Category Axis
A category axis is used as the domain axis in a category plot. Categories are displayed at regular intervals along the axis, with a gap before the first category (the lower margin), a gap after the last category (the upper margin) and a gap between each category (the category margin).
Properties
See Axis for the list of generic axis properties.
Category axis has the following additional properties:
Property | Name | Type | Description |
Type | type | Integer | Axis type: Category Axis or Extended Category Axis. |
Lower Margin | lowerMargin | Float | Lower margin for the axis, as a percentage of the total axis length. The default value is 0.05 (five percent). |
Upper Margin | upperMargin | Float | Upper margin for the axis, as a percentage of the total axis length. The default value is 0.05 (five percent). |
Category Margin | categoryMargin | Float | Category margin for the axis. The margin is a percentage of the axis length (for example, 0.20 for a twenty percent margin). The overall margin is distributed over N-1 gaps where N is the number of categories displayed on the axis. |
Maximum Category Label Lines | maximumCategoryLabelLines | Integer | By default category labels are displayed on a single line and truncated if necessary. However, multi-line labels are supported. This option specifies the maximum number of lines for displaying category labels. |
Maximum Category Label Width Ratio | maximumCategoryLabelWidthRation | Float | A ratio that is multiplied by the width of one category to determine the maximum label width. Zero (0.0) or negative value deactivates this setting. |
Category Label Position Offset | categoryLabelPositionOffset | Integer | Offset between the axis and the category label. |
Category Label Positions | categoryLabelPositions | Data Table | A tabular property that controls the position, alignment and rotation of the category labels along the axis. See Category Label Positions. |
Category Label Properties | categoryLabelProperties | Data Table | A tabular property that controls font, paint and tooltips of individual category labels. See Category Label Properties. |
Category Label Positions
When the axis needs to determine where it is going to draw the category labels, it will select one of those instances depending on the current location of the axis (at the top, bottom, left or
right of the plot). It is the attributes of the Category Label Position record that ultimately determine where the labels are drawn.
- The first attribute is an anchor point relative to a notional category rectangle that is computed by the axis. Within this rectangle, an anchor point is specified.
- The second attribute is a text anchor, which defines a point on the category label which is aligned with the anchor point on within the category rectangle mentioned previously. This is specified using the Text Block Anchor class.
- Two additional attributes define a rotation anchor point and a rotation angle. These are applied once the label text has been positioned using the previous two attributes.
- A width ratio and width ratio type control the maximum width of the category labels.
Category Label Position Properties
Property | Name | Type | Description |
Anchor | anchor | String | Used to determine the point on the axis against which the category label is aligned. This is specified relative to a rectangular area that the Category Axis allocates for the category. |
Label Anchor | labelAnchor | String | Determines the point on the category label that is aligned with the category anchor. |
Rotation Anchor | rotationAnchor | String | Point on the category label about which the label is rotated (note that there may be no rotation). |
Angle | angle | Float | Angle of the rotation, specified in degrees. |
Width Type | widthType | String | Controls whether the maximum width for the labels is relative to the width of the category label rectangle (Category) or the length of the range axis (Range). The last option is useful when labels are rotated so that they are perpendicular to the category axis. |
Width Ratio | widthRatio | Float | Maximum category label width ratio, measured as a percentage of either the category label rectangle or the length of the range axis (see the previous setting). |
Category Label Properties
This setting defines how individual category labels are drawn on an axis.
Property | Name | Type | Description |
Category Key | key | String | Category to apply label settings for. |
Font | font | Data Table | Font for the specified category's label. |
Paint | paint | Data Table | Paint for the specified category's label. |
Tooltip | tooltip | String | Tooltip for the specified category's label. |
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