Tutorial or examples for adding graphs/charts to ebase apps

[mactosh]

I am a newbie experimenter with ebase and very pleased at how far the tutorials have expanded my knowledge/ability from a virtual zero base.

One area of frustrating challenge is how to develop graph/charts to complement table/form data. I have read all the searchable forum links for graphing/adding charts but find no resource or post to tutor someone starting out (as is available for other ebase functionality). The posts seem to assume a fairly advanced level of knowledge of jquery etc and the install info is not clear for a new user such as the how-to for implementing or using jquery/qplot plugin installs.

The graphing UI info refers to jquery and qplot installs but i see ebase 4.3.1 that i have appears to have jquery already built in so not sure if these posts stiill apply. as a novice i guess i need a step-by-step article on how to construct graphs or possibly a sample application as a demonstrator of how to prepare ebase for this functionality and how to pass data to graphs by query or for table columns summary charts.

As a platform that makes database publishing so easy im surprised there are no more detailed resources/tutorials on how to create complementary charts/graphs as this would be a natural application enhancement. Any advice from fellow newbies who have mastered this aspect would be much appreciated to sustain the excitement that ebase has created for me as a database "fiddler".

Thank you,
Mactosh

[Dave]

Hi Mactosh,

Unfortunately we don't have a specific tutorial covering this topic. We probably won't create a tutorial as such but it does sound like a good subject for a sample. We'll see what we can do. In the meantime, a couple of things:

Have you seen the jQuery graphing examples on the Ebase website?

http://web.ebasetech.com/ufs/ufsmain?fo ... T_GRAPHING

This explains the steps involved.

Also, the Getting Started tutorial http://localhost:3030/ufs/doc/Creating_ ... y_Step.htm accessible from the Xi Designer will help to explain how rich client stuff such as jQuery widgets can be plugged in and called.

Lastly, if none of that moves you on we'd be happy to set up a session with one the team here to show how to achieve what you're after. Let me know if this would be useful?

Noticed btw that you're on V4.3.1. Strongly recommend an upgrade to V4.4 if you can. You'll find that the server-side JavaScript added with 4.4 will give you a load more power and flexibility.

Regards,
Dave

[mactosh]

Hello Dave
==============================
A quick update to my post of yesterday (below) to share progress made.

I have updated to 4.4 version and resolved my queries re: accessing and applying jqplot plugins. Result: a semi-decent pie chart not unlike the one on the UI Graphing page (but minus some of its finesse such as highlighting despite invoking the highlight renderer).

Residual issue: This works in Firefox but stubbornly fails to display the graph image in IE v.10 as well as current version Chrome. Ive checked javascript active in security settings but no solution for other browsers running under Win7. Not too serious for software testing as I prefer Firefox for that.

If you proceed to prepare and relase a graphing sample in due course could I propose the following as typical application demonstration scenarios of passing a data array variable to the graph (as alluded to on the graphing page via &&data but not explained in sufficient detail there for a novice to grasp too easily):

++ an example chart using SELECT/WHERE from database Table resource to isolate a single row (pie) or selected column values (for trend or barchart dataset);

++ an example chart based on queried (computed?) subtotals of all queried rows of the (selected) columns from a Form Table query as a chart to illustrate Table summary values.

I am sure there may be other learners of ebase who might find such a sample(s) release very useful if you are able to oblige when time permits.

Many thanks for the forum and its interactivity,
Mactosh
==============================

Thanks for the advice and pointers. I could not access the link you posted but think its the same file i had worked already from on the main ebasetech.com website.

i had tried to replicate the graph implementation using the given client script. This failed but i realised i had probably not set the jqplot functionality; that page simply says to "install the plugin". Could you advise which part/s of the download "dist" folder are brought into the ebase environment and where in particular these are saved so that qplot is active/accessible?.

I had tried to link to what I thought was a local folderversion of jquery_1.6.4 but will rework with the recommended google net link to load jquery to the page from the internet as per the step by step page you pointed me to.

i will also investigate a 4.4 version update to follow your advice for better functionality and also suspect that your possible release of a sample might prove to be a good solution for my learning as i'm still very much in the 'trial and error' stage of exploring ebase.

Again, thanks for your guidance, will keep at it...
kind regards Mactosh[/list]

[Dave]

Hi Mactosh,

Here is a quick sample to download and install. It doesn't cover everything you mention below but should at least show you how the various parts hang together to make the jqPlot work.

www.ebaseftp.com/download/samples/ES250613_jqplot.zip

Btw. you'll need V4.4 to run the sample (it uses server-side JavaScript and AJAX screen rendering).

Any problems let me know. We'll look at doing a more complete client-side graphing sample later on.

Regards,
Dave

[mactosh]

Hello Dave

Sincere thanks for the revert with the zip package sample.
Have downloaded and will plug and pray with the contents; i'm sure it will be very helpful to me.

Kind regards,
Mactosh

[Dave]

Hi Mactosh,

"pray with the contents", I sincerely hope it doesn't come that!

Seriously though, any questions, etc. just let us know.

Regards
Dave

[Dave]

V4.5 version of the jqPlot sample here: http://www.ebaseftp.com/download/sample ... jqplot.zip