Displaying scalable vector graphics on ibm aix

[Vamsi bhujanga]

We are preparing a bill template (say mobile bill kind of bill) and we need to display a chart for the last 3 months calls in the template.
We are able to display the template which is a pdf file using FOP. But, the actual problem is we need to display a generic graph in the pdf for each customer in the bill template.

We have tried using JFreechart and display the chart. Iam able to save in the windows machine. But, iam unable to save it in the server (this is a part of our busineess logic design where we are trying to store the chart in the server and append this to the pdf.)

For displaying SVG(Scalable Vector Graphics) images on the invoice after running fop-0.94, we need X11 library. But after installing this also, we are unable to see the bar graph chart on the invoice through X Manager (GUI for IBM AIX Server).

Moreover while generating bar graph through Jfreechart taking help of two libraries (jfreechart-1.0.4.jar,jcommon.jar) also, the same thing happens and we are unable to see the bar graph chart on the invoice through X Manager.

But in both the cases, we are getting the bar graph generated on Windows System successfully.

These are the responses from the fop-users and fop-development groups (where i browsed through google):-
If you just want to display SVG images, that requires Apache Batik in the classpath . Batik is bundled with FOP.

For SVG you need the batik libraries, which are part of the fop standard distribution. So the problem here seems to be something else.

I currently know of no FOP extensions that would allow to add bar graphs(you mean charts, right?) in a special XML dialect as part of an
fo:instream-foreign-object. So that means you have to generate SVG graphics from bar graphics using a third-party tool

Findings from the above discussions :-

It may be a case that something is missing in the AIX Operating System which is restricting us to allow/create dynamic images on the invoice through either of the above two methods.

[Nitesh Kant]

Looks like it is more or less related to Apache FO. You will get better answers in Other Open source projects forum. Moving ....

[Ulf Dittmer]

So... the reason you're looking into SVG is because you couldn't get JFreeChart to work on AIX? If that's the case I'd investigate why that's happening. Generally, it works just fine.

we are unable to see the bar graph chart

What does this mean? Is the chart being created? If it is created, can you save it to disk? If you can save it to disk, is it a valid image file? If it is a valid image file, what stands between having a valid image file and displaying it? TellTheDetails

[Vamsi bhujanga]

Moreover when we contacted IBM customer care, this is the reply we received.

IBM response:
Unfortunately Adobe's SVG Viewer is no longer available for AIX. We found that Adobe has decided to discontinue it's SVG Viewer product. Please refer the following links for more details.

http://www.adobe.com/svg/eol.html
http://www.adobe.com/svg/pdfs/ASV_EOL_FAQ.pdf

But there are some other Adobe products which currently supports SVG. Also there are a lot of third party SVG viewer products.


Please suggest

For the question: we are unable to see the bar graph chart

Here is the sample code we are using.. (SOme things are changed accordingly)

import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.GradientPaint;
import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.Serializable;

import org.apache.fop.util.CommandLineLogger;
import org.apache.commons.logging.Log;
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory;

import org.jfree.chart.ChartFactory;
import org.jfree.chart.ChartPanel;
import org.jfree.chart.ChartUtilities;
import org.jfree.chart.JFreeChart;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryAxis;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.CategoryLabelPositions;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.CategoryPlot;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.PlotOrientation;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.category.BarRenderer;
import org.jfree.data.category.CategoryDataset;
import org.jfree.data.category.DefaultCategoryDataset;
import org.jfree.ui.ApplicationFrame;

//import org.jfree.ui.RefineryUtilities;

/**
 * A simple demonstration application showing how to create a bar chart.
 *
 */
public class IGHBargraph extends ApplicationFrame {

    /**
     * Creates a new demo instance.
     *
     * @param title  the frame title.
     * @throws FileNotFoundException 
     */
    public IGHBargraph(String title) {

        super(title);

        final CategoryDataset dataset = createDataset();
        final JFreeChart chart = createChart(dataset);
        final ChartPanel chartPanel = new ChartPanel(chart);
        chartPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(500, 270));
        setContentPane(chartPanel);
       // File afile = new File("c:/barChart.jpeg");
        try {
        	System.out.println("Hello");
			ChartUtilities.saveChartAsJPEG(new File("c:/barChart.jpeg"),chart,500,270);
		} catch (IOException e1) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e1.printStackTrace();
		}
   //     objControlPWriter.println("datasource="+igh_prop.getProperty("datasource")+"igh_jpg"+instance_id+".jpg");
        //File file = new File("myimage.jpg");
       // FileImageOutputStream fiis =new FileImageOutputStream(file);
        //chartPanel.write(fiis);
/*
        try {
			FileOutputStream file = new FileOutputStream(afile);
						
		} catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
			// TODO Auto-generated catch block
			e.printStackTrace();
		}*/

    }

    /**
     * Returns a sample dataset.
     * 
     * @return The dataset.
     */
    private CategoryDataset createDataset() {
        
        // row keys...
        final String series1 = "First";
        final String series2 = "Second";
        final String series3 = "Third";

        // column keys...
        final String category1 = "Month";
       // final String category2 = "Category 2";
       // final String category3 = "Category 3";
        //final String category4 = "Category 4";
        //final String category5 = "Category 5";

        // create the dataset...
        final DefaultCategoryDataset dataset = new DefaultCategoryDataset();

        dataset.addValue(1.0, series1, category1);
        //dataset.addValue(4.0, series1, category2);
        //dataset.addValue(3.0, series1, category3);
        //dataset.addValue(5.0, series1, category4);
        //dataset.addValue(5.0, series1, category5);

        dataset.addValue(5.0, series2, category1);
       // dataset.addValue(7.0, series2, category2);
       // dataset.addValue(6.0, series2, category3);
        //dataset.addValue(8.0, series2, category4);
        //dataset.addValue(4.0, series2, category5);

        dataset.addValue(4.0, series3, category1);
       // dataset.addValue(3.0, series3, category2);
        //dataset.addValue(2.0, series3, category3);
        //dataset.addValue(3.0, series3, category4);
        //dataset.addValue(6.0, series3, category5);
        
        return dataset;
        
    }
    
    /**
     * Creates a sample chart.
     * 
     * @param dataset  the dataset.
     * 
     * @return The chart.
     */
    private JFreeChart createChart(final CategoryDataset dataset) {
        
        // create the chart...
        final JFreeChart chart = ChartFactory.createBarChart(
            "Bar Chart Demo",         // chart title
            null,               // domain axis label
            "Amount",                  // range axis label
            dataset,                  // data
            PlotOrientation.VERTICAL, // orientation
            true,                     // include legend
            true,                     // tooltips?
            false                     // URLs?
        );

        // NOW DO SOME OPTIONAL CUSTOMISATION OF THE CHART...

        // set the background color for the chart...
      chart.setBackgroundPaint(Color.white);
      // chart.setBackgroundPaint(null);

        // get a reference to the plot for further customisation...
        final CategoryPlot plot = chart.getCategoryPlot();
        plot.setBackgroundPaint(Color.lightGray);
        plot.setDomainGridlinePaint(Color.white);
        plot.setRangeGridlinePaint(Color.white);

        // set the range axis to display integers only...
        final NumberAxis rangeAxis = (NumberAxis) plot.getRangeAxis();
        rangeAxis.setStandardTickUnits(NumberAxis.createIntegerTickUnits());

        // disable bar outlines...
        final BarRenderer renderer = (BarRenderer) plot.getRenderer();
        renderer.setDrawBarOutline(false);
        
        // set up gradient paints for series...
        final GradientPaint gp0 = new GradientPaint(
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.blue, 
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.lightGray
        );
        final GradientPaint gp1 = new GradientPaint(
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.blue, 
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.lightGray
        );
        final GradientPaint gp2 = new GradientPaint(
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.blue, 
            0.0f, 0.0f, Color.lightGray
        );
        renderer.setSeriesPaint(0, gp0);
        renderer.setSeriesPaint(1, gp1);
        renderer.setSeriesPaint(2, gp2);

        final CategoryAxis domainAxis = plot.getDomainAxis();
        domainAxis.setCategoryLabelPositions(
            CategoryLabelPositions.createUpRotationLabelPositions(Math.PI / 6.0)
        );
        // OPTIONAL CUSTOMISATION COMPLETED.
       // ChartUtilities.saveChartAsJPEG(afile,chart,400,600);
        return chart;
        
    } 
     
    
    // ****************************************************************************
    // * JFREECHART DEVELOPER GUIDE                                               *
    // * The JFreeChart Developer Guide, written by David Gilbert, is available   *
    // * to purchase from Object Refinery Limited:                                *
    // *                                                                          *
    // * http://www.object-refinery.com/jfreechart/guide.html                     *
    // *                                                                          *
    // * Sales are used to provide funding for the JFreeChart project - please    * 
    // * support us so that we can continue developing free software.             *
    // ****************************************************************************
    
