Release of Axiis as open source Data Visualization Framework
Caution: Alpha level code. Beta coming in a few months
What?
more than just a set of charting components
lightweight framework used to assemble and development charting functions
way to describe patterns in data
Why?
Client needs are normally quite specific leaving the developers feeling like they need “one more feature” to fully meet the needs. End up diving into the code and doing things on your own.
Trying to provide developers with tools to do this easier.
Before we started, we looked at: *insert crazy charts here including one looking like a tube*
How is it different?
its all about describing patterns driven by data and your imagination
conceptually we wanted it to be flexible, lightweight, and elegant.
How did we do it?
reference repeater (shape) for layout
describe a pattern, bind some data, draw a picture
Goals:
Expressive (ideas to easily transfered to screen) Framework
lots of mxml
data binding
degrafa
someone at Adobe has said “the heart of Flex is lots of [mxml] markup and [data] binding”
Concise
less code
flattened inheritance chain
mxml in the core
Modular
granular building blocks
mix and match components
no sacred cows (got away from some OO best practices)
Magic Sauce
mxml (pros/cons)
lose some ability but decided it was worth it
binding (pros/cons)
costly but trying to optimize that
degrafa (its all pros)
Examples
barchart grouped into groupings of bars (some stacked) – code seems quite simple for the layouts (groupings/stacks)
line area group with toggles for groupings/markers/flow
pie chart with states (olympic medal count)
Does that come with fries?
DataSet
Column/Bar Clusters and Stacks
Line/Area series group
Wedge Stack, Plots and More
Axis, Scale, Expressions
States
Source, Examples, Docs
Where are we today?
Alpha 1.0
core defined and working
some pre-built components
has bugs and needs more testing
ready to take on contributors (experience in charting/open source)
What’s next?
performance (works to a couple hundred)
states/tweens (animation) – bubble to column with Degrafa SuperShape
transitions
more visualizations (hopefully contributor driven)
beta 1.0 (sometime in August)
How do I get a copy?
http://www.axiis.org/ under MIT license
http://code.google.com/p/axiis/ for source/svn
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