ChartDirector Ver 3.0 (Perl Edition)

Introduction to Clickable Charts


ChartDirector creates charts as images in PNG, GIF, JPEG, BMP or WBMP format. These images are incorporated into HTML web pages by using <IMG> tags. In HTML, an image can be made "clickable" by using an "image map" (sometimes also called an "area map") to define the "hot spots" on the image. An "image map" is defined using the <MAP> and <AREA> tags.

ChartDirector can automatically generate image maps for the charts it produces, thereby making the charts clickable. ChartDirector can generate image maps for the data contents of the chart (that is, bars for bar charts, sectors for pie charts, areas for area charts, etc.), for the legend keys, title boxes, or custom text boxes.

By clickable, it means the chart can response to mouse events just like an ordinary HTML link or button. This includes mouse clicking, and also other mouse events such as "onMouseOver" or "onMouseOut".

Clickable charts are most often used to produce charts that have "drill down" or "zoom in" capabilities. For example, a pie chart could be created such that when a user clicks on the sectors, the browser will load another web page containing a more detail chart regarding that sector. Similarly, a day-of-week bar chart could be created such that when a user clicks on a bar, the browser will load an hour-of-day chart for the day that the user has clicked.

Other applications of image maps include providing "tool tips" or "bubble help" for the objects in the chart, or to activate Javascripts when the user clicks on the objects.