J4L-CHART for Ruby

Copyright 2011, J4L Components (http://www.java4less.com)
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J4L-Chart , first steps.

• Installation
• Requirements
• Where to start
• Format of the parameters

Installation

Requirements

J4L-Chart will work with:

• Ruby 1.8.6
• RMagick 2.12

Where to start

As starting point we recommend you not to create a chart from scratch but to take one of the examples we provide and start working by modifying it.

But first of all you must be aware that there are 2 ways to create a chart:

1. either you create it using the API, creating the Chart Ruby objects and setting the properties (see file chart_examples.rb)
2. or you create the chart by means of the ChartLoader. In this case you do not have to worry about the API. You just have to create a list of parameters and use the ChartLoader class to create the chart (see examples in directory data/examples).

• It is easier to learn.
• It is easier to develop and debug.
• You can reuse the code since the same code can load different charts.

Nevertheless this guide provides both the parameter names and the equivalent Ruby class and property.

Format of the parameters

If you are going to create you chart by mean of the chart loader (instead of using the Java API), there are some parameters that have a special format:

• Colors: predefined values are:
  
  

  RED WHITE GREEN BLUE YELLOW GRAY DARKGRAY BLACK LIME OLIVE MAROON NAVY PURPLE TELA FUCHSIA AQUA ALICEBLUE ANTIQUEWHITE AQUAMARINE

  AZURE BEIGE BLUEVIOLET BROWN BORLYWOOD CORAL CYAN DARKGOLDENROD DARKGREEN DARKOLIVEGREEN DARKORANGE DARKORCHID DARKSALMON DARKTURQUOISE DARKVIOLET DEEPPINK DEEPSKYBLUE FORESTGREEN GOLD

  GOLDENROD GREENYELLOW HOTPINK INDIANRED IVORY LAVENDER LAWNGREEN LIGHTBLUE LIGHTCORAL LIGHTCYAN LIGHTGRAY LIGHTPINK LIGHTSALMON LIGHTSKYBLUE LIGHTYELLO LIMEGREEN MAGENTA MEDIUMBLUE MEDIUMPURPLE

  MIDNIGHTBLUE ORANGE ORANGERED ORCHID PALEGREEN PALETURQUOISE PALEVIOLETRED PINK PLUM PURPLE SALMON SEAGREEN SIENNA SKYBLUE SPRINGGREEN TURQUOISE VIOLET YELLOWGREEN

  
  
  You can also use the RGB numeric value of a color as parameter. For example "#FF0000" is red (RGB format), "#00FF00" is green and so on.
  
  
  
• List of values. List of values a separated by "|", only certain parameters like FiIll styles use another separator.
• Fonts have the format <font name>|<style>|<size>. Style can be PLAIN, ITALIC or BOLD. Example: "Arial|BOLD|12"
• Line styles have the format <width>|<color>|<style>. Style can be LINE, DASHED or DOTS. Example: "1|RED|LINE".
  You can define transparency in line styles using an additional parameter: <width>|<color>|<style>|<transparency>. <transparency> is a value between 0 (full transparent) and 1 (opaque). We recommend 0.5.
  
• Fill style: there are several options:
  • <color>: for plain color filling.
  • <color>|<transparentcy>: for transparent color filling. <transparency> is a value between 0 (full transparent) and 1 (opaque). We recommend 0.5.