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Format Surface Dialog Box

You can use the Format Surface dialog box to format the surface in a surface chart. This topic describes the options in the dialog box.

Designer displays the Format Surface dialog box when you right-click a vertex in a surface chart and select Format Surface from the shortcut menu, or double-click a vertex in a surface chart.

The dialog box contains the following tabs:

• Fill Tab
• Border Tab
• Data Label Tab
• Hint Tab

You see these buttons in the tabs:

OK

Select to apply your settings and close the dialog box.

Cancel

Select to close the dialog box without saving any changes.

Apply

Select to apply all changes and leave the dialog box open.

Help

Select to view information about the dialog box.

Fill Tab

Use this tab to specify the color pattern to fill the range sections in the surface chart.

Color

Specify the color for the selected range sections in the same data series. To edit the color, select the color indicator and select a color from the color palette or type the hexadecimal value of a color (for example, 0xff0000) in the text box.

Transparency

Specify the transparency of the color.

Self Settings

Select to apply the color pattern to the range sections themselves. When the option is unselected, the color settings defined here will be synchronized to the Pattern List property on the chart object in the Report Inspector, which can also be applied by data markers of other subtypes if the chart is a combo chart.

Color List

Select to open the Color List dialog box to modify the color pattern for the range sections in the same data series respectively.

Sample

This box displays a preview sample based on your selections.

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Border Tab

Use this tab to specify the properties for the border of the range sections in the surface chart.

Show Border

Select to show the border of the range sections. Designer enables the other border properties in this tab after you select the option.

Color

Specify the color of the border. To edit the color, select the color indicator and select a color from the color palette or type the hexadecimal value of a color (for example, 0xff0000) in the text box.

Transparency

Specify the transparency for the color of the border.

Line Style

Select the line style of the border.

Thickness

Specify the width of the border, in pixels.

End Caps

Select the ending style of the border line.

• butt
  Select to end unclosed sub paths and dash segments with no added decoration.
• round
  Select to end unclosed sub paths and dash segments with a round decoration that has a radius equal to half of the width of the pen.
• square
  Select to end unclosed sub paths and dash segments with a square projection that extends beyond the end of the segment to a distance equal to half of the line width.

Line Joint

Select the joint style of the border line.

• miter
  Select to join path segments by extending their outside edges until they meet.
• round
  Select to join path segments by rounding off the corner at a radius of half the line width.
• bevel
  Select to join path segments by connecting the outer corners of their wide outlines with a straight segment.

Sample

This box displays a preview sample based on your selections.

Path

You can specify the fill pattern of the border in this box.

• Outline Path
  Select to use outline path for the border.
• Fill Path
  Select to use whole path for the border.

Dash

You can specify the dash size of the border in this box if you select a dash line style for the border.

• Auto Adjust Dash
  Select to adjust the dash size automatically.
• Fixed Dash Size
  Select to use fixed dash size.

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Data Label Tab

Designer does not support displaying data labels in surface charts, so you can skip in this tab.

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Hint Tab

Use this tab to specify the properties for the hint of the surface chart.

Show Category and Series

Select to include the category and series values in the hint.

Auto Scale in Number

Specify whether to automatically scale the Number values in the hint that fall into the two ranges:

• When 1000 <= value < 10^15, Designer applies the following quantity unit symbols of the International System of Units to scale the values: K (10^3), M (10^6), G (10^9), and T (10^12).
• When 0 < value < 0.001 or value >= 10^15, Designer uses scientific notation to scale the values.

By default, Designer selects "auto" for the option, meaning, Designer applies the setting that you specify for the same property on the chart in the Report Inspector for the values. If you select "true", Designer applies the specified format to the integer part of the values after scaling them; however, if the specified format conflicts with the logic of Auto Scale in Number, for example, the values display in percentage, Designer ignores the Auto Scale in Number setting. Select "false" if you do not want to scale the values.

Customize Chart Value Names

Select to customize the names of the fields on the value axis which you want to display in the hint. By default, Designer applies the display names of the fields in the hint to label the values which may be not intuitive to users. You can select the option and select the ellipsis to customize the names in the Customize Chart Value Names dialog box to help users better understand the values.

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