
  • LineWidth: Specify the width of the connecting line.
• TextDecoration: Decorate the data label text with an Underline, a DoubleUnderline, an Overline, or a LineThrough.
• TextPosition: The position of the data label text relative to the columns or the bars.
  • Center: Positions the data label text on the center of the column or the bar.
  • Inside: Positions the data label text inside the column or the bar.
  • Outside: Positions the data label text outside the column or the bar.
  • Auto: The default setting, same as Outside for column and bar.
• BackgroundColor: The background color of the box containing the data label.
• Border: Border of the box containing the data label text. Includes LineColor, LineStyle, and LineWidth properties.

LineStyle

The line style for the column and bar borders.

• LineColor: Specify the color of the border around columns or bars.
• LineStyle: Specify the line style of the border around columns or bars as 'Dashed', 'Dotted', 'Double', etc.
• LineWidth: Specify the line width of the border around columns or bars.

Name

The name of the plot. By default, a chart containing a single plot has the plot name as 'Plot1'.

Tooltip Template

Contains the tooltip template settings. You can choose from the list of predefined settings or set your own in the Expression Editor.

Configurations

BarLineStyle

The BarLineStyle settings are applied when the ShowBarLines property is set to True.

• LineColor: Specify the color of the bar line.
• LineStyle: Specify the bar line style as 'Dashed', 'Dotted', 'Double', etc.
• LineWidth: Specify the bar line width.

Bar line (default settings)	Bar line (custom settings)

ClippingMode

The Clipping Mode determines how a plot (columns or bars) extends within the plot area. The ClippingMode can be set to

• Fit: Utilizes the free space to fit the plots within the plot area
• Clip: Clips off the excess bar or column lengths toward the right or the bottom
• None: Same as 'Fit' for bar and column plots.

Offset

The Offset is the percentage relative to the single-column width or a single bar height, by which the column and bar plots should move to the right or the bottom side, respectively.

Opacity

The Opacity is the percentage value of the opacity of the plot fill color. 100% opacity means the columns or the bars are opaque while 0% opacity means that they are completely transparent.

Overlays

Overlays property is a collection for superimposing the data trend on the column or bar plot data points. For more information, see Trendlines topic.

Rules

Rules control the appearance of plots based on specified conditions. For more information on conditions, see Rules topic.

ShowBarLines

Determines whether to show the connecting lines between the columns or the bars of the same Details Encoding or the same Category Encoding (if the Details Encoding is empty) across different categories.

ShowNulls

Represents how null or empty values should be shown in the plot - Gaps (default), Connected, or Zeros.

UnpivotData

Determines whether to display multiple data fields as a single data field. In other words, if this property is set to 'True', the columns or the bars appear stacked in case they represent multiple data fields. By default, the property is set to 'False'. 

Design

BarSettings

The BarSettings property specifies the percentage relative to the column width or the bar height that should be specified in order to change the shape of the columns or bars.

• NeckHeight: Creates a neck in the otherwise rectangular columns or bars. The resulting shape of the column or bar can have a different width or height as specified in the BottomWidth or the TopWidth properties.
• BottomWidth: Bottom width of the column or bar in percent.
• Overlap: Percentage overlap between the adjacent columns or bars representing different data values, relative to the containing category size.
• TopWidth: Top width of the column or bar in percent.
• Width: Width of the column or the bar.

Encodings

Values Encoding

The Values encoding specifies the data values. The Values property is 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 Column and Bar plots, 'Simple' is acceptable.

Value

The Value property is the collection and usually takes a bound field. However, the Column and Bar 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.

If multiple data values are added in the Values encoding, a clustered plot is created.

Category Encoding 

The Category Encoding for Column and Bar plots forms the axis of the plot across which distinct categories are arranged. 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. 

For example, see the Create Clustered Column Chart walkthrough where

• Values collection takes the [Product Category] field item
• Sorting field takes the [Net Sales],
• Sort direction is Descending, and
• Sorting aggregate is Sum.

Details Encoding

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:

• ExcludeNulls: ExcludeNulls property determines whether to exclude the null details values in the dataset field.
• Group: The Group property determines how the columns or bars are arranged when divided into subcategories.
  • Stack: Stacks the subcategories vertically in the case of column plots and side-by-side in the case of bar plots.
  • Cluster: Creates a cluster of groups for the subcategories. The Create Clustered Bar Chart walkthrough uses this value for grouping the details value. Note that a clustered plot can be created by providing two data field values, that is, two items in the Values encoding collection.
  • None: It is the default value.
• SortDirection: The SortDirection defines the ascending or descending order in which the subcategories should be sorted.
• SortingAggregate: The SortingAggregate property specifies the aggregate to use for sorting the subcategories. 
• SortingField: The SortingField defines the order in which the subcategories are displayed.
• Values: The Values property is the collection and takes the field as a subcategory.

Color Encoding

The Color Encoding enables the color legend of the Category Encoding or Details Encoding to display a match between the column or bar colors and the data values. 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 Column and Bar plots take the first item from the collection.

If the Details Encoding is empty, Column and Bar plots calculate distinct Color Encoding results for the categories produced by the Category Encoding, convert them to the background color of the corresponding columns or bars, and display the match in the legend.

Otherwise, Column and Bar plots calculate distinct Color Encoding results for the subcategories produced by the Details Encoding, convert them to the background color of the corresponding columns or bars subsections and display the match in the legend. In both cases, plots pick up colors from the Chart Palette.

For instance, in the Create Clustered Column Chart walkthrough, the Details encoding is empty but multiple data values are added. The Show Values Name property of the Color encoding is set to 'True', therefore, the colors are set to the [Product Category] expression showing the global legend with data value field names. Consequently, the report output shows the legend that matches Product Categories with corresponding column subsections background.

In most cases, you will use the same configuration for both Details Encoding and Color Encoding to enable a visual map of data values breakdown.

Text Encoding

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.