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Charts and Graphs - Google Charts in Charts and Graphs 6.2

Same filename and directory in other branches
  1. 7 help/googlecharts.html

Library pages

For definitive info about Google Charts library please see it's home page, it's reference page and it's parameters reference page.

Instalation

Google Charts is ready to be used, i.e., you don't have to install any extra files.

Dependency

Google Charts has no extra dependencies.

Usage

The quickest code to get something graphed using Google Charts:

<?php
function charts_graphs_test() {
  $canvas = charts_graphs_get_graph('google-charts');

  $canvas->title = 'Google Charts Chart';
  $canvas->type = 'line';
  $canvas->y_legend = 'Y Legend';
  $canvas->colour = '#808000';
  $canvas->series = array(
    'Some Value' => array(9,6,7,9,5,7,6,9,7),
    'Page Views' => array(6,7,9,5,7,6,9,7,3),
  );
  $canvas->x_labels = array('one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five', 'six', 'seven', 'eight', 'nine');

  $out = $canvas->get_chart();

  return $out;
}

Specific parameters

Google Charts has the following specific parameters (that work only with Google Charts):

legend_pos

The legend_pos property specifies the position of the legend on the chart. You can choose one of the following values:

bottom
legend at the bottom of the chart, legend entries in a horizontal row.
bottom_vert
legend at the bottom of the chart, legend entries in a vertical column.
left
legend to the left of the chart, legend entries in a vertical column.
right
(default) legend to the right of the chart, legend entries in a vertical column.
top
legend at the top of the chart, legend entries in a horizontal row.
top_vert
legend at the top of the chart, legend entries in a vertical column.

Example:
<?php
$canvas->legend_pos = 'bottom_vert'; // Places the legend the bottom of the 
                                     // chart.
title_colour

The title_colour property specifies the colour of the chart title in RRGGBB hexadecimal format. Default color is black.

Example:
<?php
$canvas->title_colour = 'AAAAAA';

Arbitrary parameters

Google Charts implementation for Charts and Graphs supports the parameters general parameter. With it the user can set any parameter in Google Charts as everything set in it will be passed to Google Charts call and will override any default setting or setting through the standard settings supported by Charts and Graphs.

The parameters option is an array where each key is the property name and each value is the value for the same property.

This way the user has complete control on what is being included on the charting call.

With great power comes great responsability.

As the ultimate control feature the parameters option intends to be, the values are passed absolutely unchanged as defined by the user. There is no urlencoding, quotes inclusion or any other safety net. The values should be set in a safe and complete manner.

Example

Setting bar width and spacing:

<php
$canvas->parameters['chbh'] = "25,5,10";

Graph types supported

Google Charts supports all main and standardized graph types except donut. It also supports the following graph types:

pie_3d
3D pie chart.
queued_bar
Columns are positioned one behind another.

Unsupported properties

Google Charts has no themes defined to be used with the theme property.

Examples

Limitations

Google Charts using GET HTTP method limits the URLs (where all graph data is sent) to 2K so you might reach this limit (and not get a proper graph) rather quickly.

It is possible to generate graphs with Google Charts formed of up to 16K of data but only through POST HTTP method. Google Charts for Charts and Graphs does not support the POST method presently. Patches are welcomed.

File

help/googlecharts.html
View source 
<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>Charts and Graphs - Google Charts</title>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
  </head>
  <body>
    <h3>Library pages</h3>
      <p>For definitive info about Google Charts library please see it's
        <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/charttools/index.html">home page</a>,
        it's <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/making_charts.html">
        reference page</a> and it's
        <a href="http://code.google.com/apis/chart/docs/chart_params.html">
        parameters reference page</a>.</p>
    <h3>Instalation</h3>
      <p>Google Charts is ready to be used, i.e., you don't have to install any
        extra files.</p>
      <h4>Dependency</h4>
        <p>Google Charts has no extra dependencies.</p>
    <h3>Usage</h3>
      <p>The quickest code to get something graphed using Google Charts:</p>
    <pre>
&lt;?php
function charts_graphs_test() {
  $canvas = charts_graphs_get_graph('google-charts');

  $canvas->title = 'Google Charts Chart';
  $canvas->type = 'line';
  $canvas->y_legend = 'Y Legend';
  $canvas->colour = '#808000';
  $canvas->series = array(
    'Some Value' => array(9,6,7,9,5,7,6,9,7),
    'Page Views' => array(6,7,9,5,7,6,9,7,3),
  );
  $canvas->x_labels = array('one', 'two', 'three', 'four', 'five', 'six', 'seven', 'eight', 'nine');

