FusionCharts uses XML (eXtensible Markup Language) to
create and manipulate charts. XML is a simple and structured language,
that is easy to read and understand. In case you're not aware of XML as
yet, here are a few basics things to know about an XML document:
- An XML document is a simple text file consisting of tags and data
associated with them.
- You can make up your own tags like <mytag></mytag>
to store data
- Every opening tag requires a matching closing tag like <name>
requires </name>. e.g.,
<name>John Doe</name>. If
an element has no content, the opening and closing tags may be combined
into a single "shortcut" tag such as <name/>.
- XML tags are case-sensitive. So <name>
should be closed with </name>
and not </Name> or
</NAME>
or any other variant of the same.
- You can define attributes for a tag to render more details. e.g.,
<name isPetName='true'>John Doe</name>.
Here isPetName is an attribute of the
name element. In FusionCharts v3, we've
four types of attributes:
- Boolean - Attributes which can take a 0 or 1
value. Like <chart showNames='1' >
- Number - Attributes which take a numeric value.
Like <chart yAxisMaxValue='200' >
- String - Attributes which take a string value.
Like <chart caption='My Chart' >
- Hex Color Code - Attributes that take a hex color
code (without #). Like <chart bgColor='FFFFDD'
>
- Special characters like ' (quote), " (double quote), % (percentage)
etc are to be replaced by the XML converts. Like, the character "
(double quote) in a string constant must be denoted as ".
The entire FusionCharts chart is controlled by XML parameters i.e., you
use XML to define the cosmetic as well as functional properties for the
chart. There are a lot of properties that you can define for each chart
type, .
However, it is not necessary to define all the attributes for a given
chart. For example, if you do not want to change the default setting of
the canvas (color, alpha etc.), you don't need to define any attributes
for the canvas - the default values will be assumed. Thus, each chart
can be generated using minimal attributes without concern for every finer
details. As you become more proficient in the chart attributes, you could
use it to create complex charts with a wide range of features and an informative
appearance.
FusionCharts has a specific XML structure for each chart. Broadly, we
define the XML structure into following types, depending on the chart
type:
- Single Series Charts
Single Series Charts are those which depict only one set of data on
the chart. Like, our previous example of Monthly sales summary was a
single series chart, as we had just one data set (i.e., data for 1 year).
In that chart, we were not comparing data between two datasets (e.g.,
monthly sales comparison between two or more years).
XML for the single series chart is the simplest to understand, as you've
already seen in the previous examples.
- Multi-Series Charts
Multi-series charts are used to compare 2 or more datasets like
monthly comparison for 2 or more years. Under multi-series charts, we
can define the following subcategories:
- Standard Multi-series Charts
The standard multi-series charts, like multi-series column, line,
area etc., are used for straightforward comparison of various datasets
on the chart.
- Stacked Charts
Stacked charts, like stacked column, area etc., are used
to compare cumulative or grouped data. e.g., monthly summary of
sales on a chart. Say if we wanted to show which part of revenue
came from products and which part from services, we can use the
stacked column chart easily to depict the data. Each month would
represent a data column and the column would be divided into two
parts- one representing service and the other product.
- Combination Charts
Combination Charts are a combination of two or more charts or y-axis.
There are two sub-types of combination charts:
- Single Y-Axis Combination Chart
- Dual Y-Axis Combination Chart
- Multi-series XY Plot Charts
XY Plot Charts are charts where both the axes are numeric, like bubble
and scatter chart.
- Multi-series Stacked Charts
In charts like multi-series stacked column and multi-series stacked
column line combination charts, you've nested data-sets which allow
you to create multi-series stacked charts.
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