| Dynamic Charting Assistance Requested [message #172788] |
Tue, 01 March 2011 21:37  |
Charles
Messages: 13
Registered: February 2011
Karma: 0
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Junior Member |
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Hello out there -
If anyone can help me, it'll be greatly appreciated!!
I'm working with the pChart (http://www.pchart.net) PHP chart framework and think it is a fantastic program/product. I am NOT knocking pChart at all - I'm just looking for help from my
fellow users out there and trying to use pChart in a way that it isn't really designed for/may not be able to do.
Here is the project I'm working on: I'm retrieving data from an IBM iSeries AS/400 with a DB2 data source back end and I'm getting the data fine (MAD props out to ADOdb Database
Abstraction Library for PHP - http://adodb.sourceforge.net - works like a CHAMP!!!) but I need to create some graphs off of said data. Well, pChart works GREAT for the graphs now that
I understand a bit more about how it created the PNG graphs on the fly. Rather, my users have two specific requests for capabilities on these charts:
1. When they mouse-over the actual data, they want to be able to have a fly-over window show up with the exact value of what they are looking at (lower priority)
2. When they are moused-over the data, they want the ability to 'drill down' into the data by simply clicking on the column/data point/slice of pie chart/etc. (MUCH higher priority)
My idea with pChart is to find out what the coordinates are for each of the points of data on the chart, overlay the image that is generated with an image map, and have the image map do
the work then allowing them to 'click into' the chart, bringing them to either a new page or new chart, depending on the page they are on.
So, first off, does anyone have any suggestions of a better/different way to do something like this? This is just the idea I've come up with so far, so I'm not committed/married to it.
I just think that using the image map would be the best/fastest way of doing this.
The next question I would pose to everyone out there is if they know of any other charting frameworks out there that do this same thing that they would recommend. If you have any more
detailed questions or I am neglecting anything, please feel free to e-mail me at (cbuege at moreycorp dot com) or just post a reply to this message.
Now, I'm aware that Google Charts can do this very nicely, but we are trying to keep all of the applications in house as the charts that will be generated won't always be on machines
that will have internet access, so we don't want to depend on Google for files external to the company.
Thanks in advance to anyone out there that can help!!
Charles
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| Re: Dynamic Charting Assistance Requested [message #172789 is a reply to message #172788] |
Tue, 01 March 2011 21:58  |
Jerry Stuckle
Messages: 2598
Registered: September 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 3/1/2011 4:37 PM, Charles wrote:
> Hello out there -
>
> If anyone can help me, it'll be greatly appreciated!!
>
> I'm working with the pChart (http://www.pchart.net) PHP chart framework and think it is a fantastic program/product. I am NOT knocking pChart at all - I'm just looking for help from my
> fellow users out there and trying to use pChart in a way that it isn't really designed for/may not be able to do.
>
> Here is the project I'm working on: I'm retrieving data from an IBM iSeries AS/400 with a DB2 data source back end and I'm getting the data fine (MAD props out to ADOdb Database
> Abstraction Library for PHP - http://adodb.sourceforge.net - works like a CHAMP!!!) but I need to create some graphs off of said data. Well, pChart works GREAT for the graphs now that
> I understand a bit more about how it created the PNG graphs on the fly. Rather, my users have two specific requests for capabilities on these charts:
> 1. When they mouse-over the actual data, they want to be able to have a fly-over window show up with the exact value of what they are looking at (lower priority)
> 2. When they are moused-over the data, they want the ability to 'drill down' into the data by simply clicking on the column/data point/slice of pie chart/etc. (MUCH higher priority)
>
Not in PHP you can't. Mouse actions are strictly client-side; PHP sees
nothing of them.
> My idea with pChart is to find out what the coordinates are for each of the points of data on the chart, overlay the image that is generated with an image map, and have the image map do
> the work then allowing them to 'click into' the chart, bringing them to either a new page or new chart, depending on the page they are on.
>
> So, first off, does anyone have any suggestions of a better/different way to do something like this? This is just the idea I've come up with so far, so I'm not committed/married to it.
> I just think that using the image map would be the best/fastest way of doing this.
>
Try an appropriate newsgroup such as alt.html. They might be able to
help you with client-side stuff. Once you figure out what you need to
do, finishing it should be easy.
> The next question I would pose to everyone out there is if they know of any other charting frameworks out there that do this same thing that they would recommend. If you have any more
> detailed questions or I am neglecting anything, please feel free to e-mail me at (cbuege at moreycorp dot com) or just post a reply to this message.
>
Again, alt.html might be able to help you on this. I don't know of any
- PHP or otherwise - which would do this.
> Now, I'm aware that Google Charts can do this very nicely, but we are trying to keep all of the applications in house as the charts that will be generated won't always be on machines
> that will have internet access, so we don't want to depend on Google for files external to the company.
>
> Thanks in advance to anyone out there that can help!!
