Distribution plot properties

You open the properties panel for a visualization by clicking Edit sheet in the toolbar and clicking the visualization that you want to edit.

If the properties panel is hidden, click  Show properties in the lower right-hand corner.

Data

Click Add to add a dimension or a measure.

Dimensions

On the Data tab, under Dimensions, click Add to open a list of available Dimensions and Fields. Select the dimension or field that you want to use.

If Add is dimmed, you cannot add more dimensions.

• <Dimension name>: Click the dimension name to open the dimension settings.

  If you want to delete the dimension, right-click the dimension and select in the dialog. Alternatively, click the dimension and click .

  • Dimension: Only displayed for master items. To edit only this instance of the dimension, click to unlink the dimension from the master item.
  • Field: If you have added a field from Fields in the assets panel, the field name is automatically displayed. Click to open the expression editor.
  • Label: Enter a label for the dimension. If you have added a field from Fields in the assets panel, the field name is automatically displayed.
  • Include null values: When selected, the measure values of all null dimensions are summarized and presented as one dimension item in a visualization. All null values are displayed as gaps or dashes (-).
  • Limitation: Limits the number of displayed values. When you set a limitation, the only dimensions displayed are those where the measure value meets the limitation criterion:

    • No limitation: The default value.

    • Fixed number: Select to display the top or bottom values. Set the number of values. You can also use an expression to set the number. Click to open the expression editor.

    • Exact value: Use the operators and set the exact limit value. You can also use an expression to set the number. Click to open the expression editor.

    • Relative value: Use the operators and set the relative limit value in percent. You can also use an expression to set the number. Click to open the expression editor.

    • Calculated on measure: <measure>: Shown when you make a limitation to the number of displayed dimension values. The dimensions whose measure value meet the criterion are displayed.

  • Show others: When selected, the last value in the visualization (colored gray), summarizes all the remaining values. When some kind of limitation is set (Fixed number, Exact value, or Relative number), the value counts as 1 in that setting. If, for example, Exact value is used and set to 10, the tenth value is Others.

    This option is not available in box plot dimensions.

  • Other label: Enter a label for the summarized values (when Show others is selected). You can also use an expression as a label. Click to open the expression editor.

  • Master item: Create a master dimension based on the dimension expression by clicking Add new. If the dimension is already linked to a master item, click Edit to update the master item. All instances of the linked dimension will be updated..

    Reusing dimensions with master dimensions

• Add alternative: Alternative dimensions and measures are dimensions and measures that are added to a visualization, but are not displayed until a user chooses to switch which dimensions and measures are being displayed during visual exploration.

You can drag the dimensions to set the order in which they are displayed in the visualization. Use the drag bars () to rearrange the order.

You can drag a field from Measures to Dimensions to change how it is used. Moving a measure to Dimensions removes its aggregation. You cannot drag a master measure to Dimensions. You can only drag a measure to Dimensions if its expression is simple. For more information on expressions, see Using expressions in visualizations.

Measures

On the Data tab, under Measures, click Add to open a list of available measures. Select the measure that you want to add to the visualization. If you select a field, you are automatically presented with some common aggregation functions that you can choose between for the measure.

If no measure is available, you need to create one. You can enter the expression directly in the text box, or click to create a measure in the expression editor.

You can edit a measure that is linked to a master item by updating the master item, or by unlinking the measure from the master item and editing only this instance.

If Add is dimmed, you cannot add more measures.

• <Measure name>: Click the measure to open the measure settings.

  If you want to delete the measure, right-click the measure and select in the dialog. Alternatively, click the measure and click .

  • Expression: Click to open the expression editor.The existing expression is displayed by default.

  • Label: Enter a label for the measure. Measures not saved in Master items are by default displayed with the expression as label.
  • Measure: Only displayed for master items. To edit only this instance of the measure, click to unlink the measure from the master item.
  • Number formatting: Different options for formatting the measure values. If you want to change the number format at app level, and not just for a single measure, it is better to do that in the regional settings, that is, in the SET statements at the beginning of the script in the data load editor.

  The following number formats are available:

  • Auto: Qlik Sense automatically sets a number formatting based on the source data.

    To represent numeric abbreviations, the international SI units are used, such as k (thousand), M (million), and G (billion).

