erwin Evolve 2023.1.0 - General

Working with Recursive Pie Charts

Unlike the standard Pie Chart based on Lookup Value which shows you the break-up of objects based on a drop-down property, the Recursive Pie Chart allows you to show a top-level chart which sums the values of properties of Associated Objects (or Intersection Objects), and then allows users to click those items to view a second chart showing all the objects associated to the selected object.

You can include multiple levels of associations in one chart, so users can drill down from one to another.

Why and how should you use one?

You should use a Recursive Pie Chart when you want to get an overview of some underlying data by way of an Association. Think of it as a visual representation of the sum of a numeric property on associated objects.

For example, you have some Technology objects, each with a Cost property, and in your model, Technologies are associated to Organization objects which are used to represent Departments in your business.

In this example you could use the Recursive Pie Chart to show Technology Cost per Department. The chart is configured to show Organization objects - but the size of each piece is based on the total (summed) Cost of the Technology objects associated to each one.

While the above example examines one level of association, you can extend this basic functionality to include more steps, by adding additional Association Types, allowing you to visualize the data of objects Indirectly Associated to the higher-level objects. The result is to have more click-through pie charts, one focusing on a different Object Type in the chain.

For example, if your Organization owns a number of different companies, your data could consist of:

• Company objects used to define companies in the group

• Country objects used to define countries where you have offices

• Department objects used to define departments within the company

• Technology objects used to define server machines.

The Technology objects have a Cost property to specify the running costs per year for each machine.

Your model has Association Types linking these Object Types together - in the following path: Company > Country > Department > Technology

You could then use a Recursive Pie Chart to show the summed costs of server machines (Technologies) per Company, then after clicking through by Country, and then by Department, in one interactive chart.

See Use multiple Association Types to visualize Indirect Associations below for details.

Where and when can you use one?

Use the table below to see where you can use a Recursive Pie Chart:

What would you like to do?

Add a Recursive Pie Chart to your page

1. Select the parent node - Object Type node for Index Pages, Association Type node for Object Pages - and use the Filter Properties area to apply any filtering

2. Switch the Layout node beneath the parent node to Empty

To do this: Right-click the Layout node and choose Switch Layout > CW > Empty

3. Add the Recursive Pie Chart behavior to the Layout node

To do this: Right-click the Layout node and choose Add Behaviors > Pie Charts > Pie Chart (Recursive)

A Pie Chart (Recursive) node is added

4. Add an Association to the parent node - choosing the Associated Object Type which has the property you want to sum

To do this: Right-click the parent node and choose New Association > [object-type] > [association-type]

A new Association Type node is added

5. Select the Association Type node and in the Selected Properties area, tick the property you want to sum on the chart

6. Select the Pie Chart (Recursive) node and configure the following settings:

• Use the Node Name to set the name of the node as it appears in the tree - you only need to edit this if you are using multiple Recursive Pie Charts

• Use Leaf Object Type Scriptname to specify the Scriptname of the Associated Object Type - for example, 'technology'

• Always use lower case when referring to Scriptnames

• Use Property Scriptname to Sum to enter the Scriptname of the property on the Associated Object you want to sum

• Use the Where is the Property to sum drop-down to choose whether you want to sum a property of the Associated Object, or a property of the Intersection Object

• Use Property Unit to specify the text to be displayed on the chart for the sum value

• Use Intersection Object Type Scriptname to specify the Scriptname of the Associated Object Type

    Use the same Scriptname as for the Leaf Object Type Scriptname

7. Save your Site.

Use a property of the Intersection Object for the sum

You can configure your Recursive Pie Chart to sum the values of Intersection Objects rather than values of the Associated Objects themselves.

The instructions for creating a Recursive Pie Chart in this way is exactly the same as for referencing an Associated Object, with the following exceptions:

1. Set the Where is the Property to sum drop-down to 'On the intersection before'

2. Use Property Scriptname to Sum to enter the Scriptname of the property on the Intersection Object you want to sum

3. Use Intersection Object Type Scriptname to specify the Scriptname of the Intersection Object Type.

Use multiple Association Types to visualize Indirect Associations

If you want to add more steps in your Recursive Pie Chart using multiple levels of associations, you should follow the points below:

• Nest additional Association Type nodes beneath each other - add the next Association Type by right-clicking on the Association Type node you want to nest beneath

• On the Recursive Pie Chart node the settings should reference the object at the end of the chain - in the example case, the Technology.