Chart Wizard

OpenOffice.org 2.6

>> Followup in Chart Wizard Specification <<

Document - ID	Specification Owner	Last Change	Status
	Matthias Müller-Prove	07/26/06	draft
Conforms to	OpenOffice.org Specification Workflow v0.1, Aug 2003
Applies to	Charts in Calc, Writer, ##
Task ID(s)	i20344, i25695 (Spec), i26628 (String Review) CWS: SRC680/chart2mst3
Category	feature

Abstract

Charts can be created with a new Chart Wizard.

i-Team Members

	Name	E-mail Address
User Experience	Matthias Müller-Prove /MMP	mprove@sun.com,
Development	Ingrid Halama /IHA Niklas Nebel /NN	ingrid.halama@sun.com,
Quality Assurance	Thomas Klarhoefer /TK Jogi	thomas.klarhoefer@sun.com,
Documentation	Uwe Fischer /UFI	uwe.fischer@Sun.COM
		mail to iTeam

Approved for Implementation

	Approved by	Date
User Experience	<Name>	<Date>
Development	Niklas Nebel /NN	01/26/06
Quality Assurance		
Documentation		
String Review		

Document Change History

Rev. Level	Change	Initials	Date
	initial version	MMP	3/10/04
	competitive analyses: MS Excel 2004	MMP	3/30/04
	Uwe Fischer replacing Yvonne Jacobi in i-Team	MMP	11/16/05
	positioning of chart preview and Chart Wizard	MMP/IHA	12/21/05
	new mockup for wizard step 4	MMP/IHA	01/04/06
	update on step 4 Chart Elements	MMP/IHA	01/12/06
	working target for Chart 2 is OOo 2.6	MMP	04/18/06
	Added problem with live preview to section 7.0.2	IHA	07/26/06
	This document is continued in Chart Wizard Specification using the new spec tempalte	MMP	Nov 15, 2006

Contents

Glossary	5

1	Motivation	5

2	User Scenarios	5

3	Goals	5

4	Requirements and Dependencies	5

4.1	Requirements	5

4.2	Technical Dependencies	5

5	Competitive Analyses	6

5.1	StarOffice 7	6

5.1.1	Step 1 – Define Source	6

5.1.2	Step 2 – Call AutoFormat Chart Dialog	6

5.1.3	Step 3 – AutoFormat Chart: Source Data	6

5.1.4	Step 4 – AutoFormat Chart: Select Main Chart Type	7

5.1.5	Step 5 – AutoFormat Chart: Select Sub-Type of Chart	7

5.1.6	Step 6 – AutoFormat Chart: Choose Options	8

5.1.7	Step 7 – Position of Chart	8

5.1.8	Pros & Cons	8

5.2	MS Excel 2003	8

5.2.1	Step 1 – Define Source	8

5.2.2	Step 2 – Call Chart Wizard	8

5.2.3	Step 3 – Wizard (1/4): Chart Type	9

5.2.4	Step 4 – Wizard (2/4): Chart Source Data	12

5.2.5	Step 5 – Wizard 3/4: Chart Options	14

5.2.6	Step 6 – Wizard 4/4: Chart Location	17

5.2.7	Pros & Cons	17

5.3	MS Excel 2004	17

6	Detailed Specification	19

6.1	Insert a New Chart	19

6.2	Preview and Auto-Positioning	19

6.3	Roadmap	20

6.4	Step 1 – Choose a chart type	20

6.4.1	Lines and Points Chart	22

6.4.2	Area Chart	22

6.4.3	Columns Chart	22

6.4.4	Columns-Lines Chart	22

6.4.5	Bars Chart	22

6.4.6	Pie Chart	22

6.4.7	Net Chart	22

6.4.8	Stock Chart	22

6.5	Step 2 – Data Range	22

6.6	Step 3 – Data Series	22

6.7	Step 4 – Chart Elements	23

6.8	Migration	23

7	Future Tasks	24

7.0.1	To be speced	24

7.0.2	ToDos before next integration	24

7.0.3	Todos after next integration	24

7.0.4	Really the Future	24

8	Notes	24

9	References	24

Glossary

Term	Description
MA (MAP)	The units which are used in this specification are Map AppFont (ma). It is the preferred unit when designing dialogs with the OpenOffice.org API. Map AppFont units are device and resolution independent. One Map AppFont unit is equal to one-eighth of the average character (Systemfont) height and a quart in width.

Motivation

Apply the new wizard concept to the creation process of charts [Concepts for Wizards].

User Scenarios

<A user scenario is a idealized description of a specific interaction. This description shall be written short and specific. User scenarios can describe a leak of functionality, or based on the requirements, a solution.>

Goals

<The goals section must be short but also provide a clear statement of the goals, to achieve with this feature, project or task. A clear statement in this section gives Development, Quality Assurance and Documentation guidance.>

Requirements and Dependencies

Requirements

<State the requirement(s) of this feature here.>

Technical Dependencies

<Are there any technical dependencies for this feature? Does the implementation of this feature create any technical dependencies to other program parts? Or very important any issues for automatedd GUI Testing?>

Competitive Analyses

StarOffice 7

Step 1 – Define Source

Select cell(s) in Calc sheet

Step 2 – Call AutoFormat Chart Dialog

StarOffice 7 provides 2 ways to call the AutoFormat Chart Dialog.

