Display article   Subject:  Business Graphs:  Displaying Numbers Graphically
   04/30/97   19:44:29


BUSINESS GRAPHS: DISPLAYING NUMBERS GRAPHICALLY

In our visually-oriented society, graphs and graphics have more
impact than text alone does.  Although visual presentations are
easier to view and absorb, they are usually more difficult to
create than text.

Business Graphs (25-1363  $24.95), a new DeskMate Companion
product, makes the creation of these graphics very easy.  If you
already have numbers in a DeskMate spreadsheet, in most cases you
can import them directly into Business Graphs.  If you don't have
your numbers in a spreadsheet, you just key them into Business
Graphs.  In either case, the DeskMate interface makes the process
easy.


HOW TO USE BUSINESS GRAPHS

Automatic Installation

Business Graphs uses DeskMate's automatic installation.  With the
Desktop displayed, you simply place the diskette in your floppy
drive, choose Desktop <F7> Install, and stand by.  Business
Graphs will be displayed on your Desktop and installed on your
hard drive or floppy drive.

Creating a Graph

To create a new graph, you must tell Business Graphs what kind of
graph you want and give it some numbers.  Start by selecting File
<F2> New to create a new graph.  To define the graph, choose the
Edit <F3> Define/Edit Layout option.

Here you key in the desired titles and subtitles, select fonts
and choose other graphic options.  To select the type of graph
you want, click on the GRAPH button at the top of the screen.
Your graph options appear.

You can select from several common types of graphs, such as bar
graph, percent bar, pie chart, data chart, and line graph.  Next,
key in the data.  Select Edit <F3> Enter/Edit Data and start
typing.

If you are creating a bar graph, the labels that will be
displayed as "X" data are along the left side, and the data along
the top will be displayed as different bars.  After you enter the
data and press <ENTER>, the graph is displayed.

Printing a Graph

Business Graphs prints both in color and in black and white.  By
default, it displays the graphs in color.  It can print graphs in
the same colors with a Tandy DMP 240 printer with a color ribbon.

If you have a black and white printer, you can preview the graph
in black and white by choosing the Options <F4> Display in B/W.

To print, select File <F2> Print.  After you select how much of
the printed page you want the graph to fill, the printing process
begins.

Importing and Exporting Data

Business Graphs can import labels and numbers from DeskMate
Worksheet and from Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate.  To import
from Worksheet, print your worksheet to a file using the ASCII
driver.  Go into Business Graphs, select File <F2> New then File
<F2> Import.  Key in the name of the file, and it happens like
magic!

To import from Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate, select a portion
of the worksheet and copy it to the DeskMate Clipboard using <F3>
Copy.  Then run Business Graphs, select File <F2> New, then Edit
<F3> Paste from Clipboard.  The data appears just as if you had
typed it in.

In both cases, the labels that appear along the left side of the
spreadsheet will appear as the X axis.

To export the data to a text file, select File <F2> Export,
choose ASCII text and type in the filename.

Exporting Graphics

Business Graphs uses the DeskMate Draw format for storing and
manipulating its graphics.  When you use Edit <F3> Copy, Business
Graphs copies the graph to the DeskMate Clipboard in the Draw
format.  That means you can paste your graph into any DeskMate
application that recognizes those files.  These include DeskMate
Draw and DeskMate Text.

These graphics can also be exported to a DeskMate Draw file with
the .FIG extension.  This can be read directly by DeskMate Draw
and also by DeskMate Q&A Write.  Thus, to use a graph from
Business Graphs in DeskMate Q&A Write, first save it using
Business Graphs' File <F2> Export function.  Then, in Q&A Write,
use the graphic hot link in a "*G TEST.FIG*" format to link to
that .FIG file.

Multiple Windows

Business Graphs uses Star Software's multiple windowing
technology under DeskMate.  This means you can open several
graphs simultaneously on the screen.

Besides providing flexibility in viewing, the multiple window
feature lets you compare graphs side by side.  You can use this
to display the same data in different graphs to choose your
favorite, or you can display different graphs to compare results.
For example, you could view your January, February and March
graphs on the screen at the same time to discover trends.


BUSINESS GRAPHS AS ADDED VALUE

Business Graphs adds value to DeskMate Worksheet because
Worksheet has no graphing capability.  It's a natural addition.
It also adds value to Lotus Spreadsheet for DeskMate because it
provides a variety of new graph types which Lotus Spreadsheet for
DeskMate does not offer.

Business Graphs is excellent for the small business and home
office user.  These graphs can be used for presentations to
customers, presentations to potential funders and perhaps
advertisements and brochures.  Students benefit from being able
to add graphs to term papers, so Business Graphs can help them,
too.

Business Graphs is a powerful program at a reasonable price.  The
different types of graphis, import capabilities, flexibility and
ease of data acquisition make Business Graphs a real timesaver.
