In the top left part of the window we can see a quite large preview area. Pushing the long Preview button we can always check the result of our setting when we create the chart.
Beneath the preview area we can set two things. On the left side we can choose the version of the analysed program element to be included on the barchart. Only the latest version is shown by default. We can set these versions in the box labeled Date. Also we can change the text diplayed on the bars from their date of analyses to their comment by selecting the Show comment instead of date option. The other setting box beneath the preview is labeled Sort by. Here we can set how the bar on the barchart should be sorted. We can arrange to set the different metrics of the same element beside each other - Item, we can choose to put bars showing the same metric together - Metrics, and we can group the elements of the same version beside each other - Date.
On the right side of the window we can select the metric that we would like to put on the barchart. We can select any number of metrics. The metric groups are presented in a tree view and the different branches can be opened by left clicking on the small sign beside the check box metric group (for a detailed description of the metrics please refer to Appendixes A-D).
Under the metrics box there are three radio buttons. Here we can select between three options. The first option is to treat the metric values in a regular fashion - Regular. The other option is to divide each metric value by the logical lines of code value of the same program element - Relative to size (divided by lLOC). This second option normalizes the metric values with the size of the element. The third option is not to use the metric values in their common sence but to calculate the difference between the values of metrics measured during the current and the previous analysis. This will give us the rate a metric value has grown or dropped at.
When we have set all the options in the desired way, we can push the OK button to make the barchart. The results will appear in the right panel. We can close the window by pressing the Cancel button.
On the left part of the window we can find the Metrics box and the group of radio buttons labeled Metric values. We can be familiar with these options from previous parts of the Monitor.
For a more detailed description of some parts of this window please refer to the description of the Barchart above.
When we open one the Histogram... menus, we get a new window in the center of the screen that is similar to the prevoius ones. In the top left part of the window we can find the Preview area. Under this area we can find three textboxes. Here we can set the ranges of the metric values to be displayed on the histogram with From and To. This means that if some element has a metric value that is not in this range, it will not appear on the chart. We can also set the Precision of the histogram here. The range we have set before will be divided into this number of equal sub-ranges.
Still under the Preview area we can find two checkboxes. We can set to make the bars - Show bars - and the values - Show values - visible on the chart.
In the bottom left part of the window we can find the Filter area, on the left part we can find the Metrics box and the group of radio buttons labeled Metric values. We can be familiar with these options from the previous parts of the Monitor.
For a more detailed description of some parts of this window please refer to the description of the Barchart above and to the description of the Search by metric value in Section 3.3.3.
When we make charts, they will appear in the right panel. If we look at the charts, we can find two red arrows on the left side of them. We can use them to adjust any of the charts by changing the maximum value displayed on the vertical axis. If we press the arrow pointing to the top of the chart, the maximum value displayed will increase but if we push the arrow pointing to the bottom of the chart, this value will decrease. We can use the mouse roller to perform the same action. In addition to this, if we have a timeline chart displayed, we can move the mouse pointer over any of the time-lines and it will be highlighted in red to make the tracking of the line easier.
On the current diagram there is always an active chart is shown in bright colors while the rest of the charts are greyish. We can choose the active chart by left clicking on the chart. The charts have an additional feature. We can always double-click on the chart with the left mouse button. This way we get the window where we can modify the settings of the chart. We can get to the same menu if we left click on the chart and select the Settings menu item.
We can copy any of the charts to a new diagram. This can be done by pressing the right mouse button on the chart and choosing the Copy to new tab menu item. When we do not need a chart anymore or we want to make space for other charts, we can delete any chart by pressing the right mouse button on it, and selecting the Remove diagram menu option. We can also remove all of the charts at once by pressing the Remove all diagrams menu point. With the Item menu item we can access basiclly the same utilities that we have in the left panel (viewing the item info, adding to charts, getting the source, etc.) - for the use of this menu please refer to the detailed description of the left panel in Senction 3.1. There is only one exception in using the Item menu item: if we have an active timeline chart the data and functions we can get from the menu are related to the version of the program element under the mouse pointer. As the timeline presents many different versions of the same element, we can get different results by using the Item menu at different places of the chart. The Export to EPS menu point will save the chart in .eps (post script) format after choosing a location for saved file. This wat we can use our charts in different documents.