This tutorial will help you integrate Flexmonster with the Highcharts charting library.

Supported chart types

Flexmonster supports the following Highchart types:

• area (demo)
• arearange (demo)
• areaspline (demo)
• areasplinerange (demo)
• bar (demo)
• bubble (demo)
• column (demo)
• columnrange (demo)
• errorbar (demo)
• funnel (demo)
• line (demo)
• pie (demo)
• polygon (demo)
• pyramid (demo)
• scatter (demo)
• spline (demo)
• waterfall (demo)

If the chart type that you want to use is not on the list, it is possible to use prepareDataFunction to preprocess the data to fit your preferences.

Adding Highcharts

1. Add the following pivot table using data from a CSV file to your HTML page.

   <div id="pivotContainer">The component will appear here</div>
   <script src="flexmonster/lib/jquery.min.js"></script>
   <script src="flexmonster/flexmonster.js"></script>
   
   <script>
   	var pivot = new Flexmonster({
   		container: "pivotContainer",
   		toolbar: true,
   		report: {
   			dataSource: {
   				filename: "data.csv"
   			},
   			slice: {
   				rows: [
   					{ uniqueName: "Country" }
   				],
   				columns: [
   					{ uniqueName: "Business Type" },
   					{ uniqueName: "[Measures]" }
   				],
   				measures: [
   					{ uniqueName: "Price" }
   				]
   			}
   		},
   		licenseKey: "XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX"
   	});
   </script>
   

2. Add Highcharts.

   <script src="http://code.highcharts.com/highcharts.js"></script>
   

3. Add our connector for Highcharts.

   <script src="flexmonster/lib/flexmonster.highcharts.js"></script>
   

4. Add a container for the chart.

   <div id="highchartsContainer"></div>
   

5. Add a reportComplete event handler to know when the pivot table is ready to be a data provider.

   reportcomplete: function() {
   	pivot.off("reportcomplete");
   	createChart();
   }
   

6. Add a function to create the chart. This function uses a connector for Highcharts from flexmonster.highcharts.js. The connector extends the Flexmonster API with the following call: highcharts.getData(options, callbackHandler, updateHandler).

   function createChart() {
   	pivot.highcharts.getData(
   		{}, 
   		function(data) {
   			$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
   		}, 
   		function(data) {
   			$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
   		}
   	);
   }
   

You will see a line chart that displays the same data that is shown in the pivot pivot table instance and it will react to updates. Check out a live example on JSFiddle.

Connector for Highcharts

flexmonster.highcharts.js is a connector between our component and Highcharts. The highcharts.getData() method requests data from the pivot table and preprocesses it to the appropriate format for the required type of chart.

highcharts.getData(options:Object, callbackHandler:Function, updateHandler:Function) has the following parameters:

• options – Object. This object has the following properties:
  • type (optional) – String. The chart type to prepare data for. Default value: "line".

    function pie() {
    	pivot.highcharts.getData({
    		type: 'pie'
    	}, function(data) {
    		$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
    	}, function(data) {
    		$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
    	});
    }
    

  • slice (optional) – Object. Defines the slice from which the data should be returned (for JSON and CSV data sources only). If not defined, the API call will return data currently displayed in the pivot table.

    function withManyYAxis() {
    	pivot.highcharts.getData({
    		type: 'column',
    		slice: {
    			rows: [{uniqueName: "Country"}],
    			columns: [{uniqueName: "[Measures]"}],
    			measures: [
    				{uniqueName: "Price"}, 
    				{uniqueName: "Quantity"}
    			]
    		}
    	}, function(data) {
    		$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
    	}, function(data) {
    		$('#highchartsContainer').highcharts(data);
    	});
    }
    

  • xAxisType (optional) – String. Set the value of this to “datetime” to use dates on the X axis. Try it in JSFiddle, this sample also illustrates how to define a type for particular series.
  • valuesOnly (optional) – Boolean. Set this property to true to display all axes values in the chart as numbers. This property is applicable only for the following chart types: “bubble”, “line”, “polygon”, and “spline”. Note, that this value is always true for the “scatter” chart (and you do not need to set it explicitly to true). Try it in JSFiddle. Default value: false.
  • withDrilldown (optional) – Boolean. Set this property to true to have drill-downs in the chart. This property is available for the following chart types: “area”, “areaspline”, “bar”, “column”, “waterfall”, “funnel”, “pie”, “pyramid”, “polygon”, “spline”, and “line”. Try it in JSFiddle. Default value: false.
  • prepareDataFunction (optional) – An external function. If the connector does not include the necessary type of chart or if you need to preprocess the data differently, use this function. prepareDataFunction takes two input parameters: rawData – the raw data (check out the structure of rawData in getData()); options – an object with options set in the highcharts.getData() function. Try it in JSFiddle.
• callbackHandler – Function. Specifies what will happen once the data is ready. Additional options can be specified and then data can be passed directly to the charting library. Takes two input parameters – data and rawData (rawData is passed just in case you need it, for example for defining number formatting in the tooltip).
• updateHandler (optional) – Function. Takes two input parameters – data and rawData. Specifies what will happen once data in the pivot table is filtered/sorted/etc or a number format is changed.

The connector has several functions for defining number formatting for Highcharts. All these functions take the pivot table format object and return the formatting string in Highcharts format. The Highcharts format string is a template for labels with one of the following variables inserted in a bracket notation: value, point.x, point.y, or point.z. For example, "{value:.2f}" is for two decimal places. Thus, there are four functions in the connector that convert the Flexmonster number format object to the Highcharts format string (refer to the Highcharts documentation for more details about the format strings).

• highcharts.getAxisFormat(format) – String. Takes the pivot table format object and returns the Highcharts format string with the value variable.
• highcharts.getPointXFormat(format) – String. Takes the pivot table format object and returns the Highcharts format string with the point.x variable.
• highcharts.getPointYFormat(format) – String. Takes the pivot table format object and returns the Highcharts format string with the point.y variable.
• highcharts.getPointZFormat(format) – String. Takes the pivot table format object and returns the Highcharts format string with the point.z variable.

These functions can be used in both callbackHandler and updateHandler to define the number formatting for axes and tooltips. Try it in JSFiddle.