Investment Studio > Setup > Chart > Overview

All Chart settings are accessed from the Chart's pop-up menu. To open it, right-click the Chart.

The Chart object is subdivided into seven areas (usually not all visible):


Top (1) and bottom (7) captions.

Each caption displays one line of text (typically a title for the whole chart or for an axis). Use the Caption > Top and Caption > Bottom menus in the Chart's pop-up menu to control whether captions are visible, their text alignment, content, size, font and color:

Click Edit to open the caption's in-place text editor. The text can be a plain string or an expression (denoted by a leading assignment operator, "="). For instance, an expression can be used to display the name or the currency of the selected portfolio, as in

="NAV (" & portfolio_currency(PORTFOLIO) & ")"

In captions, the ampersand character (&) acts as a modifier on the next character, causing it to be underlined. To display a plain ampersand, enter two of them (&&). Expressions can use the substitute function to duplicate single ampersands, e.g. in portfolio or asset names.

Top (2) and bottom (6) horizontal axes.

In the screenshot above, the top axis displays date serial numbers (see function DATE), while the bottom axis uses the system-defined short date format (see the Regional Settings applet in the Windows Control Panel). The bottom axis in the screenshot also contains a position marker which tracks the cursor position in the plot area (4).

Use the Axes > Top and Axes > Bottom menus in the Chart's pop-up menu to control whether the horizontal axes are visible, their display format (numerical or date), whether they contain a position marker, their size, font and color:

Note that the font can be set for all axes in common, or individually for each axis. The color is always the same for all axes.


Left (3) and right (5) axes.

In the screenshot above, the left axis contains a position marker which tracks the cursor position in the plot area (4). The right axis has been set up to use a larger font.

Use the Axes menu in the Chart's pop-up menu to control whether the vertical axes are visible, whether they contain a position marker, their size, font and color:

Note that the font can be set for all axes in common or individually for each axis. The color is always the same for all axes.

Plot area.

This is the Chart's primary display area. It can't be hidden.

Drag and hold the mouse in the plot area for a pop-up hint with information about the straight line connecting the start and end points:

The top row in the hint is on the format "horizontal offset: vertical offset (vertical offset %)". In the screenshot above, the horizontal offset is +77 days (only charted days are counted); the vertical offset is -11.9 (in the units of the vertical axis) i.e. -44.94%. The bottom row is on the format "k = slope (% change per day)". In the screenshot above, the slope is -0.1537 (» -11.9 / 77) or -0.5823% per charted day. Note that the signs of the % figures are implied.

Depending on the Chart's Plot > Hints settings, position information ("date: value") may also be displayed in the hint, and hints with position information may pop up at the cursor position and along the axes when the cursor pauses in the plot area.

Use the Plot menu in the Chart's pop-up menu

to:

choose between linear and Logarithmic vertical scale;
toggle the cursor Crosshair on/off (note that the position markers seen in the screenshot's left and bottom axes are controlled using the Axes menus);
set the properties of pop-up Hints (see above);
set coordinate Grid properties (color, associated axes; in the screenshot above, vertical grid lines are aligned to bottom axis ticks, horizontal grid lines to right axis ticks);
set Profile display properties (visible, number of bins, fill color; in the screenshot above, the profile is drawn using 16 bins and green fill);
set Fill properties (only applies to sources marked as fillable); and
set the Plot area's background Color.

The Data menu can be used to temporarily toggle data sources on/off:

Data sources listed in the legend (below the separator line) are plotted when their title is preceded by a square reflecting their color. Click legend entries to toggle plotting on/off.

All data sources may not be listed in the Data menu. Inclusion in the legend is an editable source property. Source properties are edited in the Chart source editor. Click Sources to open it.

The Favorites menu is a shortcut to the Chart source dialog's favorites list. It allows favorite sources to be added to the Chart without opening the source dialog.

The Chart's pop-up menu also contains several entries not specific to a single chart area:

Click Maximized to toggle the Chart tile between normal and max size. This is equivalent to (but often more convenient than) double-clicking the vertical "grip" bevel running along the tile's left border.
Click Sliders to open the Chart's parameter slider window:

The availability and contents of this window depend on the Chart's data source definitions (see below). Each group of sliders belongs to a data source (identified by the group's caption); each slider connects to a parameter (identified by the slider's caption) defined in the source.

Use the sliders to modify parameter values on the fly, i.e. without having to open the source editor and with automatic recalculation and redrawing of the Chart.

Click Data > Sources to open the Chart source editor. Use the editor to add, modify and delete data sources.
Use the Gallery menu

to Add a copy of the Chart to the Gallery.

You can also click Make default to turn the Chart into the new default Chart, or click Clear default to reset the default Chart. Copies of the default Chart can be added to the Portfolios, Assets and Quotes views by clicking the New chart button in their toolbar.

Click Bitmap to write a screenshot of the chart to the file CHART.BMP in the <TEMP> directory and open it in your computer's default BMP editor (if any).
Click Delete to remove the Chart object. You will be asked for confirmation.

Chart deletion is irreversible. Before deleting a Chart, use its source editor to turn data source definitions which you want to keep into favorites, or save a copy of the entire chart to the Gallery (see above).