NetCharts® Server Features

Outstanding Graphics

NetCharts Server's graphs and tables provide feature depth not found elsewhere:

Three-point auto scaling
Up to 15 (default) axes per side, multiple scales per axis
Overlay or stacked axes
Sophisticated numerical formatting
Logarithmic scales, line smoothing
Support for internationalization
Chart updates of up to 10ms
Gradient fills and anti-aliasing
Rotatable fonts
Stylesheet support
Vector and bitmap graphics
Use logo/images for backgrounds, data points, and more

Dynamic Features

NetCharts Server graphs and tables can be easily configured with interactive effects:

Default drilldown behavior reports selected element data value and position in the graph or table
Each element of the graph or table can be explicitly bound to a URL or JavaScript method.
The ability to easily zoom and scroll on data points.
Just-in-time configuration using variables passed in at run time.

Standalone Environment

NetCharts Server can be deployed as a standalone, specialized application server. While not recommended for public-facing websites, NetCharts Server's standalone mode is very effective for intranets where simplicity is appreciated. In addition to NetCharts Server's sophisticated data presentation tools, it provides HTTP services and a robust J2EE servlet engine.

J2EE Environment

NetCharts Server can operate in a J2EE Environment in two ways - Using the J2EE toolkit or embedded within a J2EE application server.

Our J2EE toolkit (which is packaged within NetCharts Server) is the preferred implementation in the J2EE environment. It simply installs within the application server and relays chart, table, or page requests from the J2EE application server to a running NetCharts Server.
The NetCharts Server functions can be embedded directly within a J2EE application server.

ASP/.NET Environment

The NetCharts Server provides a toolkit for installation on an IIS server, that provides ASP and .NET programs the ability to easily relay requests for graphs, tables, and pages to the NetCharts Server.

JRun/Cold Fusion Environment

The NetCharts Server provides a toolkit for installation on a JRun/Cold Fusion server, that provides Cold Fusion custom tags that can be used to easily relay requests for graphs, tables, and pages to the NetCharts Server.

Web Services/Redirectors

NetCharts Server contains support for SOAP-based requests as well as tools for implementing multi-tier architectures using redirectors.

Built-in Data And Chart Caching

In data presentation applications, performance is key for users of the system. Graphing is a CPU-intensive task, and too many simultaneous data requests can clog a network. To reduce unnecessary draws or data requests, NetCharts Server provides data and chart caching.

Data cache entries consist of some set of data that can be filtered for use within one or more charts, and one or more tables. This allows one single data request to potentially populate all data presentation objects on a given page.
NetCharts Server's developer-controlled chart caching allows multiple users requesting the same graph template, with the same exact variables to receive the same graph. Additionally, developers can configure the NetCharts Server to pre-generate any number of graphs during low-load times.

Data Connectivity

NetCharts Server provides many different ways to get data into your graphs and tables with a minimum of effort. You can:

Pass data into the graph or table via a URL variable or HTTP request object
Put a dataset directly into the data cache
Use the Named Data Set (NDS) utilities to connect to a backend data source (database, XML file, CSV flat file, spreadsheet, etc) to retrieve the data.

Data Transformation

In many data presentation applications, there is a need to convert the data from the data source into a form suitable for graphing. For example, a developer may need sum the contents of a web server's access log to determine the number of visits to specific pages.

NetCharts Server's process modules are used to simplify this common need. Process Modules can be "chained" together so that the output of one module is used as the input of the next (e.g. a sum function followed by a sort). The process module feature provides:

Many built-in aggregation and transformation functions including grouping, sorting, mathematical functions, and much more.
Well-defined API to extend and write custom process modules.
The NetCharts Analytics module, delivers a powerful library of analytic functions to provide realtime intelligent data calculations and statistical process controls. Users can apply sophisticated data transformations to raw or minimally processed data; the resultant data can then be easily displayed in graphical or tabular formats.

Built-In Development Console

The NetCharts Server development console provides easy features for creating new projects, data, chart, and page templates. Although NetCharts Designer is the preferred method for this task, some developers may prefer this approach. The development console also has links to relevant documentation, debugging utilities, toolkits, and more.

Built-in Administration Console

The NetCharts Server Administration Console provides administrators an easy-to-use interface for setting up security, restarting or configuring the system, installing licenses, specifying periodic tasks, and much, much more.

Additional NetCharts Server Information:

Features
Specifications
Product Brochure (1.0MB PDF)
Understanding NetCharts Server (1.28MB PDF)
NetCharts Server Installation Guide (509KB PDF)
NetCharts Server Process Modules (654KB PDF)
NetCharts Server Administrators Guide (852KB PDF)
NetCharts Server Application Developers Guide (3.51MB PDF)
Whitepaper: Internationalization for Data Visualization
Whitepaper: A Dashboard Data Methodology
TDWI Best Practices Report: Deploying Dashboards and Scorecards
Whitepaper: The Art of Analysis - Improving Reports through Visual Analytics
On-Demand Tour of a Health Care Dashboard
On-Demand Demo: Creating a Basic Dashboard Page with NetCharts Designer
Developers' Resources