4.4.6 Brushing a Chart
A Viewsheet often contains multiple charts representing the same data in different ways. In this case, it is often useful to highlight corresponding data in different plots. You can do this easily with a technique called “brushing.”
To brush a single subgroup, double-click the desired entity (axis label, legend label, or subgroup). To brush a set of subgroups, follow the steps below:
1. Select the desired subgroups, adjacent or nonadjacent. See Selecting Chart Data.
2. Click the 'Brush' button in the chart toolbar.
The corresponding data in all charts is highlighted in red, allowing you to immediately identify key data relationships. Data represented in tables and output elements (e.g., gauges) is also filtered by the brushing operation.
Figure 7. Brushing data: Companies in CT and IL for 2007.

Brushing is a powerful tool that helps you quickly understand your data. In this example, you will create two charts, and then use brushing on both charts to answer particular business questions.
1. Create a new Viewsheet based on the sample 'Analysis' Worksheet.
2. To create the first chart, follow the steps below:
a. Add a Chart component, and click the 'Edit' button. This opens the Chart Editor.
b. In the Data Source panel, expand the 'OrdersAndReturns' data block.
c. From the 'Dimensions' node in the Data Source panel, drag the 'State' field to the 'X' field of the Data panel.
d. From 'Dimensions' node in the Data Source panel, drag the 'Last Name' field to the 'Color' field of the Visual panel.
e. From the 'Measures' node in the Data Source panel, drag the 'TotalPurchased' field to the 'Y' field of the Data panel.

This automatically creates a stacked bar chart.
f. Enlarge the chart (if desired) by dragging the handles.

3. To create the second chart, follow the steps below:
a. Add a Chart component, and click the 'Edit' button. This opens the Chart Editor.
b. In the Data Source panel, expand the 'OrdersAndReturns' data block.
c. From the 'Dimensions' node of the Data Source panel, drag the 'Date' field to the 'X' field of the Data panel.
d. From the 'Measures' node of the Data Source panel, drag the 'TotalPurchased' field to the 'Y' field of the Data panel.
e. Next to the 'X' field, click the 'Edit Dimension' button. Select 'Month' for 'Level'.

f. On the new chart, right-click an X-axis label and select 'Format' from the context menu. This opens the 'Format' dialog box, where you will set the axis format to match the grouping level.

g. In the 'Format' dialog box, click the Format tab, and select the 'Date' option. Enter “MMM-yy” as the format, and click 'OK'.

h. On the chart, right-click an X-axis label and select 'Axis Properties' from the context menu. This opens the 'Axis Properties' dialog box.

i. In the Label tab of the 'Axis Properties' dialog box, select a slanted label orientation and small font size. This will allow the labels to better display.
4. Use brushing to answer the following question: “In what month did salesperson Eric Heggenbart have his peak sales?”
a. Double-click the 'Heggenbart' label in the legend to brush Heggenbart's sales in both charts.

It is now obvious that Heggenbart's greatest sales month was December of 2006, when he sold over $400,000.
b. Press the 'Clear Brushing' button to return to the normal view.

5. Use brushing to answer the following question: “Which states had the greatest sales numbers during the best four months?”
a. In the second chart, Ctrl-click to select the four highest peaks on the plot.


b. Click the 'Brush' button on the chart toolbar to highlight all the data corresponding to these months.

It is clear that the four peak months saw sales chiefly in the states NJ, TX, and MA.
6. The data indicate a steep overall decline in sales for September 2008. Use brushing to answer the following question: “Which salesperson's sales defied this trend, and what state's sales most significantly accounted for this?”
a. Successively double-click the names in the legend to display the sales by data for each salesperson. Note that only the data for Heggenbart defy the September sales decline.
b. Successively double-click each of Heggenbart's states, and observe the September sales movement. Note that only the Heggenbart sales in MA and NY show significant growth in this period.

See Also
Zooming a Chart, for information on zooming in on selected data.
Adding Highlights to a Chart, for information on adding conditional formatting.
Flyover Views, to use chart selections to filter the data in other components.
Selecting Chart Data, for information on methods of selecting chart data.
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