Crystal Reports Legends

Question

Is there a way to force a Bar Chart legend in Crystal Report 11.5 to display its objects in a particular order?

For Example, say I am reporting on the consumption of "Bananas" and "Apples" by State. The Bar Chart should display the percentage of people who eat these fruits by county (Percent Bar Chart). The "Apples" percentage always displays on top of the bar chart and the "Bananas" on the bottom. The legend for this graph also displays the "Apple" color first, then the "Banana" color. However, if the "Banana" percentage is 0% the legend displays the "Banana" color first on the legend. This creates a inconsistent report (with plenty of complaints).

I would like the "Banana" color to always display second in the legend. Hope I didn't confuse anyone and any ideas would be helpful.

Answer 1

I think I was able to replicate your issue. It is a little strange, but I was able to bypass the issue by changing the chart to one of the other 2 bar chart types ("Stacked Bar Chart" or a "Side-By-Side Bar Chart"). I'd recommend using one of those, or perhaps even a pie chart.

Answer 2

Try this instead:
1. Right-click to go into the Chart Expert. Go into the Data tab.
2. If it isn't already set to it, set the grouping method thingy on the top right to On Change of
3. Click Order, then Specified Order
4. There are 2 new tabs: Specified Order and Others. Use the first to decide which groups go first and the second to decide what to do with the rest.

Since you're specifying the order of your groups in the chart, Crystal won't try to auto-decide which ones go first. Step 2 may be an issue for your chart depending on how you set it up. In that case, I suggest making a new chart from scratch.

I can't call myself an expert. I hope this helps.