Bug 156660 - Implement "Step Chart" in Calc
Summary: Implement "Step Chart" in Calc
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Calc (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2023-08-07 18:43 UTC by Rafael Lima
Modified: 2023-08-30 10:17 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Example of step chart (9.03 KB, image/png)
2023-08-07 18:44 UTC, Rafael Lima
Details

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Description Rafael Lima 2023-08-07 18:43:48 UTC
The "step chart" is a common variation of the line chart that we currently do not offer in LO Calc. For example, in quality management the p-control chart draws the control limits using step lines (see attached example).

There are many other data visualization cases (in academia as well as in companies) where the step chart is useful.

For comparison, MS Excel still does not offer this chart by default, and it is very hacky to get a step chart in Excel. See for instance:
https://trumpexcel.com/step-chart-in-excel/

However, I could not make the same hack work in LibreOffice.

Given the usefulness of this chart, we should offer it as a variation of the "Line chart" in the chart wizard.

As for customization options for this chart, I suggest using PyPlot's "step" chart as inspiration.
https://matplotlib.org/stable/api/_as_gen/matplotlib.pyplot.step.html
Comment 1 Rafael Lima 2023-08-07 18:44:26 UTC
Created attachment 188837 [details]
Example of step chart
Comment 2 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-08-29 22:19:58 UTC
This is already possible when creating a line chart, using the "stepped" option in the Line Type dropdown.
Marking as "invalid".
(Or are you after something different?)
Comment 3 Rafael Lima 2023-08-29 23:24:02 UTC
(In reply to Stéphane Guillou (stragu) from comment #2)
> This is already possible when creating a line chart, using the "stepped"
> option in the Line Type dropdown.
> Marking as "invalid".
> (Or are you after something different?)

How did I miss that? You're right, this is already possible! Thanks!

Fun fact, this is something LO can do, and MS Excel cannot... it's a nightmare to achieve this in Excel. See for instance:

https://www.simonsezit.com/article/step-chart-in-excel/
Comment 4 Rafael Lima 2023-08-29 23:26:19 UTC
Creating a stepped chart in LO Calc and exporting to Excel won't work, but this time it's not our problem =)
Comment 5 Stéphane Guillou (stragu) 2023-08-30 10:17:12 UTC
No problem!
I nearly confirmed the bug before remembering it was a property rather than a chart type... :)

I just checked, we've got it already listed in https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Feature_Comparison:_LibreOffice_-_Microsoft_Office#Desktop_Word_processors:_LibreOffice_Writer_vs._Microsoft_Word

Cheers