Appfire FlashCharts Plugin (Free)
Created on: Feb 8, 2008 3:59 PM by Mat Gauvin - Last Modified: Sep 4, 2008 5:30 PM by tim.neuwerth
Overview
The Appfire FlashCharts Plugin introduces "data visualization" to Clearspace through stunning XML-based Flash charts and graphs. 20 different flavors of animated charts are individually controlled through 'macro parameters' and a set of associated 'xml data structures' required by each chart type. A few of the many example uses for this plugin include:
Creating Informative Dashboard Widgets
Comparing Sales Performance
Developing and Presenting Financial Reports
Archiving Performance Statistics
General Presentation Collaboration
... and much, much more.
Macro Examples
Syntax Example #1:
{flashcharts:chart=Column3D|width=600|height=325} <graph yAxisName='Sales Figures' caption='Top 5 Sales Representatives' numberPrefix='$' decimalPrecision='1' divlinedecimalPrecision='0' limitsdecimalPrecision='0'> <set name='Jonathan' value='54000' color='AFD8F8' /> <set name='Phil' value='34000' color='F6BD0F' /> <set name='Randall' value='22300' color='8BBA00' /> <set name='Mat' value='45300' color='FF8E46' /> <set name='Dawn' value='61300' color='008E8E' /> </graph>{flashcharts}
Syntax Example #2:
{flashcharts:chart=Column3D|xml=http://www.appfire.com/example.xml|width=600|height=325}{flashcharts}
Rendered Chart Example: (Same for syntax examples #1 and #2)
Macro Components
Note that "(!)" represents required, "(-)" represents not required and "(+)" represents conditional
Required | Macro Component | Example | Default Value | Details & Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| chart parameter | chart=Column3D | -- | Used within the opening macro tag, this parameter defines the desired chart type (options outlined below). | |
| width parameter | width=550 | 600 | Used within the opening macro tag, this parameter defines the width of rendered chart (in pixels). | |
| height parameter | height=350 | 400 | Used within the opening macro tag, this parameter defines the height of the rendered chart (in pixels). | |
| xml parameter | -- | Used within the opening macro tag, this parameter defines the URL path to an external .xml file containing data for the chart (xml syntax outlined below).
| ||
| "pipe" parameter separator | width=550\ | height=350 | -- | Used to separate multiple parameter/value pairs within the opening macro tag.
|
| macro body | -- | Used to define the XML data for a chart between the opening and closing macro tags.
| ||
| closing macro tag | {flashcharts:chart=FCF_Column3D} ... macro body ... {flashcharts} | -- | Defines the end of the macro |
Chart Options (including required XML Syntax for chart data)
'chart' Macro Parameter Value Options | Type of Chart | Example Chart | Required XML Syntax for Chart Data |
|---|---|---|---|
Column2D | 2D Column Chart | ||
Column3D | 3D Column Chart | ||
Pie3D | 3D Pie Chart | ||
Pie2D | 2D Pie Chart | ||
Line | 2D Line Chart | ||
Bar2D | 2D Bar Chart | ||
Area2D | 2D Area Chart | ||
Doughnut2D | 2D Doughnut Chart | ||
MSColumn2D | Multi-series 2D Column Chart | ||
MSColumn3D | Multi-series 3D Column Chart | ||
MSLine | Multi-series 2D Line Chart | ||
MSArea2D | Multi-series 2D Area Chart | ||
MSBar2D | Multi-series 2D Bar Chart | ||
StackedColumn2D | Stacked 2D Column Chart | ||
StackedColumn3D | Stacked 3D Column Chart | ||
StackedBar2D | Stacked 2D Bar Chart | ||
StackedArea2D | Stacked 2D Area Chart | ||
MSColumn3DLineDY | 3D Column + Line (Dual-Y axis) | ||
MSColumn2DLineDY | 2D Column + Line (Dual-Y axis) | ||
Funnel | Funnel Chart |
(Associated .swf files provided courtesy of FusionCharts Free)
General Documentation & Usage Notes
The
{flashcharts}
macro can be leveraged within most areas of Clearspace including:
Wiki Documents
Forum Messages
Blog Entries
Comments
Internal Email Messages
- An 'Enterprise' version of this plugin is currently in the early stages of development. You can sign up to be informed of our progress on our website.
- For enterprise Clearspace implementations, Appfire Technologies offers professional plugin customization services which can enable charts to read from existing data repositories.
Known Issues & Incompatibilities
The current version does not support the "Export to PDF" feature in Clearspace.- The current version does not render flash charts within the content edit view's "Preview" pane in Clearspace.
- When defining XML chart data inside a macro's body in Clearspace, the XML characters
"<"
and
">"
are being converted into their html equivalents. This has been noticed to occur when a macro is created within the "Rich Text" pane and then viewed within the 'Plain Text' pane. Note however that this does not seem to affect the macro's performance in any way.
