Overview
Visualization is one of the two sections inside the Chart Designer. It exposes the Datanyx chart library — the catalog of chart types available for visual data presentation. Where the Analytics section is for computation and statistical analysis on data, Visualization is for rendering data into shapes a reader can interpret at a glance: bars, lines, tables, funnels, and the other categories listed below.
Visualization is accessed by switching to the Visualization tab inside the Chart Designer. Picking a chart type opens that chart’s authoring canvas with empty Dimension and Measure slots; populating the slots renders the chart in the preview. Each chart type carries its own Properties and Columns configuration surfaces, documented on its dedicated PD page.
When to use it
- A Report or Dashboard needs a visual representation of data — bars, lines, distributions, tables.
- Multiple chart types are being compared to see which best presents a given dataset.
- Chart customization (header styling, color rules, axis configuration) needs to be applied to a Workbook’s data.
- A chart needs to be authored as a standalone artifact for use across multiple Reports or Dashboards.
Chart library categories
Chart types are grouped by intent in the Visualization tab. Each category is suited to a particular kind of data presentation.
| Tables | Table, Tree List, Pivot | Row-and-column display of records or aggregated values. |
| Bar Charts | Bar Chart, Horizontal Bar Chart, Stacked Bar Chart, Horizontal Stacked Bar Chart | Comparing values across categories. Stacked variants show part-to-whole relationships within each category. |
| Trend Charts | Line Chart, Area Chart | Showing changes in values over time or another continuous dimension. |
| Distribution Charts | Funnel Chart | Showing progressive reduction across stages, such as conversion or pipeline analysis. |
| Additional Charts | Pie, Donut, Scatter, Heatmap, Gauge, KPI, Sankey and other charts | — |
Chart type decision framework
Pick a chart type by the question the chart should answer, not by which one looks nicest. The categories above are intent-organized for this reason.
| How do values compare across discrete categories? | Bar Chart (vertical) or Horizontal Bar Chart (horizontal labels). |
| How does each category break down into parts? | Stacked Bar Chart, or Horizontal Stacked Bar Chart for wide layouts. |
| How does a value change over time? | Line Chart for the trend, Area Chart for the cumulative shape. |
| What is the per-row detail? | Table Chart. |
| How does a process drop off through stages? | Funnel Chart. |
Key behaviors
Picking a chart type is reversible. Clicking a different chart type icon in the Visualization tab switches the active chart type. Within the Bar family, Dimension and Measure assignments are typically preserved across switches.
Chart type drives the configuration surface. Each chart type exposes its own Properties and Columns surfaces. Properties common to most chart types (Title, Tooltip Options, Adhoc Report, axis configuration) are documented on the Bar Chart PD page as the canonical reference; chart-type-specific properties are documented on each chart type’s own page.
Visualization is one half of the Chart Designer. The Analytics tab is the other half — it shares the same data context (the Workbook’s Data Model, Dimensions, Filters) but produces computational outputs (Metrics and Analysis) rather than visual representations.