Canvas Native Charts

The Chart component allows you to incorporate charts into your Canvas, providing an intuitive and interactive way to visualize data. Charts can dynamically interact with other native Canvas components, such as comboboxes, enhancing the user experience.

Creating a new Canvas chart

You can choose from several chart types to best visualize your data, including Bar, Line, Waterfall, and Pie charts. Each chart type offers unique ways to highlight trends, comparisons, and relationships within your data. Below, you’ll find detailed information on how to create and format each chart type, along with guidance on when to use them for the most effective presentation of your insights.

Named ranges as a source

As a Canvas Author, you can utilize named ranges (defined in a spreadsheet or at a global scope) as the data source for charts in your Canvas. This allows you to create dynamic, reusable charts that automatically adjust to changing data. You won't need to hardcode data source areas (Database/Cube) or repeatedly define the same queries.

By default, the database selector is set to a static value. To change it to a named range, click on the Database parameters and select the "Named range" option.

When you switch the parameter from a static value to a named range, the database preselection automatically sets to the first available named range if any are present. You can change to the named range you wish through the Database drop-down menu. Once you have selected your named range, cubes from the connected database will be accessible, and the dimensions will also be displayed, allowing you to start dragging dimensions to build a chart.

However, if no named ranges are available, the database preselection will be removed, and you will see the message "No Named Range available." Additionally, the cube option will be disabled, displaying the message: "No cubes available."

Furthermore, if you select a named range and the connection fails (for example, due to a spelling error, a change in the database name used in the named range, incorrect spelling of the named range, or its deletion), an error will appear in the cube selection field, accompanied by a message stating "Invalid connection."

Saving and deleting named ranges

When a chart that uses a named range is saved as part of a canvas, the name of the named range is also saved. If you rename the named range later, the connection will be lost, and the chart will not display correctly.

If you delete the named range, the chart will not load and you will see the “Invalid connection (data source lost)” error message.

Named range constraints

If a chart on a Canvas uses a database connection from a named range, any updates made to the database name or the connection in that named range will not take effect immediately. These changes will only be reflected after approximately five minutes or after logging out and then back in. Until that time, the chart will fail to load and will display the error message “Unable to display chart.”

Charts' default naming

When charts are added to the Canvas, they are automatically assigned sequential names, following a numeric pattern for easier identification. The first chart is named "Chart1," the second "Chart2," and so on, with each subsequent chart receiving an incremented identifier. To rename any chart, navigate to the Format tab and change Name (ID).

Editing an existing Canvas chart

To modify an existing chart, navigate to the right-side panel and select the Data tab. Then, click the Edit Chart button to open the Edit Chart Dialog, where you can adjust the chart's settings, update data sources, and customize its appearance as needed.

Formatting an existing Canvas chart object

When you click on a native Chart object on your Canvas, a Format dialog opens on the right side of the screen. In the Format tab, you can edit properties such as name, width, height, background color, radius, border, padding, and visibility.

The Visibility feature enables you to control whether a chart should be visible to your end user or not. By default, the chart's visibility is an Expression with the value "=TRUE", but you can use a variable or another Expression, e.g., FALSE, to change (hide) it. When you hide a chart, the remaining components dynamically adjust to occupy the vacant space. If you wish to maintain the hidden chart’s space and preserve your Canvas layout, you can utilize the Keep space option.

To delete your chart, you can either choose the Delete chart option in the Format tab, right-click on your chart and select Delete, or select the chart and press the Delete key on your keyboard. You can also use the right-click to copy, cut, or paste your chart.

When you save your Canvas, any changes made to the charts will also be saved.

Charts size limits (Min/Max)

The Charts in Canvas have defined minimum and maximum dimensions, and entering values outside these limits will not resize the Charts. The table below provides detailed information on these height and width limits.

Component Minimum width Maximum width Minimum height Maximum height
Chart 8 px 1600 px 8 px 1200 px

Video example

Watch the video below for a practical example of what you can do with the charts in Canvas:

Updated October 10, 2025