Configure Axes for a Chart Template Series

When you edit a series (see Maintain Series for Chart Templates), you can configure one or more axes for it on the Axis tab.

Note

This tab isn’t visible when you’ve just added a series. Click OK and then Edit to make the tab visible.

Each axis must have a name. If your chart has several series, you may wish to give the X axis the same name in each series, and give the Y axis the same name in each series.

Axis Kind

The kind of an axis reflects the way the axis is graphically represented in the chart.

You can use the following axis kinds:

Axis Kind	Description
X Axis	Used to define the primary horizontal axis of the chart. The X Axis controls how values are positioned along the horizontal dimension, typically based on time, KP or any other field that represents progression or sequence in the data.
X2 Axis	Useful where something covers a span of time or a distance of KP. For example, you can set the X Axis to Event.Start KP and the X2 Axis to Event.End KP, allowing the chart to show the full span of each item. If the chart covers a period of years, NEXUS will attempt to pick axis ticks on the first day of the month or the first day of the year.
Y Axis	Defines the primary vertical axis of the chart. Use the Y Axis for numeric or quantitative values you want to measure or compare, such as counts, durations, depths or any other sensor data.
Z Axis	A specialised axis used in the Pipeline View chart template (a 3D chart). This axis is not normally used in other chart types.
Z2 Axis	A second specialised axis used alongside the Z Axis in the Pipeline View chart template. It is not typically used in other chart types.
Colour Axis	Maps a data field to colour, allowing you to visually distinguish values, categories or series using a discrete colour set. This is useful when you want to show a third variable without adding additional series or axes.
Split Series Axis	Allows you to split data on one series into several series by some field you choose, such as Asset or Workpack. For example, if you have data in several different workpacks, and you’d like each workpack represented on your chart as a separate series, add a Split Series axis, and set its Parameters (Inputs) to Event.Workpack. Similarly, if you’d like to split data from different assets into different series, you would choose Event.Asset for your input. Splitting by asset is only useful when you filter to include child assets in your event listing, and have selected an asset that has children. Otherwise, all the data in the listing will by definition be from just one asset. The series will each show separately in the chart legend, and the user can make individual series visible or invisible.
Split Chart Axis	Works the same way as Split Series Axes, except that instead of your data appearing as several series on one chart, they will instead appear as a series of charts, one above another. Any other series on the chart that don’t have a Split Chart axis will appear on all of the split charts.

For an X/Y chart, you may have two axes, but charts may have more axes, up to one each of the kinds listed below.

Depending on the series type, you can use different axis kinds as follows:

Series Type	Axes
3D Events series	Used to represent events along the pipeline, with: Z and Z2 axes representing the start and end of each individual event a Y axis representing the diameter with which that event should be drawn (diameter is inflated slightly “for free”, to make the events stand out from the pipeline) a Split Series axis (see below), which is typically used to separate different event types into separate series a Colour axis, to determine the colour to paint each event.
3D Mesh series	Used to represent the seabed. The Z axis is used to represent the KP (i.e. the distance along the pipeline). The X axis is used to represent the distance away from the pipeline. The Y axis is used to represent the vertical distance, to show the actual variation in the seabed.
3D Pipeline series	Used to represent the pipeline itself, and has Z and Z2 axes which represent the start KP and end KP of the whole pipeline. It also has a Y axis, which represents the diameter of the whole pipeline.
Anomaly Trigger series	Similar to Horizontal Line series. When you specify a value field for this series, NEXUS does not pull data directly from that field. Instead, it looks for anomaly triggers configured on that field, and shows one horizontal line for each trigger. If there are several different triggers on this field (perhaps with different severities or codes), you will get several different lines. The vertical position of each horizontal line is determined by the trigger value. If there are different trigger values for different horizontal positions (for example, a pipeline might have different allowable span lengths at different KP ranges), you can add an X axis of type Auto and NEXUS will behave appropriately.
Bars series	X, X2 and Y axes. X and X2 are used to define the left and right edge of each bar.
Bezier Lines Point and Line series	Only X and Y axes
Bubble series	Only X and Y axes. If there are multiple points at the same location in a bubble series, the resulting bubble will be drawn larger.
Contour series	Can be used to show contour lines for some “height” value, as seen in a topographic map or an isobaric weather chart. <explain axis settings>
Donut or Pie Chart series	Use an X Axis to give the name of each pie slice, and a Y Axis to set the size of each slice. Donut and pie charts don’t really have an X or Y axes, so in this case, axes represent a different meaning. Optionally, you can also add a Colour axis to specify the colour of each slice. If your chart represents event counts, Table Definition.Colour might be a good choice. If you don’t specify a Colour axis, NEXUS randomly uses a different colour for each slice.
Gantt series	X, X2 and Y axes. X and X2 are used to define the beginning and end of each horizontal Gantt line. If you have a Split Series axis on a Gantt series, ticking the Gantt series’ Show Stacked checkbox will show each separate split value in its own vertical space. If you untick Show Stacked, the split series will share vertical space. For example, if your Split Series splits on Event Type, ticking Show Stacked will give a row for each event type; unticking it will combine all event types in one row. However, you can still distinguish event types by colour, and can make individual series visible/invisible.
Gauge and Gauge Indicator series	These series are designed to be used together. A Gauge series is like the top half of a donut chart, in a half-circle. Gauge series have X and Y axes: X is used to define the order in which entries should be shown in, and Y sets the size of each slice. A colour axis is also typically used. The Gauge Indicator series is the needle showing the value on the scale, and has a Y axis for value, and X axis for label. Tip: Create a Global Table to define the Gauge series colour, order and values.
Heat Map series	Similar to Contour series, but shows the “height” value as a colour axis, instead of as a series of colour lines. You can combine a Contour series and a Heat Map series on a single chart, to give two different representations of the same data. <explain axis settings>
Histogram series	Only X and Y axes. X is used to define the centre of each bar.
Horizontal Line series	Only a Y axis
Polygon and Polyline series	These series are very similar. Polygon is a “closed curve”, where we connect the last point back to the first. They are useful where events have defined shapes (for example, delamination on a concrete wall). See Charts and Drawings for more details. Polyline is an “open curve”. <explain axis settings>
Vertical Line series	Only an X axis

