Creating a Simple Appearance File

Creating an appearance file is easy with PopChart Builder. When you first start PopChart Builder, the PopChart Wizard will begin. The Wizard will guide you through the steps of building a basic appearance file.

Using the Wizard

You can start the appearance file with a standard graph type, such as Bar, Pie, Line, or Stock, or you can select a pre-defined template to customize. After you select the graph type or template, you will be given the option of customizing some of the more common features, such as the title, the legend, and the color theme. When you are done customizing your appearance file in the Wizard, click Finish.

Note: PopChart Builder allows you to preview your PopChart image in the three main image formats (FLASH, SVG, GIF/PNG) at any time in your default web browser. Just click on the preview button at the bottom of the Wizard. Outside of the Wizard, you can preview your PopChart image by clicking on the Preview toolbar button or select File > Preview.

Customizing Your Appearance File

When you click finish the PopChart Wizard, you will be brought to the main PopChart Builder designer. In this designer, you can further customize your appearance file.

By clicking on the buttons at the top of the window, you can add more objects to your graph, including graphs, images, text boxes, and legends.

By double-clicking on any object (or selecting options from the Properties pull-down menu), you can bring up dialogs that allow you to control more advanced features that aren't available in the PopChart Wizard.

While in the dialogs, if you have any questions about what a certain option or feature does, click on the help button. This will bring you to the PopChart Builder online help reference, which will answer all of your questions about appearance file features and options.

Saving Your Appearance File

When you are done customizing your appearance file, you can save your appearance file by selecting File > Save. Your appearance file will be saved in the chart_root/apfiles folder of your PopChart installation.

You can access this folder later by selecting the Builder Projects shortcut, which is in your Start Menu on Microsoft Windows®. If you want to make changes to your appearance file, simply double-click on it and it will open in PopChart Builder.

Note: If double-clicking does not open your appearance file, start PopChart Builder, select File > Open, and locate the file you want to edit.