  • Number: By default, the formatting is set to Simple, and you can select the formatting from the options in the drop-down list. Click the button to change to Custom formatting, and use the Format pattern box to change the format pattern.

    Examples:  

    • # ##0 describes the number as an integer with a thousands separator. In this example " " is used as a thousands separator.
    • ###0 describes the number as an integer without a thousands separator.
    • 0000 describes the number as an integer with at least four digits. For example, the number 123 will be shown as 0123.
    • 0.000 describes the number with three decimals. In this example "." is used as a decimal separator.

    If you add the percent sign (%) to the format pattern, the measure values are automatically multiplied by 100.

  • Money: By default, the format pattern used for money is the same as set up in the operating system. Use the Format pattern box to change the format pattern.
  • Date: By default, the formatting is set to Simple, and you can select the formatting from the options in the drop-down list. Click the button to change to Custom formatting, and use the Format pattern box to change the format pattern.
  • Duration: By default, the format pattern used for duration is the same as set up in the operating system. Duration can be formatted as days, or as a combination of days, hours, minutes, seconds and fractions of seconds. Use the Format pattern box to change the format pattern.

  • Custom: By default, the format pattern used for custom is the same as set up in the operating system. Use the Format pattern boxes to change the format pattern.

    • Decimal separator: Set the decimal separator.
    • Thousands separator: Set the thousands separator.
    • Format pattern: Set the number format pattern.
    • Reset pattern: Click to reset to default pattern.

  • Measure expression: The format pattern is determined by the measure expression. Use this option to display custom number formatting for a measure in a visualization.

    Limitations:

    Only works with visualizations that accept measures.

    Cannot be used with a box plot.

    Does not affect the number formatting of the axis.

  • Master item: Create a master measure based on the measure expression by clicking Add new. If the measure is already linked to a master item, you can update the master item by clicking Edit. All instances of the linked dimension will be updated. .

    Reusing measures with master measures

• Add alternative: Alternative dimensions and measures are dimensions and measures that are added to a visualization, but are not displayed until a user chooses to switch which dimensions and measures are being displayed during visual exploration.

You can drag the measures to set the order in which they are displayed in the visualization. Use the drag bars () to rearrange the order.

You can drag a field from Dimensions to Measures to change how it is used. Moving a dimension to Measures assigns it an aggregation. You cannot drag a master dimension to Measures.

Sorting

You can sort the distribution plot by any of the distribution plot elements or a custom expression, or by the second dimension of the chart in numerical or alphabetical order.

Click the dimension or measure name to open the settings and click the sorting button to switch to Custom sorting. The following list shows the internal sorting priority order and sorting options. The sorting is either Ascending or Descending.

• Sort by expression: Enter an expression to sort by. Only available for dimensions.
• Sort numerically
• Sort alphabetically

Additionally, you can sort by load order by switching to Custom and leaving all sorting options unselected.

If you have set a custom order for a field, that custom order will override any selected internal sort order in Sorting. For more information, see Customizing the order of dimension values.

Add-ons

• Data handling:

  • Include zero values: When unselected, measures that have the value ‘0’ are not included in the presentation. If there is more than one measure value, all the measure values must have the value ‘0’ to be excluded from the presentation.

  • Calculation condition: Specify an expression in this text field to set a condition that needs to be fulfilled (true) for the object to be displayed. The value may be entered as a calculated formula. For example: count(distinct Team)<3. If the condition is not fulfilled, the message or expression entered in Displayed message is displayed.

    A calculation condition is useful when a chart or table is slow to respond due to a large amount of data. You can use the calculation condition to hide an object until the user has filtered the data to a more manageable level by applying selections. Use the Displayed message property to guide the user to filter the data.

• Reference lines:

  • Add reference line: Click to add a new reference line.
  • Show: When selected, the reference line is displayed.
  • Label: Enter a label for the reference line.
  • Color: In the color picker, select the color of the reference line and the label.
  • Reference line expression: Enter a value or an expression for the reference line. Click to open the expression editor.
  • : Click to remove the reference line.

Appearance

General

• Show titles: On by default in all visualizations except filter panes, KPIs, and text & image visualizations.

