PopChart - Graph Software Components

The PopChart module for Corda's data visualization suite consists of a number of tools and components. The principal tools and components are as follows:

Corda Server

The Corda Server serves graphs to clients (i.e. web browsers). But these aren't just run-of-the-mill static graphs. These are dynamic and interactive images generated by the Corda Server on the fly. You send the server data and an appearance file (graph template), and it generates an image of your graph, which can then be delivered to browsers in web pages.

The Corda Server communicates using HTTP protocols, so it will easily integrate into your web server environment. It is a Java application, meaning it will run on just about any operating system, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, and Solaris. There is also a Java servlet version of the Corda Server, which can be used with Java-compliant application servers.

Corda Builder

Corda Builder is a graphical design tool that can run on most desktop computers. With an intuitive interface, Corda Builder helps designers create graph appearance files (templates) for your Corda images. These appearance files can be saved or uploaded to the Corda Server and used to generate Corda images.

Corda Builder also contains many features for PopChart developers, including PCXML and PCScript editors to help you dynamically control the content of your graphs, as well as sample code generation to help you create web pages to contain your Corda images.

NOTE: Although Corda Builder is installed with the Corda Server, it must be purchased separately from Corda Server. Since most Corda Server environments require many copies of Corda Builder, but only one Corda Server. To enforce this restriction, Corda Builder uses a different license key than Corda Server.

Corda Embedder

The Corda Embedder is a server-side utility that integrates natively with many web application servers, including Windows Internet Information Services (IIS), ColdFusion, and J2EE compliant application servers. It simplifies the process of embedding your graphs within web pages. Its simple, attribute-based API gives you complete control over your graph's data and formatting.

The Corda Embedder also offers you complete control over the presentation of your graph within a web page, with settings for image type, size, and alternate text-description. Its unique best-image fallback system employs browser-compatibility detection to automatically deliver your graphs to a browser using the best image format that the browser will support. This means that you can deliver graphs using high-quality formats like SVG or FLASH, yet be sure that non-supporting browsers can still see the graph in a universal format like JPEG or PNG.

The Corda Embedder supports ASP, ASP.NET, ColdFusion Pages, Java Servlets, JSP, and PHP, as well as PERL scripts. There is even a client-side JavaScript version of the Corda Embedder that supports most Corda Embedder functionality.

To see how these components work together to produce a graph, see the Corda Server Architecture.