elycharts Part 1 of 2 (PHP)

Elycharts is an open source pure javascript charting library, no need for jre or flash player to be installed on your 127.0.0.1, you just need a web browser (e.g. Firefox 3.0+, Safari 3.0+, Opera 9.5+, Internet Explorer 6.0+, Google Chrome/Chromium). This tool supports multiple chart types like pie, bar, line, etc.. and dependent on Raphaël and jQuery libraries.

Elycharts is customizable using JSON format. You can easily manipulate its colors, text parameters, sizes and the grid types. 

Since the examples on the official site of Elycharts are all javascript it's quite interesting to integrate a server-side scripting like PHP.

Let's begin!...

1.) Go to http://elycharts.com/docs and read the documentation, This is required because we will use the "QuickStart - Step 4" sample for the demo.

2.) On your htdocs create a folder named 'ElyCharts', go inside this directory and create a folder and file structure same with the image below.

 3.) As far as object-oriented programming is concern, below are POPO good for later json serialization.

         3.1.) classes/chart.php

        <?php

        include 'tooltips.php';
        include 'values.php';
        include 'legend.php';

        class charts {

            private $template;
            private $tooltips;
            private $values;
            private $legend;

            function set_template($template)
            {   
                $this->template = $template;
            }

            function get_template()
            {   
                return $this->template;
            }

            function set_tooltips(tooltips $tooltips)
            {
                $this->tooltips = $tooltips;
            }

            function get_tooltips()
            {
                return $this->tooltips;
            }

            function set_values(values $values)
            {
                $this->values = $values;
            }

            function get_values()
            {
                return $this->values;
            }

            function  set_legend(legend $legend)
            {
                $this->legend = $legend;
            }

            function  get_legend()
            {
                return $this->legend;
            }
        }

        ?>

         3.2.) classes/legend.php

        <?php

        class legend {

            private $serie1;
            private $serie2;

            function set_serie1($serie1)
            {
                $this->serie1 = $serie1;
            }

            function get_serie1()
            {
                return $this->serie1;
            }

            function set_serie2($serie2)
            {
                $this->serie2 = $serie2;
            }

            function get_serie2()
            {
                return $this->serie2;
            }
        }

        ?>

         3.3.) classes/tooltips.php

        <?php

        class tooltips {

            private $serie1 = array();
            private $serie2 = array();

            function set_serie1($serie1)
            {
                $this->serie1 = $serie1;
            }

            function get_serie1()
            {
                return $this->serie1;
            }

            function set_serie2($serie2)
            {
                $this->serie2 = $serie2;
            }

            function get_serie2()
            {
                return $this->serie2;
            }
        }

        ?>

         3.4.) classes/values.php

        <?php

        class values {

            private $serie1 = array();
            private $serie2 = array();

            function set_serie1($serie1)
            {
                $this->serie1 = $serie1;
            }

            function get_serie1()
            {
                return $this->serie1;
            }

            function set_serie2($serie2)
            {
                $this->serie2 = $serie2;
            }

            function get_serie2()
            {
                return $this->serie2;
            }
        }

        ?>

4) Download elycharts.min.js, jquery-1.6.2.min.js and raphael-min.js then place it on 'scripts/lib' folder.

5.) Go to scripts/tmpl.js, then copy and paste the code below, This is only a template for the look and feel of the chart.

    $.elycharts.templates['line_basic'] = {
        type: "line",
        margins: [10, 10, 20, 50],
        defaultSeries: {
            plotProps: {
                "stroke-width": 4
            },
            dot: true,
            dotProps: {
                stroke: "white",
                "stroke-width": 2
            }
        },
        series: {
            serie1: {
                color: "red"
            },
            serie2: {
                color: "blue"
            }
        },
        defaultAxis: {
            labels: true
        },
        features: {
            grid: {
                draw: [true, false],
                props: {
                    "stroke-dasharray": "-"
                }
            },
            legend: {
                horizontal: false,
                width: 80,
                height: 50,
                x: 210,
                y: 220,
                dotType: "circle",
                dotProps: {
                    stroke: "white",
                    "stroke-width": 2
                },
                borderProps: {
                    opacity: 0.3,
                    fill: "#c0c0c0",
                    "stroke-width": 0,
                    "stroke-opacity": 0
                }
            }
        }
    } 

6.) And lastly, Create your index.php and try the code below, the colored in red is a PHP source, green  is a regular HTML and purple is JavaScript/jQuery.

Note: Do not include to your source-code the text which begins with 3 asterisk.

*** php imports

    <?php
    include 'classes/chart.php';
    ?>
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
        <head>
            <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
            <title>Elycharts - Default</title>

*** style sheet
            <style type="text/css">
                #chart { width: 300px; height: 300px; }
            </style>

 *** javacript imports
            <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/lib/jquery-1.6.2.min.js"></script>
            <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/lib/raphael-min.js"></script>
            <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/lib/elycharts.min.js"></script>
            <script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/tmpl.js"></script>
            <?php 

 *** object reflection

            function toDataObj($obj) {
                $ref = new ReflectionClass($obj);
                $data = array();
                foreach ($ref->getMethods() as $method) {
                    if ((0 === strpos($method->name, "get"))
                            && $method->isPublic()) {
                        $name = substr($method->name, 4);
                        $name[0] = strtolower($name[0]);
                        $value = $method->invoke($obj);
                        if ("object" === gettype($value)) {
                            $value = toDataObj($value);
                        }
                        $data[$name] = $value;
                    }
                }
                return $data;
            } 

*** tooltip instance, this where you can put dynamic values.

            $tooltips = new tooltips();
            $tooltips->set_serie1(array("a", "b", "c", "d"));
            $tooltips->set_serie2(array("a", "b", "c", "d")); 

*** values instance, this where you can put dynamic values.

            $values = new values();
            $values->set_serie1(array(52, 76, 67, 49));
            $values->set_serie2(array(10, 17, 1, 19)); 

*** legend instance, this where you can put dynamic values.

            $legend = new legend();
            $legend->set_serie1("Serie 1");
            $legend->set_serie2("Serie 2"); 

*** charts instance, this where you can put dynamic values.

            $chart = new charts();
            $chart->set_template("line_basic");
            $chart->set_tooltips($tooltips);
            $chart->set_values($values);
            $chart->set_legend($legend);

            ?>
            <script type="text/javascript">

 *** This is where dynamic values will be generated.
                $(document).ready(function () {        
                    $("#chart").chart(<?= json_encode(toDataObj($chart)) ?>);
                });
            </script>
        </head>
        <body>
            <form id="frmDefault">
                <h2>
                    Elycharts on PHP</h2>

 *** This is where the chart will materialize.
                <div id="chart">
                </div>
            </form>
        </body>
    </html>

 7.) Output should look like below.

 

click here to view elycharts Part 2 of 2 (ASP .NET WebForms)