iChart x-axis ticks not displayed

[Former Member]

I'm having some issues trying to display the x-axis in an iChart properly in a PDF file. It is a line chart with multiple lines. The x-axis contains months.

The transaction creates a PDF file which is then emailed to a user. I'm able to add the chart to the PDF using the PDF Image action. On our page the chart is displayed properly with x-axis marks present. However when using the exact same display template in the transaction, the x-axis marks do not appear.

The number of x-axis values change so I don't want to hard code in the number of major tick marks. If I do hard code the number of major x-axis ticks they are displayed. The display template has Show Tick Marks enabled, Number of Major Ticks = 0, Number of Minor Ticks = 0, Ticks per Label = 1. I am also using a custom label "Months".

I've tried mapping the property XAxisMajorTickCount to a transaction input property, but to no avail.

How can I get these x-axis marks displayed?

Thanks for your help,

Austin

Edited by: Austin Kindred on Aug 30, 2010 4:58 PM

[Former Member]

Hi Austin,

What version, SP, and Patch level of MII are you using? Can you try using the Chart Action and then the Image Saver action and see if any mapped properties changes show? For example, try changing the MainBackgroundColor to something else (like "#FF0000" which is Red).

I think this may be a bug in 12.1, as I find I can successfully change properties in 12.0.

Kind Regards

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

The version of MII we are using is 12.1.5.92.

Thanks for the tip - I tried changing HorizontalGridColor to "#FF00FF", changing MainBackgroundColor to "#FF0000", and setting ShowYAxis to false (all on my Chart_0 sequence), none of which were reflected in the generated image.

Could this be something to do with these values being definited in the display template I'm using and thus they are not getting overwritten?

Thanks,

Austin

[Former Member]

Hi Austin,

You should be able to overwrite whatever is set in the original template. I am going to test this in the latest service pack and see if it is fixed.

- Diana

[Former Member]

Hi Austin,

I ran the test again against 12.1 Service Pack 6, and I was able to overwrite the properties. I would recommend upgrading

Kind Regards,

Diana Hoppe

[Former Member]

Diana - thanks!

I will push to get our MII updated and post back once I find out if that fixes it from my end.

Thanks,

Austin

[Former Member]

As an update - I think that updating to the lastest version could take more time than I would like, our SAP team doesn't roll out new updates that frequently. I'm brainstorming options for how to display the tick marks, but short of creating a new display template for several different number of x-axis markers, I cannot see another solution.

[Former Member]

Hi Austin,

Just my opinion, but I would wait for the upgrade if possible. Having to write different query templates will making future maintenance more challenging. I did try all the workarounds I could think of and the only good solution I see is upgrade

Take care,

Diana

[Former Member]

Thanks for your help Diana. I'm hoping an upgrade happens soon so I can verify that was the issue.

Just to ensure what I'm doing is correct, here are some debug snippets regarding setting up my chart:

......

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Defined template: CQ_01253/HeadcountQueries/getMonthlyWorkload

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Adding template parameter: AllowBuffering = false

.......... midway through the setup the following appears ..........

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Initializing display template: CQ_01253/HeadcountQueries/monthlyWorkloadPDFChart

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Defined template: CQ_01253/HeadcountQueries/monthlyWorkloadPDFChart

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Adding template parameter: AllowMultipleYAxes = false

........... this is where the x-axis ticks are set from the display template....

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Adding template parameter: XAxisMajorTickCount = 0

...........

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Setting the configuration items.

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Initialization complete.

..........now it changes the params .....

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Modifying IllumQuery template variable Chart_2.XAxisMajorTickCount = 10

[DEBUG] Action parameter creating time [ <1 ms]

[DEBUG] Entering action 'Chart_2' implementation.

.... then it seems to re-initialize? This section doesn't make sense because I thought this already happened....

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Initializing display template: CQ_01253/HeadcountQueries/monthlyWorkloadPDFChart

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Defined template: CQ_01253/HeadcountQueries/monthlyWorkloadPDFChart

...... now it appears that it doesn't set the MajorTickCount, it's missing from the sequence...

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Adding template parameter: XAxisLabelDepth = 5

(should appear here?)

[DEBUG] [Chart_2]Adding template parameter: XAxisMinorTickCount = 0

....

Is this similar to what you see from the debug tracing when trying your transaction? Thanks!

- Austin