Modifying the Background Properties of a Report
The standard zoom, pan, and fit commands operate on reports. When zooming on a report, axis labels and ticks adjust during the zoom operation and rescale to their final value after the zoom operation is complete.
Follow this procedure to modify the appearance of a report, or to modify the display properties of any object in a report, including traces, axis labels, grids, colors, fonts, legends, color maps, and so on:
- Open the report you want to modify.
Tip:
You must select an editable object in the report to be able to edit its properties.
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Click an object to select it and to view its properties in the docked window. To open the Properties window, either double-click an object, or select Edit > Properties on the toolbar.
The Properties tabs and options display for editable plot objects varies depending on the report type (for example, whether 2D rectangular, 2D polar, Smith, Stacked, or 3D), but can include the following:
- Header – Edit the properties for the text displayed at the top of the report, including the title font, company name, show design name, subtitle font. The plot title is tied to the report's name and is not a header property. If you change the report name in the Project tree, plot title synchronizes. The company name and the show design name check boxes are grouped in the Properties dialog box as Subtitle. Edits to the subtitle font property affect both of them.
- General – This dialog box (or General tab for other report properties windows) lets you edit the background color (the perimeter around the trace display) for the plot, the contrast color (the trace display background), the field width, the precision, and whether to use scientific notation for marker and delta marker displays. (X and Y notation display is set separately, in the axis property tabs.)
- Legend – Lets you edit the properties for whether to show trace name, show solution name, and variation key. At least one of these three must be selected. You can also edit the font, the background color of the legend box, the border color, the border width, grid color (for the lines between trace descriptions), and the grid line width. See Modifying the Legend in a Report.
- Color Key – For 3D plots, to control the appearance of the color key (colors, transparency, border appearance, fonts, number format, field width and precision.
- Contour – For 3D plots, to control the appearance of the color map, including map type, ramp color, spectrum, IsoValType, levels, number of contours, and values shown.
- Radiation Pattern – For 2D polar plots, whether to show the circular grid and angle lines.
- Stacked – For stacked plots, properties for X scroll bar, thumb properties, and stack layout, auto fit, and stack height.
- Smith – For Smith charts, whether to show grids for Imp., Adm., Cir, and angle lines.
- Traces – Select traces either in the legend or on the plot. The trace will turn green when selected. Editable properties for traces include color, line style, line width, trace type, whether to show a symbol, symbol frequency, symbol style, whether to fill symbol, symbol color, and whether to show arrows. See Editing the Display Properties of Traces.
- Grid – Editable grid properties include grid border color, major and minor grid line colors and line styles, and whether to show the major and minor X and Y grids.
- Axis for X, Y or Z, or for Phi, Theta or Rho – The defaults for most of these values are set in the Report 2D Options Axis tab.
- Specify Name – Select this to change the axis name.
- Name – This describes the axis to which the following properties/options refer. These are selected in the Modify Report dialog box.
- Axis Color – Set the color. Click the color bar to display the Set Color dialog box. Select a default or custom color and click OK.
- Axis Font – Click the cell to display the Edit Font dialog box in which you can select from a list of available fonts, styles, sizes, and colors. The dialog box also contains a preview field. Click OK to apply the font edits and close the dialog box.
- Show Units – Specify whether to display units.
- Window (section)
- Window Mode – Can be axis range, continuous moving window, or step moving window.
- Window Width (in) – Provide an integer value for the previous selection.
- Manual Format (section)
- Number format – Select Auto, Decimal, or Scientific notation from the drop-down list.
- Field Width – Enter a real value.
- Field Precision – Enter a real value.
- X or Yn or Z Scaling Tab – These properties provide control over scaling.
- Axis Scaling – Use the drop-down list to select scaling as linear or log. For the Y-axis, all zero and negative values are discarded before log scaling is applied.
- Specify Min – Enables the Min field.
- Min – Minimum axis value. Text entry in same units as axis units. Saved as SI internally.
- Specify Max – Select this check box to set the maximum value to display. Clear to let Twin Builder set the maximum value.
- Max – Maximum axis value. Text entry in same units as axis units. Saved as SI internally.
- Specify Spacing – Select this check box to set the spacing value to display. Clear to let Twin Builder set the spacing value.
- Spacing – The spacing of major tick divisions within the axis scaling range. Value must be greater than zero. If the value exceeds the specified axis range, spacing is adjusted (entry is in same units as axis units). Saved as SI internally.
- Minor Tick Divs – The number of minor tick divisions displayed on the axis between major tick divisions. Must be between 1 and 20.
- -Manual Units (section)
- Auto Units – Use the check box to auto-compute the correct units for the axis.
- Units – Click the cell to select from a menu of available units if you have not selected Auto Units.
- -Infinity Visualization (section)
- Map Infinity Mode – Check box.
Each axis can be set to treat infinity values in a user defined way. When you check the map infinity mode, any infinity values in the input data get the infinityMap value (negative infinity gets the value*-1 and positive infinity the positive value specified). This can be useful if there are zeros, or very small values that Twin Builder treats as zero, in the data, for example, dB Gain.
- Map Infinity To – Enter a real value for the Map Infinity Mode.
- Grid – Properties for grid labels and grid style, appearance, and scaling. For the 3D rectangular plots, there are separate tabs for the XY, YZ and ZX axes, and for 3D Polar plots, tabs for phi-rho-theta, or theta-rho-phi grids.
- When finished editing properties, click OK to apply the changes and close the dialog box.
Related Topics
Modifying the Legend in a Report