>
> Charles
>
>
--
==================
Remove the "x" from my email address
Jerry Stuckle
JDS Computer Training Corp.
jstucklex(at)attglobal(dot)net
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| Re: Dynamic Charting Assistance Requested [message #172791 is a reply to message #172788] |
Wed, 02 March 2011 10:13 |
Erwin Moller
Messages: 228
Registered: September 2010
Karma: 0
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Senior Member |
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On 3/1/2011 10:37 PM, Charles wrote:
> Hello out there -
Hello Charles,
>
> If anyone can help me, it'll be greatly appreciated!!
>
> I'm working with the pChart (http://www.pchart.net) PHP chart framework and think it is a fantastic program/product. I am NOT knocking pChart at all - I'm just looking for help from my
> fellow users out there and trying to use pChart in a way that it isn't really designed for/may not be able to do.
>
> Here is the project I'm working on: I'm retrieving data from an IBM iSeries AS/400 with a DB2 data source back end and I'm getting the data fine (MAD props out to ADOdb Database
> Abstraction Library for PHP - http://adodb.sourceforge.net - works like a CHAMP!!!)
Yes, I am a fan of ADODB too. :-)
But I switched to PDO just to learn some new stuff.
(PDO is NOT a complete abstraction layer, but it works fine for
select/update/delete type of action: you will not create actual tables
with it.)
> but I need to create some graphs off of said data. Well, pChart works GREAT for the graphs now that
> I understand a bit more about how it created the PNG graphs on the fly. Rather, my users have two specific requests for capabilities on these charts:
> 1. When they mouse-over the actual data, they want to be able to have a fly-over window show up with the exact value of what they are looking at (lower priority)
Sounds like a JavaScript job.
A quick primer: Add an eventhandler to the area of the image (using
imagemaps) and let that handler create a new DIV (or make an invisile
DIV visible) and fill that div with the relevant string (using innerHTML
or real DOM manipulation).
That discussion is really outside the scope of this newsgroup.
If you need help I advise you to try comp.lang.javascript or maybe alt.html.
> 2. When they are moused-over the data, they want the ability to 'drill down' into the data by simply clicking on the column/data point/slice of pie chart/etc. (MUCH higher priority)
>
Hmm, sounds almost like a clientside OLAP. ;-)
> My idea with pChart is to find out what the coordinates are for each of the points of data on the chart, overlay the image that is generated with an image map, and have the image map do
> the work then allowing them to 'click into' the chart, bringing them to either a new page or new chart, depending on the page they are on.
Sounds possible.
>
> So, first off, does anyone have any suggestions of a better/different way to do something like this? This is just the idea I've come up with so far, so I'm not committed/married to it.
> I just think that using the image map would be the best/fastest way of doing this.
Yes, you will need image maps to make sure you know where on the image
they clicked and add an appropriate hyperlink/JavaScript event to that area.
But I expect you go back to PHP to dig into the data, right? And let PHP
create a new image (using pChart).
>
> The next question I would pose to everyone out there is if they know of any other charting frameworks out there that do this same thing that they would recommend. If you have any more
> detailed questions or I am neglecting anything, please feel free to e-mail me at (cbuege at moreycorp dot com) or just post a reply to this message.
I don't know.
There are a few other packages out there (you can easily find them
Googling a little) but as far as I know you will still have to do the
real work. ;-)
>
> Now, I'm aware that Google Charts can do this very nicely, but we are trying to keep all of the applications in house as the charts that will be generated won't always be on machines
> that will have internet access, so we don't want to depend on Google for files external to the company.
>
> Thanks in advance to anyone out there that can help!!
>
> Charles
Good luck.
Regards,
Erwin Moller
--
"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without
evidence."
-- Christopher Hitchens
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| Re: Dynamic Charting Assistance Requested [message #172795 is a reply to message #172788] |
Wed, 02 March 2011 19:09 |
Chuck Anderson
Messages: 63
Registered: September 2010
Karma: 0
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Member |
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Charles wrote:
> Hello out there -
>
> If anyone can help me, it'll be greatly appreciated!!
>
> I'm working with the pChart (http://www.pchart.net) PHP chart framework and think it is a fantastic program/product. I am NOT knocking pChart at all - I'm just looking for help from my
> fellow users out there and trying to use pChart in a way that it isn't really designed for/may not be able to do.
>
> ....
> 1. When they mouse-over the actual data, they want to be able to have a fly-over window show up with the exact value of what they are looking at (lower priority)
> 2. When they are moused-over the data, they want the ability to 'drill down' into the data by simply clicking on the column/data point/slice of pie chart/etc. (MUCH higher priority)
>
> My idea with pChart is to find out what the coordinates are for each of the points of data on the chart, overlay the image that is generated with an image map, and have the image map do
> the work then allowing them to 'click into' the chart, bringing them to either a new page or new chart, depending on the page they are on.
>
> So, first off, does anyone have any suggestions of a better/different way to do something like this? This is just the idea I've come up with so far, so I'm not committed/married to it.
> I just think that using the image map would be the best/fastest way of doing this.
>
> The next question I would pose to everyone out there is if they know of any other charting frameworks out there that do this same thing that they would recommend.
I have done something very similar with jpgraph. The ability to make
image maps is built-in and well documented.
--
*****************************
Chuck Anderson • Boulder, CO
http://cycletourist.com
Turn Off, Tune Out, Drop In
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