ChartDirector 7.0 (Java Edition)

Variable Width Bar Chart




This example demonstrates a bar chart with variable bar widths.

ChartDirector does not really have a bar layer for variable width bars. However, an area layer can be used to create the same effect.

The variable width bars in this example are actually 4 areas, created by 4 area layers. The data set for each area layer consists of 4 points for the 4 corners of a bar.

Source Code Listing

[JSP Version] jspdemo/varwidthbar.jsp
<%@page import="ChartDirector.*, java.util.*" %> <% // The data for the chart double[] data = {800, 600, 1000, 1400}; double[] widths = {250, 500, 960, 460}; String[] labels = {"Wind", "Hydro", "Coal", "Natural Gas"}; // The colors to use int[] colors = {0x00aa00, 0x66aaee, 0xee6622, 0xffbb00}; // Create a XYChart object of size 500 x 350 pixels XYChart c = new XYChart(500, 350); // Add a title to the chart using 15pt Arial Italic font c.addTitle("Energy Generation Breakdown", "Arial Italic", 15); // Set the plotarea at (60, 60) and of (chart_width - 90) x (chart_height - 100) in size. Use a // vertical gradient color from light blue (f9f9ff) to sky blue (aaccff) as background. Set grid // lines to white (ffffff). int plotAreaBgColor = c.linearGradientColor(0, 60, 0, c.getHeight() - 40, 0xaaccff, 0xf9fcff); c.setPlotArea(60, 60, c.getWidth() - 90, c.getHeight() - 100, plotAreaBgColor, -1, -1, 0xffffff); // Add a legend box at (50, 30) using horizontal layout and transparent background. c.addLegend(55, 30, false).setBackground(Chart.Transparent); // Add titles to x/y axes with 10 points Arial Bold font c.xAxis().setTitle("Mega Watts", "Arial Bold", 10); c.yAxis().setTitle("Cost per MWh (dollars)", "Arial Bold", 10); // Set the x axis rounding to false, so that the x-axis will fit the data exactly c.xAxis().setRounding(false, false); // In ChartDirector, there is no bar layer that can have variable bar widths, but you may create a // bar using an area layer. (A bar can be considered as the area under a rectangular outline.) So by // using a loop to create one bar per area layer, we can achieve a variable width bar chart. // starting position of current bar double currentX = 0; for(int i = 0; i < data.length; ++i) { // ending position of current bar double nextX = currentX + widths[i]; // outline of the bar double[] dataX = {currentX, currentX, nextX, nextX}; double[] dataY = {0, data[i], data[i], 0}; // create the area layer to fill the bar AreaLayer layer = c.addAreaLayer(dataY, colors[i], labels[i]); layer.setXData(dataX); // Tool tip for the layer layer.setHTMLImageMap("", "", "title='" + labels[i] + ": " + widths[i] + " MW at $" + data[i] + " per MWh'"); // the ending position becomes the starting position of the next bar currentX = nextX; } // Output the chart WebChartViewer viewer = new WebChartViewer(request, "chart1"); viewer.setChart(c, Chart.SVG); // Include tool tip for the chart viewer.setImageMap(c.getHTMLImageMap("")); %> <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <title>Variable Width Bar Chart</title> <!-- Include ChartDirector Javascript Library to support chart interactions --> <script type="text/javascript" src="cdjcv.js"></script> </head> <body style="margin:5px 0px 0px 5px"> <div style="font:bold 18pt verdana;"> Variable Width Bar Chart </div> <hr style="border:solid 1px #000080; background:#000080" /> <div style="font:10pt verdana; margin-bottom:1.5em"> <a href="viewsource.jsp?file=<%=request.getServletPath()%>">View Source Code</a> </div> <!-- ****** Here is the chart image ****** --> <%= viewer.renderHTML(response) %> </body> </html>