Chart FX allows developers to create visually rich, highly interactive charts with data analysis capabilities that go far beyond simple tooltips and dialogs. This User Interface not only reveals important trends in the chart’s underlying data but will also allow developers to build effective data visualization applications quickly and effortlessly with no complex code to write or maintain. For example, with a simple property setting developers can make charts scrollable, zoom in portions of the charts or even display a full data grid with the chart’s underlying data. Before you commit to allow end users to interact with charts and enable any of the end user tools provided by Chart FX, it is important to take into consideration the platform you are developing for:

Chart FX and Client/Server applications

During the 90s, Client/server emerged as the most appropriate computing architecture in the business world. Client/Server usually refers to executables that run on Clients (PCs or workstations) providing local processing power. By running locally on a client computer, applications can take advantage of local resources at run time. Because they run locally, Client/Server applications target a specific platform or OS. This means conforming to User Interface guidelines and standards is an important aspect and challenge when developing applications that use third-party components. In this regard, Chart FX toolbars, menus and other UI elements and end user actions have been designed to conform to the Windows application UI and interaction design principles and guidelines. For this reason, you can enable or use any of the Chart FX end user tools in your Client/Server apps.

Chart FX and Web based applications

As opposed to Client/Server apps, Web based applications are restricted to run in a web browser and request HTML output from a remote web server. The problem with providing a rich UI for charts embedded in a browser lies in the fact that web applications are platform agnostic .This means, they normally use images to convey information. Unfortunately, end users will not be able to interact much with chart images (resulting in a very poor end user experience). To solve this problem, Chart FX provides platform specific (Windows) client side controls that allow full interactivity in the browser. When a browser accesses a page containing a chart, the Chart FX server is capable of producing a binary file (OLE) that can be read exclusively by our ActiveX or .NET client controls.

If you are developing a public web site that requires universal access you may be limited to work with chart images. However, if you are building an intranet or mission critical web based application that targets Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, these client controls provide the following significant advantages:

1. The use of client controls that provide a complex UI allow end users to customize the chart and perform additional data analysis without additional intervention from the developer or server.

2. Client controls allow load distribution on many of the complex calculations and paint routines that are required on the server, making the web application more suitable for performance and scalability. In other words, producing server-side images will consume processing power on the server thus possibly affecting performance and scalability.

3. In many situations, controls are mandatory since they use system related resources on the client machine. For example, repainting and scrolling a real-time chart requires the use of the client machine’s GDI resources.

4. The only UI permissible in a browser are html forms which makes it impossible or impractical for certain features that client controls handle very easily through natural and intuitive interfaces like toolbars, context menus, tooltips and mouse clicks.

5. Client controls allow selective refreshing. In other words, when producing a server-side image, the whole page must be refreshed before the new image can be displayed on the browser. This is a major inconvenience. As the rest of the page elements that were not affected by the change must also be downloaded, making certain applications (real-time charts) impossible to achieve without the help of client controls.

Note: Updated versions of Chart FX support zero-footprint and fully interactive charts on the browser through the use of DHTML images. For additional information on version, availability and pricing please contact our sales department.

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