The chart toolbar acts as a container for charts.

The width and height of the chart container are never defined by the app, but are always set by the container itself (as explained in Size of the Chart Container).

The toolbar is mandatory. Small charts such as dashboards, table cells, and small frames are an exception to this rule. In these cases, the developer must provide a consistent UI to enable action on the chart.

The toolbar is always placed on top of the chart. It provides actions such as multiple box selection for selecting dimensions, full screen format, personalization actions, and a toggle function for showing and hiding legends.

Responsiveness

The chart container uses the sap.m.OverflowToolbar control. It is a container based on sap.m.Toolbar that provides overflow when its content does not fit in the visible area. For more information, please refer to the toolbar overview article (under Responsiveness).

Components

The chart toolbar can contain the following components:

• App-specific actions
• Generic actions

The following actions are generic:

• Perspective switch or chart/title
• View switch
• Legend
• Personalization
• Zoom in/zoom out
• Full screen mode
• Overflow

Behavior and Interaction

App-Specific Actions

Perspective Switch/Title (Generic)

The perspective switch is left-aligned in the toolbar when a generic dropdown or select control is used. It can be used to switch between different dimensions.

For SAP Smart Business apps, the view incorporates and defines the chart description, the dimension, the measure, and the defaulted chart type. The various views are preconfigured and maintained by an SAP Smart Business administrator.

Ensure that all switches have a meaningful title. We recommend that you use a short chart description followed by the dimensions:

<Chart description> by <Dimension>

You also have the option of extending the perspective switch if the app needs to switch between specific subdimensions. The number of dimensions and subdimensions that are needed depends on the app.

In general, you can use any kind of control. However, we recommend using the select control.

<Chart description> by <Leading Dimension> <Sub Dimension>

If the app does not need a perspective switch, use the chart title (property: title).

View Switch (Generic)

View Switch – Switch Between Chart and Table

The view switch allows you to switch easily between tables and charts.

Some actions are only available in certain views. For example, the Legend icon is only visible in the chart view. If the user selects the table view, the Filter action is visible and the Legend icon is hidden.

Icon Usage

Each visualization of a chart is represented by an icon.

Legend (Generic)

The chart Legend button (property: ShowLegend) is placed next to the view switches. The user clicks or taps this button to hide or show the legend.

The legend also allows the user to select or deselect data points.

Icon Usage

The legend is represented by the following icon:

Personalization (Generic)

Developers can add a Personalization button to the app’s chart toolbar to enable app-specific personalization charting (property: ShowPersonalization). The corresponding popover and details also need to be implemented by the developer.

We do not recommend using this feature. If you do choose to use it, exercise caution as the toolbar’s perspective switch feature already allows the preconfiguration of several combinations of dimensions, measures, and selections of chart types.

Hence, the developer should decide on the most valuable chart/data set combinations for the end user beforehand.

When viewing charts, users do not usually want to think about what chart types, dimensions, or measures are most suitable in a particular use case. Therefore, the app should provide users with the most appropriate preconfigured chart view.

Icon Usage

Personalization is represented by the following icon:

Zoom In/Zoom Out (Generic)

The app developer can add Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons to the chart toolbar to provide zoom functionality. Two icon buttons depicting a magnifying glass are then displayed. These buttons are positioned just to the left of the full-screen icon and they automatically drive the zoom feature in the chart. When the user clicks or taps the Zoom In or Zoom Out icon, the chart automatically zooms in or out to the most appropriate scale.

Icon Usage

The zoom in/out functionality is represented by the following icons:

Full Screen Mode (Generic)

Alternatively, the app can use the full-screen mode of the chart container (property: FullScreen). However, the full-screen button is always placed at the top right of the toolbar. Further details are available in the Behavior and Interaction section above.

The user can toggle between embedded and full-screen mode via the Maximize full-screen toggle button. In full-screen mode, the toolbar replaces the page header bar which is usually used (the Minimize icon appears).

In full-screen mode, the chart and toolbar occupy the entire width and height.

Icon Usage

The user clicks or taps the full-screen chart icon to initiate full-screen mode. This icon is then replaced by an icon that allows the user to exit full-screen mode.

Overflow (Generic)

The overflow is activated if there is not enough space for all the chart bar actions. It is generated automatically.

Release 1.30 saw several new features being added to the overflow toolbar. The  “…” (overflow) button is now a toggle button and can be used to switch the overflow menu on and off.

When the user clicks or taps the overflow button, a popover appears. In this action sheet, all the icon buttons are labeled with text. The following controls can be overflowed:

• sap.m.SegmentedButton: When the segmented button is in the overflow, it is in “select mode” and looks exactly like a select control, although it is technically still a segmented button.
• sap.m.Select: When the select control is in the overflow, it is always in “default” mode to take advantage of the extra space, even if it was set to “icon-only” mode in the toolbar.
• sap.m.ToggleButton
• sap.m.Checkbox
• sap.m.Input
• sap.m.SearchField
• sap.m.ComboBox
• sap.m.DateTimeInput

All buttons go into the overflow from right to left. This ensures that the most important buttons are the last to go into the overflow.

Guidelines

Please see the detailed Guidelines section of the toolbar overview article.

Additional Guidelines

• Think carefully about what actions you really need in the chart toolbar – do not overload the table toolbar with actions.
• Try to put the actions as close to the content as possible.
• Use tooltips like Sort, Filter, and Group to label icon buttons in the table toolbar.

Resources

Want to dive deeper? Follow the links below to find out more about related controls, the SAPUI5 implementation, and the visual design.