How to reduce/limit the number of category values displayed on X-axis of bar chart?

[Thanuja]

Hi,

I am in the process of designing a bar chart to show 60 ranks(category) on X-axis and their probabilities(Measure) on Y-axis. When I view the report in report viewer, I noticed that the X-axis is cluttered as it has 60 values to be displayed. Is there any way I can limit the number of values displayed on the X-axis as 1,5,10,15,...60 without affecting the 60 ranks in the chart.So, I want 60 bars with their respective probabilities in the viz, but I want X-axis values to be 1,5,10...60 so the viz looks clean. Current view and expected look as shown in attached.

Thanks in advance,

Thanuja

[Sam_SAS]

Hello Thanuja,

Because the variable on the category axis is a character variable, the chart cannot thin the axis tick values in the way you want.

Depending on the version of VA that you have, if you view the options for the bar chart, you might see a Tick Values option under an X Axis Options grouping. If you uncheck that box, then all of the axis tick values will be hidden. Having no tick values at all might be preferable, depending on what you are looking for.

Depending on how your data is structured, you might be able to display this data as a scatter plot if you convert the category to a measure. This would look cleaner but obviously would be a lot different from a bar chart.

Sam

[Thanuja]

Hi Sam,

Thanks for the response, I use SAS VA 7.4 and didn't see the tick values option in the properties for bar chart.

-Thanuja

[Sam_SAS]

Yes, the axis options were added later. Oh, well.

[PetriRoine · Accepted solution]

Hello @Thanuja ,

I suggest you try a Needle Plot and adjust Line thickness  (from Options > Needle Plot) to somewhere between 3 and 6 to get a preferred look. You could also do this with Vector Plot, but this is a more straightforward approach.

I hope this helps.

Best regards,

Petri