Needle properties

Needle properties define the shape, size, and color of a needle. A needle appears only in a linear gauge and in a meter gauge, and is used to point to a data value. Figure 17-7 shows the needle properties set for a meter gauge.

Figure 17-7

Selecting options for the needle of a meter gauge gadget

For a meter gauge, the needles properties apply only to the pointer part of the needle. To format the base, or pivot, of the needle (represented by the circle), choose Needle Base/Pivot.

Table 17-3 shows all the needle properties and lists the gadgets to which they apply.

Table 17-3

Needle properties

Property	Gadget	Usage
Base Width	Meter	Sets the size of the bottom part of the needle, as a percent of the size of the gadget.
Border Color	Linear gauge, meter	Sets the border color of the needle.
Border Width	Linear gauge, meter	Sets the thickness of the needle border.
Fill Background Color	Meter	Sets the background color of needle.
Fill Color	Linear gauge	Sets the interior color of the needle.
Rear Extension	Meter	Sets the size of the portion of the needle behind the pivot as a percent of the size of the gadget.
Shape	Linear gauge	Sets the shape of the needle.
Show Value	Meter	Enables or disables the display of the value to which the needle points.
Size	Linear gauge, meter	Sets the size in pixels, or in percent of gadget width, of the needle.
Tooltip	Linear Gauge, meter	Specifies text for the tooltip.
Top Width	Meter	Sets the size of the tip of the needle as a percent of the size of the gadget.
Value	Linear gauge, meter	Sets which needle to format. Several needles can co-exist, based on the data used to create the gadget.
Value Textbox X Co-ordinate	Meter	Sets the x coordinate of the value text, as a percent of gadget width.
Value Textbox Y Co-ordinate	Meter	Sets the y coordinate of the value text, as a percent of gadget height.

Copyright Actuate Corporation 2012