docs/index.html

   1 <html>
   2   <head>
   3     <title>dygraphs JavaScript Library</title>
   4     <!--[if IE]>
   5     <script type="text/javascript" src="excanvas.js"></script>
   6     <![endif]-->
   7     <script type="text/javascript" src="combined.js"></script>
   8     <style type="text/css">
   9       .thinborder {
  10         border-width: 1px;
  11         border-spacing: 0px;
  12         border-style: solid;
  13         border-color: black;
  14         border-collapse: collapse;
  15       }
  16       .thinborder td, .thinborder th {
  17         border-width: 1px;
  18         padding: 5px;
  19         border-style: solid;
  20         border-color: black;
  21       }
  22     </style>
  23   </head>
  24 <body>
  25   <center>
  26     <p><span style="font-size:30pt;">dygraphs JavaScript Library</span><br/>
  27     (Contact: <a href="mailto:danvdk@gmail.com">Dan Vanderkam</a>)</p>
  28   </center>
  29
  30 <p>The dygraphs JavaScript library produces produces interactive, zoomable charts of time series based on CSV files.</p>
  31
  32 <h3>Features</h3>
  33 <ul>
  34   <li>Plots time series without using an external server or Flash</li>
  35   <li>Supports multiple data series</li>
  36   <li>Supports error bands around data series</li>
  37   <li>Displays values on mouseover</li>
  38   <li>Interactive zoom</li>
  39   <li>Adjustable averaging period</li>
  40   <li>Customizable click-through actions</li>
  41 </ul>
  42
  43 <h3>Caveats</h3>
  44 <ul>
  45   <li>Requires Firefox 1.5+ or Safari/WebKit 1.3+.</li>
  46   <li>Internet Explorer is not at all supported!</li>
  47   <li>Can only plot time series with granularity &gt;= 1 day</li>
  48 </ul>
  49
  50 <h2>Demo</h2>
  51 <font size=-1>(Mouse over to highlight individual values. Click and drag to zoom. Double-click to zoom out.)</font><br/>
  52 <table><tr><td>
  53 <div id="demodiv" style="width:480px; height:320px;"></div>
  54 </td><td valign=top>
  55 <div id="status" style="width:200px; font-size:0.8em"></div>
  56 </td>
  57 </tr></table></p>
  58 <script type="text/javascript">
  59   g = new DateGraph(
  60           document.getElementById("demodiv"),
  61           function() {
  62             var r = "date,parabola,line,another line,sine wave\n";
  63             for (var i=1; i<=31; i++) {
  64             r += "200610" + i;
  65             r += "," + 10*(i*(31-i));
  66             r += "," + 10*(8*i);
  67             r += "," + 10*(250 - 8*i);
  68             r += "," + 10*(125 + 125 * Math.sin(0.3*i));
  69             r += "\n";
  70             }
  71             return r;
  72           },
  73           null,
  74           {
  75             rollPeriod: 1,
  76             labelsDiv: document.getElementById('status'),
  77             labelsSeparateLines: true,
  78             labelsKMB: true,
  79             colors: ["hsl(180,60,50)",
  80                      "rgb(255,100,100)",
  81                      "#00DD55",
  82                      "rgba(50,50,200,0.4)"],
  83             padding: {left: 40, right: 30, top: 5, bottom: 15},
  84           }
  85       );
  86 </script>
  87
  88 <h2>Usage</h2>
  89
  90 <p>The DateGraph library depends on two other JS libraries: <a href="http://www.mochikit.com/">MochiKit</a> and <a href="http://www.liquidx.net/plotkit/">PlotKit</a>. Rather than tracking down copies of these libraries, I recommend using a packed version of dygraphs that combines all three libraries into a single JS file. To generate this file, go to a perforce client and run:</p>
  91
  92 <pre>blaze build spam/utils/dygraphs:combined</pre>
  93
  94 <p>The combined JS file is now in <code>blaze-genfiles/spam/utils/dygraphs/combined.js</code>. Here's a basic example to get things started:</p>
  95
  96 <table>
  97   <tr><th>HTML</th>
  98       <td rowspan=2><img src=arrow.gif /></td>
  99       <th>Output</th></tr>
 100 <tr>
 101 <td valign=top><pre>
 102 &lt;html&gt;
 103 &lt;head&gt;
 104 &lt;script type="text/javascript" src="combined.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
 105 &lt;/head&gt;
 106 &lt;body&gt;
 107 &lt;div id="graphdiv" style="width:400px; height:300px;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 108 &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
 109   g = new DateGraph(
 110         document.getElementById("graphdiv"),  // containing div
 111         function() {                // function or path to CSV file.
