Book Image

ActionScript Graphing Cookbook

Book Image

ActionScript Graphing Cookbook

Overview of this book

"A picture is worth a thousand words" has never been more true than when representing large sets of data. Bar charts, heat maps, cartograms, and many more have become important tools in applications and presentations to quickly give insight into complicated issues.The "ActionScript Graphing Cookbook" shows you how to add your own charts to any ActionScript program. The recipes give step-by-step instructions on how to process the input data, how to create various types of charts and how to make them interactive for even more user engagement.Starting with basic ActionScript knowledge, you will learn how to develop many different types of charts.First learn how to import your data, from Excel, web services and more. Next process the data and make it ready for graphical display. Pick one of the many graph options available as the book guides you through ActionScript's drawing functions. And when you're ready for it, branch out into 3D display.The recipes in the "ActionScript Graphing Cookbook" will gradually introduce you into the world of visualization.

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ActionScript Graphing Cookbook
Nov, 2012 | 288 pages
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Table of Contents (17 chapters)
ActionScript Graphing Cookbook
ActionScript Graphing Cookbook
Credits
Credits
About the Authors
About the Authors
About the Reviewers
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Getting Started with Graph Drawing
Getting Started with Graph Drawing
Introduction
Drawing in two dimensions
Building point charts
Creating a line graph based on a function
Adding labels and axes
Graphing a spreadsheet
Area charts
Multiple area charts
Styling a graph
Adding legends
Using Flex for charts
2
Working with Data
Working with Data
Introduction
Preparing your data
Embedding CSV files
Loading a data file from the Internet
Loading a file from the local hard drive
Loading data with XML
Loading data from Excel files
Consuming the REST services
Exporting data as CSV to import in Excel
Exporting data to a PDF file
3
Creating Bar Charts
Creating Bar Charts
Introduction
Drawing a bar chart with Flex
Building vertical bar charts
Creating comparison bar charts
Drawing histograms
Creating sparklines to enrich text content
Making 3D bar charts
4
Drawing Different Types of Graphs
Drawing Different Types of Graphs
Introduction
Drawing a pie chart with Flex
Creating donut charts
Drawing meters and gauges
Making Venn diagrams
Building pyramid charts
Drawing bubble charts
Creating tag clouds
Creating a treemap
5
Adding Interaction
Adding Interaction
Introduction
Zooming and panning around a graph
Sending data updates to the graph
Making the points interactive: Hovering
Selecting data points in the graph
A dynamic graph based on an editable table
Dragging data points to new values
Linking graphs
6
Mapping Geographical and Spatial Data
Mapping Geographical and Spatial Data
Introduction
Showing a map using the openscales.org API
Adding points of interest to a map
Parsing data to use as region fill
Coloring a map
Adding multiple layers to a map
Overlaying a heat map
7
Animating a Graph
Animating a Graph
Introduction
Animating between two data sets
Animating a meter
Automatic updates
Zooming in on a specific data set
Animating subway locations
8
Creating a Relational Network
Creating a Relational Network
Introduction
Preparing the data
Creating the visual for a node
Arranging and linking the nodes
Navigating through the relational network
Animating the transitions
Adding sounds
9
Creating Three-Dimensional Graphs
Creating Three-Dimensional Graphs
Introduction
Drawing in 3D: a 3D starter project
Creating a 3D column chart
Moving around the chart
Beyond the cube, drawing different shapes
Graphing tabular data in 3D
Styling the graph with different materials
Graphing a function in three dimensions
10
Working with Various 3D Graph Types
Working with Various 3D Graph Types
Introduction
Mapping keyboard usage in 3D, part 1: The model
Mapping keyboard usage in 3D, part 2: The data
3D world population chart, part 1: The globe
3D world population chart, part 2: Dressing up
3D world population chart, part 3: The data
Index
Index

About the Authors

Peter Backx has a MoS and a PhD in Computer Sciences from Ghent University. He is a software developer and architect. He uses technology to shape unique user experiences and build rock-solid scalable software. ActionScript is his favorite tool for creating highly interactive and deeply engaging user interfaces.

Peter currently works as a freelance consultant and shares his knowledge and experiments on his blog www.streamhead.com.

Most importantly, I would like to thank Isa and my family for understanding my long days and nights at the computer.

Many of the recipes in this book would not have been possible without the terrific work of all developers in the open source community.

And finally, I'd like to thank everyone at Packt Publishing for giving me this opportunity and supporting me with advice and careful follow-up.

Dominic Gélineau has been developing Flash websites and applications for the last five years, including two years at B-Reel New York, worldwide leader in producing rich web experiences. He has a degree in Communications and one in Computer Science. His areas of expertise are animations, interfaces, and analytics. Dominic writes about these subjects on his blog http://www.zedia.net.

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