Changing the color of items based on a specific range

You can use color changes, based on the values of a selected attribute or property to indicate how data falls within a range. You can decide how different values determine which color to use from the color scheme.

About this task

Formatting changes can use a color scheme to visualize how data falls within a set range. The first and last colors in the scheme correspond to the lowest and highest or earliest and latest values of a selected attribute or property. Any items with values in between the two limits are then set by using either a linear or logarithmic scale.
Note:
You can only use a color scheme in a rule whose criteria specify numeric or date and time values.
You can use a color spectrum to change the following styles:
  • The dominant shade color of icons, event frames, and theme lines
  • The icon frame color of icons and theme lines
  • The item type of entities and links.

Procedure

To specify how the lower and upper limits are set:
  1. Follow the instructions in Creating and editing conditional formatting specifications to create or edit a conditional formatting specification.
  2. Follow the instructions in Adding rules to a conditional formatting specification to create a rule, and in the Style will be changed to section, select Values from a Color Spectrum based on rule basis, and click Edit.
  3. Specify how the lower limit of the scale is set:
    1. If you select From chart, the lower limit is automatically set to the earliest or lowest value of the attribute or property on the chart.
    2. If you select Specified value, enter a number, or date and time. Items with values at or below this value are mapped to the color on the left of the selected scale.
  4. Specify how the upper limit of the scale is set:
    1. If you select From chart, the upper limit is automatically set to the latest or highest value on the chart.
    2. If you select Specified value, enter a number, or date and time. Items with values at or above this value are mapped to the color on the right of the selected scale.
  5. If you change the link type, icon frame, or entity shade color, choose the type of scale you want to apply to the chart:
    • Ordered - A scale that increases in intensity towards one of the ends.
    • Diverging - To accentuate data that is at the lower and upper ends of the scale, you can choose to use a scale that either only modifies items that match the lower and upper ends of a scale, or scales that make this data more obvious.
    • Categories - For values that can be divided into discrete groups rather than on a particular rising scale, you can use categories to highlight specific bands of data.
    • Legacy Spectrums - To match charts that have been created in earlier versions of Analyst's Notebook you can select to use the legacy color scales.
  6. Select the specific scale to be applied.
    Tip:
    To reverse the scale, select the Reverse check box.
  7. In the Values of rule basis in between section, select how color is applied to items with values between the lower and upper limits:
    • Linear scale - the values are spaced equally to determine which color is used.
    • Logarithmic scale - the spacing between smaller values is greater. This type of scale is useful when your attribute values cover a large range.
  8. Click OK to finish defining the rule.