 112           return "20080507,75\n" +
 113                  "20080508,70\n" +
 114                  "20080509,80\n";
 115         },
 116         [ "Temperature" ],          // names of data series
 117         {}                          // additional options (see below)
 118       );
 119 &lt;/script&gt;
 120 &lt;/body&gt;
 121 &lt;/html&gt;
 122 </pre>
 123 </td><td valign=top>
 124   <div id="graphdiv" style="width:400px; height:300px;"></div>
 125   <script type="text/javascript">
 126     g = new DateGraph(
 127           document.getElementById("graphdiv"),
 128           function() {                          // function or path to CSV file.
 129             return "20080507,75\n" +
 130                    "20080508,70\n" +
 131                    "20080509,80\n";
 132           },
 133           [ "Temperature" ],                    // names of data series
 134           {}                                    // additional options
 135         );
 136   </script>
 137 </td></tr></table>
 138
 139 <p>In order to keep this example self-contained, the second parameter is a function that returns CSV data. These lines <i>must</i> begin with a date in the form <i>YYYYMMDD</i>. In most applications, it makes more sense to include a CSV file instead. If the second parameter to the constructor is a string, it will be interpreted as the path to a CSV file. The DateGraph will perform an XMLHttpRequest to retrieve this file and display the data when it becomes available. Make sure your CSV file is readable and serving from a place that understands XMLHttpRequest's! In particular, you cannot specify a CSV file using <code>"file:///"</code>. Here's an example: (data from <a href="http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KNUQ/2007/1/1/CustomHistory.html?dayend=31&monthend=12&yearend=2007&req_city=NA&req_state=NA&req_statename=NA">Weather Underground</a>)</p>
 140
 141 <table>
 142   <tr><th>HTML</th>
 143       <td rowspan=2><img src=arrow.gif /></td>
 144       <th>Output</th></tr>
 145 <tr>
 146 <td valign=top><pre>
 147 &lt;html&gt;
 148 &lt;head&gt;
 149 &lt;script type="text/javascript" src="combined.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
 150 &lt;/head&gt;
 151 &lt;body&gt;
 152 &lt;div id="graphdiv" style="width:600px; height:300px;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 153 &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
 154   g = new DateGraph(
 155         document.getElementById("graphdiv"),
 156         "temperatures.csv",  // path to CSV file
 157         null,                // labels in top line of CSV file
 158         {}
 159       );
 160 &lt;/script&gt;
 161 &lt;/body&gt;
 162 &lt;/html&gt;
 163 </pre>
 164 </td><td valign=top>
 165   <div id="graphdiv2" style="width:600px; height:300px;"></div>
 166   <script type="text/javascript">
 167     g2 = new DateGraph(
 168           document.getElementById("graphdiv2"),
 169           "temperatures.csv", null, {}
 170         );
 171   </script>
 172 </td></tr></table>
 173
 174 <p>Click <a href="temperatures.csv">here</a> to view the <code>temperatures.csv</code> file. There are a few things to note here:</p>
 175
 176 <ul>
 177   <li>Because the third parameter to the DateGraph constructor was <code>null</code>, the labels were taken from the first line of the data instead. The first line of <code>temperatures.csv</code> is <code>Date,High,Low</code>.</li>
 178   <li>DateGraph automatically chose two different, easily-distinguishable colors for the two data series.</li>
 179   <li>The labels on the x-axis have switched from days to months. If you zoom in, they'll switch to weeks and then days.</li>
