9.2.1 The (Plot Details) Background Tab

PD-Dialog-Background-Tab

The layer background color can be set independent of the page background color using controls available in the Background tab of the Plot Details dialog box at the Layer level, described below.

Note that the layer background color is set to None by default. This results in the layer background being transparent. Any color that you apply to the graph page displays behind all layers on the page. Thus if the layer background is set to none, the page background color, if set, will show through.

Color

This option combined with Gradient Fill below, allows you to add a background color to the layer.

To add a single color to the layer:

1. Select a color from the Color drop-down list (None = transparent).
2. Make sure Gradient Fill is set to None.

To apply transparency to the layer background color:

1. Move the slider or enter an integer from 0 (no transparency) to 100 (full transparency).

Note: Assigning a background color to the layer will not hide contents of any other layers which may lie underneath, such as when one layer overlaps another. If you wish to hide contents of underlying layers, you will need to select the Draw layer by layer check box on the Layers tab at the Graph level of Plot Details.

Apply background colors by Layers for multi-layer graph

When there are multiple layers in same page, the background color can be specified by layers.

With this By Layers tab, you can choose plot index or a column label row, select Indexing, Direct RGB or Color Mapping to apply different colors to the layers' backgound fill. Meanwhile, the 2n Color under Gradient Fill group will also allow to apply different second gradient fill colors by layers.

Once you chose Color Mapping to apply the background colors based on values in the column label row, the tab Colormap will be shown at the Layer-level of Plor Details dialog.

This tab is same as the Colormap tab at Plot-level of Plot Details dialog, you can refer to this page to learn how to customize the colormap.

To learn more about the application method Indexing, Direct RGB and Color Mapping, you can refer to the page "Using a Dataset to Control Plot Color".

Border Style

The layer Border is a bounding box outside of the layer frame.

To display the layer border:

1. Select a border from the Border Style drop-down list.

Gradient Fill

Set the background color of current layer as graduated colors.

To add a gradient of colors to the layer:

1. Select a color from the Color drop-down list
2. Select One Color, Two Colors or More Colors from Mode drop-down list.
3. Specify the Lightness and Direction for One Color Mode; specify another color from 2nd Color drop-down list and Direction for Two Color Mode; specify a palette from Palette drop-down list and Direction for More Colors mode.

To apply transparency to the gradient fill color:

1. Move the slider or enter an integer from 0 (no transparency) to 100 (full transparency). When Auto is checked, follows the transparency of the Color.

To apply different two-color gradient fill colors to different layers in current page, the 2nd Color control supports applying the second colors by Layers, just like that for Color Control above.

For detailed information about Gradient Fill options, please view this topic.