Investment Studio > Setup > Graph > Source editor > Output section
describes a data source.
| The source's position in the table determines its drawing order in the Graph. The source at the top of the table is drawn first, the source at the bottom of the table is drawn last. |
The source Identifier
plays a dual role:
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| The source Title is used
to list sources in the Data submenu of
the Graph's pop-up menu (together with the names of the
underlying assets or portfolios, if any):
Source titles are also displayed in the favorites list. |
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| When Legend is checked, the source is listed in the Data submenu of the Graph's pop-up menu (see above). | |
| When On is checked, the
source data is displayed in the Graph unless it has been
temporarily hidden by clicking the source's entry in the Data
submenu of the Graph's pop-up menu (see above). When On is not checked, the opposite is true: the source is still enabled, but its output is not displayed in the Graph unless it's been temporarily marked as visible by clicking the source's entry in the Data submenu of the Graph's pop-up menu. When both Legend and On are unchecked, the source is effectively invisible. Invisible sources can be used to compute intermediate results required by other sources. |
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| When Index is checked, the source's output is normalized, i.e. it's scaled so that the first Y channel value will equal 100. This makes it particularly easy to read off percentage differences. | |
| When Fillable is
checked, the area between each Y channel value and 0 will be filled if Plot
> Fill > Show is checked
in the Graph's pop-up menu:
Click Color in the Plot > Fill menu to set the fill color. |
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| When Autocolor is checked, the source's drawing color is selected by the Graph object. If the source type is Asset or Portfolio, and a Color-type custom property called "_COLOR" is defined in the relevant view's Grid object, the Graph will use the color specified by the "_COLOR" property. When used with the Portfolios: all and Assets: all source types, this makes it easy to create color-coded comparison Graphs which automatically use the colors specified in the relevant Grid(s). | |
| Select and click the Color field to set a fixed drawing color for the source. This setting is ignored if Autocolor is checked (see above). | |
| Width is the width in pixels of the "pen" used to plot the source. Use 1 for best resolution, 2 to highlight a particular source. Larger widths are not recommended. |
Rows drawn against a black background (like the third row in the screenshot above) describe disabled sources.
Use the following controls in the Output section's toolbar (or the equivalent entries in the source table's pop-up menu) to manage sources:
| New. Click to add a copy
of the default source to the source table. If a source is
selected in the table, the new source will be inserted
below the selected source, otherwise it will be added at
the bottom of the table. Make sure to check the source type after adding a new source. |
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| Copy. Click to add a copy of the selected source to the source table. The new source is inserted below the original. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Make default. Click to
copy the selected source to the default source. Sources
created with New are copies of the default source. See also favorite sources. |
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| Clear default. Click to clear the default source (no output, no symbols, no parameters). Sources created with New are copies of the default source. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Move up. Click to move the selected source toward the top of the source table (and hence in the Graph's drawing order; the source at the top of the table is drawn first, the source at the bottom of the table is drawn last). | |||||||||||||||||||
| Move down. Click to move the selected source toward the bottom of the source table (and hence in the Graph's drawing order; the source at the top of the table is drawn first, the source at the bottom of the table is drawn last). | |||||||||||||||||||
| Source type. Shows the
type of the selected source. Click the spin button to
modify the source type. The available source types are:
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| Favorites. When this
button is depressed, |
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| Disabled. When this
button is depressed, the selected row is ignored; as far
as the Graph is concerned, it might as well have been
deleted. The advantage over actual deletion is that the
source is still available and can be reactivated at the
click of a button. Disabled sources are easy to spot in the source table, since their rows are drawn with a black background. Example: in the screenshot above, the fourth row is disabled. |
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| Delete. Click to delete the selected source, inluding all its output channel settings, symbols and parameters. Note that disabling the source may be a better idea. |
A favorite source is simply a copy of a Graph source (complete with output channel, symbol and parameter definitions) which has been stored for later reuse. Since all Graph objects share a common list of favorite sources, favorites make it easy to copy sources between Graph, even across different views and portfolios (the default source is also shared).
