4 Best Chart Generation Options with PHP Components

Data is everywhere around us, but it is boring to deal with raw data alone. That’s where visualization comes into the picture.

If you take a look at the Google Trends plot below, you will realize that interest in Data Visualization has seen a steady growth over the years.

So if you are dealing with data and are not already using some kind of charting component, there is a good probability that you are going to need one soon. That’s the reason I decided to make a list of libraries that will make the task of visualizing data easier for you.

But before we get started, you need to understand that there are two types of charting components: server side and client side. Both have their pros and cons, and what’s best for you completely depends on the objective of your project and the resources you have. I’ve covered client side charts in this post, but there is some overlap as you’ll see below.

Server Side vs Client Side

Server side components usually generate image based charts. They employ algorithms to convert data into chart images and increase server overhead. Apart from using the server’s processing power, image based charts increase the bandwidth consumption. Sometimes large image sizes lead to slow downloads, which might be annoying to end users.

The above limitations of server side charts can be overcome by using client side components (JavaScript based). A browser will fetch the JSON or XML data from the server and render the charts locally. Client side components also have a greater scope of customization. They are often interactive, support animation and can easily blend into the design of your application.

Some charting libraries (like FusionCharts) provide wrappers which allow you to write your code in PHP only. Using the PHP wrapper you can generate the required JavaScript and HTML code as a string in the server. You can then output these strings in the page to generate charts.

With this in mind, let’s go through some options for charting that have PHP components.

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by Vaibhav Singhal via SitePoint