  $out = $canvas->get_chart();

  return $out;
}
</pre>
      <h4>Specific parameters</h4>
      <p>Google Charts has the following specific parameters (that work only 
        with Google Charts):</p>
      <ul>
        <li><a href="#legend_pos">legend_pos</a></li>
        <li><a href="#title_colour">title_colour</a></li>
      </ul>
        <h5><a name="legend_pos">legend_pos</a></h5>
          <p>The <i>legend_pos</i> property specifies the position of the legend 
            on the chart. You can choose one of the following values:
            <dl>
              <dt>bottom</dt>
                <dd>legend at the bottom of the chart, legend entries in a 
                  horizontal row.</dd>
              <dt>bottom_vert</dt>
                <dd>legend at the bottom of the chart, legend entries in a 
                  vertical column.</dd>
              <dt>left</dt>
                <dd>legend to the left of the chart, legend entries in a 
                  vertical column.</dd>
              <dt>right</dt>
                <dd>(default) legend to the right of the chart, legend entries 
                  in a vertical column.</dd>
              <dt>top</dt>
                <dd>legend at the top of the chart, legend entries in a 
                  horizontal row.</dd>
              <dt>top_vert</dt>
                <dd>legend at the top of the chart, legend entries in a vertical 
                  column.</dd>
            </dl>
          </p>
      <h5>Example:</h5>
<pre>
&lt;?php
$canvas->legend_pos = 'bottom_vert'; // Places the legend the bottom of the 
                                     // chart.
</pre>
      <h5><a name="title_colour">title_colour</a></h5>
          <p>The <i>title_colour</i> property specifies the colour of the chart
            title in RRGGBB hexadecimal format. Default color is black.</p>
      <h5>Example:</h5>
<pre>
&lt;?php
$canvas->title_colour = 'AAAAAA';
</pre>
      <h4>Arbitrary parameters</h4>
      <p>Google Charts implementation for Charts and Graphs supports the
        <i>parameters</i> general parameter. With it the user can set any
        parameter in Google Charts as everything set in it will be passed to
        Google Charts call and will override any default setting or setting
        through the standard settings supported by Charts and Graphs.</p>
      <p>The <i>parameters</i> option is an array where each key is the
        property name and each value is the value for the same property.</p>
      <p>This way the user has complete control on what is being included on the
        charting call.</p>
      <i>With great power comes great responsability.</i>
      <p>As the ultimate control feature the <i>parameters</i> option intends to
        be, the values are passed absolutely unchanged as defined by the user.
        There is no urlencoding, quotes inclusion or any other safety net. The
        values should be set in a safe and complete manner.</p>
      <h5>Example</h5>
      <p>Setting bar width and spacing:</p>
      <pre>
&lt;php
$canvas->parameters['chbh'] = "25,5,10";
</pre>
    <h3>Graph types supported</h3>
    <p>Google Charts supports all <a href="general_reference#type">main</a> and
      <a href="general_reference#other_standardized_types">standardized graph</a>
      types except donut. It also supports the following graph types:</p>
    <dl>
      <dt>pie_3d</dt>
        <dd>3D pie chart.</dd>
      <dt>queued_bar</dt>
        <dd>Columns are positioned one behind another.</dd>
    </dl>
    <h3>Unsupported properties</h3>
      <p>Google Charts has no themes defined to be used with the 
        <a href="general_reference#theme">theme</a> property.</p>
    <h3>Examples</h3>
    <ul>
      <li><a href="/charts_graphs/test/google-charts/line/Google Charts - Line example">Line example</a></li>
      <li><a href="/charts_graphs/test/google-charts/bar/Google Charts - Bar example">Bar example</a></li>
      <li><a href="/charts_graphs/test/google-charts/pie/Google Charts - Pie example">Pie example</a></li>
    </ul>
    <h3>Limitations</h3>
      <p>Google Charts using GET HTTP method limits the URLs (where all graph
        data is sent) to 2K so you might reach this limit (and not get a proper
        graph) rather quickly.</p>
      <p>It is possible to generate graphs with Google Charts formed of up to
        16K of data but only through POST HTTP method. Google Charts for Charts
        and Graphs does not support the POST method presently. Patches are
        welcomed.</p>
  </body>
</html>