Chart Line Color based on Dimension Value

[#1]

Hello,

I have a Line Chart which shows monthly values for various brands. The dimensions are Month and BrandName.
Each BrandName creates a line over the months.

I would like to have fixed line colors by brand, i.e. I want to define Brand A = black (RGB(0,0,0)), Brand B = red, etc.
I have a table which deliveres BrandName and BrandColor.

BrandColor contains a text(!) which represents the RGB formula, e.g. "RGB(0,0,0)".

I use the the BackgroundColor property of my Expression to set the color by formula: =$(=BrandColor)

This works fine when I select a specfic BrandName, i.e. the line color changes to the defned BrandColor.
But when no BrandName is selected (which is the desired case, as I want to do a brand comparison), the 'trick' does not work.

Any idea what to look at?
Thanks in advance,
Thilo

PS: Defining the 18 color values and trying to ensure that the BrandNames somehow fit into the right line number does not sound as good solution to me, although I experimented in that direction. If you have a working solution utilizing the Color-Formulas rather than the Background property, I do not mind.

[Miguel_Angel_Baeyens]

Hello,

Have you tried cheking "Persistent Colors" in the "Colors" tab of your chart? It may save you some time.

Regards.

[#3]

Hello Miguel,

yes - I checked that, but either it just doesn't do what I want, or I do not uderstand it.

I understand 'persistent colors' as a feature, where (in my case) Brands keep the same color, no matter whether I selected 5 or 10 Brands.
This is just partially what I need.

I also need to define a way to define, that Brand A is always black, Brand B is always red, etc.
This color definition is loaded together with the data and may change, whenever 'somebody outside the QV Designer group' thinks it is necessary.

Any idea?
Thanks,
Thilo

[johnw · Accepted solution]

I think I recall needing to specify the RGB values separately:

Brand,BrandRed,BrandGreen,BrandBlue
Brand A, 0, 0, 0
Brand B, 255, 0, 0
...

And then:

=rgb(BrandRed,BrandGreen,BrandBlue)

Edit: And I'm going to guess that the reason your current approach isn't working is that the dollar sign expansion is probably happening BEFORE it gets down to looking at a single row. If so, then at that point, you'd probably get null returned for the color expression.

[#5]

Hello John,

Great! That worked!

Thank you,
Thilo