Creating a Graph

About Creating a Graph

ODS Graphics Designer provides more than one way to create a graph:

The designer provides a gallery of predefined, commonly used graphs. If the graph that you want to create exists in the Graph Gallery, then an easy way to create the graph is to open the predefined graph from the gallery. Even if you do not find the exact graph you need in the gallery, you might find a graph that can be used as a starting point, from which to build your custom graph.
For graphs that are created from the Graph Gallery, placeholder data is assigned to the graph. You can change the data as appropriate for your graph. After you create the graph, you can add plots, titles, legends, and other elements to the graph.

For more information about the gallery, see About the Graph Gallery.
You can start from a blank graph window and then add plots, titles, legends, and other elements to create your graph.

Note: You can also create what is called a shared-variable graph. This type of graph is useful when you want to reuse a graph with different variable names. For more information, see About Shared Variables.

Create a Graph from the Graph Gallery

To create a graph from the Graph Gallery:

Open the Graph Gallery if it is not already open. For instructions, see Open and Use the Graph Gallery.

The Graph Gallery opens and displays graphs that are grouped into different tabs.
In the gallery, locate and select the graph you want. Then either double-click the graph or click OK.

The Assign Data dialog box opens.

Exception: The Assign Data dialog box does not open if you selected a multi-cell graph from the gallery. This is because each cell of the graph might use a different data set. After opening a multi-cell graph, to customize the data for the various plots in the graph, you must open the Assign Data dialog box for each cell individually.
In the Assign Data dialog box, specify the data for the plot or plots in the graph, and then click OK. For more information, see Change the Data Assignment for a Plot in a Graph.

After you have created a graph, you can perform additional steps as desired to design and customize your graph. For example, you might add another plot or more cells to the graph. You can also add titles, footnotes, and make other changes to the graph. For more information about the tasks you can perform, see High-Level Steps for Designing Graphs.

Create a Graph from a Blank Graph Window

To create a graph from a blank graph window:

Select FileNewBlank Graph, or click the New Blank Graph toolbar button.
Add a plot to the blank graph. One way to add a plot is to click and drag the plot icon from the Plot Layers panel to your graph. For more information, see Add a Plot to a Graph.

The Assign Data dialog box opens.
In the Assign Data dialog box, specify the data for the plot in the graph, and then click OK. For more information, see Assign Data to a New Plot.

After you have created a graph, you can perform additional steps as desired to design and customize your graph. For example, you might add another plot or more cells to the graph. You can also add titles, footnotes, and make other changes to the graph. For more information about the tasks you can perform, see High-Level Steps for Designing Graphs.