In Step 3, you specify which fields appear in which places in the chart. There are three places a field can appear:

• Category: A category field appears in the category, or X, axis of all but pie charts. For pie charts, a category field is used for the slices. For example, to show a chart of sales by product by year, use the product name as the category field.

  If you use a date or date/time field as a category field and the Add missing date values setting for that field is turned on (the default), missing values are automatically added to the chart, and the range of those values respects any date filter you use. For example, in the following chart, the only dates that had orders were 07/04, 07/05, and 07/08, but the filter condition was Order Date is between 07/01/1996 and 07/08/1996, so all days between those dates appear whether they had any orders or not:

  

• Values: A values field is the numeric value for each category item in the chart. For pie charts, this is used to determine the size of a slice. For all other charts, it's used for the values, or Y, axis. For example, to show a chart of sales by product by year, use the sale amount as the values field. You can chart different fields by using more than one field as a values field. For example, you could chart the total sales and the number of invoices.

• Series: A series field is used to create multiple charts. For example, to show a chart of sales by product by year, use the sale date as the series field and display the year rather than individual dates using the Properties dialog. Not all charts have a series field, and if the chart has more than one values field, it can't have a series field.

To specify where a field goes, drag its name from the list on the left to the appropriate place at the right. For example, to use the Amount field as the values field, click it in the list, hold down the mouse button, and move the mouse until it's over the box below the word "Values," then let go of the mouse. Note that you're allowed to have more than one values field; each field is charted as a separate series.

To remove a field from a place on the report, drag it from the appropriate box back to the list at the left or select it and press the Delete key.

To change how a field appears in the report, select it and click the Properties button. This displays the Properties dialog. You can also display this dialog by double-clicking the field or selecting the field and pressing Enter. Hover the mouse pointer over a field to display what settings for the field have been changed from their defaults (if any).

Step 3 shows a sample of what the chart looks like based on the fields you've selected and their properties. However, it does not show actual data from your database until you click the Preview button.