The favorites panel

is visible (to the left of the
source table) when the Favorites button
is depressed in the Output section's toolbar.
The buttons in the favorite panel's toolbar (not to be confused with the Output section's toolbar) perform the following functions:
| Use the selected favorite, i.e. add it to the source table. If a source is selected in the table, the new source will be inserted below the selected source, otherwise it will be added at the bottom of the table. | |
| Add the source currently selected in the source table to the list of favorites. If no favorite is selected, the new entry is created at the end of the list. If a favorite is selected, the new entry is inserted below it. | |
| Delete the selected favorite. | |
| Move up the selected favorite in the list. | |
| Move down the selected favorite in the list. | |
| Close the favorites panel. |
You can also right-click the favorites panel to open a pop-up menu with equivalent commands.
The favorites list can be sorted alphabetically by clicking the Favorite header. Click a second time to reverse the sort order.
To edit a favorite's title, select it in the list, wait a moment, then click it to open the in-place editor. Press Enter to close the in-place editor and commit to the new title; press Esc to abort editing and revert to the previous title.
Each source can send data to the Graph through one or more of the three output channels displayed below the source table:

All output channel definitions are expressions. The first channel (y = f(x), or "Y channel" for short) is expected to return float values; the other two (Text and Image) explicit arrays. Each output channel expression is evaluated once for every step in the built-in date loop symbol X.
In all but the simplest cases, it's a good idea to break down graph sources in multiple, named building blocks defined in the Symbols sections and then use references to them in the Output section.
The first output channel can be used to draw continuous step lines and/or separate markers.
For a step line, make sure that
the Step line button
is depressed.
To mark each value separately, click the spin button in the Marker combo box (next to the Step line button) and select one of the shapes in the list.
Note that Step line and Marker are not mutually exclusive.
The Text channel is used to display character strings in the Graph's plot area. Since this requires at least a text and a position to be specified, a scalar value is not enough. Instead, text channel entries are explicit arrays containing at least the first two of the following elements:
| # | Type | Description | ||||||||
| 1 | string | The text to display in the Graph's plot area. | ||||||||
| 2 | float | The vertical position of the text,
expressed in the units of the Y channel. As for the other output channels, the horizontal position is given by X. |
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| 3 | integer | Vertical offset (from the vertical
position specified in the previous element) expressed in
pixels. Use a negative offset to displace the text toward the top of the Graph, a positive offset to displace the text toward the bottom of the Graph. Optional. Defaults to 0 if omitted. |
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| 4 | integer | Kind of frame to put around the text:
Optional. Defaults to no frame if omitted. |
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| 5 | color | Text and frame color code. Click the Color code
button Optional. If omitted, the text hint color specified with Plot > Hints > Font in the Graph's pop-up menu is used. |
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| 6 | color | Background color code. Click the Color code
button Optional. If omitted, the Graph color specified with Plot > Color in the Graph's pop-up menu is used. |
The Image channel is used to display bitmap images in the Graph's plot area. Since this requires at least a bitmap number and a position to be specified, a scalar value is not enough. Instead, image channel entries are explicit arrays containing at least the first two of the following elements:
| # | Type | Description |
| 1 | image | The number of the bitmap to display in the
Graph's plot area. Click the spin button in the combo box next to the Image edit box for a list of all available bitmaps. Select an image in the list for its number to be pasted into the Image edit box. See the image reference for details on customizing the image list. |
| 2 | float | The vertical position of the bitmap,
expressed in the units of the Y channel. As for the other output channels, the horizontal position is given by X. |
| 3 | integer | Vertical offset (from the vertical
position specified in the previous element) expressed in
pixels. Use a negative offset to displace the bitmap toward the top of the Graph, a positive offset to displace the bitmap toward the bottom of the Graph. Optional. Defaults to 0 if omitted. |
| 4 | string | A text to display in a pop-up hint when
the mouse cursor pauses over the image. Pop-up hint properties (font, color, transparency) are set under Plot > Hints in the Graph's pop-up menu. Optional. Defaults to no pop-up hint if omitted. |