Current test version is at 3.3.9 and includes the following enhancements

• New Parameter types -
  • Button - Add buttons on the dashboard to call external programs or stored procedures
  • Date - Add a date/calendar parameter
  • Field - Just an input text parameter
  • Static Text - Useful for sticky notes on the dashboard
• Bug fix for DateTime format
  • Custom date format for datetime is now fixed
• Drill from Bar chart or Pie Charts
  • This is experimental and includes drill through from Bar chart and Pie charts
• PDF reporting of Charts
  • Earlier the export from Tree browser included only the table objects but with this release charts are also included as part of the PDF export
• Excel button on Connection wizard to connect directly to excel files
  • Simplify the connection to Excel files. You can now browse the file directory and pick the Excel file to connect.

Version 3.3.8

• bubble chart
• scatter chart
• polar chart
• XY Series
• Time Series

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In this example we placed this image as background for the thermometer chart http://www.foreststreams.com/snowcreekwater3web.JPG

import org.jfree.chart.plot.ThermometerPlot;
import org.jfree.chart.JFreeChart;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.KeyEvent;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.URL;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;

 

ThermometerPlot plot = (ThermometerPlot)chart.getPlot();
// plot.setInsets(new RectangleInsets(5.0, 5.0, 5.0, 5.0));
plot.setThermometerStroke(new BasicStroke(2.0f));
plot.setThermometerPaint(Color.lightGray);
plot.setUnits(ThermometerPlot.UNITS_NONE);
plot.setRange(50000.0,200000.0);
float h = displayFrame.getHeight();
float w = displayFrame.getWidth();
// GradientPaint gradientPaint = new GradientPaint(0.0F, 10.0F, Color.WHITE, h, w, Color.green.darker());
//plot.setBackgroundPaint(gradientPaint);

chart.setBackgroundPaint(new GradientPaint(0,0,Color.blue,w,h, new Color(102,0,102)));

plot.setMercuryPaint(new GradientPaint(0,0,Color.blue,w,h, new Color(102,0,102)));
plot.setValuePaint(Color.black);
plot.setThermometerPaint(Color.ORANGE);

plot.setSubrange(0, 0.0, 80000.0);
plot.setSubrange(1, 80000.1, 120000.0);
plot.setSubrange(2, 120000.1, 200000.0);

plot.setSubrangePaint(2, Color.BLUE);
plot.setSubrangePaint(1, Color.ORANGE);
plot.setSubrangePaint(0, Color.RED);

URL url = new URL(”http://www.foreststreams.com/snowcreekwater3web.JPG“);
BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(url);
plot.setBackgroundImage(image);

Here is another background image

http://www.foreststreams.com/fallcreek1.JPG

Here is the world map behind the bar chart. We get this world map dynamically created from Google Chart APIs

To add background image to any chart, please include the following piece of code in Java Script

Add these import statements on the top

import java.net.URL;
import java.awt.image.BufferedImage;
import javax.imageio.ImageIO;

Add the following lines at the bottom

//URL url = new URL(”your own image url”);
URL url = new URL(”http://www.foreststreams.com/snowcreekwater3web.JPG“);
BufferedImage image = ImageIO.read(url);
chart.setBackgroundImage(image);

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Here is a basic bar chart

To add a reference line or interval marker as below

Use the following code for the javascript

//import the necessary classes
import org.jfree.*;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;
//import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;
//import org.jfree.chart.labels.CategoryItemLabelGenerator;
//import org.jfree.chart.labels.StandardCategoryItemLabelGenerator;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.PiePlot3D;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.PlotOrientation;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.BarRenderer;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.BarRenderer3D;
//import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.CategoryItemRenderer;
//import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.LineAndShapeRenderer;
import org.jfree.ui.GradientPaintTransformType;
import org.jfree.ui.StandardGradientPaintTransformer;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.IntervalMarker;
import org.jfree.ui.Layer;

import org.jfree.ui.RectangleAnchor;
import org.jfree.ui.RefineryUtilities;
import org.jfree.ui.TextAnchor;

BarRenderer barRenderer = (BarRenderer)plot.getRenderer();
barRenderer.setDrawBarOutline(false);

IntervalMarker target = new IntervalMarker(70000,75000);
target.setLabelFont(new Font(”SansSerif”, Font.ITALIC, 11));
target.setLabelAnchor(RectangleAnchor.LEFT);
target.setLabelTextAnchor(TextAnchor.CENTER_LEFT);
plot.addRangeMarker(target, Layer.BACKGROUND);

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Following is a simple line chart

The query for the above chart is as follows

select calendar_month_name, sum(quantity_sold)-3500 as qty_sold
from [detail_data$]
where fiscal_year = 2001
and country_region like ‘Americas’
group by calendar_month_name

Now if we need to add a Target line which would be a constant horizontal line then we can use the following technique

We will simply change the above query and add a new column with the target value representing the target sales

select calendar_month_name, sum(quantity_sold)-3500 as qty_sold, 11500 as Target
from [detail_data$]
where fiscal_year = 2001
and country_region like ‘Americas’
group by calendar_month_name

