Reallow non-categorical numerical x-axis for bar charts

[125m125]

#39141 removed the ability to choose between numeric and categorical x-Axis for bar charts when the x-axis data is numeric. Previously we were able to use a checkbox below the X-axis selection to switch between the two axis types ("Force categorical"), now we are forced to always use categorical and the checkbox has no effect.

The problem with a categorical axis is, that they don't automatically leave space for gaps in the data. Since numeric/categorical bar charts don't support "Advanced analytics" to resample/zero-fill missing data, this now forces users to fill in the missing numbers in the database query (making the use of count etc in superset itself impossible).

While the numeric variant does have the problems mentioned in the PR (overflowing, which might be fixed by #26269, and intermediate tick marks), having the option to choose between numeric and forced categorical seems like a good option for the users to choose between the advantages/disadvantages of the two types?

Example 1: Years (here we may be able to work around the problem by converting to temporal and using "Advanced analytics"):

Numeric (6.0.0):

Categorical (6.1.0):

Example 2: Number of Ratings (scale 1-10; X Axis Bounds set to .5-10.5):

Numeric (6.0.0):

Categorical (6.1.0):

The forced categorical also influences mixed charts, making it hard to display data that doesn't completely overlap (at least none of the sort options I found worked for this):

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi @125m125! I'm Dosu and I'm helping the Apache Superset team.

I looked into this and can confirm the behavior change you're describing. PR #39141 (merged 2026-04-29) modified the getAxisType() function to automatically treat numeric x-axis data as categorical for bar charts to prevent bar overflow and intermediate tick labels (like "2003.5") [1].

Interestingly, the infrastructure to support user control already exists but isn't wired up in the UI:

• A forceCategorical control is defined in src/controls.tsx and the form data property xAxisForceCategorical exists in the Timeseries types [2] with a default of false [3].
• The getAxisType() function respects this flag — if forceCategorical is false and the data is numeric (non-stacked), it returns AxisType.Value (numeric axis).
• However, this control is not exposed in any of the Timeseries chart control panels (Bar, Line, Area, Mixed, etc.) [4].

So the most straightforward fix would be to add the existing forceCategorical control to the Bar chart's control panel configuration in superset-frontend/plugins/plugin-chart-echarts/src/Timeseries/Regular/Bar/controlPanel.tsx. This would let users toggle between categorical and numeric axes for bar charts with numeric x-axis data — restoring the previous behavior as an opt-in choice.

If someone wants to contribute a fix, that's likely the minimal change needed. The logic in getAxisType() already handles both cases correctly; it just needs the UI toggle to be surfaced.

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[starkmarkus]

I think this is a good feature request.

Making numeric x-values categorical fixed a real problem with overflow and odd intermediate ticks, so I would keep that as the default. But there are also valid cases where the numeric spacing matters and categorical mode changes the meaning of the chart.

So the safest compromise would be:

• keep categorical as the default
• add an opt-in way to use a continuous numeric axis
• document the trade-off clearly

That would preserve the current fix while giving users control when they really need numeric spacing.