 180   <li>Some heuristics are used to determine a good vertical range for the data. The idea is to make all the data visible and have human-friendly values on the axis (i.e. 200 instead of 193.4). Generally this works well, but in this case the vertical range is way too large.</li>
 181   <li>The data is very spiky. A moving average would be easier to interpret.</li>
 182 </ul>
 183
 184 <p>These last two problems can be fixed by specifying the appropriate options in the fourth parameter to the DateGraph constructor. To set the number of days for a moving average, use the <b>rollPeriod</b> option. To set the range of the y-axis, use the <b>valueRange</b> option. Here's how it's done:</p>
 185
 186 <table>
 187   <tr><th>HTML</th>
 188       <td rowspan=2><img src=arrow.gif /></td>
 189       <th>Output</th></tr>
 190 <tr>
 191 <td valign=top><pre>
 192 &lt;html&gt;
 193 &lt;head&gt;
 194 &lt;script type="text/javascript" src="combined.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
 195 &lt;/head&gt;
 196 &lt;body&gt;
 197 &lt;div id="graphdiv" style="width:600px; height:300px;"&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 198 &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
 199   g = new DateGraph(
 200         document.getElementById("graphdiv"),
 201         "temperatures.csv", null,
 202         { rollPeriod: 7,
 203           valueRange: [25, 100]
 204         }
 205       );
 206 &lt;/script&gt;
 207 &lt;/body&gt;
 208 &lt;/html&gt;
 209 </pre>
 210 </td><td valign=top>
 211   <div id="graphdiv3" style="width:600px; height:300px;"></div>
 212   <script type="text/javascript">
 213     g3 = new DateGraph(
 214           document.getElementById("graphdiv3"),
 215           "temperatures.csv", null,
 216           { rollPeriod: 7,
 217             valueRange: [25, 100]
 218           }
 219         );
 220   </script>
 221 </td></tr></table>
 222
 223 <p>A rolling average can always be set using the text box in the lower left-hand corner of the graph.</p>
 224
 225 <h2>Error Bars</h2>
 226 <p>Another significant feature of the dygraphs library is the ability to display error bars around data series. One standard deviation must be specified for each data point. A +/-<i>n</i> sigma band will be drawn around the data series at that point. If a moving average is being displayed, DateGraph will compute the standard deviation of the average at each point. (i.e. <i>&sigma;</i> = sqrt((<i>&sigma;_1</i>^2 + <i>&sigma;_2</i>^2 + ... + <i>&sigma;_n</i>^2)/<i>n</i>))</p>
 227
 228 <p>Here's a demonstration. There are two data series. One is <code>N(100,10)</code> with a standard deviation of 10 specified at each point. The other is <code>N(80,20)</code> with a standard deviation of 20 specified at each point. The CSV file was generated using Octave and can be viewed <a href="twonormals.csv">here</a>.</p>
 229
 230 <table>
 231   <tr><th>HTML</th>
 232       <td rowspan=2><img src=arrow.gif /></td>
 233       <th>Output</th></tr>
 234 <tr>
 235 <td valign=top><pre>
 236 &lt;html&gt;
 237 &lt;head&gt;
 238 &lt;script type="text/javascript"
 239   src="combined.js"&gt;&lt;/script&gt;
 240 &lt;/head&gt;
 241 &lt;body&gt;
 242 &lt;div id="graphdiv"
 243  style="width:800px; height:400px;"
 244  &gt;&lt;/div&gt;
 245 &lt;script type="text/javascript"&gt;
 246 $ = document.getElementById;
 247 g = new DateGraph(
 248   $("graphdiv"),
 249   "twonormals.csv",
 250   null,
 251   { rollPeriod: 7,
 252     errorBars: true,
 253     valueRange: [50,125]
 254   }
 255 );
 256 &lt;/script&gt;
 257 &lt;/body&gt;
 258 &lt;/html&gt;
 259 </pre>
 260 </td><td valign=top>
 261   <div id="graphdiv4" style="width:800px; height:400px;"></div>
