View source for Comparison of different charting libraries


= Comparison of different charting libraries=

==1.pChart ([http://pchart.sourceforge.net/ www])==

pChart is currently being used in our LS1 and we are quite happy with the result. However, it's no longer being actively support and its lifecycle development is unclear which poses quite a problem to LimeSurvey 2.0 long-term lifecycle. Jean-Damien said that he is currenly writing version 2.0 but its wiki is also very outdated.

- Advantages: professional look-and-feel, code reuseable between LS1 and LS2

- Disadvantages: lack of support, unclear development plan, 1-man developer

- Graphics: ([http://pchart.sourceforge.net/documentation.php?topic=exemple1 more ...])

http://pchart.sourceforge.net/Pictures/example12.png

http://pchart.sourceforge.net/Pictures/example10.png

==2.mtChart ([http://code.google.com/p/mtchart/ www])==

mtChart is a very new fork of pChart which has better object-oriented style in my opinion. The API call is different hence we cant reuse the code between pChart and mtChart, however the conversion should be simple. The developer of mtChart has confirmed with me that mtChart is being supported by his company Meteotest, hence the short term and middle term support should be of no concern. However he cant confirm the long term support of the project.

- Advantages: professional look-and-feel, nice object-oriented style, share common attributes with pChart

- Disadvantages: long-term support is unclear, 1-man developer, no experience using the library before

- Graphics:

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/1613/example23.png

http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1209/example26.png

==3.PHPlot ([http://phplot.sourceforge.net/ www])==

PHPlot is actively maintained with the latest release currently at June 14, 2009. Support is being done at the project's [http://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?forum_id=46382 Help and Discussion forum]. However, main disadvantages of PHPlot is its not-so-professional look and feel

- Advantages: actively maintained and support.

- Disadvantages: not-so-professional look and feel, no experience using the library before.

- Graphics: ([http://phplot.sourceforge.net/phplotdocs/examples.html more ...]}

http://phplot.sourceforge.net/demo.png

==4.ezComponents-Graph ([http://ezcomponents.org/docs/api/latest/introduction_Graph.html www])==

The Graph library is part of ezComponents' collection of PHP libraries under New BSD License so it can be integrate with LimeSurvey 2.0. The project is actively maintained with the latest release dated June 29, 2009. It also has a professional look-and feel. Support is being done at the [http://ezcomponents.org/support/mailinglist mailing list] , [http://ezcomponents.org/support/irc IRC channel] and [http://issues.ez.no/ProjectSelect.php?Id=1 issue tracker].

- Advantages: professional look-and-feel, very nice support

- Disadvantages: we have no experience using the library before

- Graphics: ([http://ezcomponents.org/docs/api/latest/Graph_gallery.html more ...])

[[File:bar_chart_stacked.png]]

[[File:tutorial_pie_chart_options.svg.png]]

==5.Conclusion==

I like ezComponents the most because of its proper support and also the generated images' look-and-feel. Please share your ideas and comments here before I start coding LS2 graph next week.