## Chapter 14 Using a Chart in a Report

A chart is a graphical representation of data or the relationships among sets of data. Charts display complex data in an easy-to-assimilate format. You can use a chart as a report in itself or combine a chart with other report elements to enhance or highlight related information.

The guidelines that you should follow when you plan a chart are similar to the guidelines that you use when you plan a report. To create an effective chart, you must decide what data to display, then you select the chart type that best presents that data. For example, to show the growth of a company's business units over time, you use a chart that tracks data along an axis, such as a line chart or a bar chart.

Setting up a chart is different from setting up other report elements. After you select a chart type, you must supply expressions that organize the data in visual elements that are available for that chart type, such as bars in a bar chart. The BIRT Report Designer chart builder walks you through the steps that you need to complete to select a chart type and to create each type of chart.

This section introduces BIRT charts. It begins with a tutorial in which you build a chart using the BIRT sample database, Classic Models. As you complete the tutorial, you learn about the essential chart-building tasks.