You can add a Split Series axis, Split Chart axis or Colour axis to almost any chart series. For example, a Split Series axis on a Histogram series will give a stacked bar chart.

Example

You want to use some piece of event data to set the Y value of points on your chart. In this case, you would add a Series of type Points, and within that, you would add an Axis of kind Y Axis, with an axis type of Field, then select the database field you want to use for your Y values. You’d also pick something for your X position: you’d add another Axis to your Series, with kind X Axis, and then choose whatever type and other details were appropriate.

Axis Type

The type of an axis reflects the source of data to be represented using the given axis.

You can use the axis types below as follows:

Axis Type	Usage
Auto	Automatically generates a numeric axis based on the minimum and maximum values you specify. The system determines appropriate tick spacing and calls the solver function repeatedly across that range if used with a Calculation axis. Useful when you want the axis values to be driven by a defined range rather than by data stored in fields.
Average (Aggregate)	An aggregate axis type. Calculates the average of the selected field across all records included in the chart. Use this when you want to display mean values rather than raw data points.
Calculation	Specify a function (see Configure Functions), and specify inputs for that function. You could equivalently create that function as a field on your form, and then use the Field type, but sometimes you only want the function in the chart, and you don’t want it cluttering up your form.
Count (Aggregate)	An aggregate axis type. Counts the number of records that match the filter criteria for each point or category plotted. Useful for frequency charts or when you want to show how many occurrences fall into a given bucket.
Field	The simplest axis type. Specify a field from a table that you want the chart series to pull data from.
Min (Aggregate)	An aggregate axis type. Computes the minimum value of the selected field across all records included in the chart. Useful when you want to show the lower bound of a dataset, such as the minimum remaining life or the lowest sensor reading over time.
Max (Aggregate)	An aggregate axis type. Computes the maximum value of the selected field across all records included in the chart. Useful when you want to show the upper bound of a dataset, such as the highest sensor reading or the maximum remaining life range.
Sum (Aggregate)	An aggregate axis type. Computes the total (sum) of the selected field across all included records. Use this when you need cumulative values rather than individual entries.

Example

You have wall thickness depletion as a percentage, and you want a chart showing how often each percentage occurs. Set up an Auto axis, ranging from 0 to 100, and set up the other axis as a Calculation type. In the function you select for that Calculation axis, include a Solver element. NEXUS IC will call your solver function many times, for different points along your axis range, and those values will get plotted on your chart. As your Auto axis’ range increases, the step size increases, but not proportionately. This means that if you choose a very wide range (for example, 1 to 1000000), then your Solver function may get called a very large number of times. That may take a long time.

Sensor Clock

When configuring a date/time axis for a chart of sensor data, you cannot pick the Clock value as usual. In general, when configuring Clock for an Event table, you can just pick Event.Start Clock and/or Event.End Clock. However, Sensor has no analogous “parent” table, so you can’t do this. You can’t pick Clock directly from the specific sensor table either; although the sensor table has Clock and Asset fields, they don’t show up in the picker because they’re key fields. (Asset is a foreign key, except of course in the Asset table, where it’s the primary key. And keys of type date/time are special; they count as foreign everywhere.)

That is, to configure a date/time axis for a chart of sensor data, proceed as follows:

Set up your other axis first (typically the Y axis), which refers to the sensor table data field.
Set up your date/time axis (typically an X axis). Instead of entering a value under Parameters (Inputs), go to Parameters (Values) and enter the special value :Clock (including the colon) in the value - any field.
Click OK.

When you come back to edit this axis, you’ll find Clock (without colon) filled in under Parameters (Inputs), showing that NEXUS has understood that you want a Clock field, and has found the relevant sensor table to pick it from.