Line chart in DataLens On-premises

The chart shows how one or more measures change over a period of time. The chart line connects points with coordinates (X, Y).

What you can observeWhat you can observe

The chart depicts trends, seasonal patterns, dynamics, and relationships between multiple measures at a the same point in time.

Multiple measures can be drawn using different lines on the same chart. For example, the basic sales targets, optimistic sales targets, and actual sales can be represented as a dotted, dashed, and solid line, respectively.

Extra optionsExtra options

• Additional axes

  When measure values vary greatly, you can use separate Y-axes for each measure.

  Example

  Sales and customer count chart

  Source table

  

  Year	Sales	Number of customers
  January 2019	298,450	64
  February 2019	498,052	84
  March 2019	629,201	99
  April 2019	895,075	147
  May 2019	998,557	166
  June 2019	1,050,330	161
  July 2019	1,350,246	244
  August 2019	1,452,550	255
  September 2019	1,716,182	273
  October 2019	1,670,980	300
  November 2019	1,743,450	326
  December 2019	1,935,377	345

• Additional categories

  The chart allows you to compare several categories based on the same measure. Each category has a line of a different color or shape.

  Example

  Total sales for different product categories

  Source table

  

  Year	Home appliances	Household goods	Household cleaners
  January 2019	128K	55K	26K
  February 2019	97K	79K	18K
  March 2019	187K	105K	41K
  April 2019	188K	137K	34K
  May 2019	230K	121K	43K
  June 2019	256K	162K	59K
  July 2019	284K	206K	67K
  August 2019	409K	204K	72K
  September 2019	314K	209K	86K
  October 2019	324K	262K	79K
  November 2019	385K	238K	101K
  December 2019	451K	307K	111K

• Points instead of lines

  If using single values on the X-axis, you will see nothing but points on the chart. This may happen due to filtering.

  Example

  Individual points

  Source table

  

  Year	Home appliances	Household goods	Household cleaners
  2,018	25K	21K	16K

Wizard sectionsWizard sections

Creating a line chartCreating a line chart

To create a line chart:

1. Go to the DataLens home page.

2. In the left-hand panel, select Charts.

3. Click Create chart → Chart.

4. At the top left, click Select dataset and specify the dataset to visualize. If you do not have a dataset, create one.

5. Select Line chart as your chart type.
6. Drag a dimension from the dataset to the X section. The values will appear in the lower part of the chart on the X axis.
7. Drag one or more measures from the dataset to the Y section. The values will be displayed as a chart on the Y axis.
8. Drag one or more measures from the dataset to the Y2 section. The values will be displayed as a chart on the second Y axis.
9. Drag a dimension to the Color section. The measure value will be divided by color depending on the dimension you select.
10. Drag the Measure Names dimension or field to the Forms section. The measure value will be divided by line shape and width depending on the dimension you select. Set up line sizes and shapes.
11. Drag a dimension or measure from the dataset to the Filters section. The field can be empty. In this case, no filters are applied.

Configuring display of valuesConfiguring display of nullvalues

• If the source data has a row with null for a measure value, this point will not be plotted on a chart with default settings.

  For example, if the source has a row with the date, 20.07.2022, but the sales total for it is not specified.

  To set up null value display on a chart:

  1. Click in the top-right corner of the section with the measure you want to configure (the icon appears when you hover over the section).
  2. In Empty values (null), select Display as 0.
  3. Click Apply. Now the chart will use 0 instead of null.

• If a row is missing from the source data altogether, the chart section settings will not change the chart.

  For example, if the source does not have a row with the particular date, 20.07.2022, nothing will be shown for this date on the chart.

For more information, see Configuring the display of null values in a DataLens On-premises chart.

RecommendationsRecommendations

• Scale. The line chart data perception depends on its proportions.

  The lines may look steeper (rising or falling sharply) if the chart is compressed over a small segment. If the chart covers a longer segment, the lines appear smoother because the chart is stretched out.

  Example

  Steep

  Smoother

  

  

  For a closer look at the chart, make the axis longer.

• Labels. Use labels to display measure values on the chart. To display values on the chart, drag a measure from the dataset to the Labels section.

  Chart example

  

  If multiple measures are added to the Y or Y2 section, drag Measure Values to this section.

  Chart example

  

  You can also sign only the last value on the chart by adding a calculated field with the MAX function.

• Labels. If the category values are too verbose, make them shorter so that the chart labels look neater.

  You can use string functions in calculated fields or the CASE conditional statements.

• Colors. For multiple measures, choose distinguishable and contrasting colors. Using more than 3-5 colors can make the chart harder to read.
  To highlight one measure, select the brightest color for it.

• Disable the Sum in tooltips option in the chart settings if the chart lines represent different entities. For example, the sales amount and the number of customers.

• Splitting. You can split a chart by dimension into several small, easy-to-compare charts. To do this, drag a dimension from the dataset to the Split section.

  Chart example

  

• For better visualization, use formatting in the dimension and measure setup window.
  Check the data type for correct sorting and comparison of values. Specify additional parameters.

  For example, the format and units for numeric data and the number of decimal places for fractions.

  Example of measure settings

  

Useful linksUseful links

• Creating a dashboard in DataLens On-premises
• Adding a chart to a dashboard in DataLens On-premises
• Adding a selector to a dashboard in DataLens On-premises