Supply Data via Plain Text Files
This method is ideal where the chart data is fairly static.
With this method chart data may be updated without editing
the HTML page.
This method is also useful where both the Applet and Servlet
forms of the graph are implemented and it is required that
identical chart images are presented in either case.
e.g. where both interactive and printing ability must be
presented to the user, See Documentation - Graph
Printing.
This method may be applied to both Applet & Servlet
forms of the graph.
Method Outline
This method involves incorporating the graphing applet (or
Servlet) into your web page and supplying the data via a
seperate plain text file.
Every visitor will see an identical graph whenever they
visit the page.
Implementation
This method involves the following 4 steps,
- Add
the applet (or Servlet) html code to your web page
-
Set up the Configuration data
-
Set up the Bar Graph data
-
Upload the jar file to your web server
Step
1 - Add the applet html code to your web page
In your web page place the following code, where you wish
the line graph to appear,
<applet
code="SHbarchartApplet.class" archive="SHbarchart.jar"
width="500" height="420">
</applet>
Adjusting
the "width" and "height" element of
this applet tag to specify the size (in pixels) of the desired
graph display.
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Step
2 - Set up the Configuration data.
The applet will read all the configuration parameters from
a specified file. To use this option add the following PARAM
tag to your html code between the <applet> and </applet>
tags,
<PARAM
name="chartproperties" value="barprops.txt">
where
"barprops.txt" is the name of the file containing
the configuration data ( click
here for an example file ). As you will see from the
example file each property is specified on a name, value
basis. Note that comments may be added to this file by
placing "<!--" at the beginning of a line.
Adjust the property values to specify the characteristics
of the bar graph and then place this file in the same
directory as your web page.
For
a full description of each property please see the "Configuration
Options and Parameters".
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Step
3 - Set up the Bar Graph data
The applet will read all the data from a specified file.
To use this option add the following PARAM tag to your html
code between the <applet> and </applet> tags,
<PARAM
name="chartdata" value="bardata.txt">
where
"bardata.txt" is the name of the file containing
the data ( click
here for an example file ). As you will see from the
example file each piece of data is specified on a name,
value basis. The first element of each line represents
the data name (specifying the series and data order) and
then the value. (Also note that comments may be added
to this file by placing "<!--" at the beginning
of a line.).
Simply create a similar file, adding your data in the
values. For a full explanation of this file please see
the "Retrieving Data from Files" under the "Data
and Configuration" section ( or click
here).
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Step
4 - Upload the jar file to your web server.
The final step is to simply to place the SHbarchart.jar
file in the same directory as your web page. At only 15kb
this jar file contains all the applet code for producing
the graph in your page and as such is very fast to load
and run.
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If you
experience any difficulties implementing then please do
not hesitate to contact us at,
support@jpowered.com