We get the below result

To customize the lines, for example to make them thicker follow this tutorial or simply add the following code in the Dynamic java script section

//import the necessary classes

import org.jfree.*;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.CategoryItemLabelGenerator;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.StandardCategoryItemLabelGenerator;

import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;

import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.LineAndShapeRenderer;

// CategoryPlot plot= chart.getCategoryPlot();< /FONT>

LineAndShapeRenderer lrenderer = (LineAndShapeRenderer) plot.getRenderer();< /FONT >

lrenderer.setStroke(

new BasicStroke(4f, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL)

);

In order to change the line style please use the below script

//import the necessary classes

import org.jfree.*;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.CategoryItemLabelGenerator;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.StandardCategoryItemLabelGenerator;

import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;

import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.LineAndShapeRenderer;

// CategoryPlot plot= chart.getCategoryPlot();< /FONT>

LineAndShapeRenderer renderer = (LineAndShapeRenderer) plot.getRenderer();< /FONT >

/*renderer.setStroke(

new BasicStroke(4f, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL)

);
*/

renderer.setSeriesStroke(
0, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {10.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
1, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {6.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
2, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {2.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
));

Usually the target will not be a straight line, for example if you have forecasted the sales for each month, then the seasonal activity will differ from month to month and hence the target values. You could join to a budget or forecast table and get the target values for each month or period and display them along with the sales quantity. This gives more flexibility rather than hard coding the target value.

Custom Shapes on the Line Chart

To create the shapes on the line chart use the following javascript

//import the necessary classes

import org.jfree.*;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.CategoryItemLabelGenerator;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.StandardCategoryItemLabelGenerator;

import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Polygon;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.LineAndShapeRenderer;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.DefaultDrawingSupplier;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.DrawingSupplier;

// CategoryPlot plot= chart.getCategoryPlot();

LineAndShapeRenderer renderer = (LineAndShapeRenderer) plot.getRenderer();

//Enable shapes on the line chart
renderer.setShapesVisible(true);
/* renderer.setDrawOutlines(true);
renderer.setUseFillPaint(true);
renderer.setFillPaint(Color.white);

*/
/*
renderer.setStroke(

new BasicStroke(4f, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL)

);
*/

//Create Dotted or Dashed lines
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
0, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {10.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
1, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {6.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
2, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {2.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)

Add custom colors

//import the necessary classes

import org.jfree.*;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.CategoryItemLabelGenerator;

//import org.jfree.chart.labels.StandardCategoryItemLabelGenerator;

import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Polygon;
import java.awt.Shape;
import java.awt.geom.Rectangle2D;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.LineAndShapeRenderer;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.DefaultDrawingSupplier;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.DrawingSupplier;

// CategoryPlot plot= chart.getCategoryPlot();

LineAndShapeRenderer renderer = (LineAndShapeRenderer) plot.getRenderer();

//Enable shapes on the line chart
renderer.setShapesVisible(true);
renderer.setDrawOutlines(true);
renderer.setUseFillPaint(true);
renderer.setFillPaint(Color.yellow);

/*
renderer.setStroke(

new BasicStroke(4f, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL)

);
*/

//Create Dotted or Dashed lines
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
0, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {10.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
1, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {6.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)
);
renderer.setSeriesStroke(
2, new BasicStroke(
2.0f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_ROUND,
1.0f, new float[] {2.0f, 6.0f}, 0.0f
)

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Summary :

• Why use square brackets for SQL against Excel?
• How to access range of cells from Excel?
• How to use un-named range of cells?

This topic is covered in various tutorial for InfoCaptor. These following snippets are taken directly from Microsoft website as easy reference

Select Excel Data with Code
Your Excel data may be contained in your workbook in one of the following:

* An entire worksheet.
* A named range of cells on a worksheet.
* An unnamed range of cells on a worksheet.

Specify a Worksheet

To specify a worksheet as your recordsource, use the worksheet name followed by a dollar sign and surrounded by square brackets. For example:

strQuery = “SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$]“

You can also delimit the worksheet name with the slanted single quote character (`) found on the keyboard under the tilde (~). For example:

strQuery = “SELECT * FROM `Sheet1$`“

Microsoft prefers the square brackets, which are the standing convention for problematic database object names.

If you omit both the dollar sign and the brackets, or just the dollar sign, you receive the following error message:

… the Jet database engine could not find the specified object

If you use the dollar sign but omit the brackets, you will see the following error message:

Syntax error in FROM clause.
If you try to use ordinary single quotes, you receive the following error message:
Syntax error in query. Incomplete query clause.

Specify a Named Range

To specify a named range of cells as your recordsource, simply use the defined name. For example:

strQuery = “SELECT * FROM MyRange“

Specify an Unnamed Range

To specify an unnamed range of cells as your recordsource, append standard Excel row/column notation to the end of the sheet name in the square brackets. For example:

strQuery = “SELECT * FROM [Sheet1$A1:B10]“

A caution about specifying worksheets: The provider assumes that your table of data begins with the upper-most, left-most, non-blank cell on the specified worksheet. In other words, your table of data can begin in Row 3, Column C without a problem. However, you cannot, for example, type a worksheeet title above and to the left of the data in cell A1.

