AUTOMATIC GRAPHING TOOLS/UTILITIES

(I try to provide some version of a pie grapher for at least some browsers on each platform and the 
 bar grapher and line grapher is cross-platrform; for all: hold down the Shift Key and Click Reload between runs.)

A particular PC and Internet Explorer application is a super cool Pie Chart maker. 
After you make a Pie Chart remotely you can do a ctrl-PrntScrn and make an 
image copy of the screen, including the Pie Chart and Paste that into Paint, 
MS Word, or any photo editing application you have.   Then just Copy out 
the Pie Chart portion of the screen image and Paste that as a new Image and 
you have your Pie Chart.  (You can get a local copy of the program simply by doing a 
View -> Source to see the html and saving it as something.html - no external files 
are involved in the Pie Chart application - it is all in the one html file.)

If you are on a Mac, here is a Pie Chart maker for you (which will work
on at least some browsers for Mac - in particular, it should work on Firefox 1.5+).  
It has a bit less functionality than the Pie Chart maker above (for IE and PC) but is 
otherwise as similar as possible.  (This one will also work on Firefox on the PC!)

FOR ANOTHER GREAT BAR GRAPHER (including 3D) and something that also does some
bar and line graphs, SEE:

** THIS LINK **. Don't let the fun flags distract you.

NEW LINE GRAPHS: Gareth Watts has developed a new JavaScript/canvas sparkline
system which works like the old one except it is much more cross-platform and works
on all or almost all modern browsers.  CLICK HERE TO GET THE WHOLE KIT IN ZIP .
(A direction.txt file is among the 4 files in the zip -- easy directions!!.) See a demo.)

OR: You can make your own graph (a png image) RIGHT HERE.
(This version is very cross-browser and cross-platform.)

Here is a great version for science people, who want to compare
the results (graphs) of several different groups. First, see it HERE. Now,
MAKE ONE HERE. (See DIRECTIONS HERE). (This version is very
cross-browser and cross-platform.)

There is another variation of the last program that puts grids over the graphs,
so you can see the exact x and y values. READ THE DIRECTIONS FIRST
since the way x and y inputs are formatting is totally different from the
above version. After reading the directions, TRY IT HERE (FireFox ONLY).

ALL THESE NEW VERSIONS PRODUCE PNG images, which can be copied and pasted, 
into Word OR Pasted into any Photo editing application and turned into a gif or jpeg, 
for insertion into a web page. Gareth Watts tells me you can use floats (numbers with
a decimal portion, for example 2.25) as well as integers.
(Using Firefox, you can just do a Save Page As (set to Complete Page) and then just
grab the png image out of the withGrid.php_files folder and paste it where the withGrid.php.htm
page is (i.e. on the desktop, if that is where the Complete Page was saved) and the saved copy
will work from there. Of course, you can upload the folder and htm file and run it from your site.)

For many graphing purposes, there is a resource which is better than I provide:
http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/createAGraph/

For Line Graghs with MORE CAPABILITIES, see http://code.google.com/p/flot/.

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AND: Thanks to the work of another great javascripter (site: http://jsgt.org/ ):

 Now, via js, ajax and the jQuery js library and  great jQuery plugin, it is now
outrageously easy to dynamically load data into a web page and display it as
a sortable table and simultaneously as a line graph or bar graph:

The javascript ajax program reads the data from a file formatted like this:

LABELS,1Col,2Col,3Col,4Col,5Col,6Col,7Col,8Col,9Col,10Col,11Col,12Col
tmid,3.3,4.8,2.5,4.5,7.0,5.5,8.20,3.0,6.5,9.5,9.6,8.8
bmid,1.2,1.5,5.5,3.0,7.0,8.7,5.5,3.0,6.5,7.6,5.0,5.8

The top row is the labels, the other rows are data (first cell is the name of the row).

This can be created automatically from Excel by Saving As csv OR could easily
be produced from database table data (and written to the file) by php -- on each
opening of a given page.

THEN, the js program displays it amazingly: see http://mynichecomputing.org/charts/
and push some buttons to see an example at work. View the Source and see how
outrageously simple the things that vary are!!

