Terminology

The building block of every graph in PopChart Server is a data item. Exactly what this data item is will depend on the graph. For example, a data item in a bar graph is simply a single data value represented as a bar. A data item in an X-Y Bubble graph, however, consists of three data values—an X-value, a Y-value, and Bubble value. Grouped together, all of the data items in a graph can be referred to as a data set.

PopChart Server groups data items into series and categories. It is easiest to think of series and categories as corresponding to rows and columns on a spreadsheet, respectively. Be aware, though, that this does not necessarily mean that your data will be organized in this fashion when you send it to PopChart Server.

All data items in a specific data series are displayed in the same color. In line graphs, they are also connected by a line. Each item in a series of data belongs to a different category. All items in the same category will be grouped together in the graph. Example 12.1 illustrates the roles of series and categories of data in creating a graph.

This example illustrates a graph that uses the Standard data class. The next section of this chapter discusses the Standard data class in detail. The rest of this chapter discusses other data classes. Though these classes organize their data differently, the concepts of data items, data values, series, and categories remain the same.