A caution about specifying ranges: When you specify a worksheet as your recordsource, the provider adds new records below existing records in the worksheet as space allows. When you specify a range (named or unnamed), Jet also adds new records below the existing records in the range as space allows. However, if you requery on the original range, the resulting recordset does not include the newly added records outside the range.

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I decided to address this topic today while looking at an “infographic” about the costs of the war in Iraq shown below, which was created by Good Magazine, based on the book Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict by Nobel Prize laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz and Linda J. Bilmes.

In Visual Language, Horn defined “infographics” (short for “information graphic”) as:

Moderately sized, meaningful combinations of words, images, and shapes that together constitute a complete communication unit. Visual and verbal elements are tightly integrated. Is as self-contained as possible on 1 or 2 pages or on a large screen. Usually contains more information than a concept diagram, although an information graphic may use any of the types of concept diagrams as its central visual element. Usually contains several blocks of text.

(Visual Language, Robert E. Horn, MacroVU, Inc,, Bainbridge Island, Washington, 1998, p. 61)

This form and use of visualization has become popular in the last few years. We now see frequent examples of infographics in major news publications. I’ve seen examples that work to communicate effectively, but more that, in my opinion, do not. What accounts for these differences in the effectiveness of infographics?

I believe that the Three Trillion Dollar War visualization, which tells a story that I care about and consider important, fails as an infographic. Aspects of its visual design discourage me from examining it. It’s hard to look at. Even if the aesthetics were more pleasing to the eye, I don’t think the graphics achieve their communication objectives. The story is adequately told by the text-the ten points that are described verbally to the right of the graphics. The graphics add no value or meaning that isn’t contained in the text. The pictures themselves don’t reveal anything we can’t learn more clearly from the text. Graphics should only be used when they communicate more effectively than words or words alone. Visual displays can do a great job of revealing relationships that might be difficult to communicate with words alone, but the relationships between the various costs that appear in this infographic are buried in visual clutter.

Until yesterday, I had never heard of Good Magazine. According to their website:

GOOD is a collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward. Since 2006 we’ve been making a magazine, videos, and events for people who give a damn. This website is an ongoing exploration of what GOOD is and what it can be.

Based on what I’ve read, I like these guys and support what they’re trying to do. I want their work to succeed , but as an information visualization professional, I’m concerned that in this case at least their good intentions have been undermined by ineffective graphics.

My purpose here is not to critique this particular infographic, and certainly not to criticize the work of Good Magazine. Rather, I’m writing to raise concerns once again about the quality of infographics in general and the fact that it doesn’t seem to be improving. I believe infographics have great potential, but their effectiveness must be honed through empirical study. Infographics practitioners must become more introspective, more critical of their work, if they wish to give something useful to the world. Most of the infographics that I’ve seen are filled with what Tufte calls “chartjunk.”

Why are we still producing chartjunk? Jacques Bertin put us on the road to effective uses of visualization by introducing the basic vocabulary of visual communication. Tufte refined and extended this work, especially in regards to quantitative communication. Robert Horn synthesized much of what’s being done and demonstrated the existence of visual language. But today, rather than continuing in this critical scientific tradition, infographics reminds me of Web design in the early days: free expression with little regard for practices that have been proven to produce the desired outcomes. No one seems to be doing any work to determine what works and what doesn’t, and to understand why. Or, if they are, I’m not aware of it, and am rarely seeing the results.

In Visual Language, Horn wrote:

Basic scientific research is beginning to bear out the thesis of this book-that people find it easier and more effective to communicate by using combinations of words and images. Although visual language has yet to be subjected to a full battery of cognitive science or pragmatic tests, the few available studies support that conclusion…Because visual language is so effective, it is important that standards and criteria develop for its use. These criteria need to be based on principles that come from both cognitive science and design. Criteria for good practice will evolve both from the evidence of careful empirical studies that compare different visual methods of expressing a similar message and from the reflective judgments of practitioners. Out of such aesthetic factors come the models, the criteria, and the aesthetic factors that together make a message effective, efficient, and attractive. We have clearly entered a period of exciting dialogue and development of these ideas. (ibid., pp. 233 and 235)

I share Horn’s vision, but I’m not sure that during the last 10 years since he wrote these words, the hope and enthusiasm that he expressed in the final sentence applies to infographics. Just as statistical graphics have been subjected to empirical study, and continue to be, resulting in guiding principles that can be found in the works of Tufte, Cleveland, and more recently my own, infographics must do the same if we wish to apply them effectively.

I’m interested in your thoughts, especially if you’re an infographics practitioner. Are you aware of work that’s being done to put infographics on the track to effectiveness that it needs to mature and definitely deserves?

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Ingredients : Apache + PHP + MySQL + Free Charting Engine
Cost : $0
Time : Tons of it (just kidding)
Previously, we did a detailed analysis of various methods of creating dashboards. We had to categorize the different methods as Type - 1 , [...]

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