SSRS piechart problem

[abhishek.thakur]

I am stuck at a problem I am not able to work out in SSRS. Being the first one to discuss technical problem\issues on this group, I hope I am able to get the solution or some pointer to arrive at a good solution by our joint effort.

I am working on SSRS and finding a problem in the chart formatting. I have to show 2 pie charts in a single report side by side along with the chart legends. I have a fixed area for the report in the webpage where I need to deploy it. I am getting the data-categories (for example in this case autopilot, QnA etc or Insufficient information,[category not entered],others etc in these 2 pie charts) dynamically from the data tables i.e. I don’t have any fixed no of these categories\areas.

I can show it in two ways –

CASE 1: By showing the legend on left or right
In this case the pie charts come of equal dimension but the legend strings truncate . For example here “DomainRelevance” has got truncated. How can i enable a word wrap for the legend, so that the strings don’t truncate but come in the next line ???





CASE 2: By showing the legend on top or bottom
In this case the chance of string truncation is much less but a new problems crop up – the size of pie charts differs in accordance to the different no of legend rows each pie chart has. So my second question is how to freeze the size of the pie chart but keeping the legend box expandable ???




MY GOALS ARE
1. TO KEEP THE SIZES OF PIE CHARTS SAME
2. HAVING WORD-WRAP ENABLED IN THE LEGEND TO HANDLE THE CASE OF EXTRA-ORDINARILY LONG STRINGS

[Island1]

Hi:

I cannot say that I agree you're the " ... first one to discuss technical problem\issues on this group," but , then, I realize we often see our immediate difficulties as "more technical" than those of others ...

The issue you appear to be having lies within the fact that the combined chart / legend object adjusts itself as an integrated whole. Two charts that have a different number of legend items will have different sizes for this reason. The sophistication of "separate real estate definition" (at least to the extent you describe) of either of the legend or pie "sections" within the single control is beyond the specification of this rather simple data region, as you appear to be finding out.

What I do in cases like this - and where the business requirement is that the integrated graphic be the same size, even with differing legend content (the problem arises in other chart data regions in SSRS, as well, and becomes more of an issue when consistency of sizing becomes a priority with multiple - as in "comparative," etc. - charts on a single page), is to separate the two by generating charts without the "automatically" generated legend, and to create a separate, independently generated legend within a freestanding matrix / table / other data region that I can add alongside the chart(s), beneath or above them, and etc., with complete "artisitic control" of layout.

Color, etc., keys in the legends can be generated via conditional logic, which can be embedded at different layers of the integrated BI solution (in the star schema, the UDM / database, or within the report, as appropriate for optimization). The logic applies whether the report is relational, OLAP, or a combination of both - that's one of the many wonderful things about the Microsoft BI solution that cannot be accomplished in other enterprise solutions in an "out-of the box" manner!

In a case of multiple chart regions that are very similar except for legends, I have often combined all legends into a single independent matrix / chart region. I have done this in many circumstances (particularly within healthcare environments, but elsewhere, as well) where the logic can get very sophisticated - and include KPIs, other chart objects, etc., into a unified "dashboard-like" presentation.

Give this a shot, and, if you wish to go further with questions that evolve, post them here or e-mail me directly. I focus on the MS BI questions here at DBJ, and other knowledgable individuals respond, as well.

Yes, even for "technical" questions!

Good Luck.

Bill

[abhishek.thakur]

Thanks Bill for ur reply....it ws really helpful...

[Island1]

Feel free to stay in touch - and to ask for more detail on any of these (or other) points. I find myself meeting all manner of "unique requirements" in my work with RS (as well as AS, MDX, etc.) within client projects each day. The integrated MS BI solution cannot be surpassed for power and flexibility!

Bill