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Treemap Component

The Treemap component renders hierarchical data as nested rectangles where each rectangle's area is proportional to a numeric value. It excels at showing relative size across many categories simultaneously — making it easy to identify the largest contributors to a total at a glance. Common uses include resource cost by discipline, activity count by WBS level, and risk distribution by category.

Report Forge treemap

Presets​

PresetDescription
StandardSingle-level rectangles sized by value.
HierarchicalTwo-level nesting: parent groups contain child rectangles.
KPIRectangles colored by a RAG status field rather than by size.
DrillableEnables click-to-drill interaction through multiple hierarchy levels.

Data binding​

PropertyDescription
Category fieldField defining the label for each rectangle.
Value fieldNumeric field determining the area of each rectangle.
Parent fieldOptional field for hierarchical nesting. Records sharing the same parent value are nested inside one group rectangle.
Color fieldOptional field for conditional coloring (e.g., RAG status, discipline code).
Drill levelsOrdered list of fields to navigate through on drill-down interaction.

Color options​

ModeDescription
Category colorsEach distinct category value is assigned a color from the palette.
Value gradientColor intensity reflects the numeric value (lighter = lower, darker = higher).
Conditional (field-based)Color is driven by a separate status or classification field (e.g., RAG).
Single colorAll rectangles use one color. Useful when the focus is on size comparison only.

Drill-down interaction​

Enable drill-down in the Drillable preset to let report consumers navigate into hierarchy levels:

  1. In Properties → Interaction, enable Drill-through.
  2. Add fields to the drill path in order (e.g., WBS Level 1 → Level 2 → Level 3).
  3. A breadcrumb navigation bar appears above the treemap showing the current drill path.
  4. Users can click a rectangle to drill in, or click the breadcrumb to navigate back up.

In PDF export, drill-down is not available — the chart renders at the configured default level.

Label display​

OptionDescription
Label fieldThe field shown as the label inside each rectangle.
Show valueDisplay the numeric value alongside the label.
Show percentageDisplay each rectangle's share of the total.
Label truncationAuto-truncate labels when the rectangle is too small.
Min size for labelSuppress labels on rectangles below a size threshold to avoid clutter.

Good practice​

  • Use the hierarchical preset when the parent/child relationship adds meaningful context (e.g., cost by phase then by discipline).
  • Limit the number of leaf-level rectangles to ≤ 50 for readability. Use Others grouping for long tails.
  • When using value gradient coloring, add a color legend or note explaining the scale.
  • For formal reports, prefer the standard or KPI preset over the drillable preset (drilling is interactive and does not export to PDF).