smart chart not exporting in PDF

[Thatch]

I'm attempting to export a 2 page document with embedded smart charts (bar and line) to pdf (email distro) and the document exports fine but without the graphs. Anyone seen this behavior before?

[mwenz]

Which smart charts? Can you upload a sample or working XAR file to demonstrate this?

I just loaded a few and they exported to PDF fine. Using the content catalog itself was a royal pita, though...

[gwpriester]

First file was exported for e-mail distribution, the second, PDF/X High Quality.

[Thatch]

Sorry for the late reply. I ended up just doing a bitmap copy of the graph instead of the smart graph. I just checked it again and it is still doing the same. Often times the app crashes as well and in the process corrupts the file I'm working on. Obviously this isn't the preferred behavior.

J

[Thatch]

A test file that doesn't export to pdf correctly...


graphtest.pdf

graphtest.xar

[mwenz]

The chart you selected is an HTML chart. Even so, without changing its properties, it also doesn't export to a web page.

To get it into a PDF document, open the Page Options. Select the General tab. Change from a print document to a Web document type. Now right-click on the HTML Widget. At the bottom of the context menu, select Web Properties.

Make the following selection:



Now, it is always ever going to be 96 DPI in the PDF. Which is what you really accomplish with the bitmap copy no matter what the DPI field says, the quality is exactly the same.

I would use a different chart type from the Pr. Or just make the thing in something else.

[Thatch]

I appreciate the information.... I don't appreciate the hoops that have to be jumped through to use this component though (obviously on Xara's part, not yours).

So, how am I supposed to know that a graph is a HTML widget and not whatever the alternative to that is? There seems to be no designation within the gallery of charts as to what the underlying tech is for the particular object.

[mwenz]

Sorry. Dunno how to tell for many things in the content catalog. But I also don't use the content much--only a couple times since version 6 actually.

For charting, I generally use Excel, sometimes PowerPoint, and export as a PDF then bring that in. With a saved Excell/PP file, if and when it needs updated (and therefore XDP), it only takes a couple minutes. While it would be nice to have a "real" charting component in XDP, it likely isn't going to happen as Xara's focus of recent years seems more web-oriented than print design. It is like a real tables component that would benefit both print and web work. The table widget in XDP pretty much sucks.

I wish I had better news or a better work-around I could share.

Mike

[Thatch]

That is a shame. One of my main interests in upgrading was the addition of graphs. I don't normally use any of the premade things, but as I do a lot of graph work (mostly in an iPython noteboot with various graphing libraries) it is often times a pain to pull out a more capable tool just to do a simple weekly report. The idea of having the components in Xara so I could just bang through the report, have something nice to look at that exports directly into PDF was a pretty big bonus. Ah well, I'll suffer through on this particular project and then go back to my normal multi tool approach.

Thanks again,

Joe

[mwenz]

Hi Joe.

There are a few graphs that are not web widgets. Look in the Presentation section...I think that's where I saw them. I am away from the computer right now so cannot check for certain.

Mike