NAME Chart::Clicker - Powerful, extensible charting. SYNOPSIS use Chart::Clicker; my $cc = Chart::Clicker->new; my @values = (42, 25, 86, 23, 2, 19, 103, 12, 54, 9); $cc->add_data('Sales', \@values); # alternately, you can add data one bit at a time... foreach my $v (@values) { $cc->add_data('Sales', $v); } # Or, if you want to specify the keys you can use a hashref my $data = { 12 => 123, 13 => 341, 14 => 1241 }; $cc->add_data('Sales', $data); $cc->write_output('foo.png'); DESCRIPTION Chart::Clicker aims to be a powerful, extensible charting package that creates really pretty output. Charts can be saved in png, svg, pdf and postscript format. Clicker leverages the power of Graphics::Primitive to create snazzy graphics without being tied to specific backend. You may want to begin with Chart::Clicker::Tutorial. For code examples see the examples repository on GitHub: FEATURES Renderers Clicker supports the following renderers: Line StackedLine Bar StackedBar Area StackedArea Bubble CandleStick Point Pie PolarArea ADDING DATA The synopsis shows the simple way to add data. my @values = (42, 25, 86, 23, 2, 19, 103, 12, 54, 9); foreach my $v (@values) { $cc->add_data('Sales', $v); } This is a convenience method provided to make simple cases much simpler. Adding multiple Series to a chart is as easy as changing the name argument of "add_data". Each unique first argument will result in a separate series. See the docs for "add_data" to learn more. If you'd like to use the more advanced features of Clicker you'll need to shake off this simple method and build Series & DataSets explicitly. use Chart::Clicker::Data::Series; use Chart::Clicker::Data::DataSet; ... my $series = Chart::Clicker::Data::Series->new( keys => [ 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ], values => [ 42, 25, 86, 23, 2, 19, 103, 12, 54, 9 ], ); my $ds = Chart::Clicker::Data::DataSet->new(series => [ $series ]); $cc->add_to_datasets($ds); This used to be the only way to add data, but repeated requests to make the common case easier resulted in the inclusion of "add_data". COOKBOOK Check the cookbook at CONTEXTS The normal use case for a chart is a couple of datasets on the same axes. Sometimes you want to chart one or more datasets on different axes. A common need for this is when you are comparing two datasets of vastly different scale such as the number of employees in an office (1-10) to monthly revenues (10s of thousands). On a normal chart the number of employees would show up as a flat line at the bottom of the chart. To correct this, Clicker has contexts. A context is a pair of axes, a renderer and a name. The name is the 'key' by which you will refer to the context. my $context = Chart::Clicker::Context->new( name => 'sales' ); $clicker->add_to_contexts($context); $dataset->context('sales'); $clicker->add_to_datasets($dataset); New contexts provide a fresh domain and range axis and default to a Line renderer. Caveat: Clicker expects that the default context (identified by the string "default") will always be present. It is from this context that some of Clicker's internals draw their values. You should use the default context unless you need more than one, in which case you should use "default" as the base context. FORMATS & OUTPUT Clicker supports PNG, SVG, PDF and PostScript output. To change your output type, specificy it when you create your Clicker object: my $cc = Chart::Clicker->new(format => 'pdf', ...); # ... $cc->write_output('chart.pdf'); If you are looking to get a scalar of the output for use with HTTP or similar things, you can use: # ... make your chart $cc->draw; my $image_data = $cc->data; If you happen to be using Catalyst then take a look at Catalyst::View::Graphics::Primitive. ATTRIBUTES contexts Set/Get the contexts for this chart. datasets Get/Set the datasets for this chart. format Get the format for this Chart. Required in the constructor. Must be on of Png, Pdf, Ps or Svg. legend Set/Get the legend that will be used with this chart. legend_position The position the legend will be added. Should be one of north, south, east, west or center as required by Layout::Manager::Compass. grid_over Flag controlling if the grid is rendered over the data. Defaults to 0. You probably want to set the grid's background color to an alpha of 0 if you enable this flag. title Set/Get the title component for this chart. This is a Graphics::Primitive::TextBox, not a string. To set the title of a chart you should access the TextBox's "text" method. $cc->title->text('A Title!'); $cc->title->font->size(20); # etc, etc If the title has text then it is added to the chart in the position specified by "title_position". You should consult the documentation for Graphics::Primitive::TextBox for things like padding and text rotation. If you are adding it to the top and want some padding between it and the plot, you can: $cc->title->padding->bottom(5); title_position The position the title will be added. Should be one of north, south, east, west or center as required by Layout::Manager::Compass. Note that if no angle is set for the title then it will be changed to -1.5707 if the title position is east or west. METHODS new Creates a new Chart::Clicker object. If no format, width and height are specified then defaults of Png, 500 and 300 are chosen, respectively. add_data ($name, $data) Convenience method for adding data to the chart. Can be called one of three ways. scalar Passing a name and a scalar will "add" the scalar data to that series' data. $cc->add_data('Sales', 1234); $cc->add_data('Sales', 1235); This will result in a Series names 'Sales' with two values. arrayref Passing a name and an arrayref works much the same as the scalar method discussed above, but appends the supplied arrayref to the existing one. It may be mixed with the scalar method. $cc->add_data('Sales', \@some_sales); $cc->add_data('Sales', \@some_more_sales); # This works still! $cc->add_data('Sales', 1234); hashref This allows you to pass both keys and add in all at once, but it's an all-or-nothing thing. Subsequent calls with the same name will overwrite previous calls. $cc->add_data('Sales', { 2009 => 1234, 2010 => 1235 }); # Overwrites last call! $cc->add_data('Sales', { 2011 => 1234, 2012 => 1235 }); add_to_contexts Add the specified context to the chart. add_to_datasets Add the specified dataset (or arrayref of datasets) to the chart. add_to_markers Add the specified marker to the chart. color_allocator Set/Get the color_allocator for this chart. data Returns the data for this chart as a scalar. Suitable for 'streaming' to a client. draw Draw this chart. get_datasets_for_context Returns an arrayref containing all datasets for the given context. Used by renderers to get a list of datasets to chart. inside_width Get the width available in this container after taking away space for insets and borders. inside_height Get the height available in this container after taking away space for insets and borders. marker_overlay Set/Get the marker overlay object that will be used if this chart has markers. This is lazily constructed to save time. set_renderer ($renderer_object, [ $context ]); Sets the renderer on the specified context. If no context is provided then 'default' is assumed. write This method is passed through to the underlying driver. It is only necessary that you call this if you manually called "draw" beforehand. You likely want to use "write_output". write_output ($path) Write the chart output to the specified location. Output is written in the format provided to the constructor (which defaults to Png). Internally calls "draw" for you. If you use this method, do not call "draw" first! $c->write_output('/path/to/the.png'); AUTHOR Cory G Watson CONTRIBUTORS Many thanks to the individuals who have contributed various bits: Ash Berlin Brian Cassidy Guillermo Roditi Torsten Schoenfeld Yuval Kogman SOURCE Chart::Clicker is on github: http://github.com/gphat/chart-clicker/tree/master LICENSE You can redistribute and/or modify this code under the same terms as Perl itself.