asked on

Are there any non javascript based chart/graph solutions?

I've been searching for non javascript based charts/graphs to display mysql data. We currently use nvd3 but that is becoming a problem when trying to integrate our software with other products.

I need at least 5 or 6 leads showing the possibilities of creating nice looking charts/graphs to represent mysql based data without needing js behind it, at all. Obviously, we'll have to build the intermediate between the charts/graphs and mysql but first trying to find if there are any such solutions.

I've come across a few html5 things but nothing that is really definitive and truly usable today. I'm looking for any and all alternatives to using JS which can show nice charts/graphs.

zephyr_hex (Megan)

Do you have a budget for this, or are you only looking for free options?

Mike Paradis

ASKER

I'm just looking to find out if there are alternatives.

Scott Fell

Javascript and Jquery are what helps to make things look nice quickly by grabbing data and building it once the data loads. Otherwise, you can use a server side third party system but from what I have seen, not as nice as the js/jquery libraries.

PHP
http://jpgraph.net/
http://phpchart.com/

Otherwise
http://jsbin.com/zawiqebawa/edit?html,output

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width">
  <title>28995583</title>
  <style>
    div.graph{
  width:500px;
}
div.bar {height:10px;}
div.red{background-color:red;}
div.blue{background-color:blue;}
  </style>
</head>
<body>
  <div class="graph">
     <div class="bar red" style="width:35%;"></div>
    <div class="bar blue" style="width:65%;"></div>
  </div>
</body>
</html>

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Mike Paradis

ASKER

The point is that I need to find an alternative to JS. It doesn't port well for our needs so am trying to find something that doesn't require JS.

Mike Paradis

ASKER

For example, in OpenOffice Calc, Excel and others can generate graphs. Those would be perfect for our needs. many of these spreadsheet type programs probably don't even use JS. Many are open source so what ever means they are using must be out there.

Scott Fell

You have HTML as your topic and perhaps I wrongly assumed you are looking for an html option.

OpenOffice and Excel are desktop apps. While the lines are getting blurred between what is a desktop app vs web app, web apps rely very heavily on javascript to mimic desktop apps. As example, a very good browser based photo editor https://pixlr.com/editor/ vs photoshop. Talking about spreadsheets or office, see https://www.google.com/sheets/about/ vs MS office or OpenOffice. Google Sheets is a web app that runs on javascript vs MS Office or Open Office which are desktop apps.

If you want to run a 3rd party desktop app that can access your data: http://www.tableau.com/ or http://www.qlik.com/us/ are data visualization tools that run on the desktop. You can also connect Excel directly to a MySql database https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Connect-to-a-MySQL-database-Power-Query-8760c647-88b9-409d-b312-6ea8f84a269b

Mike Paradis

ASKER

@Scott,

So you are saying that all of these kinds of desktop apps still use javascript as the underlying method of creating the graphs.
That helps to understand the difference but are there any other kinds of graphing methods which don't rely on javascript?

The main point is trying to get away from javascript to generate graphs from mysql data.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Ray Paseur

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Mike Paradis

ASKER

ok, now this is exciting. I'll pass this on to the others who work on the code and see what they think. If there is no JS needed and it is php only, it means we might even be able to optimize the speed of the graphs.

I'm hesitantly excited and will update this once I know more.

Thank you.

Mike Paradis

ASKER

Question.

Using nvd3, we can mouse over bars to see more details on a per bar basis. Can this be done with JpGraph?
I don't see any example of this for bars.

Ray Paseur

Sorry, I don't know nvd3 at all. I am guessing that you can use an imagemap to add some kind of alternate text to the graphs, but I have never tried it. As a general rule, I prefer clear-text up front displays over mouseover effects.

I am pretty sure you can use CSS alone, without JavaScript, to make "tooltips" that appear on mouseover events.
http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_tooltip.asp

I think HTML5 tool tips can be made with data-attributes, too.

Mike Paradis

ASKER

More good leads. Thanks.

I do agree that seeing the text vs mouse overs would be nicer but when you have a hundred bars, you would not be able to see the data so mousing over is about the only option since there is a lot of data to show per bar.

Ray Paseur

Yeah, I take your point - I just don't have any experience with it, sorry.

Mike Paradis

ASKER

This response opened the door to learning about a lot of alternatives. Thanks.