Formatting a Heat Map widget

For an image of a Heat Map widget and steps to add one to a document, see Defining a Heat Map widget.

The table below suggests formatting ideas and provides steps to format the Heat Map widget. The steps can be performed in Flash Mode. They can also be performed in Interactive Mode if the widget has been defined to display as a widget in DHTML, and DHTML is enabled in Web. For instructions to determine how the widget is displayed, see Determining how a widget is rendered in non-Flash modes. For instructions to enable DHTML, see Enabling DHTML in MicroStrategy Web.

What to Format in the Widget

How to Format It

Determine whether to show metric values

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Display tab, select or clear the Show metric values check box.

    • This option allows you to determine whether to display the metric values -- for instance, revenue by state -- in each section of the widget. The widget is divided into sections by attributes. For example, you add customer region, quarter, and revenue to the widget. The widget will be divided into the customer region section first and then into quarters within the customer region section. If you select the Show metric values check box, then you can display revenue values for each quarter in each customer region section.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Display a legend for the heat map

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Display tab, select the Show Legend check box.

  3. Click OK to save the changes.

Determine whether to allow attributes to be removed from the widget

Removed attributes can be restored when needed.

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Display tab, select or clear the Remove Attributes from Template check box.

  3. Click OK to return to the document.

Note: If the metric defining the size or color does not use SUM, do not allow attributes to be removed from the widget.

 

Determine whether to display labels in each rectangle

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Display tab, select one of the following options from the Show Labels drop-down list.

    • On: Labels are displayed in the rectangles.

    • Off: Labels are not displayed in the rectangles.

    • Proportional: Labels are displayed in the rectangles, with the size of each label reflecting the size of the rectangle. Rectangles that reflect positive values are displayed with larger labels than rectangles that reflect negative values.

  3. Click OK to return to the document.

Select the algorithm used to size and position the rectangles

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Display tab, select one of the following options under Layout.

    • Keep readability, not element order: Size the rectangles in the Heat Map widget to make the data with them as easy to read as possible.

    • Balance readability and order: Size and position the rectangles to make the data within them as easy to read as possible, while still attempting to display them in the same order in which they appear in the widget's Grid/Graph.

    • Keep element order, not readability: Position the rectangles in the Heat Map widget in the same order in which they appear in the widget's Grid/Graph.

  3. Click OK to return to the document.

Select the color of the background

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Format tab, select the Background color for the widget.

  3. Click OK to return to the document. The background color displays behind all of the object sections and the widget legend.

Select the color of the borders

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Format tab, select a color for the borders of the widget from the Border Color palette.

  3. Click OK to save the changes. The border color outlines the entire widget.

Select the color of the attribute headings

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Format tab, select a color for the headings from the Header Color palette.

  3. Click OK to save the changes. The heading color displays on all the attribute headings in the widget.

Enable scale boundaries

 

By default, the minimum and maximum range for the color slider is determined automatically by the data in the widget. If the data changes, then the minimum and maximum can also change.

You can instead set the minimum and maximum range for a specific metric, so that specific colors always represent specific metric values. Outlying metric values use solid colors, rather than shaded colors.

    •  

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. On the Metric Options tab, select the metric from the drop-down list.

  3. Select the Scale Boundaries check box.

  4. Type the Minimum and Maximum values in the corresponding fields.

  5. Click OK to save the changes.

Select the aggregation function for the Heat Map widget

You can change the aggregation function used to calculate the size of the larger areas in the widget. The value of this function is displayed in a tooltip when the cursor hovers over an area.

    •  

  1. In Flash Mode or Interactive Mode, right-click the widget and select Properties. The Heat Map dialog box opens.

  2. Click the Metric Options tab.

  3. From the Aggregation Function drop-down list, select an aggregation function:

    • Sum

    • Average

    • Count

    • Maximum

    • Minimum

    • Geometric Average

  4. Click OK to save the changes.

Apply formatting inherited from the widget's Grid/Graph to the widget

This widget automatically inherits the number and date formatting from the widget's Grid/Graph.

  1. In Editable Mode, right-click the widget, then select Properties and Formatting. The Properties and Formatting dialog box opens.

  2. Format the widget's Grid/Graph by selecting the appropriate options in the Properties and Formatting dialog box.