Creating Circle Plot Charts


Use circle plot charts to display differing values in rows, enabling you to draw inferences as to how the values overlap. An example of a circle plot is shown in the following image.


Note: Circle plot charts require at least one measure and one dimension, as well as one for the Detail and Color buckets. Optionally, add a dimension to the Size bucket with the count aggregation to view the concentration of data.

The following display options are available for a circle plot chart:

  • Calculation options:
    • Summaries. Sums measure values for each sort value. This is the default.
    • Counts. Provides a count of records in the selected measure field, for each sort value.
    • Details. Displays the value of each individual record.
  • Clear buckets content. Empties all buckets.

You can add fields to the following buckets for a circle plot chart:

  • Vertical. Add a measure field to the vertical axis to determine the vertical position of points. Additional dimensions create matrix rows.
  • Horizontal. Add a dimension field to the horizontal axis to determine the horizontal position of points. You can click the icon in the bucket field label to toggle between using the field as a horizontal axis field  or matrix column .
  • Detail. Use this bucket to add detail to your visual by adding a data field to it. For example, if you add Sale,Quarter to the Detail bucket in your Scatter plot, the points on the plot are quadrupled, one for each quarter. In addition, the field that you specify in the Detail bucket also displays on the hover menu for each point in the plot.
  • Size. Controls the size of each point based on a measure value.
  • Color. If a dimension field is used, creates points for each value and determines their color. If you also add a dimension to the Detail bucket, the values in the detail field are used to create points, and the values in the color field determine the color of the points. If a measure field is used, applies a color scale to the points.
  • Tooltip. The data placed in this bucket displays in the tooltip at run time. Can be used to make additional information available without changing the appearance of the chart.
  • Animate. Enables you to animate time progression using a slider control. As you move the control along the slider bar, an animation effect results. The slider control has a Play button that allows you to play and pause the animation. When you click Play, the Pause option is activated, enabling you to pause the progression and analyze your data. Slider controls are limited to one sort field and should be time or sequence related, such as month or year.
  • MultiPage. Enables the creation of multiple graphs based on the field that you place in this bucket. The MultiPage bucket is available for stand-alone charts. If you convert the chart to a page created from new content, the MultiPage bucket disappears.

Procedure: How to Create a Circle Plot Chart

  1. Open WebFOCUS Designer. On the WebFOCUS start page, click the plus menu and then click Create Visualizations, or, on the WebFOCUS Home Page, click Visualize Data.

    WebFOCUS Designer opens in a new browser tab.

  2. Select a workspace and a data source available from that workspace.

    Once you select a data source, WebFOCUS Designer loads with options to create a single content item.

  3. On the Content picker, change the chart to a circle plot.
  4. Add one measure, one dimension to the chart. Also, add a field into the Detail and Color buckets.

    The circle plot chart refreshes with your selections.

  5. You can perform the following tasks with your circle plot chart:
    1. Add additional measures or dimensions to the chart, where applicable.
    2. Change the fields to obtain different information.
    3. Format the chart (for example, customize the header and footer or style the legend).
  6. Save your circle plot chart.