Systems and Methods for Automated Graphing of Spreadsheet

Systems and Methods for Automated Graphing of Spreadsheet Information May 25, 2000 Mira Kwak mira@mira. pe. kr Computer Architecture and System Design Lab.

Content l l Abstract Detailed Description l l General System Spreadsheet System Graphing Module Internal Operation

Detailed Description of a Preferred Embodiment

General System

104 keyboard Hardware System 105 pointing device 106 display device 103 107 108 mass storage 102 main memory I/O controller printing device central processor 110 101

Software System application program(s) 125 application program(s) spreadsheet system 145 windows shell/OS operating system 140 130 160 user interface 127 user

Basic Architecture and Functionality of the Spreadsheet System input device data ranges automated formatting module reports sheet graphing module view 133 information (cells) formulas 135 group of sheets spreadsheet engine 131 graphs output device 136

Spreadsheet System

Spreadsheet Worksurface / Interface

Graphing Module

Interface for Graphing Information in this System

Interface for Graphing Information in this System

Interface for Graphing Information in this System

Internal Operation

get user-selected cell(s)701 start 702 if # rows >= # columns? yes 711 treat each column as a data series 712 if 1 st series contains labels? no Fast Graph Method 700 no 721 treat each row as a data series 722 if 1 st series contains labels? yes 713 labels to be plotted along x-axis 723 labels to be plotted along x-axis 714 no if 1 st row contains labels? 724 yes no yes to be plotted 715 labels as legend series formatter 136 automatic <<type>> selection if 1 st column contains labels? no to be plotted as 725 labels legend series auto-selection of <<type>> 705 plot graph according to graph <<type>> done

Data Complexity to Graph Type Mapping 750 surface many number of series ribbon 3 -D bar multi-line ity ex l p 2 -D bar | m o r c se r gr e at e s le single-line few pie few 2 D number of data points 3 D many

2 -D graphs no 762 if # series is many (e. g. >= 5) ? 3 -D graphs yes 781# dataif point is many (e. g. > 10) ? yes if 791 # data point is few (e. g. < 10) ? no if 792 # data point is many (e. g. > 20) ? yes no return type = pie return type = s-line return type = bar no return type = bar return type = m-line yes n o less if single series? yes Data Complexity 761 771# dataif point is few (e. g. < 5) ? no 772# dataif point is many (e. g. > 10) ? yes return type = 3 D bar return type = ribbon return type = surface more start Automatic Graph Selection Method 760