The Chart Kind Catalog

Every data-bound widget renders as one chart kind. BankSync supports a large catalog of kinds. You pick a kind when you add a widget and can switch it any time later. Switching reuses the fields you already bound, so trying line, then area, then column is usually a one-click experiment, not a rebuild.

Two places you pick a kind#

There are two pickers, and they group the kinds slightly differently. Both reach the same catalog.

• The first-pick picker appears on an empty canvas under the heading What do you want to see? It groups kinds by visual family: Trend, Composition, Hierarchy, Distribution, Matrix, Single value, Relational, and Financial. You pick the look first, then the inspector prompts you for the fields.
• The Chart type picker lives in the inspector (the panel that opens when you select a widget). It groups kinds by the question they answer: Time series, Comparison, Part-of-whole, Distribution, Correlation, Flow / network, Matrix / heatmap, Radial, Financial, and Single value. Use it to switch an existing widget's kind without losing your bound fields.

The tables below follow the inspector's "question" grouping, since that is where you spend most of your time once a widget exists.

In the inspector, the Chart type dropdown lists the same kinds under question-based headings (Time series, Comparison, Part-of-whole, and so on), so you can switch an existing widget's kind from there without leaving its field bindings.

A worked example#

Say you want to see spend per category from your Transactions feed:

1. Add a widget and point it at your Transactions feed.
2. In the What do you want to see? picker, choose Bar (under Trend) or open the inspector's Chart type picker and choose Bar / Column (under Comparison).
3. In the inspector, set Group by to Category and Value to the sum of Amount.
4. To see the same numbers as a ranked list instead, switch the kind to Lollipop / Dot: your Category and Amount stay bound, so it is a one-click change.

That is the whole loop: pick a kind, bind a category and a number, switch kinds freely.

Time series#

Show how a value changes over time. These expect a date on one axis.

Comparison#

Compare a value across categories.

Part of a whole#

Show how parts add up to a total. These need a category to slice by. Pie / Donut is the everyday one; the rest are stylistic variations.

Distribution#

Show how values are spread out. Histogram is the everyday one; the rest are specialized statistical views.

Correlation#

Show how two measures relate. Scatter is the everyday one; the rest handle very dense data or many measures at once.

Flow and network#

Show movement or relationships between things. These are specialized; reach for them when a bar or table can't show how amounts move between groups.

Matrix and heatmap#

Show intensity across two dimensions as color. Heatmap and Calendar heatmap are the approachable ones.

Radial, financial, and single value#

The single-value kinds (Gauge, Meter, Progress) show one number against a scale or target rather than a series of points. A gauge is the most legible of the three for a goal like a savings rate.

Switching kinds without losing work#

When you change a widget's kind in the inspector's Chart type picker, BankSync re-uses the fields you already bound (and their settings, like the grouping grain or the sum) and fills in only what the new kind adds. So line, area, and column swap freely.

One thing to know: if you switch to a kind that holds fewer fields, the extras are dropped rather than kept. For example, a multi-series line carries a date, a number, and a series split. Switch it to a pie (which has room only for a category and a value) and the series split has nowhere to go, so it falls away. Switch back and you re-bind it. Within kinds of the same shape (line, area, column, bar) nothing is lost.

If a kind cannot render your current data, the picker disables it and tells you why in plain language, for example "needs a category field" or "needs a number field" rather than naming internal field roles. Bind the missing kind of field and the option lights up.

Beyond charts#

KPI, Table, and the single-value kinds are covered in depth on their own page. Tables in particular do more than show plain rows: each column can be formatted as currency, a status pill, a progress bar, an inline sparkline, a rating, and more, all configured in the table's column manager.

Related guides#

• Binding data: choose the fields a chart kind needs.
• Adding widgets: start a widget of any kind.
• KPI, table & gauge widgets: the non-chart kinds in depth.