In this article we'll be looking at ZGDChart, a chart-rendering product for Zope. I'll show you how to get it, install it, use it and talk a bit about Zope's 'unification' abilities as well.
ZGDChart is a Zope product that generates charts from different data sources, it was developed by a very active community member, Chui Tey, as a part of a consulting contract.
Initially ZGDChart got its data from SQL data sources (via SQL methods), now it has been extended to support TinyTables, DTML Methods and PythonScripts as well.
According to Chui it was designed to "bootstrap a developer as quickly as possible" (which we'll see is true in the example).
Getting and installing ZGDChart is easy. Point your browser to http://www.zope.org/Members/teyc/ZGDChart and download the most recent version (downloads are located at the bottom of the page).
If you're on a Linux or Solaris system, untar the package into Zope's Products directory (in zope_directory/lib/python/Products) and restart Zope.
If you're on Windows, use Winzip (or the tool of your choice) and untar the package into Zope's Products directory (usually c:\Program files\WebSite\lib\python\Products). Restart Zope.
When that's done, you should be able to see ZGDChart in the drop-down list in the ZMI.
First off, create a folder for the example, where we'll put all the related objects. You could name it "zgdchart_example".
We'll create a webpage that reports changes in customer- and employee- retention over the last years.
Now enter the zgdchart_example folder.
Select "ZGDChart" from the ZMI dropdown list, and click "Add" Give it he ID "customer_retention" and give it the title "Customer retention".
Go into the customer_retention object. There you'll see different tabs, for changing the color of the chart, the scale, the data method (data source), security (who gets access) and viewing the chart.
We'll start with the data method. Click on the "Data method" tab. Make sure that "DTML Method" is selected, if not, change it so that it's selected.
Then press "Edit DTML" and put the following line in the DTML Method body (replacing *all* the example data that's already there):
<dtml-return "(('2000','2001','2002', '2003'), (78, 72, 83, 85))">
The line you see above will return a basic data structure to the Chart, the first sequence being the title of the different bars, the second sequence being their value (height). Remember to press "Save Changes".
OK! We're done with the toughest part. Now, we'll select the type of chart for displaying the data.
Go to the Properties tab and select "Bar_3D" from the Chart type dropdown list. Press "Save changes".
Control that the chart is working, press "View" and voila! A brand new chart, created by you. :)
Do the same as you did creating the customer retention chart, changing only the ID (employee_retention), title (Employee retention), type of chart (Pie_3D) and data returned in the DTML Method.
The data returned in this DTML method should be:
<dtml-return "(('1998', '1999','2000','2001','2002'), (1,3,2,1,1))">
OK?
We need a webpage to present the charts along with some text. Go back to the zgdchart_example folder, select DTML Method from the drop down list, press add, give it the id "index_html", and add this text to the body, replacing *all* the text that's already there (this isn't a HTML class so you'll get all the HTML without any explanations):
<html>Go back to the zgdchart_example folder again, and press the "View" tab. Voila, you have your own webpage with text and charts! This took me about 25 minutes while at the same time writing up what I was doing for this review, so it shouldn't take much longer for you either.
..one of the best things about Zope is it's ability to make use of different sources of data, be it SQL databases, LDAP (directly via Zope adapters) or anything else, accessible via External methods.
For example, if you'd like to watch the trends around webframeworks, you could for example add an External Method that retrieves results from Google that gets the number of hits for "Zope" vs. number of hits for "ColdFusion" and number of hits for "Webware" and display this in a Pie chart (reaching the External Method via a PythonScript).
The possibilities are endless! :)
OK, that's it for this review, fairly easy, isn't it? To recap, we've looked at getting and installing ZGDChart, using it and barely touched the aspect of Zope's unification of datasources.
Also note that this article is available in the (German, English coming soon) Zope pocket book.