Hi, I am searching for plugins/gems which help me chart data.
I’d like to start with something simple like a 2-D chart which shows a straight lines connecting points.
The points would come from a series of x,y values.
After that I’d like to build some bar-charts from x,y values.
-JRS
Hi, I am searching for plugins/gems which help me chart data.
I'd like to start with something simple like a 2-D chart which shows a straight lines connecting points.
The points would come from a series of x,y values.
After that I'd like to build some bar-charts from x,y values.
Google charts, with the googlecharts plugin is very quick and easy but you may have reasons not to use google.
Colin
If Flash is okay, FusionChart Free is a good solution. <http:// www.fusioncharts.com/free/>.
I find it to be easier to setup and more interactive than Gruff, which generates static image on the server side, and more visually appealing than Google charts. Best of all, it's free.
You may also consider drawing your own graphs using SVG; a good solution for simple charts that doesn't require Flash. SVG is essentially JavaScript + vector drawing; it's now well supported on modern browsers. Google will get you started on that.
Hm, honestly you could try picking up Flex -- the charting in flex is really robust and it isn't hard at all to learn. Stop at your local bookstore for a few hours on a sunday afternoon and you'll have some pretty charts come up in no time. You can pass variables into flex too from your rails code. From rails you can pass xml that can be parsed by actionscript and implemented as a datasource for charts. This all assumes of course that you're okay with flash.
I have found a site whose charts I would like to emulate. The cahrts come up with a kind of smooth, animated look to them. If I go to:
and click "thry the demo," a flash presentation of it comes up. I am wondering if anyone knows what off-the-shelf package they are using for this. It;s the best looking charts I;ve seen. -Janna B
Right-click the chart and you'll find Fusion Charts!
Cheers, Sazima
http://github.com/derailed/ziya/tree/master
is a well put together gem that wraps around
http://www.maani.us/xml_charts/index.php
I've been using this stuff for a couple of years and it works very well. Start with the basic features and take on the fancy stuff incrementally.
-cpr
But frankly, it really appears to me that fusion charts is the best looking. Am I mistaken? Do you guys see a better open source solution? -Janna B
There's Scruffy, http://scruffy.rubyforge.org/ , of course. I don't see the animations and gradients and such, though. They're all possible in SVG, but unfortunately, I can't say it's as easy as the Flash-based stuff.
It seems that programmer graphics tend to have a "There, I fixed it" look to them.(http://thereifixedit.com/) Or, at least mine do.
Ron
I use (and like) FusionCharts, but I am only developing internal applications so I can control/require what is on my users desktops.
If you have a graphing requirement for the mobile browser version (which you may not even have - don't know what your application is), then the Flash requirement will be an issue. If you only need to provide graphs for a desktop version, then I don't think requiring Flash is a major issue.
Eric
I personally use fusion charts but only because my site "requires" flash in order to use the interactive media in my subscription model. So, as Marnen suggested, if you don't require flash on your site, you might not want to use fusion charts.
If you do happen to use fusion charts, and your site does not have a flash requirement, make sure you have another way of providing data to your users.
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