8.5.4 Legend for Box Chart Components


Introduction

A special kind of legend can be generated for box chart. In such legend, each entry refers to one of the box components, like the box, whisker, median or mean line, percentile.etc.

The legend for box components can be generated for the following graph types:

You can easily customize the box chart legend to show or hide any any of the standard box chart parameters.

Legend for Box Components EX.png

Create a Legend for Box Components

In a graph with box plots (see the section above), you can create a legend for box components and replace the existing legend (for a legend object of data plot).

The default legend for box components will be automatically updated if the box plots change.

To create a legend for box components, you may need to open and use the legendbox dialog. This dialog can be accessed by any of the following:

  • With the graph window active, choose Graph:Legend:Box Chart Components from the menu.

or

  • Right click on the graph page and choose Legend:Box Chart Components from the context menu.

or

  • Right click on the legend object and choose Legend:Box Chart Components

Note: if the existing legend already contains legend entries for box chart components, use this dialog will update those legend entries.

There is also another approach to create a legend for box chart components without opening legendbox dialog:

  • Directly use the menu entry Graph:Legend:Reconstruct Legend or hit Ctrl+L key.


The legendbox Dialog

This dialog is used to create an enhanced legend for box chart components. If there is already a legend object on the graph, it will append box chart components to the existing legend. Note that some dialog control options only show for certain box chart variations.

The Legendbox Dialog.png

This dialog uses the legendbox X-Function, and it is used to specify which box elements should be shown in the legend. The dialog controls are summarized in the table below:

Box This option is only available when the box type is Box, Box + Data Overlap, Box(Right) + Data(Left), Box(Left) + Data(Right), Bar(Left) + Data(Right), Half Box(Right) + Data(Left) or Half Box(Left + Data(Right) . It is to specify whether to show the entry for box in legend. The data plot symbol style will follow the box style settings in the Box tab and the Pattern tab. The legend text will use the variable specified by the Box Identifier drop-down menu and Show Box Range check box.
Box Identifier This drop-down is only available when Box is checked. Select the <Custom> option to specify a custom format.
  • Short Name
  • Long Name
  • Units
  • Comments
  • Any Categorical Group Columns: Columns of categorical data used to define box chart groups.
  • <Custom>
  • <none>: no box identifier. Default options for normal box chart and Grouped box chart
Custom Identifier Format Only available when <Custom> is selected for Box Identifier. Specify your Identifier by one of the following:
  • Select a built-in custom format from the drop-down menu.
  • Click the arrow button to the right side of the combo box.
  • Enter your own strings for identifier directly, referring to the complete list of @options for details.
Show Box Range This check box is only available when Box is checked. Select this will append the box range information next to the Box Identifier text. The box range is determined by the Range drop-down in the Box tab.
Whisker This check box is only available when the Whisker is enabled. Controls whether to display whiskers in the legend. If displayed, the data plot symbol will follow the Style settings for Whisker on the Lines tab of Plot Details. The legend text uses the Whisker Range setting (from the Range drop-down on the Box tab).
Bar This option is only available when the box type is Bar, Bar + Data Overlap, Bar(Right) + Data(Left) or Bar(Left) + Data(Right) . It is to specify whether to show the entry for bar in legend.

The data plot symbol style will follow the bar style settings in the Box tab and the Pattern tab. The legend text will use the variable specified by the Bar Identifier drop-down menu and Show Bar Represent check box.

Bar Identifier This drop-down is only available when Bar is checked. Select the <Custom> option to specify a custom format.
  • Short Name
  • Long Name
  • Units
  • Comments
  • Any Categorical Group Columns: Columns of categorical data used to define box chart groups.
  • <Custom>
Custom Identifier Format Only available when <Custom> is selected for Bar Identifier. Specify your Identifier by one of the following:
  • Select a built-in custom format from the drop-down menu.
  • Click the arrow button to the right side of the combo box.
  • Enter your own strings for identifier directly, referring to the complete list of @options for details.
Show Bar Represent This check box is only available when Bar is checked. Select this will append the box range information next to the Bar Identifier text. The box range is determined by the Represent drop-down in the Box tab.
Error Bar This option is only available when the Error Bar is enabled. Controls whether to display error bar in the legend.
Median Line This check box is only available when the median line is enabled in the Line tab. It specifies whether to show the legend entry for median line. The data plot symbol will follow the style settings of median line in the Line tab, followed by the text Median Line.
Mean Line This check box is only available when the mean line is enabled in the Line tab. It specifies whether to show the legend entry for mean line. The data plot symbol will follow the style settings of mean line in the Line tab, followed by the text Mean Line.
Max

This check box is only available when the check Max check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at maximum value. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of Max in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be Max.

