An Introduction to the Graph eZ Component
Tuesday 09 January 2007 1:57:00 pm
Among the additions to the latest eZ Components 2006.2 release is the Graph component, which enables you to create bar, line and pie charts. The output driver mechanism allows you to create different image file types from each chart, and the available renderers make the chart output customizable from simple two-dimensional charts to beautiful three-dimensional data projections.
The different parts of a graph are separated into independently configurable chart elements, such as the title, the legend, or an axis. This not only allows you to use different colors or fonts for each chart element, but to also define their positions and sizes. The main chart elements are the same for all chart types. Default, overall graph layouts can be defined by palettes, which specify element colors, symbols, fonts and spacings.
Chart data is held in ezcGraphDataSets, which typically takes the form of simple arrays. As you will see, statistical operations can be performed on the data.
A more in-depth tutorial is available, and is referenced throughout this article. API documentation is also available.