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Using JSON as data source

Apart from XML, PowerCharts XT can also accept JSON data format. It can use a JSON URL or feed, a JSON Object (in JavaScript) or JSON String. This functionality is provided by FusionCharts JavaScript Class.

In this page, we will see how to pass JSON data to chart in various forms. We will again convert our first sample weekly-sales.html to implement this.

Code examples discussed in this section are present in Download Package > Code > MyFirstChart folder.
Providing JSON data using Url method

Create a copy of weekly-sales.html and rename it to weekly-sales-json-url.html. Then punch in the following code:

 
<html>
  <head> 	
    <title>My First chart using PowerCharts XT - JSON data URL</title> 	
    <script type="text/javascript" src="Charts/FusionCharts.js"></script>
  </head>   
  <body>     
    <div id="chartContainer">PowerCharts XT will load here!</div>          
    <script type="text/javascript"><!-- 	

      var myChart = new FusionCharts( "Charts/Spline.swf", 
		   "myChartId", "400", "300", "0" );
      myChart.setJSONUrl("Data.json");
      myChart.render("chartContainer");
      
    // -->     
    </script> 	   
  </body> 
</html>

See it live!

Many web servers like IIS6, do not supply .json (no wildcard MIME type) files by default. You need to setup your web server to supply json files. In IIS6 you can do this using these steps:
  • Open the properties for the server in IIS Manager and click MIME Types
  • Click New. Enter "JSON" for the extension and "application/json" for the MIME type
Many browsers restrict JavaScript from accessing local file system owing to security reasons. The JavaScript charts, when running locally, will not be able to access data provided as a URL. If you run the files from a server, it will run absolutely fine, though. When running locally, however, if you provide the JSON data as JSON object (embedded in the same page or in a JavaScript file) or JSON as String, it works fine. We call this Data String method.
Click here to see the code using the Data String method » 
<html>
  <head> 	
    <title>My First chart using PowerCharts XT - Using JavaScript</title> 	
    <script type="text/javascript" src="Charts/FusionCharts.js"></script>
  </head>   
  <body>     
    <div id="chartContainer">PowerCharts XT will load here!</div>          
    <script type="text/javascript"><!--

		var myChart = new FusionCharts( "Charts/Spline.swf", 
		    "myChartId", "400", "300", "0" );

		myChart.setJSONData({ 
            "chart": { 
                "caption" : "Weekly Sales Summary" ,
                "xAxisName" : "Week",
                "yAxisName" : "Sales",
                "numberPrefix" : "$"
            },
            
            "data" : 
                [
                  { "label" : "Week 1", "value" : "14400" },
                  { "label" : "Week 2", "value" : "19600" },
                  { "label" : "Week 3", "value" : "24000" },
                  { "label" : "Week 4", "value" : "15700" }
                ]
		});

		myChart.render("chartContainer");      
    // -->  
    </script> 	   
  </body> 
</html>
See it live!

In the above code, we have provided a JSON data (compatible with Spline chart) to the chart using the setJSONUrl() function. The data stored in the JSON file is as follows:

 
{ 
	"chart": { 
		"caption" : "Weekly Sales Summary" ,
		"xAxisName" : "Week",
		"yAxisName" : "Sales",
		"numberPrefix" : "$"
	},
	
	"data" : 
		[
 		  { "label" : "Week 1", "value" : "14400" },
		  { "label" : "Week 2", "value" : "19600" },
		  { "label" : "Week 3", "value" : "24000" },
		  { "label" : "Week 4", "value" : "15700" }
		]
}

To know more on PowerCharts XT JSON data format, please go through PowerCharts XT data formats > JSON section. You can take help of FusionCharts Data Converter tool to convert chart XML to JSON (or vice-versa) and use it.
Providing JSON Object embedded in HTML

You can also provide JSON embedded in the HTML itself. Since JSON format is derived from JavaScript, you can also pass a JavaScript Object as data for the chart. This is possible using the setJSONData() function as shown below: 

...   
		myChart.setJSONData(
		{ 
			"chart": 
         { 
				 "caption" : "Weekly Sales Summary" ,	
				 "xAxisName" : "Week", 
				 "yAxisName" : "Sales",	
				 "numberPrefix" : "$" 
			},
			
			"data" : 
			[ 
				{ "label" : "Week 1", "value" : "14400" },
				{ "label" : "Week 2", "value" : "19600" }, 
				{ "label" : "Week 3", "value" : "24000" }, 
				{ "label" : "Week 4", "value" : "15700" } 
			]
		}
	);
...

See it live!
Providing JSON String embedded in HTML

Additionally, you can also pass JSON data, stored as a String. In many cases, AJAX feed comes as JSON String, so you do not have to convert the string to JSON. PowerCharts XT takes care of that as shown below:

 
...
   
myChart.setJSONData ( '{ "chart": { "caption" : "Weekly Sales Summary" , ' +
   '"xAxisName" : "Week", "yAxisName" : "Sales", "numberPrefix" : "$" }, ' +
      '"data" : [ { "label" : "Week 1", "value" : "14400" },  ' +
        '{ "label" : "Week 2", "value" : "19600" }, ' +
        '{ "label" : "Week 3", "value" : "24000" }, ' +
        '{ "label" : "Week 4", "value" : "15700" } ]	} '
    );
...

See it live!