Graph drawing for the Web 2.0

Question

Hi.

There are a lot of chart drawing libraries out there, but what I am looking for is an interactive(!) graph (nodes and edges) drawing library. At best some kind of AJAX, but I am also open for other technologies (Java, Flash). However I would really prefer an AJAX implementation. Also only Open Source framework suggestions please (I already know about yFiles). The thing I have in mind is a bit like GWTUML. That is quite nice already, but misses an API for their graph drawing. It seems that it is an custom implementation for their product. Also some layout algorithms would be nice. Is there really no library around for that task? I wonder a bit as there are so many chart libraries available.

Let me emphasize again (seems to be necessary cause of the first two comments): I am NOT looking for another chart library!

Regards, Kai

P.S. Things I know about already: JUNG (Java), Prefuse (Java), GINY (Java), yFiles (AJAX, but not Open Source). Just another graph library I found (Javascript, not sure if it is still maintained): Graph Gear

Answer 1

How about YUI?

http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/charts/

Answer 2

I've been interested in flot for a while. I don't if it has any support for callbacks built in, but I bet you can register some event listeners for any necessary CRUD.

Answer 3

It's Flex, not AJAX, and it's focused on force-directed graphs, but SpringGraph might fit the bill. It's open-source.

Answer 4

I've used Flex in the past - it has rather good charting components (for a little extra). You get Flash files and you can call the server using ActionScript. Unfortunately you have to pay for it.

For a .Net solution Silverlight is looking better all the time. The solution ends up similar to the Flex one, only with Silver/Moonlight required instead of Flash and C# instead of ActionScript. The basic tools for editing Silverlight projects are free (but closed source).

If you want a DHTML solution (rather than Java, Flash or Silverlight) you're going to have to get into directly dealing with the new new HTML canvas element. Your best bet may be to look at how the various charting libraries use this.

There's a couple of really good DHTML charting libraries out there (YUI and Flot have already been mentioned) that use this new HTML canvas element. I've seen some pretty interactive stuff done with Flot, but I don't think the API includes AJAX callbacks.

However, both of these are open source - why not take a look around inside and see whether callbacks could be added? In particular both of these get around the total lack of support from IE, I'm not sure how.

Answer 5

Have you seen The JIT http://thejit.org/ find by Ajaxian and do you know SQLDesigner (data are in XML files, and it needs PHP) ?

And do you know GraphViz ? Maybe someone has released a GraphViz-like ?

Or I am completely beside the point ?

Answer 6

KapIT labs labs.kapit.fr have a Visualizer component that I have been using recently. Worth taking a look at. Note that it is a Flex component