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Make a chart of table data
The easiest way to make a chart is to use one of the "Make a chart" dialogs found in the "Charts" menu.  It looks like this:
 
 
Select a table column to plot, and perhaps a column for x labels, then click the "Titles" tab to enter titles if you want them.  Click OK and you will have a chart.  Control click on the chart to print it, save it as PNG or JPG, or send it to iPhoto.  
 
 
Make a chart of query data
If you have a SQL query producing output you can easily convert it to make a chart.  Say that you have this select statement:
 
  SELECT date, amount from SALES;
 
To make a plot you tell Entrance how you want columns to be handled using the PLOT keyword, like this:
 
     PLOT
      XLABELS, BLUE LINE, RED LINE
  SELECT date, amt1, amt2 from SALES;
 
This says:  "use date for the labels on the x axis, make a red line for amt1, and make a blue line for amt2".    All of the chart-related stuff goes between PLOT and SELECT.  The SELECT part is just a normal MySQL select statement like the ones you are familiar with.  There is a complete description of PLOT syntax here:  http://dbentrance.com/docs/plotysyntax.html.  
 
Customizing charts
A SQL script containing PLOT commands can be customized in any number of ways.  Here are a few examples...
 
Entrance tries to make a reasonable decision for the number of labels to draw on the x axis, but it may not make the choice  what you want.  If you want a different number of labels, use ALL XLABELS for all the labels or  ONLY, for some of the labels like this:
 
    PLOT
      ONLY 5 XLABELS, BLUE LINE, RED LINE
  SELECT date, amt1, amt2 from SALES;
 
 
Data columns can be plotted as LINES (as in our example), BARS or any of these marker types:  BOX | CIRCLE | TRIANGLE | OTHERTRIANGLE | HORTICK | VERTICK | XSYMBOL | PLUS .  Plural doesnZZ™t matter (either line or lines works).
 
Entrance supports an incredibly rich set of colors, you can actually make "dark chocolate bars".  Here are the possible color names:    RED | GREEN | BLUE | YELLOW | CYAN | MAGENTA | WHITE | LIGHTGRAY | GRAY |  DARKGRAY | BLACK |  BUTTER | ORANGE | CHOCOLATE | CHAMELEON | SKYBLUE | PLUM | SCARLETRED | ALUMINUM | CHARCOAL |  RGB(r,g,b) | RGB(r,g,b,a)  
 
You can change the scale of the y axis in a line chart using
    SCALE Y (min) (max) (increment)
 
Use LEGEND to draw a legend.
 
Use GRIDLINES, HORIZONTAL GRIDLINES or VERTICAL GRIDLINES to draw gridlines.
 
The syntax document contains many more examples.
 
Titles, Comments and Notes
You can add an unlimited number of titles with the TITLE keyword, and titles lines can be LEFT, RIGHT or CENTERED.  Here are some examples:
 
  TITLE "This is a title"
  TITLE RIGHT "So is this"
  TITLE LEFT "And this"
      
You can place titles on the axes like this:
   XTITLE "the x title in quotes"
   YTITLE "the y title in quotes"
 
You can add an unlimited number of notes below the chart with NOTE:
   NOTE "Too many fall from great and good"
   NOTE "for you to doubt the likelihood"
 
and you can add comments within the chart frame using COMMENT:
   COMMENT "Wow!  Entrance lets you put text"
   COMMENT "right in the chart!"
 
Please note:  This web page and other Entrance documentation web pages are copyrighted material and have not been released under the terms of the GPL.
 
Copyright (c) 2007 dbEntrance Software, All Rights Reserved                        
 
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