Maximum bar width in Highcharts column charts

Question

I\'m using Highcharts to create some vertical bars (a.k.a. \"column charts\") a lot like here: highcharts.com/demo/column-basic

Thing is, sometimes there are 30 bars in

Answer 1

Update: As of Highcharts version 4.1.8 , see Adam Goodwin's answer, below.

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For many years, the only way to set the maximum width of the columns, was dynamically via JavaScript.

Basically:

1. Check the current bar width.
2. If it is greater than desired, reset the series' pointWidth.
3. Force a redraw to make the change visible.

Something like:

var chart = new Highcharts.Chart ( { ... ...

//--- Enforce a Maximum bar width.
var MaximumBarWidth = 40; //-- Pixels.
var series          = chart.series[0];

if (series.data.length) {

    if (series.data[0].barW  >  MaximumBarWidth) {
        series.options.pointWidth = MaximumBarWidth;
        /*--- Force a redraw.  Note that redraw() will not 
            fire in this case!
            Hence we use something like setSize().
        */
        chart.setSize (400, 300);   
    }
}

See the demo at jsFiddle.