2.2.3.6 Axis

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An axis is a line that borders the chart (section 2.2.3.3) plot area and provides a frame of reference for measurement. In addition to the axis line and its properties, the axis also specifies all parts of the chart that are associated with the axis line, such as the axis labels, major gridlines, minor gridlines, and the walls and floor of the chart.

An axis is specified by a sequence of records that conforms to either the IVAXIS (section 2.1.7.20.1), DVAXIS (section 2.1.7.20.1), or SERIESAXIS (section 2.1.7.20.1) rules specified by the chart sheet substream (section 2.1.7.20.1) ABNF.

An axis has a type as defined by the following table:

Type

Specified By

Description

Category

A sequence of records that conform to the IVAXIS that contains an AxcExt record (section 2.4.9) with field fDateAxis equal to 0.

A category (2) axis displays a set of category (2) labels that are evenly distributed along the axis in a given order. A category (2) axis displays arbitrary text values such as "Qtr1", "Qtr2", and "Qtr3", and cannot display scaled numerical values.

Date

A sequence of records that conform to the IVAXIS rule that contains an AxcExt record with field fDateAxis equal to 1.

A date axis displays scaled date or time values and can display data points (section 2.2.3.10) located at uneven intervals.

Series

A sequence of records that conform to the SERIESAXIS rule.

A series axis displays a set of series (section 2.2.3.9) names that are evenly distributed along the axis. When this axis is used, the data points of each series are plotted in a 3-dimensional space. The data points of a single series are plotted on a plane identified by the corresponding series name on this axis.

Value

A sequence of records that conform to the DVAXIS rule.

A value axis displays scaled numeric values. The bubble and scatter chart groups (section 2.2.3.7), which can contain two value axes, distinguish the value axes by specifying the axis orientation, either horizontal or vertical.

The following records and rules define the significant parts of an axis:

  • The CatSerRange (section 2.4.39) and ValueRange (section 2.4.341) records specify the scaling properties of the axis, the crossing location of the other axis in the axis group (section 2.2.3.5), and the direction of the axis.

  • The AxcExt record specifies if an axis is of type category (2) or date and specifies properties of a date axis.

  • The CatLab record (section 2.4.38) specifies additional properties of the axis labels.

  • The IFmtRecord record (section 2.4.143) in the sequence of records that conform to the AXS rule (section 2.1.7.20.1) specifies the number format of the axis labels.

  • The Tick record (section 2.4.327) in the sequence of records that conform to the AXS rule specifies properties of the axis labels, and specifies the major tick marks and minor tick marks of the axis.

  • The FontX record (section 2.4.123) and the sequence of records that conforms to the TEXTPROPS rule (section 2.1.7.20.1), in the collection of records that conform to the AXS rule, specify the font properties of the axis labels.

  • The AxisLine (section 2.4.12) and LineFormat (section 2.4.156) record pairs and the sequences of records that conform to the SHAPEPROPS rule (section 2.1.7.20.1), in the sequence of records that conform to the AXS rule, specify the axis line, major gridlines and minor gridlines of the axis, and the border lines of the walls and floor of the chart. The omission of the AxisLine and LineFormat record pair specifying the axis line results in the axis line having default line format properties. The omission of other AxisLine and LineFormat record pairs results in the corresponding chart element being omitted from the chart.

  • The AreaFormat record (section 2.4.3) and the collection of records that conform to the GELFRAME rule (section 2.1.7.20.1) in the sequence of records that conform to the AXS rule specifies the fill format for the walls and floor of the chart. If the wType field of the Axis record (section 2.4.11) in the axis equals 0x0000, these records apply to the walls of the chart. If the wType field of the Axis record in the axis equals 0x0001, these records apply to the floor of the chart. If the wType field of the Axis record in the axis equals 0x0002, these records MUST NOT exist. If the chart sheet substream does not contain a Chart3d record (section 2.4.46), these records MUST NOT exist.

  • The sequence of records that conforms to the AXM rule (section 2.1.7.20.1) specifies the display units and the display units label of a value axis.