Skip to main content
Announcements
Have questions about Qlik Connect? Join us live on April 10th, at 11 AM ET: SIGN UP NOW
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
datanibbler
Champion
Champion

My quest for the best way to visualize figures on different scales

Hi,

I have two figures, both out of an Excel_list, that I want to display in a barchart. Sounds simple, no? Well, take this:

- The first figure is "lorries arriving on a given day" which usually numbers in the dozens or so.

- The second is "boxes arriving on a given day" which usually numbers in the hundreds (every lorry can contain any number of boxes)

I want to display the two as close as possible so that it is clear at first sight which two figures (a # of lorries and a # of boxes) are associated with a given day.

- I cannot use one chart with the Trellis_option (which would effectually give me two charts) as the two scales are so different - the axes
   automatically adapt to the largest figure (which would be a # of boxes), so the # of lorries would be hardly visible.

- Putting two separate charts side by side is quite ok, but it still requires "looking twice", so to speak, to notice the two different figures
   associated with one day.

One thing that would be a solution if I can do it which I don't know is creating a horizontal barchart with the 0_line in the middle and with the bars for the lorries going right and the bars for boxes going left - but I don't know if I could use two different scales with that - I rather doubt it.

Now I came up with the idea of using two separate charts below each other and turning the lower one around - with the columns going down, not up. Then I just have to deactivate the display of the dimension for one of them and move them close to each other and get rid of a part of the frames.

Maybe someone here has some idea that could help me to further improve this visualization? There are also some more figures to come, I don't know whether it will be possible/ sensible to display those in the same diagram(s).

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler

50 Replies
datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Yes, I've noticed this. But what I mean is something different: In your post, that looks like a line with a big dot in the middle. How can I do this?`

I have experimented a little with the "middle of the box" and the "lower bound of the box" and set the lower bound to 95% of the value and the middle to the value itself, but then I get a box that is as broad as a regular column.

I'll have a look in the manual and see what's there.

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

The dot is just the same expression displayed as a symbol, just thought a line on its own doesn't make sense. Creating a thick black line may be a better option by doing the 95% thing you have done, however the box plot will be the same width as the regular bar, this cannot be changed as far as I know.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Ah, ok. I tried this out, but I thought the dot was part of the boxplot. Well, I can do that.

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi flipside,

something seems to go wrong. I can combine that boxplot and dot with my stacked columns all right - but combining that with the split_axis_thing and a line with another scale in the upper half of the chart doesn't seem to work.

Can you guess what I'm doing wrong about that?

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

Difficult as it seems to work for me. Maybe upload a sample or screenshot?

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi,

it works for you? That's curious.

As far as I can tell, I have set up the new chart exactly like the old one.

The bottom half with the # of lorries works fine, the boxplot and the dot inside the columns.

The upper half is blank and doesn't take the scale - I have set a min, max and interval - the same for all the measures in the bottom half (four in total) and another set for the top half. And I have ticked the radiobutton to split the axis and draw the line (top half) on the right axis.

I attach a screenshot for you. Does that help to give you any ideas?

Thanks a lot!

Best regards,

DataNibbler

flipside
Partner - Specialist II
Partner - Specialist II

I did get this when I first set it up and thought it wasn't going to work but then swapped the charts from top to bottom and it then displayed. Strangely moving them back worked after all. The only difference I have is I haven't used any scale settings (are these actually needed?).

It might also be worth saving, closing and re-opening Qlikview.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi flipside,

I'll try all this. Well, the fixed settings for the axes - I am not quite happy with those myself since this makes the chart less flexible when the magnitude of the values changes again - it's only that the first time I tried this, the scales as created automatically by QlikView, were a bit meager. I'll try removing the settings, though.

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

Hi,

funny - now it works half-way - the line does display, but the scale does not follow the limits I have set up in the dialog, but instead the scale I have used in the bottom half of the chart is used and the line just enters the charting_area from above on Saturday 😉

datanibbler
Champion
Champion
Author

It seems to have to do with that boxplot thing - when I delete that one measure, it immediately works.

But you say it worked for you, so I guess there must be a way.

I'll go on with this tomorrow. Or I might just go with a line to display that. That does the job quite nicely, too. Not quite as good as with the boxplot, though.

Let's see.

Best regards,

DataNibbler