# The &kchart; Handbook

## Introduction

&kchart; is intended primarily for use with &kspread;. It is currently undergoing revision and should be considered beta software.

### Plotting with &kchart;

To plot with &kchart;, when it is embedded in &kspread;, do the following:

Picture of toolbars dialog

- Highlight the second row of numbers.

- Next click on the Chart button to create the chart.

- Select the options you want from the chart Wizard. The chart Wizard will pop up after you insert the chart.

To make a bar chart for individual items, put the numbers in a column, as shown below.

Picture of toolbars dialog

The orientation of the numbers detremines how the plot will be made.

- A row of numbers defines the ordinates for a single plot.

- A column of numbers defines the heights for each bar, in a bar graph. It also determines the size of the slices in a pie chart.

## Command Reference

### The main &kchart; window

#### The File Menu

&Ctrl;N File New

- Creates a new document

&Ctrl;O File Open...

- Opens a document

File Open Recent

- Opens a recently saved document

&Ctrl;S File Save

- Saves the document

File Save As

- Saves the document with the specified format

&Ctrl;P File Print

- Prints the document

  Make sure the proper print system is selected in the Print system currently used: section. This option can be seen after clicking on the Expand button.

File Print preview

- Displays a picture of what the printed document will look like.

File Document Information...

- Opens a dialog box where you can enter information about your chart.

  This document information will be displayed in the &konqueror; file browser as a tool tip. The tool tips are pop-ups that show the contents of a file when you move your mouse over the file icon.

File Send File...

- This feature does not work properly. Do not use it.

&Ctrl;W File Close

- Closes the current chart.

&Ctrl;Q File Quit

- Quits &kchart;

#### The Edit Menu

Edit Customize with Wizard...

- Allows you to specify the chart type.You can also insert titles and change the fonts, with the Wizard.

Edit Edit Data...

- Table for entering the data.

Edit Configure...

- Dialogs for configuring the chart.

##### The Configure Tabs

Colors

- Select graph colors, grid colors and title colors here.

Font

- Select font style and size here. The series colors can be selected here also. The series refer to the individual graphs. Each graphed set of data is a series

Background

- Select the background color for your graph.

  The picture backgrounds do not work at this time

Legend

- Change the location of the legend box. The color of the legend box can be changed also. The legend box contains the color key to the graph series.

Axes

- The axes can be turned on or off here.

  Not all the features work here.

3D Parameters

- The perspective for the 3d bar graphs can be set here.

Chart Subtype

- Changes the arrangement of bar graphs.

Header/Footer

- Enter the titles you want for your graphhere.

#### The Settings Menu

Settings Load Config

- Loads a previously saved configuration.

Settings Save Config

- Saves the configuration you set up in Edit Configure.

Settings Default Config

- Loads the default configuration.

Settings Show File Toolbar

- Displays the file toolbar for fast access.

Settings Show Chart Toolbar

- Displays the toolbar for the different charting styles (Pie Chart, Bar Chart, Area Chart and so on).

#### Configuring Shortcuts

The Settings Configure Shortcuts... allows you to specify key bindings

Below is an example of how to configure a short cut for opening the chart wizard.

Picture of shortcut dialog

- Click on the Custom button.

- Next click on the Primary button.

- Do `&Alt;&Ctrl;W` and the dialog should disappear. The key binding is now entered.

Pressing the keys `&Alt;&Ctrl;W` now opens the Wizard.

#### Configuring Toolbars

The Settings Configure Toolbars... Is used to add additional buttons to the toolbars.

Picture of toolbars dialog

- To add a button to the File toolbar,

  Picture of toolbars dialog

  make sure File <KOfficeShell> is displayed in the top combo box.

- Click on one of the items in the left hand pane. This item will now have a blue background showing that it has been selected.

- Next click on the Right arrow button to place it in the right pane.

- Click on `Apply` and then click on `OK`

The new Item should be in the toolbar.

#### The Help Menu

&help.menu.documentation;

## Questions and Answers

&reporting.bugs; &updating.documentation;

Can &kchart; accept text files of data, such as columns of numbers, for plotting?

No. At this time &kchart; can only make graphs from inside &kspread;.

Why do some of the commands from the Edit Configure... menu not function?

&kchart; is still under development and some features do not work.

## Credits and License

&kchart;

Program copyright 1998-2002 Matthias Kalle Dalheimer kalle@kde.org

Contributors:

- Laurent Montel lmontel@mandrakesoft.com

- Karl-Heinz Zimmer khz@kde.org

Documentation copyright 2002 Jonathan Drews j.e.drews@att.net

&underFDL; &underGPL;

## Installation

### How to obtain &kchart;

&install.intro.documentation;

### Requirements

In order to successfully use &kchart;, you need &koffice; 1.2 and Qt-3.0.5.

All required libraries as well as &kchart; itself can be found on The &koffice; home page.

You can find a list of changes at http://www.koffice.org/kchart/.

### Compilation and Installation

&install.compile.documentation;
&documentation.index;