Inside Technique : HTML Bar Charts
By Scott Isaacs

Last week we enhanced our discussion forum surveys to show the results in a bar chart (Results for target resolution survey). We created the bar chart using nothing more than HTML tables and a 1 pixel image. In this article, we show you different techniques for generating bar charts on both the server and on the client.

First we demonstrate a server-based solution. The server solution generates a single bar chart style. To modify the bar chart you modify the script that generates the HTML.

After the server solution, we present a client-based solution that is more object oriented allowing customization by calling different properties and methods. We could have made both solutions work the smae way. We chose to make a distinction between our client and server implementations to demonstrate different techniques. Each solution can be easily adapted to run on either the client or server.

We begin with a simple demonstration of server-based chart creation. Try entering a few labels and values into the form below and select "Create Bar Chart". We will generate and return a simple bar chart based on your input.

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