How do overlay a time series chart and a bar chart onto the same graph in Quiver?

I’m doing a supply chain use case and I’m showing the inventory as a tabular time series (forecasting out using projected demand) but I also want to overlay on the same view the inbound and outbound shipment values day to day. How do I do this on the same graph?

Hi Dominic,

For your use case, we have the Overlay Chart card which allows you to overlay multiple bar/line charts on top of each other. Unfortunately however, time series charts are not supported for this.

What you can do instead is create a Categorical plot from transform table card, and convert that into a line chart. In the data column, you’ll want to group by the date column, and aggregate over the y column. Then in the display settings, convert the chart to horizontal display, and then switch the visualization type to line chart. You should then be able to overlay this line chart with your bar chart.

Thank you so much, will give this a try now and let you know how it goes.

Will I be using the “overlay chart” for the solution you mentioned? I’m not seeing that chart. Also, when I make the bar or line chart, I’m not seeing a way to add another plot onto that chart.

Oh I see the “categorical plot from transform table” card. Will try now to do both charts within that card.

Okay, the issue is that the charts are still not overlaying and also I can’t properly display both my inbound and outbound volumes in the same bar chart. It can be done properly in workshop by multiplying -1 to represent outbound volume, but in quiver I’m not seeing a way to make the outbound values negative.

you should be able to add an overlay chart from the “Search cards” button at the top of the analysis.

I would first create each bar chart, then add both to the overlay chart.

yeah, I’m not seeing this.

okay, question… why does this card show up when i click at the top “search cards”, but not when i’m in the canvas?

This is working now, but I still am hoping to find a way to make my outbound values represented as negative… i tried a formula but the chart is then saying “only simple aggregates allowed”

I’m not quite sure what you mean by the overlay chart not showing up in the canvas. The overlay chart should be viewable both from the “Search card” button, as well as in the next action of the bar chart.

In regards to showing the outbound values, you should be able to add a “Categorical formula plot” card, then multiply you bar chart by -1

Thank you! We got the negative values to work. As for the search cards, the overlay chart was not appearing when we were searching from the canvas, but when clicking on “search cards” at the top we were able to find it. I find this to be a regular occurrence that depending on what block I’m transforming off of or doing a visualization off of, that there is a much more limited set of options. Maybe even in the cases where I can’t create an overlay chart off of one of my canvas blocks, it can still appear in the search but shows greyed out, indicating that it can’t be built off of the input/previous data block.

just want to confirm what you mean by “searching from the canvas”. Do you mean the “new card” button from the canvas in the analysis contents?

No, I mean from this view:

hmm it looks like you’re trying to add an overlay chart off of the next actions of the transform table. We only show supported cards off of the next actions of a given card.

So in this case, since Overlay charts only take charts as inputs, this card doesn’t show up in the next actions of the transform table card. You would first create the bar chart from the transform table, then you could create the overlay chart from the next actions of the bar chart.

Exactly, I understand that makes sense from a “what’s actually possible next” standpoint, but from a usability/non-expert standpoint, it would be SUPER helpful for it to still show up for it to be greyed out with instructions on how to actually use it or why it’s not available to use.

This specific scenario is maybe a little niche, but I use Quiver more than most people and run into this general scenario of not being able to find the card i’m looking for quite a lot. Granted, this was before you pointed out that I can probably always get the card I need if I just click “search cards” at the top. Anyways, we got everything we needed and are done! Thanks for the help!

No problem, appreciate the feedback Dominic!

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