99% This check box is only available when the check 99% check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at 99%. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of 99% in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be 99%.
Mean This check box is only available when the check Mean check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at mean value. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of Mean in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be Mean.
Mean Identifier This check box is only available when the check Mean check box in the Percentile tab and the Mean check box above is selected. The first four use the variable in the corresponding column label row of the source data column.
  • Short Name
  • Long Name
  • Units
  • Comments
  • Any Categorical Group Columns: Columns of categorical data used to define box chart groups.
  • <Custom>: Used with Custom Identifier Format to build the text string.
  • <Mean>: Use the Mean symbol of the first plot.
Median This check box is only available when the check Median check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at median value. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of Median in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be Median.
Median Identifier This check box is only available when the check Median check box in the Percentile tab and the Median check box above is selected. The first four use the variable in the corresponding column label row of the source data column.
  • Short Name
  • Long Name
  • Units
  • Comments
  • Any Categorical Group Columns: Columns of categorical data used to define box chart groups.
  • <Custom>: Used with Custom Identifier Format to build the text string.
  • <Median>: Use the Median symbol of the first plot.
1% This check box is only available when the check 1% check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at 1%. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of 1% in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be 1%.
Min This check box is only available when the check Min check box in the Percentile tab for the Box plot. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at minimum value. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of Min in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be Min.
Custom Percentiles This check box is only available when the box type is not Data. Specifies whether to show the legend entry for percentile point at the customized value. The data plot symbol style follows the settings of Custom Percentiles in the Percentile tab and the legend text will be Custom Percentiles. For example, if set P=5, then the display legend text is 5%, 95%.
Data This check box is only available when the box type is not Box / Baror it is a column scatter plot. It is to specify whether to show the entry for data in legend. The data point style will follow the settings in the Symbol tab, and the text will be determined by the Data Identifier.

Note: If the plot for the data points fulfills the plot requirement for legend for categorical values or point by point legend, the legend entries based on these two legend objects will be appended in the legend for box components.

Data Identifier This check box is only available when the box type is not Box / Baror it is a column scatter plot, and the Data check box above is selected. The first four use the variable in the corresponding column label row of the source data column.
  • Short Name
  • Long Name
  • Units
  • Comments
  • Any Categorical Group Columns: Columns of categorical data used to define box chart groups.
  • <Custom>: Used with Custom Identifier Format to build the text string.
  • < Data >: Use the data symbol of the first plot.
Custom Identifier Format Only available when <Custom> is selected for Data Identifier. Specify your Identifier by one of the following:
  • Select a built-in custom format from the drop-down menu.
  • Click the arrow button to the right side of the combo box.
  • Enter your own strings for identifier directly, referring to the complete list of @options for details.
Outliers Only available when Outliers is enabled in the Plot Details Box tab. Creates a legend entry for outliers. The legend symbol will be the same as the outlier data point and the legend text will be Outlier.
Extreme Values Only available when Outliers is enabled in the Plot Details Box tab. Creates a legend entry for extreme Values. The legend symbol will be the same as the extreme data point and the legend text will be Extreme Values.
Connect Mean Only available when Connect Mean is enabled in the Plot Details Connect Lines tab. Creates a legend entry for lines connecting the mean points of the box. The legend symbol follows the settings of the Connect Mean group in the Connect Lines tab and the legend text will be Mean.
Connect Median Line Only available when Connect Median is enabled in the Plot Details Connect Lines tab. Creates a legend entry for lines connecting the median points of the box. The legend symbol follows the settings of the Connect Median group in the Connect Lines tab and the legend text will be Median.
Connect Data Points Only available when Connect Data Points is enabled in the Plot Details Connect Lines tab. Creates a legend entry for lines connecting the data points of each variable. The legend symbol follows the settings of Connect Data Points group in the Connect Lines tab and the legend text will be Data. If Color for the lines connecting data points is Indexed to a column of categorical data, the legend text will list categories.
Connect Percentiles Only available when Connect Percentiles is enabled in the Plot Details Connect Lines tab. Creates a legend entry for lines connecting certain percentiles. The legend symbol follows the settings of Connect Percentilesin the Connect Lines tab and the legend text will be Percentiles.

Other Customizations to the Box Chart Components Legend