 262   <script type="text/javascript">
 263 $ = document.getElementById;
 264 new DateGraph(
 265   document.getElementById("graphdiv4"),
 266   "twonormals.csv",
 267   null,
 268   { rollPeriod: 14,
 269     errorBars: true,
 270     valueRange: [50, 125]
 271   }
 272 );
 273   </script>
 274 </td></tr></table>
 275
 276 <p>Things to note here:</p>
 277 <ul>
 278   <li>The <b>errorBars</b> option affects both the interpretation of the CSV file and the display of the graph. When <b>errorBars</b> is set to true, each line is interpreted as <i>YYYYMMDD</i>,<i>A</i>,<i>sigma_A</i>,<i>B</i>,<i>sigma_B</i>,...</li>
 279   <li>The first line of the CSV file doesn't mention the error columns. In this case, it's just "Date,Series1,Series2".</li>
 280   <li>The averaging visibly affects the error bars. This is most clear if you crank up the rolling period to something like 100 days. For the earliest dates, there won't be 100 data points to average so the signal will be noisier. The error bars get smaller like sqrt(N) going forward in time until there's a full 100 points to average.</li>
 281   <li>The error bars are partially transparent. This can be seen when they overlap one another.</li>
 282 </ul>
 283
 284 <h2>Other Options</h2>
 285 <p>These are the options that can be passed in through the fourth parameter of the DateGraph constructor.</p>
 286
 287 <table class=thinborder width=1000>
 288   <tr><th>Name</th><th>Sample Value</th><th>Description</th></tr>
 289   <tr>
 290     <td><b>rollPeriod</b></td>
 291     <td><code>7</code></td>
 292     <td>Number of days over which to average data. Discussed extensively above.</td>
 293   </tr><tr>
 294     <td><b>colors</b></td>
 295     <td><code>['red',&nbsp;'#00FF00']</code></td>
 296     <td>List of colors for the data series. These can be of the form "#AABBCC"
 297       or "rgb(255,100,200)" or "yellow", etc. If not specified, equally-spaced
 298       points around a color wheel are used.</td>
 299   </tr><tr>
 300     <td><b>colorSaturation</b></td>
 301     <td><code>1.0</code></td>
 302     <td>If <b>colors</b> is not specified, saturation of the
 303       automatically-generated data series colors. (0.0-1.0, default:
 304       1.0)</td>
 305   </tr><tr>
 306     <td><b>colorValue</b></td>
 307     <td><code>0.5</code></td>
 308     <td>If colors is not specified, value of the data series colors, as in
 309       hue/saturation/value. (0.0-1.0, default 0.5)</td>
 310   </tr><tr>
 311     <td><b>clickCallback</b></td>
 312     <td><code>function(e,date){ alert(date); }</code></td>
 313     <td>A function to call when a data point is clicked. The function should take
 314       two arguments, the event object for the click and the date that was
 315       clicked. (default null)</td>
 316   </tr><tr>
 317     <td><b>errorBars</b></td>
 318     <td><code>false</code></td>
 319     <td>Does the data contain standard deviations? Setting this to true alters
 320       the input format (see above). (default false)</td>
 321   </tr><tr>
 322     <td><b>strokeWidth</b></td>
 323     <td><code>2.0</code></td>
 324     <td>Width of the data lines. This can be used to increase the contrast or
 325       some graphs. (default 1.0)</td>
 326   </tr><tr>
 327     <td><b>dateWindow</b></td>
 328     <td><code>[(new&nbsp;Date('2006-01-01')).valueOf(),<br/>
 329         (new&nbsp;Date()).valueOf()]</code></td>
 330     <td>Initially zoom in on a section of the graph. Is of the form [earliest,
 331       latest], where earliest/latest are millis since epoch.  By default, the
 332       full range of the input is shown.</td>
 333   </tr><tr>
 334     <td><b>valueRange</b></td>
 335     <td><code>[10, 110]</code></td>