Choose menu item Insert>Chart... or

Click the Chart button in the main toolbar. This changes the cursor to a drawing cursor to define the position and size of the new chart on the document.

Step 3 – AutoFormat Chart: Source Data

After that the AutoFormat Chart dialog opens to refine the source data.

Illustration 5.1 StarOffice 7, AutoForm Chart: step 1

Step 4 – AutoFormat Chart: Select Main Chart Type

Illustration 5.2 StarOffice 7, AutoForm Chart: step 2

Step 5 – AutoFormat Chart: Select Sub-Type of Chart

Illustration 5.3 StarOffice 7, AutoForm Chart: step 3

Step 6 – AutoFormat Chart: Choose Options

Illustration 5.4 StarOffice 7, AutoForm Chart: step 4

Step 7 – Position of Chart

After clicking the Create button the chart is generated. If the user chose the menu item Insert>Chart... the new chart will be positioned automatically at the bottom right of the source data.

Pros & Cons

+ same size of dialog for all wizard steps

the Chart button in the main toolbar provides no feedback . The user does not understand what to do after clicking this element.

selecting the chart type is divided into 2 step. It is also more important than defining the data source and should therefore be an earlier step in the wizard.

MS Excel 2003

Step 1 – Define Source

Select cell(s) in Excel sheet

Step 2 – Call Chart Wizard

Choose menu item Insert>Chart...

Illustration 5.5 MS Excel 2003: Insert Menu

Step 3 – Wizard (1/4): Chart Type

Chart Wizard pops up. First step – out of 4 – is the selection of a chart type. To the left is a list with 14 main chart types:

Column

Bar

Line

Pie

XY (Scatter)

Area

Doughnut

Radar

Surface

Bubble

Stock

Cylinder

Cone

Pyramid

Just the top 10 chart types are visible without scrolling. The right area displays for each chart type a set of large icons with sub types; 7 at max. For each selected sub type the lower right area shows a description.

Illustration 5.6 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 1

A chart preview is shown while the user presses the Sample button in the area of the sub-types.

Illustration 5.7 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 1. Preview button pressed

Illustration 5.8 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 1. Custom Types tab selected

The Custom Types tab provides the following list of charts:

Area Blocks

B&W Area

B&W Column

B&W Pie

Blue Pie

Colored Lines

Column – Area

Columns with Depth

Cones

Floating Bars

Line – Column

Line – Column on 2 Axes

Line on 2 Axes

Logarithmic

Outdoor Bars

Pie Explosion

Smooth Lines

Stack of Colors

Tubes

Step 4 – Wizard (2/4): Chart Source Data

Illustration 5.9 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 2

Illustration 5.10 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 2. Series tab selected

Step 5 – Wizard 3/4: Chart Options

The Chart Options contains 6 tabs.

Illustration 5.11 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3

Illustration 5.12 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3. Axes tab selected

Illustration 5.13 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3. Gridlines tab selected

Illustration 5.14 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3. Legend tab selected

Illustration 5.15 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3. Data Labels tab selected

Illustration 5.16 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 3. Data Table tab selected

Step 6 – Wizard 4/4: Chart Location

Illustration 5.17 MS Excel 2003: Chart Wizard, step 4

Pros & Cons

+ The wizard provides sufficient feedback, i.e. a preview of the chart with the actual data, although the Press and Hold to View Sample button is a misuse of a push button.

The wizard has not a fixed size from step to step.

MS Excel 2004

MS Excel 2004 uses the task pane to offer chart functionality.

Illustration 5.18 MS Execl 2004 as seen on http://www.appleinsider.com/gallery/office2004.php?image=16

The prominently presented chart types are: Area 2d, Area 3d, Surface 3d, Bar 2d, Bar 3d (or maybe 2d with background), Radar, Column 2d, Column 3d. More chart types can be selected by scrolling down.

Detailed Specification

Insert a New Chart

The user can either choose the menu item Chart... from the Insert menu, or press the Insert Chart button in the toolbar. The current selection gets expanded to embrace all adjacent data cells – same as in OOo 1.1. Next, the chart is temporarily created at a default position using all default values of the Chart Wizard, and the Chart Wizard opens at step 1.

Chart preview and wizard are presented to the user with at most 1 sec delay in between. If the time before the chart preview can be displayed exceeds 3 sec, a wait cursor is shown.

Preview and Auto-Positioning

The document serves as a live preview area for the new chart. Once the user presses the Finish button in the Chart Wizard the chart becomes permanent part of the document. If the user dismisses the wizard with Cancel the chart in the document is removed as well.

The default position of the chart preview adheres to the following constraints:

The chart preview has a fixed size. 8cm width x 7cm height (same value as OOo 2.0)

The document is not scrolled to make the chart visible.

A maximum amount of the chart preview is visible.

