You can save your favorite display options as a chart skin that you can quickly apply to charts. GainSeeker also includes ready-to-apply chart skins. See Fig. 1 below for an example of a chart skin.
While a chart skin can make analyzing data more visually engaging, it also has practical applications. All settings in the Charts Overrides node of the charts Settings dialog in the GainSeeker Charts module can be saved as a DMS or SPC skin, including which limits to display and how data is scaled.
You can also apply a Chart Skin to the following Dashboard controls: Chart, Data Table, and Statistics List.
Tip: GainSeeker System administrators might want to use chart skins to standardize how chart data displays for all users. This can help ensure that all the analysts in your organization see data displayed the same way, which can be important when decisions are made based on data. See Setting a default chart skin.
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This is an example of some of the types of settings you can change to create a chart skin. The Data Head chart skin shown here is a chart skin included with GainSeeker that can be quickly applied to any chart.
All settings in the Chart overrides node on the Settings tab of the SPC Charts dialog or the DMS Charts dialog are saved with a chart skin you create. You can change as few or as many Chart overrides settings as you want. Here are a few of the multiple settings you can change:
Statistics, reports, and limits to display
How data is scaled on the chart
Chart titles
Patterns, colors, fonts, and font sizes for bar charts, line charts, and detail tables
How specific chart types such as Control, Performance, OEE, DPU, and Multiple charts display
Size, shape, and colors for markers that display on charts; markers are shapes with unique colors that flag specific events on charts such as an out-of-control data point or an operator note.
Alternate row colors for tables and lists
For descriptions of all of the Chart overrides settings, see SPC Chart overrides settings, DMS Chart overrides settings
You can change the Chart overrides settings:
On the Settings dialog that you can access from the current open chart. To do this, right-click on the chart and click Settings... on the menu that displays.
Since chart skins are created from settings for either a DMS or a SPC chart you have open, the two retrieval types do not share the same chart skins. You can make note of the settings for one type and create a similar chart skin for the other type if you want and save it with the same skin name.
See Getting started with Chart Skins for information about:
Applying a chart skin to a chart
Creating new chart skins
Performing various actions for a chart skin, including deleting or copying it.
When you apply a chart skin to a chart (a Control chart, for example) and duplicate that chart into other chart types (Data table or Histogram, for example) with the same data, that skin is applied to all the chart types. Each chart type displays somewhat differently within the same chart skin theme.
To create a new chart using the same data as that on the open chart:
Right-click the open chart
Point to Duplicate > on the menu that displays. Click the new chart type you want to display.
For more information, see Creating new charts using the same data
When you save a chart that has a chart skin applied to it on a desktop, the Chart overrides settings associated with the skin at that time are saved with the desktop. The actual skin is not saved with the desktop. If changes to the chart skin are later made, the GainSeeker desktop does not know about the changes and thus, does not apply them to a chart on the desktop.
For more information about desktops, see Saving desktops
Ready-to-apply chart skins included with GainSeeker include StarTeck shown below and Data Head shown above.
For more information, see Chart skins included with GainSeeker
Setting a default chart skin helps ensure that the data analysts in your organization are seeing data displayed the same way. This can have a positive effect in ensuring accurate decision making based on data.
For example, if one analyst is looking at unscaled data on a chart and another is looking at the same data on a scaled chart, variation that would be visible to the latter analyst might going unnoticed by the former.
A default chart skin can also lend a professional look to the charts you are required to provide to your customers. You could add a chart skin that reflects your company colors and logo, for example.
GainSeeker includes ready-to-use chart skins that are included for each of your existing configurations and any new configurations you might add, unless you choose to delete them.
New chart skins can only be created from the Settings tab in the GainSeeker Charts module when new charts are created or the settings are changed.
GainSeeker system administrators can set a default chart skin for the configuration using the Chart Skin (DMS) and Chart Skin (SPC) settings in the System Administration module.
A chart skin that is created in a configuration can easily be exported and then imported to another configuration.
This is an example of using the Alternate Rows setting on a Data table. You can also set colors for alternate rows on grids and lists.
For more information about this setting, see Alternate row colors
You can set a background image for a chart and save it as a chart skin along with all other Chart overrides settings on the Settings tab. See What is included in a Chart Skin above. This can be used to display an image of your company logo on a chart that accompanies shipped product or you can use it to display interesting backgrounds when you analyze charts.