NAME

Chart::Strip - Draw strip chart type graphs.

SYNOPSIS

    use Chart::Strip;

    my $ch = Chart::Strip->new(
                 title   => 'Happiness of our Group',
                 # other options ...
             );

    $ch->add_data( $davey_data, { style => 'line',
                                  color => 'FF0000',
                                  label => 'Davey' } );

    $ch->add_data( $jenna_data, { style => 'line',
                                  color => '00FF88',
                                  label => 'Jenna' } );

    print $ch->png();

DESCRIPTION

The Chart::Strip package plots data values versus time graphs, such as used for seismographs, EKGs, or network usage reports.

It can plot multiple data sets on one graph. It offers several styles of plots. It automatically determines the proper ranges and labels for both axii.

USAGE

Create the Chart

    $chart = Chart::Strip->new();
    $chart = Chart::Strip->new(
                               option1 => value,
                               option2 => value,
                               );

If no options are specified, sensible default values will be used. The following options are recognized:

width

The width of the image

height

The height of the image.

title

The title of the graph. Will be placed centered at the top.

x_label

The label for the x axis. Will be placed centered at the bottom.

y_label

The label for the y axis. Will be placed vertically along the left side.

draw_grid

Should a grid be drawn on the graph?

draw_border

Should a border be drawn around the edge of the image?

draw_tic_labels

Should value labels be shown?

draw_data_labels

Should each data set be labeled?

transparent

Should the background be transparent?

grid_on_top

Should the grid be drawn over the data (1) or below the data (0)?

binary

Use powers of 2 instead of powers of 10 for the y axis labels.

data_label_style

Style for drawing the graph labels. text or box

thickness

Thickness of lines in pixels. (Requires GD newer than $VERSION).

skip_undefined

Don\'t draw a line into or out of a datapoint whose value is undefined. If false, undefined values are treated as though they were 0.

boxwidth

Width of boxes for box style graphs. The width may also be specified as width in the data options or per point. If no width is specified a reasonable default is used.

Adding Data

    $chart->add_data( $data, $options );

The data should be an array ref of data points. Each data point should be a hash ref containing:

    {
        time  => $time_t,  # must be a unix time_t
        value => $value,   # the data value
        color => $color,   # optional, used for this one point
    }

or, range style graphs should contain:

    {
        time  => $time_t,  # must be a unix time_t
        min   => $low,     # the minimum data value
        max   => $high,    # the maximum data value
        color => $color,   # optional, used for this one point
    }

and the options may contain:

    {
        style => 'line',             # graph style: line, filled, range, points, box
        color => 'FF00FF',           # color used for the graph
        label => 'New England',      # name of the data set
    }

points style graphs may specify the point diameter, as diam

box style graphs may specify the box width, as width

line and filled graphs may specify a smooth parameter, to connect points using smooth curves instead of straight lines. A value of 1 is recommended, larger values will be less smooth.

line, points, box, and filled graphs may specify a drop shadow, consisting of a hashref containing dx, dy, dw, and optionally, color

    shadow => { dx => 3, dy => 3, dw => 3, color => 'CCCCCC' }

Outputing The Image

$chart->png()

Will return the PNG image

$chart->jpeg()

Will return the jpeg image

$chart->gd()

Will return the underlying GD object.

EXAMPLE IMAGES

    http://argus.tcp4me.com/shots.html
    http://search.cpan.org/src/JAW/Chart-Strip-1.07/eg/index.html

LICENSE

This software may be copied and distributed under the terms found in the Perl "Artistic License".

A copy of the "Artistic License" may be found in the standard Perl distribution.

BUGS

There are no known bugs in the module.

SEE ALSO

    Yellowstone National Park.

AUTHOR

    Jeff Weisberg - http://www.tcp4me.com