Graphing & SVG

I'm trying to build a collection of good chart resources. The problem with the PHP libraries in PECL and PEAR is that they are still alpha/beta. I you have used a specific library/tool please add them to this wiki and if possible please add the experience you had with it.

Flot (jQuery)
http://code.google.com/p/flot/

jqchart (jQuery)
http://www.reach1to1.com/sandbox/jquery/jqchart/

Reviewed from smashingmagazine:
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2007/10/18/charts-and-graphs-modern-solu...

Sparkline
http://sparkline.org/

GDChart
http://pecl.php.net/package/GDChart

Hi folks,

We're interested in the possibility of autogenerating an org chart with svg (or flash). We are currently using Visio to automatically create org charts from Active Directory data. This then is saved as awful visio html and manually uploaded to our site.

We have Drupal talking to Active Directory now, and would love to take the step of using Drupal to create the org chart dynamically.

Anyone tried this, or have ideas?

Hi,
I'm creating designs in SVG, and I'd like to show them on my site. I'd like to convert it into flash. I saw different converted such as SVG 2 SWF .

Does anyone has experience in that?

The end of the SoC has far passed. I kept working on the drawing project, committed several fixes, and wrote a few example modules. during and before FrOSCon and DrupalCon brainstormed with others about where you could use the the graphic displays.

This is probably the final update for the Drawing module. I am going to an astronomical camp tomorrow, where I will have hardly any internet access.

Documentation for the Drawing API (without the graphing part, because that is very flexible right now): http://drupal.org/node/161562

The half of the Summer of Code period seems to have passed so quickly as a Cray XT4 prints out "hello world". This not only means these machines are very fast, but also that I enjoyed much of the time i spent working on my project. Lets have a quick overview what has been done so far, and what is to be done in the second term.

Its not time for the next weekly progress report yet, but in the past days finally i managed to progress far enough to have a development snapshot release, so I wanted to inform those interested in the project.

The unfortunate consequence of Google's SoC is that most people have exams during the project period, and this greatly effects the progress. I had two big exams, of the material of 2-3 years of stuff. I failed one, and in order to stay at uni i had to pass the second. That is done, now the update.

After last week's update I started to plan and code the proposed API following the scheme of the Forms API. This will provide developers with a very familiar way to construct graphic objects using the already known FAPI-like array structure. Right now the drawing_get_canvas is being worked on, this function is the core of the rendering, and is responsible to collect the objects, placing them on the drawing canvas.

In writing SWF Tools I attempted to follow some design patterns that would make the embedding aspect of it generic. The embedding logic is there, but it's surrounded by a lot of unreleted code. So with the benefit of hindsight, here is a run-through of an "Embed API". Much of this is simply cloned Forms API.

I am right now planning the drawing API. Since you, developers are the ones who will primarily use this API, I decided to do this outlining publicly. If you have any comments, ideas of how you would find it easier to use later on, please share it, and if its well founded, i will do my best to incorporate it into the module.

Drawing API in shape of the Forms API

Almost a week passed. Time flies. I just recently recovered from the shock, when I went to the local Western Union office to fetch my payment, where for the first time in my life I had to spell 'Google' to the lady behind the glass, and here we are, already almost end of the first week...

Even my new keyboard arrived as well as the Pro Drupal book, so there is no obstacle (except for some silly exams) in my way to code for you.

CSS Graphing techniques:
http://dhtmlsite.com/cssgraphs.php

Some might be interested in the CSS graphs more than I, I'm presonally interested the data structures and rendering principles in use here. Check out some of the PlotKit stuff, for example:
http://media.liquidx.net/js/plotkit-tests/svg-sweet.html

Just stumbled upon this post on Mashable: http://mashable.com/2007/05/15/16-awesome-data-visualization-tools/

Several good ideas what could be implemented in Drupal on the field of visualization. With open formats like SVG there is no stopping us :)

I was reminded in IRC about the graphing tool, which is free to use non-commercially.
http://www.maani.us/charts/index.php?menu=Gallery

Seems a good candidate for a drupal module. Mainly I'm posting this to not forget the link again.

The title of this group is graphing and svg, so maybe this doesnt really fit, but to try to spin the group up a bit I want to share what I was thinking on today. Please comment if you like the idea, or criticize if not. It was about my project and the following thought crossed my mind:

Having applied to the Drawing SVG project for the GSoC I started to outline my plans, which I would like to share here, to ask for your feedback on it. I will edit this document as the discussion progresses.

I think the logical setup is two-leveled: we want a general drawing module, and specific "tools" to use the models, primitives defined in the drawing module. This basic module has to be very well designed, because potentially many developers will want to use it. From here on I will use tool as referring to different drawing APIs, such as SVG.

What should be in this drawing.module?

I figure SoC is an opportunity.
http://drupal.org/node/120260

Some of my bookmarks, for reference:
* detect SVG capabilities: http://blog.codedread.com/archives/2005/06/21/detecting-svg-viewer-capab...
* AJAX/JS and PHP SVG charting: http://cristian.nexcess.net/ajax/svg_chart/
* The lib I used (code from) in my proof of concept: http://www.phpclasses.org/browse/package/2184.html

I will collect more bookmarks at http://www.simpy.com/user/berkes/tag/svg

SVG is an acronym that some people might have glossed over. So I want to start with the basics to make sure that the reader knows what this is all about. SVG is not very complex when you pull it a part. It is a markup language for graphics. It is:

S = Scalable - you can display the image at any size without resolution loss.
V = Vector. Lines and shapes are defined by geometry, not dots.
G = Graphics, yeah?