NAME
    DBD::Chart - DBI driver abstraction for Rendering Charts and Graphs

SYNOPSIS
            $dbh = DBI->connect('dbi:Chart:')
                or die "Cannot connect: " . $DBI::errstr;
            #
            #       create file if it deosn't exist, otherwise, just open
            #
            $dbh->do('CREATE TABLE mychart (name CHAR(10), ID INTEGER, value FLOAT)')
                    or die $dbh->errstr;

            #       add data to be plotted
            $sth = $dbh->prepare('INSERT INTO mychart VALUES (?, ?, ?)');
            $sth->bind_param(1, 'Values');
            $sth->bind_param(2, 45);
            $sth->bind_param(3, 12345.23);
            $sth->execute or die 'Cannot execute: ' . $sth->errstr;

            #       and render it
            $sth = $dbh->prepare('SELECT BARCHART FROM mychart');
            $sth->execute or die 'Cannot execute: ' . $sth->errstr;
            @row = $sth->fetchrow_array;
            print $row[0];

            # delete the chart
            $sth = $dbh->prepare('DROP TABLE mychart')
                    or die "Cannot prepare: " . $dbh->errstr;
            $sth->execute or die 'Cannot execute: ' . $sth->errstr;

            $dbh->disconnect;

WARNING
    THIS IS BETA SOFTWARE.

DESCRIPTION
    The DBD::Chart provides a DBI abstraction for rendering pie charts, bar
    charts, box&whisker charts (aka boxcharts), histograms, Gantt charts,
    and line, point, and area graphs.

    For detailed usage information, see the included the dbdchart.html
    manpage webpage. See the DBI(3) manpage for details on DBI. See the
    GD(3) manpage, the GD::Graph(3) manpage for details about the graphing
    engines.

  Prerequisites

    Perl 5.6.0 minimum
    DBI 1.14 minimum
    DBD::Chart::Plot 0.73 (included with this package)
    GD X.XX minimum
    GD::Text X.XX minimum
    libpng
    zlib
    libgd
    jpeg-6b
  Installation

    For Windows users, use WinZip or similar to unpack the file, then copy
    Chart.pm to wherever your site-specific modules are kept (usually
    \Perl\site\lib\DBD for ActiveState Perl installations). Also create a
    'Chart' directory in the DBD directory, and copy the Plot.pm module to
    the new directory. Note that you won't be able to execute the install
    test with this, but you need a copy of 'nmake' and all its libraries to
    run that anyway. I may whip up a PPM in the future.

    For Unix, extract it with

        gzip -cd DBD-Chart-0.73.tar.gz | tar xf -

    and then enter the following:

        cd DBD-Chart-0.73
        perl Makefile.PL
        make

    You can test the installation by running

            make test

    this will render a bunch of charts and an HTML page to view them with.
    Assuming the test completes successfully, you should use a web browser
    to view the file t/plottest.html and verify the images look reasonable.

    If tests succeed, proceed with installation via

        make install

    Note that you probably need root or administrator permissions. If you
    don't have them, read the ExtUtils::MakeMaker man page for details on
    installing in your own directories. the ExtUtils::MakeMaker manpage.

FOR MORE INFO
    Check out http://www.presicient.com/dbdchart with your favorite browser.
    It includes all the usage information.

AUTHOR AND COPYRIGHT
    This module is Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by Presicient Corporation

        Email: darnold@presicient.com

    You may distribute this module under the terms of the Artistic License,
    as specified in the Perl README file.

SEE ALSO
    the DBI(3) manpage

    For help on the use of DBD::Chart, see the DBI users mailing list:

      dbi-users-subscribe@perl.org

    For general information on DBI see

      http://www.symbolstone.org/technology/perl/DBI

