data analysis results graphs

hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:54 am Post subject: data analysis results graphs

I do my data analysis in java and want to write a results file that will convert to a graph that can be further manually "touched-up" like adding notes with arrows, adding or changing titles, deleting points, rescaling, resizing, etc.
Do I need to write a small program in an OO language?
I know nothing about OO.

Villeroy · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:31 am Post subject:

If you write Java programs for data analysis, installing a 150+MB monster of an office suite just for the limited capabilities of its charting module sounds like a foolish idea.
Spreadsheets are kind of programming language for non-programmers and Calc's charting capabilities are not really bad, but almost non-existent compared to the arsenal of tools you have at hand when you are a developer.
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hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:26 am Post subject:

Thanks for the reply.
Sounds like you might be able to make a suggestion.
Would it be inappropriate just because it's not OO?
Please do.
Or maybe I didn't give enough detail.

Villeroy · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 3:58 am Post subject:

If you are a Java developer and know nothing about OOo, what makes you think that this massive GUI-application with its tiny chart module has anything to offer for you?
Are there no charting modules for Java developers? At least I have seen some Java programs or applets with impressing charts.
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hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 5:40 am Post subject:

No I am not a java developer, and apparently we are both know-nothings.
Please refrain from useless posts of put-downs.

Villeroy · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 6:15 am Post subject:

Yes, I am a know-nothing, but I know that I am.

hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 7:00 am Post subject:

True, I am not qualified. That's why I posted.
Please refrain from more informationless posts
cluttering space in my thread.
I'll accept the put-downs.

Villeroy · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:00 am Post subject:

OK
http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
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hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 1:15 pm Post subject:

An idea I have is to write a .csv results file for
MS Excel along with a Visual Basic for applications program that
will run when I load the file to plot the data on a Chart.
Then the plots might be touched-up manually as desired for
the particular end usage.
Does this seem plausible?
My colleagues know how to use Excel for touch-up.

Does OO Calc have a similar or the same programming capability?

Villeroy · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 2:14 pm Post subject:

Java, Python, C++, JavaScript, BeanShell and even a plain stupid Basic dialect can be used to call this API. It's very different and more complicated than VBA.

Talking about csv as database exchange format, OOo comes with a fully integrated database module.
Without a single line of code you can define a connection to a directory of equally structured csv files and link tables as well as queries with dynamic spreadsheet ranges and charts. If your csv happens to come from some other database, you might be able to use the database directly without csv as exchange format.
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hill0093 · Posted: Sun Jan 31, 2010 8:38 pm Post subject:

We don't use a data base, but it would be nice if we did.
Don't have time to set it up.

Shall I assume that Calc is at least as easy for my colleagues to use as is Excel for
further manual "touched-up" like adding notes with arrows, adding
or changing titles, deleting points, rescaling, resizing, etc.

Let’s consider two kinds of graphs: scatter plots and line-connected points.
The scatter plots could handle several files of data.
One BufferedImage graph I use now plots the points as it reads them, so
it doesn’t have to store them. That program is used to expand and
replot sections. (but we don’t have to do that.)
Some readers might complain that there are more points than are readable,
but that’s not the point because I want every point to be on the plot, and don’t
want to write a program to see which points are on top of each other.

I’ll need some Java code to get my graphs into Calc, so
I need some examples and coding instruction.

hollowhead · General User Joined: 29 Jan 2010 Posts: 15

Consider qtiplot, you can buy it for single use very cheaply packaged up, or compile from the sources for free.

Its a great piece of software that will do everything you want and more.

Villeroy · Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 5:17 am Post subject:

CSV is a database format (record sets organized in fields).
Certainly, you do not need any code at all to get csv charted in Calc or in database reports. As already mentioned, there are several charting applications doing their job by magnitudes better than any spreadsheet.

If it is a matter of branding ("has to be like Excel at any cost") then I'd still recommend the original by Microsoft simply because people are never disappointed by Excel, whatever it does, however it fails.

This is the spreadsheet forum of oooforum.org still trying to discuss questions about using spreadsheets from a user's perspective (entering/pasting stuff, calculating with formulas, formatting output, clicking together simple spreadsheet charts, dealing with file formats,...)

There is another forum for API related questions and the world wide largest repository for code snippets in another forum.

development.openoffice.org is the place to start for coders (API coders as well as source code hackers).
An introduction into this highly complex API concepts takes more than one or two weekends. The charting API is not among the trivial parts.
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jrkrideau · Posted: Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:36 pm Post subject: