Choosing a plotting library for web/browser application

Question

Hello,

I am looking for a plotting/graphing library (mostly to do line plots) for my application. I have been looking at JavaScript APIs (like Google's) but I found them to be slowing down things at client side (I am plotting a quite large number of points). I also found that with client-side libraries, the performance was quite varied depending on the user's computer. With moving to a server-side library I would cut down on this variance, and would have more control over data flow (my data is in a MySQL database).

I have then looked at some PHP-based plotting libraries, but a lot of them seem to be "forgotten" (no new version for years). I have been eying pChart, but it has not had an update in almost two years.

First, what would you recommend: server-side or client-side approach?

Second, what library would you recommend. Paid libraries are definitely an option, as I don't mind paying for quality software that would cut down on my development time.

Thanks,

Answer 1

You could take a look at JPGraph (serverside) or AMCharts (flash, clientside)

Answer 2

Which is recommended depends on what you want to do with the data. If you're looking to manipulate it on the client, then client side graphing is usually better.

What don't you like about the google charting stuff? (Besides the slowness)

Answer 3

Personally I use the server-side jpGraph for most of my charting work, and fusionCharts (commercial) for flash-based client-side charting, although I'm looking at openFlashCharts at the moment

Answer 4

I have used some JavaScript plotting libraries and right now, I am the fondest of flot. My use case is mainly line charts on the order of thousands of points, and flot seems to handle it fine. The main driver for a client-side plotting library is the interactivity it gives you. I've also used jqPlot, but I find flot more performant with large datasets.