Customize JfreeBarChart

A bar chart or bar graph is a chart with rectangular bars with lengths proportional to the values that they represent.We need charts to represent data in pictorial format so that it becomes more appealing.

We have chart options present palette but they have very limited customization properties available therefore we need customizer classes to represent graph in a better format.

In this article I will show how to customize chart both by using customization properties in ireport

and through customizer classes.

Now how to create charts:

1.) Drag chart from palette window into detail band or summary band depending upon requirements.

(I have used chart in summary band).

2.) From the Palette choose bar chart option.

3.)Choose Bar chart Series color (I have chosen grey as series color)
   
       

4.)Default view of Bar Chart.

Default View BarChart

5.)Remove legend by unchecking ShowLegend,Tick-marks and Tick-labels shown in red tick mark.

Customize Bar Chart

6.)View Of BarChart.

Customized Bar Chart

7.) Now I fill Show how to further customize bar chart remove X-axis and Y-axis grid lines.

In order to further customize bar chart we will create a java project(I have created Project named CustomizedCharts).

8.)Add com.mysql jar file , jasperreports jar file , jcommon jar file , jfreecharts jar file.

Jar files required

9.)This is the customized chart code to remove X and Y horizontal and vertical gridlines.

Customizer Classes

10.)Build the project and add classpath to Ireport by clicking Tools->Options->ClassPath->Add Jar.

11.)Now Add customizer bar chart by selecting customizer class option.

12.)After implementing cutomization class the bar chart looks like.

13.) Now we will make customized bar renderer class to show maximum length bar with green color and minimum bar chart with blue color.We will add following code in BarChart Class shown

in 9th point.

//Set the Customized Bar Renderer

CustomizedCharts renderer = new CustomizedCharts();

chart.getCategoryPlot().setRenderer((CategoryItemRenderer) renderer);

14.)Following is CustomizedCharts Class code that implements BarRenderer

15.)View of cutomized chart showing maximum with green and minimum with red color.

Hope this article would be helpful.

Please put your views or questions or suggestions below, I will be more than happy to hear them..