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Beyond the DataGrid Control: Better Data Visualization with Flex Charting Components


Ely Greenfield

Ely Greenfield

www.macromedia.com/flex/

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Creating the Chart
  3. Specifying the Axes
  4. Adding the Series
  5. Customizing Your Chart
  6. Adding Interactivity
  7. Taking It to the Next Level
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Created:
22 October 2004
User Level:
Intermediate

Sometimes a DataGrid control just isn't enough. In the rich world of Macromedia Flex applications, developers quickly want to leverage the capabilities of the Macromedia Flash platform to augment those rows and rows of dry numbers with beautiful, easy-to-understand data visualizations. With the release of Flex 1.5, Macromedia gives you a new set of highly customizable charting components you can use to win friends, impress your coworkers, and build the chart of your dreams.

This article introduces you to the new charting platform in Flex 1.5. I will guide you through the process of building a highly stylized, interactive drill-down chart for the fictitious Zinger Corporation. By the time you're through, you'll know how to build a chart that looks like Figure 1.

This tutorial shows you how to build this chart

Figure 1. This tutorial shows you how to build this chart

You start by building a simple column chart, plotting the units sold for each of Zinger Corporation's product lines for each month of 2003. After the basic chart is constructed, you learn how to customize its appearance through advanced styling, as well as add interactivity and drill-down capabilities. Finally, you learn how to go beyond the built-in chart types to create a custom charting solution of your own.

Requirements

To complete this tutorial you will need to install the following software and files:

Macromedia Flex

Macromedia Flash Player

A text editor or Macromedia Flex Builder


Tutorials and sample files:

Prerequisite knowledge:

Basic experience with the Flex development model and application framework. A passing familiarity with charting concepts would be helpful, but is not required.

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About the author

Ely Greenfield is an architect with the Flex team. He joined Macromedia as part of the Shockwave team in 1996. Ely likes to sit at home on weekends and chart the comings and goings of gophers in his backyard. Lately, he has started seeing XML in his dreams.