If the chart preview (number 1 above) is larger than the current view, then the top left corner of the chart preview is positioned top left in the visible view (topright/top right for right-to-left UI).

The position of the preview is always contrained by the size of the document, e.g. the chart preview can not be positioned higher than the A0 cell, or it can not overhang the right or lower edge of a document.

The chart preview should be placed adjacent to the data range. Preferred location for western orientation is top-right. For right-to-left UI the preferred location in top-left.
If there is not enough space then it is allowed to overlap with the data range.
Comment: This means the chart preview is no longer 'adjacent' to the data range but still top-right, or top-left respectively.

A maximum amount of data range remains visible.

The initial position of the Chart Wizard adheres to the following constraint:

The Chart Wizard is completely visible on the screen.

The Chart Wizard should have a minimal overlap with the chart preview.

If possible the Chart Wizard should be positioned directly + 12 MA below the chart preview.

2nd attempt is above the chart

3rd attempt is left from the chart (for LTR orientation; right for RTL orientation)

4th attempt is the 4th unused direction

For the other dimension,the wizard should be centered to the chart preview.

These constraints are competing with each other. Therefore they are ordered by relevance. Most important is #1, then #2, and so forth.

Roadmap

Illustration 6.1 Chart Wizard (prototype, 5-July-2005)

The roadmap has an active navigation [Concepts for Wizards, 4.3.1] with 5 steps:

Chart Type

Data Range

Data Series

Chart Elements

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
dialog title	Chart Wizard	Diagramm-Assistent	
roadmap	Chart Type	Diagrammtyp	
roadmap	Data Range	Datenbereich	
roadmap	Data Series	Datenreihen	
roadmap	Chart Elements	Diagrammelemente	

Step 1 – Choose a chart type

Note to the author – that is me: Create a new spec for this step: Chart Type Dialog.

Illustration 6.2 Chart Wizard Step 1, Column

The main chart types are, in this order:

Column

Bar

Pie

Area

Line

XY (Scatter)

Net

Stock

Column + Line

At any time one item of the Chart type list is selected. By default, the first item is selected. By selecting another type the control area to the right changes accordingly to offer further variations of the selected chart type.

String list

Item	English	German	Comments
label	Please choose the type of the chart	Bitte wählen sie einen Diagrammtyp	
label	Chart type	Diagrammtyp	
label	Lines and Symbols	Linien und Symbole	
label	Areas	Flächen	
label	Columns	Säulen	
label	Columns-Lines	Säulen-Linien	
label	Bars	Balken	
label	Pie	Kreis	
label	Net	Netz	
label	Stock	Kurse	

Lines and Points Chart

##

Area Chart

##

Columns Chart

##

Columns-Lines Chart

##

Bars Chart

##

Pie Chart

##

Net Chart

##

Stock Chart

##

Step 2 – Data Range

same as Data Range tab; defined in Flexible Source-Range Selection

Step 3 – Data Series

same as Data Series tab; defined in Flexible Source-Range Selection

Step 4 – Chart Elements

Illustration 6.3.: Step 4 (mockup)

Roadmap Step Title TBD:­

Chart Elements

Elements

Titles and Legend

Text and Grid

Insert Elements

Insert Objects

Insert Text Elements

Text Elements

Text Objects

##

String list

Item	English	German	Comments

Migration

<Any migration issues have to be stated here. For example how can users migrate from one version of a database to another?>

Future Tasks

To be speced

"sticky settings"

3D & 3DScheme ist so lange sticky, bis man in einem Chart Typ vorbei kommt, der das nicht kann

Bar/Column shape dto. for Column and Bar Charts

Stacked

Positioning of new Charts in Writer and Impress

Wording over all

Roadmap: Insert Object ->

Display >

Legend [] Legend

ToDos before next integration

The live preview makes creating charts with big data inacceptable slow

Icons / Do we use the Sun corporate colors??

Todos after next integration

initial preview matching selected data range and chart type.

modeless Chart Wizard

visual feedback for Calc cells on used ranges

Inline Help for Stock Charts

Insert Object Pane: Legend position, Axis on/off

"sticky settings" for symbol/line settings

"sticky settings" for B-Splines

Really the Future

If several charts are created for the same data range the location should not be the same. A small offset to the bottom right (## 16 * 16) is applied to the charts. For right-to-left UI the offset is to bottom left (-16 * 16).

User defined 3D schemata

Smooth Line Properties Dlg Redesign (Btns to the right)

Notes

LH-1 Idea (Jan 2006): Introduce a first step with just thumbnails. To make it possible to create final charts with 2 clicks.

References

[Concepts for Wizards]	http://specs.openoffice.org/installation/wizards/Wizards_NewConcept.sxw

Chart Menu Structure	http://specs.openoffice.org/chart/menus/MenuStructure.odt

The mouse cursor changes in the content area, but unless the user does not move the mouse to the sheet, she gets no feedback.

25	Chart Wizard

Chart Wizard	25

http://specs.openoffice.org/chart/wizards/NewChartWizard.sxw

Matthias Müller-Prove

2004-03-10T14:51:04