Related Documents & Discussions
Release Versions & Notes
Release Version | Plugin JAR File | Release Date | Confirmed Clearspace Version Compatibility | Release Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
v0.6 (beta) | 02/12/08 | v1.9.0, v1.10.0 |
| |
v0.5 (beta) | 02/08/08 | v1.9.0, v1.10.0 |
|
Plugin Installation Steps
Method 1: Through The Plugin Admin
Confirm that you have installed and are running the latest compatible release version of Clearspace.
If you have a previous version of the Appfire FlashCharts Plugin installed, delete the old version through the 'Clearspace Admin' > 'System' > 'Plugins' interface.
- Please note that there is a known plugin uninstall defect that may impact this approach. (In the meantime, consider using 'Method 2' below to remove previous versions of the plugin.)
Download the latest compatible release version of the Appfire FlashCharts Free JAR file.
- Be sure not to change the JAR filename prior to installation as errors may occur.
Install the downloaded JAR file through the 'Clearspace Admin' > 'System' > 'Plugins' > 'Add Plugin' interface.
After the plugin is installed, navigate to the front-end Clearspace instance and create a new wiki document.
Add a properly formatted
{flashcharts}
macro (as outlined in 'Syntax Example #1' above) to the document.
Publish the new document and confirm that you can see the 'Rendered Chart Example' outlined above.
Method 2: Directly Into The Plugin Folder
Confirm that you have installed and are running the latest compatible release version of Clearspace.
Stop the Clearspace instance.
If you have a previous version of the Appfire FlashCharts Plugin installed, delete the old version within the 'clearspace_jiveHome_location\plugins' folder.
- Be sure to delete the old JAR file as well as the corresponding directory.
Download the latest compatible release version of the Appfire FlashCharts Free JAR file.
- Be sure not to change the JAR filename prior to installation as errors may occur.
Copy the downloaded JAR file into the 'clearspace_jiveHome_location\plugins' folder.
Restart the Clearspace instance.
Navigate to 'Clearspace Admin' > 'System' > 'Plugins' to confirm that the Appfire FlashCharts Plugin was installed.
With the plugin installed, navigate to the front-end Clearspace instance and create a new wiki document.
Add a properly formatted
{flashcharts}
macro (as outlined in 'Syntax Example #1' above) to the document.
Publish the new document and confirm that you can see the 'Rendered Chart Example' outlined above.
Clearspace 1.X Plugin Files
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Aaron Johnson:
Thanks for the feedback Aaron !
We've added some additional screenshots of the plugin in action on our website at Appfire.com.
Mat Gauvin
says:
A Note from Appfire:
We're excited to hear how the Appfire FlashCharts Plugin is being put to good use in your Clearspace community. Whether it's for reporting sales statistics, establishing slick dashboard widgets, or something we haven't even thought of yet ... your comments and feedback are welcome!
Cheers,
abakwaboy
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
Hello Mat,
Looks like a tool we could use.
I installed the plugin on CSX 1.10.0. Tried (copy and paste) Syntax Examples #1 and #2 in a wiki document but did not have much luck as the charts were not displayed. Tried on both MSFT IE 7 and Firefox. Is it possible l might be missing a configuration step?
Thx,
Daniel.
ajay
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
I was able to install and check the plugin on 1.9.0. Works great!
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to abakwaboy:
Hi Daniel,
We'll be happy to try and alleviate any trouble you may be experiencing.
The first thing we should do is try to identify if it's an installation issue or a macro syntax issue.
Here's a few quick questions that will provide us with a little more info:
- Would you be able to take a few screenshots of what your seeing, post them someplace and link to them from this page? We would like to evaluate the following:
The 'Edit' view of the 2 pages where you deployed your test macros
The 'Rendered' view of the 2 pages where you deployed your test macros.
Your current 'Clearspace Plugin Admin' page available by going to "Admin" > "System" > "Plugins".
- After downloading the plugin from Jivespace, did you happen to rename the JAR file? (This would prevent the plugin from working properly.)
- Are you seeing any exceptions within the Clearspace log file associated with FlashCharts?
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to ajay:
Hi Ajay,
Thanks for the feedback !!
We'll update the documentation above to reflect Clearspace v1.9.0 compatibility.
abakwaboy
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
Hello Mat,
Please refer to the following posting:
http://www.jivesoftware.com/community/docs/DOC-1972
Thanks,
Daniel.
Dan McCall
says
in response to Aaron Johnson:
I can't get it to work in 1.10.1. It doesn't even attempt to render the chart, instead it just publishes
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to abakwaboy:
Hi Daniel ("abakwaboy"),
Thanks for your excellent documentation.
We believe we've identified the issue you're experiencing.
We're working on a resolution as we speak and are planning to issue a v0.6 release shortly.
Stay tuned ...
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Dan McCall:
Hi Dan ("dmccall"),
Thank for your feedback. We will be happy to help you troubleshoot.
When you have a moment, could you please provide us with some additional information about your installation?
- Would you be able to take a few screenshots of what your seeing (including the URL path after the domain), post them, and link to those screenshots with some additional informaiton from this page? We would like to evaluate the following:
The 'Edit' view of the deployed test macro.
