Server-side chart generation

WebCharts3D can be used with any JSP enabled server to produce interactive images in a number of different  formats.

There are two ways in which an image can be generated on the server and presented to a user:

Indirect method
The image is generated and stored on the server and the <IMG> tag's (or plugin's tag) src attribute contains the unique ID of the image. In case of images, the image map can be included into the page together with <IMG> tag that will provide interactivity. When the request for the actual bytes comes to the server, it retrieves the image using the uniqueID, serves it to the browser, and reduces its request count.
Direct method
The image is generated when the browser attempts to retrieve the image. The <IMG> tag's src attribute can contain the image parameters, or the server script can be customized to produce a desired chart.

The following table summarizes the benefits and the drawbacks of these methods:


  Indirect Direct
Interactivity The image map can be produced and embedded into the page together with the IMG tag. The image is linked to the image map via the image's unique ID. The browser receives a byte stream and the image map cannot be integrated with the image. (Modern browsers do not support remote image maps). Only SWF and SVG formats can provide interactivity in this mode.
Updating In general, the entire page should be refreshed when the chart has to be changed.  The image can be changed without refreshing the page. The request URL can contain the hints on how to generate the new image.


WebCharts3D provides convinient API to generate images both during page processing and image retrieval stages.