Configure Chart Templates

Under Configuration ‣ General ‣ Chart Templates, you can add, edit and delete chart templates and assign series to them.

These templates can then be visible on the Charts tab of the INSPECTION screen and in Configure Report Templates. Charts can also appear on the Charts tab of the ASSET screen and as part of dashboard reports on the Dashboard tab of the ASSET screen as well as on the DASHBOARDS screen. Note that charts will only be displayed on the Charts tab if they are relevant to the selected data set (for example, inspection data charts on the INSPECTION screen, asset data if you’ve selected a relevant asset, and so on).

On the Configuration - Chart Templates dialog, you can do the following:

Create Chart Templates

To create a new chart template, proceed as follows:

  1. Click the Add button at the top of the Configuration - Chart Templates dialog.

  2. On the Chart Template tab, give your new chart template a name and define other attributes as required (see Add/Edit Chart Template Dialog).

  3. Assign at least one series to a chart template. For more information, see Maintain Series for Chart Templates.

  4. For each series, assign one or more axes. For more information, see Configure Axes for a Chart Template Series.

  5. If required, you can also set up a drawing or image as the background of the chart. For more information, see Charts and Drawings.

To edit an existing chart template, select it and click Edit, or just double-click it.

Maintain Series for Chart Templates

You can add/edit/delete a chart template’s series in one of the following ways:

  • By editing the chart template and clicking on the Series tab

  • By using the bottom half of the main Configuration - Chart Templates dialog.

At the bottom right of the screen, you can see a preview. As you add or edit a series, random sample data is displayed in this preview to show you conceptually what your chart will look like. If you have chosen options that cause the chart to have a legend, the legend is interactive: you can mouse over a legend item to highlight the corresponding item in the chart, and you can click legend items to toggle the corresponding chart item off/on.

When you add or edit a series, you’ll need to give it a name and define other parameters as required (see Add/Edit Series Dialog).

Configuring Axes

You also need to configure one or more axes for a series as described in Configure Axes for a Chart Template Series.

Load/Save Chart Templates

Clicking Save Template will save the selected Chart Template and related details to a .chart file. NEXUS IC will find all items related to this Chart Template (asset information forms, event definitions, chart templates, lookup tables, etc), and will present a dialog listing all the dependencies it’s found, with a checkbox for each row. Untick any that you don’t want saved with your Chart Template.

This Chart Template can then be loaded into this or another database via Load Template. Note that if the previously saved Chart Template still exists in this database, Load Template will overwrite that existing Chart Template — it will not create a new copy of it. Similarly with any other elements saved in the .chart file: asset information fields, lookup tables, etc.

Predelivered Chart Templates

The Pipeline View chart template is predelivered for NEXUS IC. It is a 3D view, and uses the Y Axis to represent the diameter of the pipeline. If you don’t set a Y Axis value of some kind, you won’t see a pipeline. Since it uses Y for diameter, it uses Z Axis and Z2 Axis to represent distance along the pipeline. As with X and X2, the two different axis types are used to represent the start and end of an item on the “chart”. For more information about all the configurations required to have the Pipeline View chart displayed correctly, see Configure Pipeline View Chart.

See also