Sparkline Themes

Sparkline Themes

A Sparkline is a small, generalized chart that provides a condensed visual representation of the data from which it is drawn on.  They are an effective way to show trends and high level comparisons. 

In Mercury, a Sparkline resides in a table-report column. This article is about creating themes at the Settings > Admin level for use in creating Sparklines from the Report Canvas and Admin Tools > Reports. Themes for each Sparkline Type: Line, Area, Bar, and WinLoss need to be established for these options to be available to Users. For more information on how to create a Sparkline from Admin Tools > Reports, please review the section on Sparklines in the article, Reports.

Create a Sparkline Theme

Creating Sparklines Themes at the Admin level allows for the standardization of property features across a suite of reporting that promotes efficient data analysis and report development. As is common, only numeric fields are available to be part of a sparkline. 

  1. To get started, on the Settings Tab choose the Admin Tools Tab and click the Sparklines button to open the “Manage Sparkline Themes” form.                                                     
  2. Click the New button to add a new Sparkline theme.

  1. Provide a Name for the new theme in the text field of the New Sparkline Theme window and click the OK button. The properties on the form will reset to null values and the new theme name will appear in the Load Properties From: field.
  1. Customize the features of the new Sparkline Theme by setting values for each section property displayed. The number and type of Properties is dependent on the Sparkline Type chosen. The following Table provides descriptions of all the Property Sections and Items available with the respective chart types. 

Section

Property

Description

General



Sparkline Type


Options include Line, Area, Bar, and WinLoss

Highlight Point

Highlight Negative points

Enables data points of interest to be viewed differently. This is available for all Sparkline types.


HighlightMinPoint



HighlightMaxPoint


HighlightStartPoint


HighlightEndPoint

Color

Marker Brush

Color option for all data points other than the defined points of interest.


BackColor

Line, Bar or Area field color.


MinPointColor

Set colors for Markers at different data points of interest. This is available for all Sparkline types.


MaxpointColor


StartPointColor


EndPointColor


NegativepointColor

Marker

Start Point Marker Size

Set sizes for Markers at data points of interest. Not applicable to the Bar or WinLoss Sparkline types.

Marker size may be between 0 and 10 pts.


End Point Marker Size


Marker Size


Min Point Marker Size


Max Point Marker Size


Show Markers

Makes Markers visible. Not applicable to the Bar or WinLoss Sparkline types.

Type Specific

Line Width

Applicable to Line and Area Charts. Line Width may be between 0 and 10 pts.


Area Opacity

Area Chart only. Sets translucence of the Area fill color.


Bar Distance

Allows for spacing adjustment between the Bars in the Bar and WinLoss sparkline options.

Sample Area 

  1. Click Save. The new theme will now be available in the drop-down list of the Load Properties From: field.
           

Edit a Sparkline Theme

Any changes made to a theme at the Settings > Admin level will affect any report the theme is being used. To avoid inappropriate changes, use the Show Dependencies feature to identify the reports that could be affected.


Show Dependencies

To identify any reports that may be affected by changes to the Sparkline Theme:

  1. Click Show Dependencies on the Manage Sparkline Themes tool ribbon. 
 
  1. One of 2 results will be returned.
    1. A Manage Reports form will open showing the Report Titles that are using the Sparkline Theme.                                    
    2. A notification window appears stating the Sparkline Theme is not in use in any report.

Editing at the Admin Tools level

  1. Select the existing theme for edit from the Load Properties From: pick list.
  2. Make the value changes to the properties that need to be modified.
  3. Click Save to complete your changes. 

Editing from the Report Canvas

Sparkline Themes can also be edited from the Report Canvas. 
  1. Use the Right-Click Menu to access the Sparkline Editor. Right-Click on the column header of the Sparkline.

  1. Access the properties for edit by clicking the Sparkline: field drop-down arrow and make the changes to the properties.

  1. Click anywhere outside the Edit Sparkline window to close the Properties drop-down and click OK to apply the changes to the report.                                                       
  2. The changed Sparkline will be renamed to “Custom”. 

  1. To save the new Sparkline version, the report will need to be saved as a Favorite. To learn how to create a report Favorite, please refer to the section on Creating a Favorite in the article, Favorites.

Delete a Sparkline Theme

Deleting Sparkline Themes at the Settings > Admin Tools level will also remove them from any of the reports they have been applied to. There will be no warning that reports will be affected by this action. Following through with a deletion of a theme in active use will result in the sparkline column of the report showing blank data values. Use Show Dependencies to review a list of reports that will be impacted before processing a deletion.
  1. Select the Sparkline Theme from the Load Properties From: drop-down list.
  2. Click the Delete Button on the Manage Sparkline Themes tool ribbon.

  1. Select Yes on the Delete Selected confirmation window.

  1. Click Save to complete your changes.

Clone a Sparkline Theme

Cloning an existing Sparkline Theme is a great way to carry over property features to create variations for different uses.


From the Manage Sparkline Themes Form:


  1. Select the existing theme that will be cloned from the Load Properties From: pick list.
                 
  1. Click the Clone Button on the tool ribbon.
 
  1. Provide a new theme Name in the text field of the Cloned Sparkline Theme window. 

  1. Click OK. The form will refresh and display the name and properties of the new theme.
  2. Adjust the property values as desired and click Save to complete the process.

Reset a Sparkline Theme

Resetting a Sparkline removes any changes made as of the last Save. To do this, click the Reset button on the Manage Sparkline Themes tool ribbon.

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