Color Parameters

Colors can be specified in any NetCharts parameter using any of the following values:

  • Predefined Color Name

  • Hexdecimal RGB value

  • NULL Keyword

Predefined color names are the most convenient method for specifying a color and over 100 names are supported.

Note:
These colors may be rendered differently on different platforms or within different browsers because of differences in system or browser defined color tables. Specifically, when running under Netscape3.x/Win95, with only 256 colors defined for the system display, some colors may not be rendered properly when dynamically changing the display. This problem does not exist on any other JVM or browser platform.

If a specific RGB value is required, they can be specified using the following format: 

	xRRGGBB
where RR, GG, BB are the hexadecimal values for red, green, and blue, in the range 00 to ff. The leading 'x' is mandatory and designates the beginning of the hexadecimal value.

The NULL keyword may also be used depending on the specific chart parameter being defined. For example, the DataSets parameter in the NFBarchartApp accepts a NULL parameter, whereas the Background parameter DOES NOT accept NULL colors. Currently, the following parameters accept the NULL keyword as a color value for the given attributes:

Applet Parameter Attribute(s)
Barchart DataSets Bar Color
Boxchart DataSets Box Color
Diagram Nodes Foreground, Background
Edges Edges Edge Color
Piechart Slices Pie Color
XYChart DataSets Symbol Color, Line Color, Fill Color
ComboChart DataSets Bar Color
Line Sets LineSets Symbol Color, Line Color, Fill Color
StockChart DataSets Bar Color
Line Sets LineSets Symbol Color, Line Color, Fill Color
Stock Sets StockSets Set Color
TimeChart DataSets Data Set Color
StripChart DataSets Data Set Color
DialChart DialBorders,
DialFills 		Dial Border Color, Dial Fill Color
Sectors Sectors,
SectorBorders		 Sector Fill Color, Sector Border Color
Hands Hands Hand Tip Color, Hand Shaft Color

In all of these cases, whenever the NULL keyword is specified as a color value, the actual color used will be determined automatically from the default color table. That is, a default color will be selected, based on the index of the parameter being defined. For example, the following parameters specify default colors for all but the first and last slices in a piechart: 


Slices = (10, lightsteelblue, "Slice 1", black, "Courier", 12),
         (20, NULL, "Slice 2"),
         (30, NULL, "Slice 3"),
         (40, NULL, "Slice 4"),
         (50, darkyellow, "Slice 5");

Color 1

The system default color table contains 10 colors, which are reused as needed depending on the number of datasets being defined. The default color table can be completely specified in all NetCharts chart applets using the ColorTable parameter, which is defined as follows: 


ColorTable = color1, color2, color3 ...;
In that case, the colors will "wrap-around" whenever the number of data sets exceeds the number of colors defined in the ColorTable parameter.

In this example, a custom color table is defined and used to specify the color for each data set in a barchart with more than one data set. 


ColorTable = red, green, yellow, lightblue;
DataSets   = ("Server #1", NULL),
             ("Server #2", NULL),
             ("Server #3", NULL);
DataSet1   = 100, -25, 75, 63, -46;
DataSet2   = 85, 45, 10, -67, 10;
DataSet3   = 25, -56, -90, 10, 20;

Color 2

In this example, a custom color table is defined and used to specify the color for each bar in a single data set barchart. See Barchart for more details concerning the use of NULL colors. 

ColorTable = red, green, yellow, lightblue;
DataSets   = ("Server #1", NULL);
DataSet1   = 100, -25, 75, 63, -46;

Color 3

Pattern Fills

Click here for Chart Specific Pattern Fill CDL Parameters

Translucent Colors

The following chart uses a vertical gradient and translucent color for one LineFillPattern. 

     LineFillPattern = (GRADIENTVERTICAL,pink_10,linen),(BSLASH,rosybrown,lightcoral);