IChart x-axis labels

Question

I'm having some issues with the x-axis labels on an iChart.
The data I'm trying to display returns a date column I want to use as the x-axis labels. The data returned looks similar to the following:
MY_DATE | project1 | project2 | project3 .... Where the number of project columns returned can be variable, and the column names change as well based on the project name. The one column always returned in the data is the MY_DATE column.
The issue I'm having is that it doesn't display the custom labels for the x-axis. I specify "MY_DATE" as the "X-Axis Label Columns", yet it completely ignores it. I've verified in the javascript that the MY_DATE column is specified as the label column, but it doesn't use it.
I think I discovered what is making it not work, but I cannot figure out why. I have another identical display template, one has a static set of columns returned. I can then specify the "Value Columns" in the "Data Mapping" template category of the display template, as well as the label column "MY_DATE" under the X-axis label columns. In this case it works, but when I take the Data Mapping "Value Columns" away, the dates disappear from the x-axis.
Does anyone have another way to set custom labels for the x-axis? Or any insight as to why it wouldn't work?

Answer 1

Austin,
What do you want the user to see initially?  An empty chart?  Please explain the initial state of the chart and how the user interacts with it.
1.  Is your query time-sensitive?  This means in the SQL Query you have designated a Date Column or used the SD and ED tokens in a filter expression.  If the query is time-sensitive, the date will automatically map as the X-Axis label.  If it is not time-sensitive, in addition to adding the My_Date to the X-Axis Label Colunms, add it to the X-Axis Value Columns.
2.  I have found that if I return all the columns in the query, then I simply have to do this to make them show upon some event triggered by the user:
// assume user chose these columns
var valCols = "ProjA,ProjB,ProjC";
var chartObj = document.AreaChart.getChartObject();
chartObj.setValueColumns(valCols);
document.AreaChart.updateChart(true);
3.  I wrote a small transaction using the same query and display template in the Chart action block configuration.  I created a transaction property for inputting the value columns (a comma-separate list) and linked this transaction property (the source property) to the Chart action's ValueColumns property (the desination property).  I then use a PDF Document action and a PDF Image action, linking the encodedImage property of the Chart to the encodedImage.  When I varied the content of the transaction input property to use differenct columns, the changes showed in the PDF Document.
Hope this is helpful.
Kind Regards,
Diana Hoppe