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Graphing utilities

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 1:59 pm
by Bill H
I have googled for this and looked at a bunch of products, but thought I'd get input from you folks on what your experience has been.

I'm looking for a utility to extract data from a MySQL database and present line and bar graphs online. The graphs need to be of a quality that looks professional and attractive, but no need for flash or flashiness. Just a nice crisp busineslike appearance. Free would be nice, of course, but my client is willing to pay a reasonable price, and he likes me well enough that he will go along with ease of use being a higher priority than low cost.

Of course all the packages I've seen claim that a fifth grader can use them without reading the instructions, but I'm not certain that I'm as smart as a fifth grader, and I don't know how to read instructions, so...

Has anybody had experience with any such utilities?

Re: Graphing utilities

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:43 pm
by onion2k
JPGraph is the best PHP+GD method of making them. It's relatively straightforward to use, and there's lots of documentation.

Or there's Google Charts... http://code.google.com/apis/chart/ ... They're pretty easy to use, look great, and they're very quick to load, but obviously you'd be relying on an external service so if it changes you'd need to update your code.

Re: Graphing utilities

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:31 pm
by alex.barylski
I second the Google API if you don't need/want Flash.

Re: Graphing utilities

Posted: Fri Apr 04, 2008 6:53 pm
by Bill H
Thanks, guys, I'm checking those out now.