Patent ID: 8321781

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of configuring an interactive chart displayed by a computer program, comprising: displaying a user interface for the interactive chart within a satellite pane of the computer program, wherein the interactive chart is displayed in a chart pane of the computer program, and wherein the chart pane is separate and distinct from the satellite pane; presenting a plurality of data field selection areas in the user interface within the satellite pane, wherein the plurality of data field selection areas comprises two or more from the group consisting of filter selection area, axis selection area, legend selection area, and values selection area, and wherein each data field selection area holds at least one data field identifier available for selection by a user for modifying the interactive chart; in response to moving a first data field identifier in a first data field selection area to a second data field selection area, updating the first data field selection area to such that the first data field identifier is not available for selection and updating the second data field selection area to indicate the availability of the first data field identifier for selection in the second data field selection area; in response to receiving a selection of a particular data field identifier in a particular data field selection area, querying a data source for chart data associated with the selection; and graphically representing the chart data within the interactive chart displayed in the chart pane, wherein the selected particular data field identifier and the particular data field selection area determine how the chart data is graphically represented in the interactive chart.