FusionCharts and PHP> Multi-series Chart Example |
Till now, we've all been dealing with single series charts and dynamic creation of those charts. Here, we'll see the dynamic implementation of a multi-series chart. Considerably, creating the XML data document for a multi-series chart requires more effort than that of a single series chart. Also, it's always recommended to use the dataURL method when working with multi-series charts, as the XML data document tends to get larger in size and as such, older versions of browsers are not very able to handle long data chunks in the same page. In our multi-series example chart (3D Multi-series column chart), we'll creating a 3 year comparison chart for the following five countries: Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, USA. We'll sum the invoice prices for each year for each of these countries and then show in the chart. The end chart would look as under: |
As you can see above, we've extracted the sum of Invoice prices for each of the 5 countries for all the 3 years. All this data is contained in a view called Invoices. The entire XML code required for the above chart is as under: |
<graph caption='Country Comparison' shownames='1'
showvalues='0' decimalPrecision='0' numberPrefix='$'> <categories> <category name='Austria' /> <category name='Brazil' /> <category name='France' /> <category name='Germany' /> <category name='USA' /> </categories> <dataset seriesName='1996' color='AFD8F8' showValues='0'> <set value='25601.34' /> <set value='20148.82' /> <set value='17372.76' /> <set value='35407.15' /> <set value='38105.68' /> </dataset> <dataset seriesName='1997' color='F6BD0F' showValues='0'> <set value='57401.85' /> <set value='41941.19' /> <set value='45263.37' /> <set value='117320.16' /> <set value='114845.27' /> </dataset> <dataset seriesName='1998' color='8BBA00' showValues='0'> <set value='45000.65' /> <set value='44835.76' /> <set value='18722.18' /> <set value='77557.31' /> <set value='92633.68' /> </dataset> </graph> |
In the above XML, we first define the basic attributes (both functional and visual) of the <graph> element. Thereafter, we render the <categories> elements. Each <category> element represents a category of data (in our example it's the five countries whose data we're comparing). Post that, we render a <dataset> element each for the three years (1996, 1997, 1998). Let's now quickly code this chart in PHP using dataURL method. As we had earlier seen, the dataURL method requires two pages:
The above two are present in the downloads under the folder FusionCharts2_3 > Sample Code > DBExamples > PHP> MultiSeries. We'll also need two other pages:
The above two include files are present under FusionCharts2_3 > Sample Code > DBExamples > PHP folder. FC_Colors.php looks as under: |
<?php |
Basically, this file is a list of hex colors that we'll be using for the chart. In the above list, we've stored only 20 colors. You can extend it to any number. You should note that all the above colors are without the #. We'll include this file in all our pages, where we generate the XML data for FusionCharts. |
Connection_ini.php is the page which contains the database connection details. When you run the code on your machine, after downloading the package, you should ensure that this page is updated so as to reflect the connection details to your SQL server. This page looks as under: |
<?php |
The page Data.php is responsible for relaying virtual XML documents to the FusionCharts embedded in Chart.php. You should note that Data.php does NOT write XML data documents to the server disk physically. It relays the XML data document virtually (i.e., no XML files are created and saved on the server). The code for this page can be reproduced as under: |
<?php //Generate the query to
get a list of unique years //Get the list of years //Write the XML data to
output stream |
In the above code, we're doing the following:
When you try viewing this page individually in the browser you'll get the XML output which we had earlier seen. You should always make sure, that while using dataURL method, your dataURL script should output just XML data and no HTML tags. Let's now shift our attention to Chart.php and see the code it contains to embed the chart. Chart.php contains the following code: |
<%@ Language=VBScript %> <HTML> <HEAD> <TITLE>FusionCharts</TITLE> <LINK REL='Stylesheet' HREF='../Style.css'> </HEAD> <!-- #INCLUDE FILE="../Includes/Connection_inc.asp" --> <table width="500" border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" class="tableWithBorder" align='center'> <tr> <td valign="top"> <table width="98%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align='center'> <tr> <td> <div align="center" class="text"> <OBJECT classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/ flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0" WIDTH="450" HEIGHT="300" id="FusionCharts" ALIGN=""> <PARAM NAME="FlashVars" value="&dataURL=Data.php"> <PARAM NAME=movie VALUE="../../../Charts/FC_2_3_MSColumn3D.swf?chartWidth=450&chartHeight=300"> <PARAM NAME=quality VALUE=high> <PARAM NAME=bgcolor VALUE=#FFFFFF> <EMBED src="../../../Charts/FC_2_3_MSColumn3D.swf?chartWidth=450&chartHeight=300" FlashVars="&dataURL=Data.php" quality=high bgcolor=#FFFFFF WIDTH="450" HEIGHT="300" NAME="FusionCharts" ALIGN="" TYPE="application/x-shockwave-flash" PLUGINSPAGE="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></EMBED> </OBJECT> </div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> <p align="center" class="text">©All Rights Reserved - InfoSoft Global Private Limited - 2005 - <a href="http://www.InfoSoftGlobal.com" target="_blank">www.InfoSoftGlobal.com</a></p> </BODY></html> |
Here, in the above code, we're simply embedding the 3D Multi-series Column Chart and specifying its dataURL as Data.php. When you now view Chart.php, you'll get the following chart: |