Creating Templates for PopChart Builder

If you or your company create many graphs that are similar to each other, it may be beneficial to create a PopChart template. PopChart Builder users will be able to create appearance files from this template while using the PopChart Wizard. Since your template will already be customized to suit your or your company's needs, the only thing you will have to do to create your final PopChart image after you select this template is enter in the new data. Obviously, this greatly simplifies the PopChart creation process.

To Create a PopChart Template

Creating a template is very easy.

1. Create a PopChart project that looks exactly like you want your template to look.

You may want to refer to "Tips for creating a PopChart Template" below for suggestions on how you should format your template.

2. Save your project.

3. Locate your appearance file.

4. Copy your project file to the PopChart Builder template directory.

This directory is the one specified in User Preferences > Template Directory. To keep things organized, you may want to create folders in the template directory for your new templates (e.g. Company Templates or Daily Stock Quotes).

You may also want to change the name of the template file so it is something more appropriate (e.g. Stock Price 3D Bar.pcxml).

To Set a Title Box in a PopChart Template

One aspect of your template that you will want users to customize in the PopChart Wizard is the title box. Because the title box is just like any other text box, you will need to name it title so that the PopChart Wizard knows that it should put the title in that box.

1. Select the text box that contains the project title.

2. Right-click on the text-box.

3. Select Set as Title.

This will change the object name to title. If another text box was previously set as the title text box, it will be given a different name.

Tips for creating a PopChart Template

Make your project self-explanatory, so users know what they should modify and what they should leave alone. For example, if you have a text box where the user should enter today's date, you should put the text Enter Today's Date in the text box.
Find out the image format and size that appearance files created from your template will need be set to. Set these in the template using Project Properties.
It is difficult to anticipate what or how much data will be put into your template. A graph that looks good with a very small set of sample data may look horrible with twenty or thirty categories and series. Test your template with a variety of data to make sure that it still looks good.
Avoid manually setting scales. Because you don't know the data that will go into your graph, you may inadvertently clip some of the data.
Decide how you want the graph to automatically adjust your bottom scale labels. This way, if it has to adjust labels, you have control over what it can and cannot do. For more information, refer to "Scale Label Adjustments".
Again, because the data may vary, be careful when setting Drill-down URLs or PopUp Text. Only set these when you are absolutely certain that the data values you set these for will always use your drill-down or PopUp settings.
If you want users to be able to change the title from within the wizard, make sure you name your title textbox title (refer to "Title Text Box").
All of the tips that apply to appearance files also apply to templates. For more information, refer to "Tips for Creating Good Appearance Files".