PopChart 4.0 by Corda Technologies
PopChart Server is a separate application that must be manually started in order to run any of the examples. It is your basic batch file setup that will run the server in the background of your system. I was impressed with the fact that with both PopChart Server and Builder running along with a few other applications that my computer did not seem to slow down much. Corda seems to have done an excellent job at keeping the overhead of the application low, as to not tie up system resources. This can easily happen when running Java based applications.
Once my file was saved, I started the PopChart Server so that I could view the chart through my browser. It displayed my bar chart in full color with all the appropriate modifications I made through the wizard. When I used the mouse to hover over the bar columns, it displayed each bar’s numeric description for easy reading. At the bottom right corner of the chart appears a “[D]” hyper link. Once clicked the hyperlink will display the chart as descriptive text for sight impaired users to read.
This simple exercise reveals some key features of PopChart Builder. Once explored and mastered, can help any professional turn normal charts and graphs into rich, colorful, and dynamic charts that can instantly be viewed by anyone with web access. The images used and created within PopChart Builder are always built, served, and displayed on request with live, current data. This allows the image to be updated constantly with the most current information when users are accessing the page with a direct connection to the database.
PopChart uses custom templates called Appearance Files to walk users through created charts within the Builder wizard. These Appearance Files are similar to Word or Excel templates, which we use everyday to help us create new documents. This should make it easier to adapt to since it has a familiar look and feel to the application overall.
Corda offers various charts, and formats for creating your dynamic information for the web. Possible charts are bar, pie, line, area, and much more. Possible formats are PDF, EPS, PNG, GIF, WBMP, Flash, and SVG. For the best possible quality, Corda suggest using Flash or SVG for displaying the finished design on the web.
Outputting charts to the web is one of the easiest parts to accomplish with this application. PopChart Embedder does all the dirty work by generating the correct code for you to embed charts into existing HTML files. It can currently generate Java, JavaBeans, JavaScript, COM, and .NET dynamically with just a few clicks of the button. Utilizing the Embedder is an easy way to generate dynamic charts with very little hassle from the PopChart Server.
Another useful feature that is offered is the ability to create charts with Dynamic Data. After reading the “PopChart Server User Guide” I found documentation for creating charts and graphs with direct connectivity to a database. PopChart Server can accept various data formats, as well as load them into the application using XML, SQL, script files, etc. The ease of acceptance on PopChart Server’s behalf should make this a nice to have feature when utilizing dynamic data.
I was able to quickly put together an ASP page with the example code from the document that retrieved data from one table. Once again, the environment was friendly and fairly easy to work with. It is critical to know what you want to see. Without this information it is easy to get bombarded with to many options, creating a false impression of an intimidating program.
Corda is truly trying to offer a catchall software package that can make just about any type of dynamic chart imaginable. It might be a good idea to thoroughly design the charts, and page layouts before jumping into this program. This will make it much easier to get the most use out of the application.
Corda stresses the fact that data is the most important part of the graph, which makes PopChart Server’s ability to import live, dynamic data into a PopChart image such an important feature. This guarantees the image to be up-to-date each time it is requested by a user.
Now that it is a law that all visually impaired Federal employees have equal access to electronic and information technology, Corda has since become the first company to provide the ability to create 508 compliant charts and graphs with descriptive text built right into the application. Out of the box users can begin utilizing text-to-speech devices that will allow PopChart to aide in having the descriptive text of graphs read to them.
This feature is now present in all PopChart software solutions as of March 31, 2002. All users who purchase PopChart software can benefit from this technology immediately.
PopChart Server can be purchased for $1,595 for a single CPU setup, which includes PopChart Server, and PopChart Builder 4.0 with a 1-year maintenance contract.
Overall, PopChart 4.0 does a great job of utilizing real-time charting that offers dynamic, interactive graphics. This allows users access to a broad range of dynamic information, or drill down on to see more detailed information with the click of a button. All of this rich content is stored, and dynamically built with the PopChart Server.
Users will be pleasantly surprised at the ease of use and speed at which the application operates. This suite comes with all the bells and whistles for just about any chart, data structure, or image you can throw at it. Corda has built a very solid application for the IT professional looking to easily organize a complicated data environment into an appealing website of rich, dynamic and easy to read data.
About CORDA Technologies
Corda Technologies is the global leader in providing interactive data visualization solutions. With more flexibility, scalability and speed than any other charting solutions, Corda’s family of tools and services are the leading choice for fast and easy to build charts and graphs.
Last Modified
August 23, 2002
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