The 'Rendered' view of the deployed test macro.
Your current 'Clearspace Plugin Admin' page available by going to "Admin" > "System" > "Plugins".
- After downloading the plugin from Jivespace, did you happen to rename the JAR file? (This would prevent the plugin from working properly.)
- Are you seeing any exceptions within the Clearspace log file associated with FlashCharts?
(Note that "abakwaboy" posted an issue for us to look into within a separate wiki page.)
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
Hi Daniel ("abakwaboy"),
We have posted a new v0.6 release of the plugin above which should hopefully alleviate the issue you were experiencing.
Note that we have also updated our recommended installation steps.
Please let us know if this addresses your issue.
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Dan McCall:
Hi Dan ("dmccall"),
Just a quick update that we've now downloaded, installed and tested the Appfire FlashCharts Plugin against Clearspace 1.10.1 (aka: 1.11) and did not run into any issues.
Note that we issued a new release v0.6 earlier today that addressed another reported issue, ... and at the same time we overhauled our installation recommendations (outlined above).
If you could, we recommend installing v0.6 using the newly outlined steps above.
If this does not address the issue you were seeing, just let us know. If you are able to provide us with the information we outlined for you in our last post, I'm sure we can find a resolution.
Cheers 
abakwaboy
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
Hello Mat,
I installed v 0.6 on CSX 1.10 and it worked.
Awesome tool!
Matt Tucker's comment about using an excel file as input or some other mechanism that business users are more familiar with would make it even more attractive.
Thanks,
Daniel.
Mat Gauvin
says:
Hi everybody,
We've received a ton of great feedback on our Appfire FlashCharts Plugin within the jivespace community and via email.
To help organize user feedback, we've started two new discussion threads.
Thanks again for the excellent response!!
Cheers,
-Mat
___________
Appfire Technologies, Inc.
Dan McCall
says
in response to abakwaboy:
I totally agree about the excel comment! In fact, Confluence already has a plugin kind of like this called Excel Plugin
Jade Freeman
says:
Hello,
We recently upgraded to Clearspace 2.0. I was able to get the plugin to install using Method 1. However, when I try to use it in a document using example 1 above, I get a 'System Error, document could not be saved'.
Perhaps the plugin hasn't been tested yet with Clearspace 2.0?
Thanks,
Jade
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Jade Freeman:
Hi Jade,
Thank you for your comment.
We actually have a new Clearspace 2.0-compatible version of our Appfire FlashCharts Plugin currently in development.
Consider setting up an email notification on this page for yourself so that you're automatically alerted when we post new releases.
Thank you again for your interest in our plugin !!
Cheers,
-Mat
___________
Appfire Technologies, Inc.
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Magpie:
Hi Graham,
Sorry for the late reply. We've been juggling a bunch of stuff this summer.
We're currently working with Jive engineers on the FlashCharts upgrade to Clearspace 2.x. It's taken our two teams about six/seven weeks to flush out the fact that there was a bug introduced in the 2.x versions of Clearspace that is specifically preventing our plugin from collecting and rendering data properly through the chart files.
One of Jive's engineers is currently working on the issue and is sending us updates about twice-a-week on their progress.
We're not yet sure on a timeline due to these issues which are currently out of our control .. but we're still very focused on getting this back out to the community as soon as possible.
More news soon ...
-Mat
___________
Appfire Technologies, Inc.
Magpie
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
Good to know that it is not dead, but surprised that its taking this much time & effort to resolve.
Of course there is also 2.5 coming along shortly.
Magpie
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
How's it working our guys - are we going to see the return of Appfire in 2.0/5
Mat Gauvin
says
in response to Magpie:
Here's a quick Appfire FlashCharts development update for everyone ...
Our engineers were able to jump over a major chart rendering hurdle in our local 2.0.5 instance this past week with the help of a couple core Clearspace developers (and a bunch of caffeine) ... however, when we tried it in 2.5 the same fix isn't doing the trick yet.
Our current focus is on Clearspace 2.5+ so there's still work to be done ... but we appear to be heading in the right direction.
More soon ... 
-Mat
___________
Appfire Technologies, Inc.
Magpie
says
in response to Mat Gauvin:
... and it is now December - 2.5 has been out some months. Is this ever going to happen?
Mat Gauvin
says:
Due to the volume of positive email we've received in support of the FlashCharts plugin for Jive Clearspace/SBS, we wanted to provide a general update for the community.
This plugin has been an exciting effort that our team has truly enjoyed. Soon after its introduction to the community, our team identified that the effort which would be required to regularly evolve the plugin's technology to keep pace with the rapid evolution of Jive's product architecture was not something that we would be able to adequately sustain as a free service.
With that said, we are open to the idea of working with a project sponsor who's motivated to fully fund the FlashCharts development effort as part of a traditional professional services and support engagement.
If you are interested in sponsoring the development/support of FlashCharts for deployment within your SBS community, please feel free to contact us anytime.
Cheers,
-Mat
___________
Appfire Technologies, Inc.
North America's leading collaboration software service provider
Cool stuff guys!