Horizon Graph Definition Dialogue Features Description

The Graph Definition Dialogue (GDD) is the “heart” of Horizon and provides the unlimited power of the application that is unique to the Horizon program.

A> All the currency elements are represented as buttons at the top of the GDD and those that don’t fit on the top row are accessed from the drop-down list on the right hand side.

B> Once the active currency has been chosen, the data type is then selected.
The list of data available for each currency is displayed in the drop-down list on the left hand side such as the one below.
Click to enlarge

C> For some data types, there are further sub-selections such as the one below.
Click to enlarge

When the data type or one of the functions has been chosen it is added to the edit box by using the “Insert” button. Within the edit box the expression can be edited or further data can be added to the expression.

For example to add a simple spread expression (10 year GBP swap rates less 5 year AUD swap rates) the following would be one way to create this:

D> The design of the expression is up to the user’s imagination and expressions can be as complex as you desire.
Once the desired expression has been created it is added to the expression list in the box at the bottom. A maximum of 4 expressions can be added. The limit of 4 was chosen as the graphs become too cluttered with more than 4 expressions.
The example below has 3 expressions in the expression list:

At the left of each expression in the expression list there is an arrow that can be changed by clicking on it. The direction of the arrow indicates which scale will be used for the expression. The arrows pointing left use the left hand Y axis and the arrow pointing right will use the right hand Y axis.

E> Once the expressions have been created the user chooses to Preview the graph by selecting the “Preview” button in the bottom right corner in which case the graph will be drawn and the GDD will remain on the screen.

Alternatively if the user chooses “Close” the graph will be drawn but the GDD will be closed.

The dialogue above would create the following graph.

The power of the Horizon Graph Definition Dialogue is virtually limitless. It does not require an ability to write software code and yet it provides much of the same powerful features that a code based system has.