 336     <td>Explicitly set the vertical range of the graph to [low, high]. By
 337       default, some clever heuristics are used (see above).</td>
 338   </tr><tr>
 339     <td><b>minTickSize</b></td>
 340     <td><code>1</code</td>
 341     <td>The difference between ticks on the y-axis can be greater than or equal
 342       to this, but no less. If you set it to 1, for instance, you'll never get
 343       nonintegral gaps between ticks.</td>
 344   </tr><tr>
 345     <td><b>labelsSeparateLines</b></td>
 346     <td><code>true</code></td>
 347     <td>Put &lt;br/&gt; between lines in the label string. Often used in
 348       conjunction with <b>labelsDiv</b>. (default false)</td>
 349   </tr><tr>
 350     <td><b>labelsDiv</b></td>
 351     <td><code>document.getElementById('foo')</code></td>
 352     <td>Show data labels in an external div, rather than on the graph. (default
 353       null)</td>
 354   </tr><tr>
 355     <td><b>labelsKMB</b></td>
 356     <td><code>true</code></td>
 357     <td>Show K/M/B for thousands/millions/billions on y-axis (default
 358       false).</td>
 359   </tr>
 360   <tr>
 361     <td><b>padding</b></td>
 362     <td><code>{left:&nbsp;40, right:&nbsp;30,<br/>top:&nbsp;5,
 363         bottom:&nbsp;15}</code></td>
 364     <td>Adds extra pixels of padding around the graph. Sometimes a dygraph
 365       gets clipped by surrounding text (see the Demo at the top of this page).
 366       Setting this property appropriately will fix this problem.</td>
 367   </tr>
 368 </table>
 369
 370 <p>Any options you specify also get passed on to PlotKit's <a href="http://media.liquidx.net/js/plotkit-doc/PlotKit.Renderer.html">Renderer</a> class. DateGraph will override some of these (e.g. strokeColor), but others may be useful. The <code>padding</code> property is an example of this.</p>
 371
 372 <h2>Common Gotchas</h2>
 373 <p>Here are a few problems that I've frequently run into while using the
 374 dygraphs library.</p>
 375
 376 <ul>
 377   <li>Make sure your CSV files are readable! If your graph isn't showing up,
 378   the XMLHttpRequest for the CSV file may be failing. You can determine whether
 379   this is the case using tools like <a
 380     href="http://www.getfirebug.com/">Firebug</a>.</li>
 381
 382   <li>Make sure your CSV files are in the correct format. They must be of the
 383   form <code>YYYYMMDD,series1,series2,...</code>. If you're specifying the
 384   names of each data series in the CSV file itself, make sure that you pass
 385   <code>null</code> as the third parameter to the DateGraph constructor to let
 386   the library know that. And if you set the <code>errorBars</code> property,
 387   make sure you alternate data series and standard deviations.</li>
 388
 389   <li>dygraphs are not happy when placed inside a <code>&lt;center&gt;</code>
 390   tag. This applies to the CSS <code>text-align</code> property as well. If you
 391   want to center a DateGraph, put it inside a table with "align=center"
 392   set.</li>
 393
 394   <li>If you specify the <code>colors</code> property or name the data series
 395   using the third parameter of the DateGraph constructor, make sure the number
 396   of data series agree in all places: <code>colors</code>, third parameter and
 397   in each line of the CSV file itself.</li>
 398
 399   <li>Don't set the <code>dateWindow</code> property to a date. It expects
 400   milliseconds since epoch, which can be obtained from a JavaScript Date
 401   object's valueOf method.</li>
 402 </ul>
 403
 404 <p><font size=-1>Created May 9, 2008 by <a href=mailto:danvdk@gmail.com>Dan Vanderkam</a></font></p>
 405
 406 </body>
 407 </html>