Now the directions to get the kit (which is NOT by me, but by the aforementioned great
jQuery plugin author; of course, open source):

Re: Magic Dynamic Charting (with js and Firefox) (kit :
http://mynichecomputing.org/charts/magicCharting.zip )

TO USE FOR YOURSELF:

Directions: Open any Excel Spreadsheet you have where the cell contents are numbers (except
column one, which is a name of the row).
Add a top row to the sheet: lst Cell: LABEL: followed by the labels for all the numerical columns.
Export the Excel worksheet as a csv named Book4chart.csv . (Click "Yes" to the one prompt.)
Put that csv and all other the contents of the zip in a folder (together); you will be overwriting
Book4chart.csv with YOUR Book4chart.csv.

NOW:
Look at source code for jqChart9b.htm and choose reasonable Y minimum value and max value (in
the code in lines like this:
scaleY : {min: 0,max:100,gap:10} (there are several such lines -- make the min and max the same in each)

Run the jqChart9b.htm page and click the buttons and be amazed. PLUS the auto-built table is
sortable!! (and changes are reflected in the ordering of the bar graphs). (Works from the desktop
with Firefox, works with all major browsers when run from a web site -- any web site will do.)

COOL MAGIC. Very useful.
P.S. When you change max and min y values, for example from 0 to 100 to 0 to 10, you might also
want to change the "gap" , so labels occur with smaller units (rather than the default, every 10). SO,
for example the whole y-scale-things could be set scaleY : {min: 0,max:10,gap:1} to have the y
scale labeled (0, 1, 2, 3, ... 10), instead of just 0 and 10
AND: Decimal values, such as 1.3, 2.8, etc are fine (you may use those)
This also works with Internet Explorer, if that browser is receiving all the files from
any web server. See it: http://mynichecomputing.org/charts/ Push buttons.

Also see http://mynichecomputing.org/ajaxchart/ Again, view the Source and see how
outrageously simple the things that vary are!! The zip for this is at:
http://mynichecomputing.org/ajaxchart/otherChart.zip

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NOW,
Stuff for everyone, cross-browser, cross-platform:

Here at THIS LINK is a Bar Grapher, which should be pretty much cross-browser 
and cross-platform.  AND, here is a link to a ANOTHER great LINE GRAPHER, the  
directions for which are on below.

Here is another cool Totally Cross-Platform BAR GRAPHER, which allows for
a lot of options.  This is one of those that produces the graph AS AN IMAGE,
which you can Right-Click or Ctrl-Click and simply save as an image.

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MORE GRAPHING!
(These are actually just variations on the "great Line Grapher",
 noted above.)

This one, A FLASH APPLICATION
(like all Flash, all cross-browser and cross-platform): 

 

Now available are 4 graphing programs.  Each allows for line graphs up to 40 points. 
Two provide only one such line ( my40FlGraphGrid.html & my40FlGraphXY.html ), 
while 2 others allow the graphing on one grid or xy axis, of three 40-point line graphs 
( thrl40FlGraphGrid.html and thrl40FlGraphXY.html ).  The left top point or dot is 
dragged to the first plotted location on a grid or xy axis.  Subsequent points (up to 39 
more) are 'dragged off' the top right dot.  For the graphing programs allowing three 
line graphs to be drawn, the same is true ONLY TIMES THREE ! -- look and see! 

The 2 input text boxes at the bottom allow you to load whatever labels into the 
'dynamic' textboxes for the x and y scales.  These dynamic boxes are also drag- 
and-drop (just like the points or "dots"), so they can be placed anywhere you want. 
The dynamic textboxes are loaded/reloaded, each time you simply make any changes 
in the bottom 2 input boxes.  The entire set of 4 swf (Flash) graphing programs and 
the 4 web pages to run them may be obtained by CLICKING HERE TO GET A ZIP.

Then, of course, you may upload all of this to your site.   Note:  Once a graph is 
produced, on a PC a student may hit the keys ctrl and prt sc together and this puts 
an image into the clipboard.  Then the student may open Paint (Programs  --> 
Accessories --> Paint) and Paste it into a Paint document.  Then the student can do 
a Save As and name and save the image (the image should be saved as a gif or 
jpg and NOT a bmp, because they are much larger).  A similar procedure is available 
for Mac users, just ask around.

A version of this graphing program, allowing for much finer control of the labeling 
of the axes , thrl40FlGraphGridf.html , is now available.  You may also download 
the swf and html pages for this in a zip.  HERE IS A LINK FOR THIS ZIP FILE.