Interactive Graph Customization

The customization options in STATISTICA Graphs include hundreds of features, and they are used to customize every detail of the display and associated data processing so that even the default appearance and behavior of STATISTICA Graphs will match your specific needs and/or will require very little intervention on your part.

All graph customizations can be divided into two groups: before and after creation of the graph. The custom characteristics that can be defined prior to graph creation include numerous defaults in the Options dialog (accessible by selecting Options from the Tools menu) and the use of graph styles. See Graph Customization Default Settings and Graphics Styles for more details. The customization features that are available after graph creation are accessible by clicking on graph components (described below) and via the Graph Options dialog.

Customizing the structural components of a graph. The components of STATISTICA Graphs are readily customizable after creation. The options controlling nearly all aspects of the appearance of STATISTICA Graphs are interactively accessible in a variety of ways. They are arranged in a hierarchical manner, so those used most often are accessible directly via shortcuts by clicking on the respective element of the graph. You can also double-click on the graph feature or component you want to change, right-click the graph component and select options from the shortcut menu, or access the Graph Options customization dialog. (See below for a discussion of the Graph Options dialog.) Only a few, very fundamental graph features, specifically those that control how data are extracted and processed from the data source (e.g., general graph type, variable selections, case selection, and weighting) cannot be altered through this on-screen customization after a graph has been produced.

The same plot customization options are available for all graph types. In general, all graph customization options available in STATISTICA can be used to customize a graph, regardless of how that graph was requested or defined. For example, you can use the same set of options to customize a histogram made via Graphs of Block Data - Histogram: Block Columns and a histogram made via Graphs - 2D Graphs - Histogram. The exceptions to this general rule are certain highly specialized and unusual graph types produced as options from buttons on statistical analysis dialogs. The latter graphs are still customizable in most respects, but can contain unique features that cannot be altered.

Graph customization dialogs. STATISTICA provides direct access to common customization facilities for each graph component: Double-click on the component to display the most commonly used options for that component. For example, double-click on the z-axis of a scatterplot to display the Scaling dialog, in which you can adjust scaling options.

Click the Graph Options button in the Scaling dialog to display the Graph Options dialog, which contains a diverse selection of axis-related options.

The Graph Options dialog contains all of the relevant customizable features for the particular graph. The options are grouped in clusters containing logically related items. The options in the Graph Options dialog are an all-inclusive "superset" of options accessed by double-clicking on specific graph features. You can access the Graph Options dialog directly by selecting Graph Options from the graph Format menu, by double-clicking on the background (e.g., the area outside the axes) of a graph, or by selecting Graph Options from any graph shortcut menu.

Support for F4. To simplify the process of editing graph display features (e.g., font color, point markers, area patterns), STATISTICA provides support for F4. This means that you can repeat the last command you performed in the graph. For example, if you have just changed the title font to Arial, 12pt, Italic, and you want to make the same change to the axis titles, simply highlight the axis title you want to update, and press F4. Note that the F4 buffer is graph specific. If you switch to a different graph and press F4, you will repeat the last action performed on that graph.

Adding/editing custom graphic objects. You can access the tools to add and modify custom graphics objects to a current (active) graph (such as drawing, managing, and changing objects; pasting; embedding; linking; etc.) from the Graph Tools toolbar or the Insert menu. Objects that can be added include text, rectangles, rectangles with rounded corners, circles or ovals, arcs, polygons or freehand lines, arrows, and linked or embedded objects. To add a custom object (e.g., a drawing, arrow, or rectangle) to the graph, click a custom graphic object button on the Graph Tools toolbar and then click on the appropriate spot on the graph. Double-click on an existing object to open it for customization.