    /**
     * Starting point for the demonstration application.
     *
     * @param args  ignored.
     */
    public static void main(final String[] args) {
    	IGHCommandlineOptions comopt= new IGHCommandlineOptions(args);
    	String igh_prop_file_str= comopt.propertyfile;    	
    	IGHLogWriter   logWriter    = new IGHLogWriter(igh_prop_file_str);
    	logWriter.writeProcessLog("INFO","Printing Bargraph");
        final IGHBargraph demo = new IGHBargraph("Bar Chart Demo"); 
        logWriter.writeProcessLog("INFO","Printed Bargraph");
        

    }

}
 

This code works fine and creates a jpeg on Windows OS.
But, this doesnot save when we run ON AIX. Basically, we need to save this on the server to do other operations.

[Ulf Dittmer]

What do you mean by "this does not save"? I don't see any code that would save anything to a file. It also doesn't use JFreeChart.

[Vamsi bhujanga]

Sorry i kept the wrong code initially. I have updated the previous post.

[Ulf Dittmer]

Make sure that the account used to run this code has access rights to whatever directory you're using on the server to write the file to (obviously, AIX does not have a "C:/" directory).

[Vamsi bhujanga]

As i mentioned in the post, some code is modified for some reasons. I have given the server location in place of C:/ directory.
Anyhow, here is the url which states that Adobe is discontinuing the SVG. Now, iam in search of any 3rd party tool which supports SVG on AIX.
Iam sure that some one would be working on this.Any help will be greatly appreciated.

http://www.adobe.com/svg/eol.html

Thanks in advance

[Ulf Dittmer]

As i mentioned in the post, some code is modified for some reasons.

Ah. Well, posting code that works to illustrate code that doesn't work is of limited usefulness.

I have given the server location in place of C:/ directory.

And that directory is accessible by the account the server runs under, and is not prohibited by a security policy?

Now, iam in search of any 3rd party tool which supports SVG on AIX.

You mentioned Batik before, but I don't quite understand why that didn't work out. Can you post the specific details of that?

[Vamsi bhujanga]

You mentioned Batik before, but I don't quite understand why that didn't work out. Can you post the specific details of that?

Batik is a bundled with FOP itself. We are even confused and struggling here in displaying SVG.
As i mentioned in my earlier post, SVG viewer is no longer supporting AIX.
Please suggest an alternate solution for this. Is there any 3rd party tool that can be useful to display chart on AIX OS.Iam searching for this kind of tool.Can anybody suggest me.

Thanks in advance.

[Ulf Dittmer]

I still think trying to figure out the problem with JFreeChart might get you a solution much quicker than resorting to SVG instead.

[Vamsi bhujanga]

I have copied the code of JFreeChart in my previous post (which iam using). What else can be updated in it? IS there anything incorrect or did i miss anything else??

Also,if everything is correct (iam sure it would be), what can be the alternate to save the image in the AIX?

Please suggest.

[Ulf Dittmer]

In my very first post in this topic I asked "Is the chart being created? If it is created, can you save it to disk? If you can save it to disk, is it a valid image file? If it is a valid image file, what stands between having a valid image file and displaying it?" I've yet to see any indication that you have tried to answer any of these.

Later on I wrote "And that directory is accessible by the account the server runs under, and is not prohibited by a security policy?" You haven't responded to that one, either.

[Vamsi bhujanga]

The chart is being created.
Iam able to save on the hard disk (on Windows OS).
It is a valid image

The same image when i tried to save on AIX server, it is restricting as i told in my above post.
Also, the directory where iam trying to save is not restricted on any security policy of the server.

Ulf Dittmer,
Hope, i answered to all the questions.

In my earlier post, i have mentioned that Adobe- no more supports SVG viewer. I am in search of 3rd party tool to save the image on the AIX. please suggest (Hope, my question is clear now).

[Ulf Dittmer]

The same image when i tried to save on AIX server, it is restricting as i told in my above post.
Also, the directory where iam trying to save is not restricted on any security policy of the server.

What does "it is restricting" mean? Is there an exception? If so, post the stack trace. I doubt that Java code can do file I/O operations that do not succeed, yet the JVM would not produce exceptions.