  Enter Title, Subtitle, and Footnote. By default, the string is interpreted as a text string. However, you can also use the text field for an expression, or a combination of text and expression. An equals sign (=), at the beginning of a string shows that it contains an expression.

  Click if you want to create an expression by using the expression editor.

  Information noteTitles are displayed on a single line. If you inject line breaks they will be ignored.

  Example:  

  Assume that the following string is used, including quotation marks: 'Sales: ' & Sum(Sales).

  By default, the string is interpreted as a text string and is displayed as presented in the example. But if you begin the string with an equals sign: (='Sales: ' & Sum(Sales)), the string is interpreted as an expression instead. The output is then Sales: <value of expression>, where <value of expression> is the calculated value.

• Disable hover menu: Select to disable the hover menu in the visualization.

• Show details: Set to Show if you want to allow users to be able to choose to view details, such as descriptions, measures, and dimensions.
• Show disclaimer: Set to Show if you want to see visualization disclaimers that appear at the bottom of the chart, such as limited data or the chart has negative values.

Alternate states

• State: Set the state to apply to the visualization. You can select:

  • Any alternate state defined in Master items.
  • <inherited>, in which case the state defined for the sheet is used.
  • <default state>, which represents the state where no alternate state is applied.

  For more information about alternate states, see Using alternate states for comparative analysis.

Presentation

You can present the distribution plot in three ways:

• Points and background - this option displays a bounding box showing the range of the values, and value points.
• Points only - this option displays value points only.
• Background only - this option displays a bounding box showing the range of the values only.
• Gridline spacing: Set this to Custom if you want to customize the horizontal gridlines. You can choose between: No lines, Medium or Narrow.
• Bubble size: You can adjust the size of the bubbles that illustrate the value points.
• Jitter points: You can use this option to jitter several overlapping value points. This moves some of the points slightly to create a larger footprint that shows that there are more than one value behind the point.

Colors and legends

You can set the presentation colors of the distribution plot. You only need to select Custom if you want to change the settings.

Custom: Manually select the method of coloring your values in the chart. The following methods are available:

• Single color: A single color (by default blue) is used for all items in the chart.

• By dimension: By default, 12 colors are used for the dimensions. The colors are reused when there are more than 12 dimension values. When selected, the following settings are available:

  • Persistent colors: When selected, colors are persistent between selection states.

  • Color scheme: Select 12 colors or 100 colors to be used for the different values. The 12 colors can all be distinguished by people with color vision deficiency, but not all of the 100 colors.

• By expression: Color the chart using an expression to define colors for values. Supported color formats are: RGB, ARGB, and HSL.
  • Expression: Enter the expression that you want to use. Click to open the expression editor.

  • The expression is a color code: Selected by default. In most cases, it is best to keep this setting. When the selection is cleared, the expression evaluates to a number, which in turn is plotted against one of the chart gradients.

    For more information, see Coloring a visualization

  • Range: When the coloring is by measure or by expression, you can set the color range (Min and Max values). By setting the color range, the colors remain constant throughout selections and paging. When using color by expression, the option The expression is a color code must be cleared before you can set the color range.

• Show legend: Not available when Single color is selected. By default set to Auto. The legend is displayed if there is enough space. The placement can be changed in the Legend position setting.

• Legend position: Select where to display the legend.

• Show legend title: When selected, the legend title is displayed.

X-axis

• <Measure>

  • Labels and title: Select what to display of labels and title.
  • Position: Select where to display the measure axis.
  • Label orientation: Select how to display the labels. To access this option, the chart must have two dimensions and be set to a vertical orientation. The following options are available:

    • Auto: Automatically selects one of the other options depending on the space available on the chart.

    • Horizontal: Labels are arranged in a single horizontal line.

    • Tilted: Labels are stacked horizontally at an angle.

    • Layered: Labels are staggered across two horizontal lines.

    To view examples of label orientation, see X-axis and Y-axis.

  • Scale: Set the spacing of the measure axis scale.

  • Range: Select to set the min value, the max value, or both. The min value cannot be larger than the max value. You can use expressions for the values.

Y-axis

• <Dimension>
  • Labels and title: Select what to display of labels and title.
  • Position: Select where to display the dimension axis.

Properties panel