2.5. Backward compatibility patches

If you upgraded from an older version, you may notice some changes in the default behavior. Although the backward compatibility is kept as much as possible, sometimes a new behavior is preferred. The new behavior should be better for most users, but if you already have some charts from an older version, you may want to keep the old behavior, so your charts look exactly the same as before. That is why we provide backward compatibility patches.

[Caution]Caution

Patches are for advanced users only. Please apply them only if you need them and if you know what you are doing. If you are not sure, please contact support.

The patches can be found in <EspressChart_Installation_Directory>/lib/Patches directory. They are stored in JAR archives. To apply a patch, you only need to add the appropriate JAR file to the classpath of your application as described below.

If you want to apply a patch to the Chart Designer and Viewer, you have to edit espressmanager.bat and designer.bat files (if you use Windows), or espressmanager.sh and designer.sh files (if you use other OS) in your EspressChart installation directory and add relative path to the patch JAR file (e.g. ./lib/Patches/patch1.jar) to the classpath parameter. If you are running Chart Designer from HTML page, you also have to edit index.html file in your EspressChart installation directory and add relative path to the patch JAR file to the archive attribute of the applet tag.

If you are using API, you have to include the patch JAR file in the classpath of your application.

Below is a list of all available patches in the current version.

patch1.jar

- turn off chart axis padding by default

  • default behavior (without the patch) - axis padding is on by default

  • behavior with the patch - axis padding is off by default

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 4.0

  • this feature can also be set using the IAxis.setAxisPaddingAdded method in API or in the Axis Scale dialog in the Chart Designer

patch2.jar

- add left margin for annotation text in charts

  • default behavior (without the patch) - annotation text does not have left margin

  • behavior with the patch - annotation text has left margin

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 5.0

  • this feature cannot be set by public API nor UI

  • annotation text is legend text, chart titles and any text inserted using Insert → Text in the Chart Designer

patch3.jar

- use 0 to 1 as min/max value when chart axis autoscale for axis pt less than 1

  • default behavior (without the patch) - maximum and minimum are always set according to data if autoscale is used

  • behavior with the patch - if max-min is < 1 and autoscale is used, min is set to 0 and max is set to 1

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 5.4

  • this feature cannot be set by public API nor UI

  • It is not recommended to use this patch. The original behavior is a bug.

patch4.jar

- turn off new pie chart label placement algorithm (calculate label placement based on pie sector position)

  • default behavior (without the patch) - new pie label placement algorithm is used

  • behavior with the patch - old pie label placement algorithm is used

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 6.0

  • this feature cannot be set by public API nor UI

patch5.jar

- always use integer value for chart axis auto scale

  • default behavior (without the patch) - integer is always used for axis auto scale

  • behavior with the patch - axis value data type is used for axis auto scale

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 6.0

  • this feature cannot be set by public API nor UI

patch6.jar

- disable minimum and maximum error check for chart axis scale

  • default behavior (without the patch) - the error check is enabled

  • behavior with the patch - the error check is disabled (so you can set maximum value lower than the one set in your dataset - same for minimum)

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 6.2

  • patch is for API only

  • this feature cannot be set by public API nor UI

patch7.jar

- turn off Single color for categories feature for columnar and bar charts by default

  • default behavior (without the patch) - Single color for categories feature is turned on by default

  • behavior with the patch - Single color for categories feature is turned off by default

  • new behavior has been introduced in version 6.3

  • this feature can also be set using the IDataPointSet.setSingleColorForCategories method in API or in the Chart Options dialog in the Chart Designer

patch8.jar

- line chart end to end revert single point data to display on left axis

patch9.jar

- display stack label despite not having enough space in the stack to render it