SpreadsheetWEB blog

The upcoming version (2.4) of SpreadsheetWEB introduces a new feature for our users: Sparkline Chart.

Sparkline charts are compact and data-dense figures, and serve, at its best, to show the trend movements and variations of a given data range. SpreadsheetWEB will initially support 8 types of different sparklines to characterize and support your data:

• Line
• Bar and Discrete Bar
• Area Chart
• Pie Chart
• Icon
• Bullet Graph
• Scale

To make it easier for user to create sparklines, sparklines are created as worksheet formulas. Once the formulas are built in the original spreadsheet correctly, the SpreadsheetWEB wizard will automatically detect and convert sparkline charts to web applications. It is quite easy to create the formulas, and you will be able to find the detailed instructions on SpreadsheetWEB Help Page soon. Now let’s see what sorts of things we can do with these charts, and how they look as web applications.

Now let’s see what sorts of things we can do with these charts, and how they look as web applications.

LINE

SparklineLine is designed to show the numerical variation in related data in a line form. The line will curve depending on the data, and give you the impression on the fluctuation of the data line.

You can optionally have the maximum and minimum points the first and the last points and the overall points on the line, defined with dots.

BAR AND DISCREET BAR

SparklineBar and SparklineDiscreet both give the opportunity to follow the up and downs of a given data with respect to pre-determined thresholds. While SparklineBar forms a vertical figure  (Threshold= 5), the SparklineDiscreet charts go horizontal (Threshold= 0).

AREA

SparklineArea is a two-dimensional line chart. Any points on the line can be emphasized with dots, and a black border can be applied to the entire area in order to obtain a sharper look. Optionally, the area can be colored. Sure the charts look better when they are red or orange .

Below is the SparklineArea, SparklineLine and SparklineDiscrete charts combined in a web application:

Figure 1. SparklineArea, SparklineLine and SparklineDiscreet

PIE

Pie chart is a very effective and common way of displaying information. Now you can export them to web applications, and enjoy their colorful looks.

Figure 2. SparklinePie

ICON

Adding an icon next to a line of text can enhance the power of your statement. For example, if there are increasing, decreasing or stable values pointed out in your web application; additional arrows showing up, down and right would bring the whole application to perfection.

Below is the set of icons initiallly supported by SpreadsheetWEB. You will note that these icons are also consistent with the icon sets in Excel. In the next version, new icon libraries beyond supported by Excel will be included:

Figure 3. SparklineIcon Sets

BULLET GRAPH

Bullet Graphs can be either horizontal or vertical .

You can decide the bullet color, as well as the actual and target values displayed in the graph. The size of the bullet will be determined by the density of the data range.

Figure 4. SparklineBullet

SCALE

SparklineScale enables the creation of upside-down or reverse position charts in the web application.

The scale widht again changes upon the density of the data range. The volume of data will affect the way the scale will look in the end, along with the starting and finishing numbers, and the number of intervals pre-defined.

Once you define the settings for your application using Excel, SpreadsheetWEB will convert the sparklines without a hitch.