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Create Your First Chart

FusionTime, like the name implies, is a product which is used to plot time-series data. FusionTime helps to evaluate patterns and trends in time-series data over a period of time.

In this article, you'll see how to install FusionTime and render your first time-series chart.

Installation

Install FusionTime using any of the following steps:

To install FusionTime via npm run the command below:

    $ npm install fusioncharts
To install FusionTime follow the steps below:
  1. Include the FusionCharts JavaScript files, which can be downloaded from here.
The code is shown below:

<head>
    <!-- Including the fusioncharts core library -->
    <script type="text/javascript" src="path/to/local/fusioncharts.js"></script>
</head>

That completes the installation of FusionTime.

Create a chart

Now that you have installed FusionTime, it's time to create your first time-series chart. To start with we will create a simple time-series chart showcasing Online sales of a SuperStore. The chart will look as shown below:

Loading data for chart…

Click here to edit the above chart.

The data for the above chart is too big to be displayed here. The table below shows the sample data of the above chart:

Time Sales
1/4/2011 16.448
1/5/2011 272.736
1/5/2011 11.784
1/5/2011 3.54
1/6/2011 19.536
1/7/2011 2573.82
1/7/2011 609.98

To create the above chart, first, let's understand the basics of FusionTime. In order to render a chart, you need to provide data in form of a Datatable which records data in rows and columns. To create a DataTable first you need to create a DataStore and load the data into the DataTable in JSON or 2D array format. To create the DataTable, you need to provide the following:

  • The schema defines the properties of the columns.
  • The data, which contains the actual values for each row and column of the DataTable.

Next, let's learn how to prepare the schema and the data of the DataTable.

Create the schema

The schema contains an array which has multiple objects created in it. Each object represents a column in the DataTable. The schema maps the data to the columns of a DataTable along with the type for each column and the input format in case of date. You have to mandatorily specify the schema for each DataTable.

To define the schema, let's create a schema.json file and copy the following code:

It is not mandatory to create the schema in a different .json file. You can also define the schema within the .html file.

let schema = [{
    "name": "Time",
    "type": "date",
    "format": "%-m/%-d/%Y"
}, {
    "name": "Sales",
    "type": "number"
}]

In the above code:

  • schema is the variable in which the array is saved.
  • Each column in the DataTable is represented by a JSON object within the schema array. The JSON object has the following attributes:
    • name - Specify the name of the column.
    • type - Specify the type of the column.
    • format - Specify the input format of the date as per you data. In this example, the format is %-m/%-d/%Y. To know more on date formats click here.

Now that we have the schema ready for the DataTable let's learn how to put the data values into the DataTable.

Create data

In FusionTime, to add values to the DataTable you can provide the data in either JSON or 2D array format. In this example, we will use the 2D array format.

To add the data, let's create a data.json file and copy the following code:

let data = [
    [
        "1/4/2011",
        16.448
    ],
    [
        "1/5/2011",
        272.736
    ],
    [
        "1/5/2011",
        11.784
    ],
    [
        "12/31/2014",
        20.72
    ],
    [
        "12/31/2014",
        13.904
    ],
    [
        "12/31/2014",
        3.024
    ]
]

Create a new data.json file, and copy the complete data from here.

It is not mandatory to create a data.json file. You could also do the same in your HTML file.

In the above code:

  • data is the variable in which the data array is stored.
  • Each row in the data array corresponds to a row in the DataTable and each element in a row are represented by each object of the schema. The values in each row of the array represent the following:
    • Time according to the format
    • Total Sales amount

We are all set with our data to create the chart.

By default, FusionTime applies the average function to aggregate the data and display on the chart. You can change the aggregate function from average to any other numeric calculation. To know more click here.

Now, let's create the .html file to render the above chart.

Create index file

Once the schema and data files are ready it is time to create the DataTable and render the chart. To do this, create an index file and copy the following code:


import FusionCharts from 'fusioncharts/core';
import TimeSeries from 'fusioncharts/viz/timeseries';
import DataStore from 'fusioncharts/datastore';

import data from './data';
import schema from './schema';

FusionCharts.addDep(TimeSeries);

let fusionDataStore = new DataStore();
let fusionTable = fusionDataStore.createDataTable(data, schema);

window.charInstance = new FusionCharts({
type: 'timeseries',
renderAt: 'container',
width: "90%",
height: 650,
dataSource: {
data: fusionTable,
caption: {
text: 'Online Sales of a SuperStore'
}
}
});




<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">

<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0">
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="ie=edge">
<title>Create your First Chart</title>
<style type="text/css">
#container {
width: 700px;
}
</style>
</head>

<body>
<div id="container"></div>
<script src="path/to/local/fusioncharts.js"></script>
<script src="path/to/local/data.js"></script>
<script src="path/to/local/schema.js"></script>
<script>
let fusionDataStore = new FusionCharts.DataStore();
let fusionTable = fusionDataStore.createDataTable(data, schema);

    new FusionCharts({
        type: 'timeseries',
        renderAt: 'container',
        width: "90%",
        height: 650,
        dataSource: {
            data: fusionTable,
            caption: {
                text: 'Online Sales of a SuperStore in the US'
            }
        }
    }).render()

</script>
</body>

</html>

In the above code:

  • Include fusioncharts.js file.

  • Include data.json and schema.json files.

  • Create an empty storage as fusionDataStore using FusionCharts.DataStore.

  • Create a DataTable within the empty storage using fusionDataStore.createDataTable and pass the schema and data to the the DataTable.

  • Define the chart configuration in the FusionCharts constructor:

    • Set the type as timeseries.

    • Set the chart container as container using the renderAt property.

    • Set the width and height (in pixels).

    • Set the name of the DataTable as the value of the data property of dataSource.

    • Set the data to create the chart.

    • Specify the caption of the chart using text attribute in caption object.

That's it! Your first chart using FusionTime is ready.

Next, we will discuss on how to create a multivariate chart.