FAQ > Frequently Asked Questions
(Please click on any question below to see the answer)
I've just downloaded FusionCharts Lite. Now, how do I go about installing it?

FusionCharts is a copy-n-paste style installation component - that is to say one does not need to install any external Active-X control or component to render charts. All you need to do is copy the ready-to-use .swf files from the download package to your web server.

To install FusionCharts on your website, just copy the required .swf files from <Root> > Contents > Code > Charts folder to any folder of your web application. It is always preferable to keep all these .swf files in a root folder of your application so that all your scripts can easily access these chart swf files.

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I've just downloaded FusionCharts Lite and copied sample code from your folder to my server. But, I cannot see the charts - what could be the problem? Only a blank space is appearing in place of the charts.

You need to check for the following points in case of this problem:

  • You've copied Charts folder from the download package to the same path in your web server where you have placed the Code folder.
  • You've Flash Player 6 (or above) required to view the charts.

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How can I pull data from a database?

You can pull data from any database (or data storage systems) using the server side script that you're using. Make the server side script to pull the data and then render it in XML format required by FusionCharts. More of this is present under the heading Implementation in the Online Documentation.

An ASP+MS Access code example has also been explained here.

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I want to use a data source like data.asp?param1=value&param2=value2 as the dataURL for FusionCharts. However, when I use it FusionCharts seems to ignore everything after the first part. How do I go on with this?

The Flash player does not consider the ? and & as a part of querystring data and as such treats it as another name-pair value. To overcome this, you'll need to convert all ? and &s to *. FusionCharts will automatically correct it for you.

Example: data.asp?param1=value&param2=value2 would be converted to data.asp*param1=value*param2=value2

Code Example:

<OBJECT ... >
<PARAM NAME='Movie' Value='FC2Column.swf?dataURL=data.asp*param1=value1*Param2=value2&columnWidth=45&isLocal=1'>
<... Other Code >
<EMBED src='FC2Column.swf?dataURL=data.asp*param1=value1*Param2=value2&columnWidth=45&isLocal=1' ... >
</OBJECT ... >

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I want to change the font styling properties. Is it possible?

Yes. With FusionCharts, it's possible to change the font styling properties. The following attributes of the graph element help you change the font properties:

baseFont="FontName"
This attribute sets the base font family of the graph i.e., all the values and the names in the graph canvas will be displayed using the font name provided here.

baseFontSize="ValidFontSize"
This attribute sets the base font size of the graph i.e., all the values and the names in the graph canvas will be displayed using the font size provided here.

baseFontColor="HexColorWithout#"
This attribute sets the base font color of the graph i.e., all the values and the names in the graph canvas will be displayed using the font color provided here.

outCnvBaseFont="FontName"
This attribute sets the outside canvas base font family of the graph i.e., all the values and the names outside the graph canvas will be displayed using the font name provided here.

outCnvBaseFontSize="ValidFontSize"
This attribute sets the outside canvas base font size of the graph i.e., all the values and the names outside the graph canvas will be displayed using the font size provided here.

outCnvBaseFontColor="HexColorWithout#"
This attribute sets the outside canvas base font color of the graph i.e., all the values and the names outside the graph canvas will be displayed using the font color provided here.

Example: <graph basefont='Verdana' bastfontsize='10' basefontcolor='0372AB' outCnvbasefont='Arial' outCnvbastfontsize='11' outCnvbasefontcolor='FF0000'...>

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Is it possible to display the name and value of each point when the mouse hovers over each one?

Yes. You can do so by assigning the following attribute to the graph element:

<graph ... showhovercap="1" ...>

Moreover, you can customize the looks of the hover caption box using the following attributes:

Hover caption box's background color
hovercapbg="HexCode"

Hover caption box's border color
hovercapborder="HexCode"

Example: <graph showhovercap="1" hovercapbg="FFFFDD" hovercapborder="FF0000">

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I want to use URLs like detailed.asp?Id=23&subId=43 as the link for hotspots in the chart. However, FusionCharts gives me an error. How can I go ahead with this?

You'll need to convert all &s to %26.

Example: <set ... link='data.asp?id=1&subId=2' > would be converted to <set ... link='data.asp?id=1%26subId=2' >

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Are there any properties I can use to either speed up or eliminate the animated building of the charts?

To switch off animation in all the charts, you can specify the following attribute:
<graph animation='0' ...>

In case of line chart, you can also control the animation speed using the animspeed property of the graph element.
Example: <graph ... animspeed='4' ... >

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Can I print the charts generated by FusionCharts?

Yes. To print a chart displayed in browser window, just right click on it and select Print.

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Can I save the chart output made by FusionCharts as an image (GIF/JPEG/PNG etc.)?

No. FusionCharts renders the chart at the client side and as such it is not possible to save the chart output as an image (unless the end user does it himself using some screen capture utility).

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Can I change the data loading messages and some tooltips?

Yes. But for this, you need to have the source FLA file, which is available in the Developer/Site Wide/Enterprise Edition.

To change the data Loading messages, you'll have to modify the objects in the .fla files present in the Loading Scene.

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I want load the XML data file from another Web server. Can you tell me how to do this?

Since Flash doesn't allow loading of XML documents/data from other domains, it is not directly possible to load data from other domains. However, a proxy page can do the trick.

For example, use the following:
<PARAM NAME='Movie' Value='FCColumn.swf?dataURL=Relayer.aspx'>
Now, Relayer.aspx is the page on your server which connects to the remote (other domain) data and finally relays it in XML format (required by FusionCharts).

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