ChartDirector

ChartDirector is a fantastic opensource software for creating online

chart , dynamic curves ,trends and many more. The software is
available for perl and php. It is available for windows as well as Linux
version. My take is the php version on Linux.

Installation:
Download the software from here:

http://berasomnath.googlepages.com/chartdir_linux.tar.gz

And then extract it in the document web root of your apache server. It
is ready for deployment. For older version of php (version 3 or older)
this is just ready for work. However for php 5 or higher this may not
work . In that case just copy the following files into the php extensions
directory. Typically

cp /your server document root/ChartDirector/lib/libchartdir.so

/usr/lib/php/extensions/
cp /your server document root/ChartDirector/lib/phpchartdir520.dll
/usr/lib/php/extensions/
cp /your server document root/ChartDirector/lib/phpchartdir520mt.dll
/usr/lib/php/extensions/

And the ChartDirector is ready for work.

For some Linux OS you may also have to create an chartdirector.ini file
at /etc/php.d/ directory for loading f the DSO (Dynamic Sharable
Object) of the ChartDirector with php.

/etc/php.d/chartdirector.ini

extension=libchartdir.so

save it and restart apache . The ChartDirector is ready to work.

A simple bar chart :

Creating chart in ChartDirector is childs play. This file is made of the

following script.

test1.php

<?php
require_once("../lib/phpchartdir.php");
# The data for the bar chart
$data = array(85, 156, 179.5, 211, 123);
# The labels for the bar chart
$labels = array("Mon", "Tue", "Wed", "Thu", "Fri");
# Create a XYChart object of size 250 x 250 pixels
$c = new XYChart(250, 250);
# Set the plotarea at (30, 20) and of size 200 x 200 pixels
$c->setPlotArea(30, 20, 200, 200);
# Add a bar chart layer using the given data
$c->addBarLayer($data);
# Set the labels on the x axis.
$c->xAxis->setLabels($labels);
# output the chart
header("Content-type: image/png");
print($c->makeChart2(PNG));
?>

Or the highly complex curve

is made up of the following script...

test2.php

<?php
require_once("../lib/phpchartdir.php");
# Use random table to generate a random series. The random table is
set to 1 col x 51
# rows, with 9 as the seed
$rantable = new RanTable(9, 1, 51);
# Set the 1st column to start from 100, with changes between rows from
-5 to +5
$rantable->setCol(0, 100, -5, 5);
# Get the 1st column of the random table as the data set
$data = $rantable->getCol(0);
# Create a XYChart object of size 600 x 300 pixels
$c = new XYChart(600, 300);
# Set the plotarea at (50, 35) and of size 500 x 240 pixels. Enable both
the
# horizontal and vertical grids by setting their colors to grey (0xc0c0c0)
$plotAreaObj = $c->setPlotArea(50, 35, 500, 240);
$plotAreaObj->setGridColor(0xc0c0c0, 0xc0c0c0);
# Add a title to the chart using 18 point Times Bold Itatic font.
$c->addTitle("LOWESS Generic Curve Fitting Algorithm", "timesbi.ttf",
18);
# Set the y axis line width to 3 pixels
$c->yAxis->setWidth(3);
# Add a title to the x axis using 12 pts Arial Bold Italic font
$c->xAxis->setTitle("Server Load (TPS)", "arialbi.ttf", 12);
# Set the x axis line width to 3 pixels
$c->xAxis->setWidth(3);
# Set the x axis scale from 0 - 50, with major tick every 5 units and
minor tick
# every 1 unit
$c->xAxis->setLinearScale(0, 50, 5, 1);
# Add a blue layer to the chart
$layer = $c->addLineLayer2();
# Add a red (0x80ff0000) data set to the chart with square symbols
$dataSetObj = $layer->addDataSet($data, 0x80ff0000);
$dataSetObj->setDataSymbol(SquareSymbol);
# Set the line width to 2 pixels
$layer->setLineWidth(2);
# Use lowess for curve fitting, and plot the fitted data using a spline
layer with
# line width set to 3 pixels
$curve = new ArrayMath($data);
$curve->lowess();
$splineLayerObj = $c->addSplineLayer($curve->result(), 0x0000ff);
$splineLayerObj->setLineWidth(3);
# Set zero affinity to 0 to make sure the line is displayed in the most
detail scale
$c->yAxis->setAutoScale(0, 0, 0);
# output the chart
header("Content-type: image/png");
print($c->makeChart2(PNG));
?>

So simple isn't it ?. There numerous examples to create chart of your

own style. I simply love it.

S. Bera
Mumbai