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Ask HN: Which PHP chart solution do you use?
I am searching for an efficient, free chart building solution for my current PHP based startup project. I have explored a number of different options, from image based charts to flash.
However, before I actually start coding I thought I would throw out the question to find out which PHP charting libraries other programmers are using.
Please tell me which PHP libraries you have used or would recommend.
- pierrefar 17y agoThere are quite a few. BUT: When I looked into this a few months ago, I found that PHP generation of graphs is expensive. It was cheaper to send just the data to the browser and let a Flash control or jQuery do the graphing. This removes a big bottleneck. I settled on a for-pay mapping Flash control and an open source Flash graphs control. Both accept data in sensible XML and so it wasn't hard to talk to them.
- NathanKP 17y agoOkay, that was one of my worries, that PHP generation of the graphs would overload my server. However, I haven't yet found a good looking flash based graph generator. Open Flash Chart looks like it might be an option, but I don't really like the way their charts look. I would love to find something that looks and acts like the charts that Google Analytics uses.
- pierrefar 17y agoOpen Flash Chart is what I use and you can style it extensively. The default is horrible though, I agree. Getting the GA look, or something very close to it, shouldn't be too hard IMHO. Getting the functionality might be tricky if the control doesn't support it.
- dryicerx 17y agoI too would recommend you use client side. For client side, you can use http://code.google.com/p/flot/ http://code.google.com/p/flot/ http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/ http://code.google.com/apis/visualization/ < what google analytics uses http://www.simile-widgets.org/ http://www.simile-widgets.org/ http://www.danvk.org/dygraphs/ http://www.danvk.org/dygraphs/ http://highcharts.com/ http://highcharts.com/ < looks awesome http://www.maani.us/ http://www.maani.us/ http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/
- NathanKP 17y agoThank you for the list. I will look through the options. Has anyone tried the jQuery chart plugin?
- japanesejay 17y agoive used pCharts for strictly php. http://pchart.sourceforge.net/ http://pchart.sourceforge.net/ It doesnt do real time updating since it spits out an image. Im sure theres a slick way to do it but for what i was using it was quite minimal Open Flash Charts is slick. i dig it. http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ http://teethgrinder.co.uk/open-flash-chart/ I switched from pCharts to OFC for a project i was using. I like it much better. I tried google charts but i find it lacking. It is real hard to control and just not quite polished for what i was looking for. That and (i think) it requires an internet connection to dial out to google. Its potentially a problem if you're actually building thats not a webapp. Also someone announced a js based charting engine here on ycombinator about a few weeks back. I thought it was real slick... i wish i had it book marked.
- NathanKP 17y agoThanks for the response. I have now settled on the jQuery based charting plugin. It seems fairly lightweight and has the advantage of being client side. It also looks good. I have customized the CSS so that it looks fairly similar to Google Analytics.