The Spiral plot originates at the center of a circle and then progresses outward, arranging the categories across a radial line and encoding the data values into circular bars along the spiral path. The Spiral plot is suitable for comparing data values across categories using a spiral shape. The categories can be further split to represent data values as clusters or stacks. Spiral Plots are highly useful in showing large data sets, usually in displaying trends over an extended period. This makes Spiral Plots a good option for displaying periodic patterns.

Simple Spiral Chart

The simplest type of a spiral chart is quite similar to a bar chart showcased on a polar coordinate system. The Create Stacked Spiral Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the Sales Amount per Product Category.

Stacked Spiral Chart

A Stacked Spiral chart breaks down values of data into subcategories by placing corresponding circular subsections next to each other within the containing category. The Create Stacked Spiral Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the Sales Amount for each Sales Channel per Product Category.

Stacked Percentage Spiral Chart

A Stacked Percentage Spiral chart combines the stacked spiral plot and the Percentage axis scale. The chart indicates the contribution of each data values' sub-category to a containing category's total. The Create Stacked Percentage Spiral Chart walkthrough showcases plotting the share of Sales Channels' Sales Amount per Product Category.

Spiral Plot Properties

The 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.

Appearance

BackgroundColor

Indicates the color used to fill the chart area.

Common

Action

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

Labels

The data labels for each chart.

• 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.
• Color: The color name or hex value indicating the text color of the label.
• ConnectingLine: The line that draws connecting the plot edge with the data label. Customize the appearance of the connecting line using the following properties:
  • LineColor: Specify the color of the connecting line.
  • LinePosition: Specify the position of the connecting line relative to the data label. Customize the position of connecting line with Auto and Center properties.
  • LineStyle: Specify the line style as 'Dashed', 'Dotted', 'Double', etc.
  • LineWidth: Specify the width of the connecting line.
• Font: The font used to render the text of the label. Customize the text font using the Font Family, Font Size, Font Style, and Font Weight properties.
• Offset: It gets or sets the text offset of the data label in pixel.
• 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.
• Template: The template for the data label.
• 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 plot.
  • Center: Positions the data label text on the center of the chart.
  • Inside: Positions the data label text inside the chart.
  • Outside: Positions the data label text outside the chart.
  • Auto: The default setting, same as Outside for chart.

LineStyle

The line style for the borders. Includes LineColor, LineStyle, and LineWidth properties for the customization.

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

ClippingMode

The Clipping Mode determines how a plot 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 area lengths toward the right or the bottom.
• None: Same as 'Fit' for Spiral charts.

LineAspect

The Line Aspect determines the line style that connects data points.

• Default: Indicates a straight line.
• Spline: Indicates a bezier curve.
• Step Center, Step Left, and Step Right: Indicates a stepped line with different step directions.

Opacity

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

Overlays property is a collection for superimposing the data trend on a plot. 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.

ShowNulls

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

StartAngle

Indicates the arc angle that defines the clockwise rotation of the plot. A full rotation makes 360 degrees. The Create Simple Spiral Chart walkthrough shows the chart StartAngle set to 90 degrees.

UnpivotData

Determines whether to display multiple data fields as a single data field. By default, the property is set to 'False'. 

Encodings

Category Encoding 

The Category Encoding of a plot is a set of properties that determine the period over which the plot generates connected data points representing those above Data Values. 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. 

Colors Encoding

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 Spiral charts take the first item from the collection.

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: This flag indicates whether dataset records with undefined details should be exempted from the visualization.
• Group: This property determines the area subsection arrangement of the plot.
  • Stack: You can use this value to configure a Stacked plot.
  • Cluster: You can use this value to configure area subsections that overlap each other.
  • None: Equals to Cluster.
• SortDirection: This property determines the sorting direction, ascending or descending in which the subcategories should be sorted.
• SortingAggregate: The SortingAggregate property specifies the aggregate to use for sorting the subcategories. 
• SortingField: It defines the order in which the subcategories are displayed.
• Values: The Values could be one or more bound field references, and the bound DataSet records with the same values of these fields come under the same subcategory.

Values 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 Spiral charts, 'Simple' is acceptable.

Value

The Value property is the collection and usually takes a bound field. However, the Spiral charts 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.

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.