Generating graphs in a RubyOnRails application

Question

I am wondering what other people have found to be the best graphing libraries/plug-ins/gems etc for a rails app.

When I say best, I guess I mean ease of implementation and the ability to customize the graphs.

I have previously used openflashchart2 and loved the overall look/effects it has, although customizing everything as required was sometimes a pain. Do you have an experience or suggestions for pointing me in a better direction? Many Thanks.

Answer 1

For simple locally generated graphs, check out Gruff.

Also worth a look are some of the various Google Charts ruby libs, googlecharts being one.

Answer 2

I use protochart, which is a prototype charting library. I prefer it to the server side stuff, because it does not add as much stress to the server, and I think the charts look better and the API is easier to work with.

http://deensoft.com/lab/protochart/

Answer 3

There is also a ruby gem for gnuplot. While this might not be as easy to use as Gruff or googlecharts, it will provide more flexibility for more scientific graphs. For example, neither google charts or gruff provided support for plotting confidence intervals last I checked, while gnuplot does.

Answer 4

Ziya is pretty cool : http://liquidrail.com/2007/1/4/charting-the-rails/