14 replies to this topic

[daehl]

All the charts in FusionCharts use the same printing code (defined in parent class) for printing - as such, there cannot be difference at code level in printing. The problem lies in the way the browser handles no-scaled FusionCharts movies. When you right click and print the chart, it's our code that does the printing.

Hi, Pallav.



Thanks for responding. But how do you explain the fact that I am getting significantly different printout scale results (between Example 1 & 2 above) while using the FusionCharts code to print and the only difference is the chart type? Based on your explanation above, there should be no difference in printout size, but there is!!! The first prints out about 25% larger than the second. Can you explain the reason?



Again, I am only using the right-click method to print the examples above, and they rescale on their own. Or are you getting different results somehow?

As of now, the only solution is to recompile the .fla files with the intended size

Can't the FusionCharts code be modified to compile the flash code to the size that corresponds to the chartWidth & chartHeight parameters? Or is that what you mean?

[Pallav]

Hi,



All the charts in FusionCharts use the same printing code (defined in parent class) for printing - as such, there cannot be difference at code level in printing. The problem lies in the way the browser handles no-scaled FusionCharts movies. When you right click and print the chart, it's our code that does the printing. But, when you select the print command from browser, the printing control moves out from chart to browser.



All the charts are exported at a fixed size and are dynamically resized at runtime to get charts of different sizes. This becomes a bottleneck when printing the charts using browser. As of now, the only solution is to recompile the .fla files with the intended size - it'll then print perfect on all platforms.

[daehl]

I've recently encountered the printing problems reported elsewhere with FusionCharts for FileMaker. I have been printing my charts using the "native print method" of right/control-clicking on the chart and choosing the Print... option. And I have been creating my charts to the exact size I want them to print, so no scaling should be occurring. Nevertheless, I am encountering lots of printing problems--mainly due to lots of unexpected scaling. The charts display just fine on screen, but either scale down a little, or up a lot when printed. I can't tell what the exact cause is, but I don't think the problem is browser or platform related since I am getting the exact same behavior when I view & print the charts via IE6 for Windows, Safari2 for Mac, or Firefox2 for Mac (btw--the Fusioncharts folder is hosted on a Mac with internet sharing enabled).



So far, the key to identifying the problem appears to be the Flash plug-in. Some charts print just fine, and others scale up and are clipped during printing (even when they are built to exact same chart dimensions). At first there didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, but I notice that I can now identify how the charts will print by choosing the Flash plug-in's "Show All" command in the same pop-up menu that appears when control/right-clicking on a chart.



Curiously, this strange scaling behavior can be directly affected by nothing more than the chart type choice. Here's a couple examples to illustrate this fact. The first one will not print properly (it scales to large and is clipped on the page when printed), but the second prints fine. The only difference is the chart type choice (Column2D vs Column3D). This leads me to believe the problem is in the Fusioncharts code itself.



Example 1: (This will not print properly)

?v=free&sep=;&chart=[chartType=Column2D;chartWidth=518;chartHeight=400]

&chartParams=[caption=Widgets Produced;subCaption=During last 22 shifts;

baseFontSize=9;formatNumber=0;yAxisMinValue=0;yAxisMaxValue=10;rotateNames=1;showhovercap=1;animation=0]

&labels=1/24;1/25;1/26;1/27;1/28;1/29;1/30;1/31;2/1;2/2;2/3

&data=[seriesName=AM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]0;1;1;2;4;2;3;4;6;2;4

&data=[seriesName=PM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]1;3;0;2;6;2;4;5;3;1;2

Example 2: (But this does print okay)

?v=free&sep=;&chart=[chartType=Column3D;chartWidth=518;chartHeight=400]

&chartParams=[caption=Widgets Produced;subCaption=During last 22 shifts;

baseFontSize=9;formatNumber=0;yAxisMinValue=0;yAxisMaxValue=10;rotateNames=1;showhovercap=1;animation=0]

&labels=1/24;1/25;1/26;1/27;1/28;1/29;1/30;1/31;2/1;2/2;2/3

&data=[seriesName=AM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]0;1;1;2;4;2;3;4;6;2;4

&data=[seriesName=PM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]1;3;0;2;6;2;4;5;3;1;2

Both of these charts are displayed in FMP web viewer objects sized to exactly 518x400, so there should be no scaling. Yet, I find interesting to note that the top example scales up to about 115% when choosing the "Show All" command, whereas the bottom example scales down to about 92% respectively. So it seems that the problem is somehow behind the scenes, and not controllable by settings in the URL parameter. My guess is there is a problem in the Fusioncharts java code somewhere that is not setting some scaling value properly--but that is a total hunch since I know nothing of java or flash code.



Anyway, after examining the Fusioncharts chart specifications, I decided to try adding some space to the chart margins in order to see if I could fudge a workaround. Sure enough, by adding extra padding, and chosing the "Show All" command, I could get the charts to print how I wanted, even though they display a bit display smaller on screen.



Example 3: (Same chart as Example 1, but it prints a lot better--though it displays a bit smaller on screen)

?v=free&sep=;&chart=[chartType=Column2D;chartWidth=518;chartHeight=400]

&chartParams=[caption=Widgets Produced;subCaption=During last 22 shifts;

baseFontSize=9;formatNumber=0;yAxisMinValue=0;yAxisMaxValue=10;rotateNames=1;showhovercap=1;animation=0;

chartRightMargin=80; chartBottomMargin=60]

&labels=1/24;1/25;1/26;1/27;1/28;1/29;1/30;1/31;2/1;2/2;2/3

&data=[seriesName=AM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]0;1;1;2;4;2;3;4;6;2;4

&data=[seriesName=PM;showname=1;showAnchors=1;showValues=1]1;3;0;2;6;2;4;5;3;1;2

Notice how the only change from the first example was the addition of:



chartRightMargin=80; chartBottomMargin=60



I arrived at these number by trial an error, maybe I'll find more of a correlation as I continue testing, but it appears that you can at least tame some of these out of control charts by adding some chartRightMargin & chartBottomMargin space.



I also noticed if a chart resizes (after chosing the contextual "Show All" command), it can be restored to it's original display size by selecting the "Rewind" contextual command, or by reloading the page when viewed in a web browser. Since I can't get this to occur with any other Flash objects, again I feel this points to Fusioncharts as the originator of this problem.



It would be nice if there was some definative answer as to why these charts resize when printed.

Can anyone on the Fusioncharts team investigate this further?







UPDATE- After some experimentation, it seems that there are specific chart sizes that do not rescale when printed. So far I have identified the following:



Bar2D ( width >= 400, height = 450 ) or ( width = 400, height >= 450 )

Column2D ( width >= 450, height = 350 ) or ( width = 450, height >= 350 )

Column3D & StackedColumn2D ( width >= 565, height = 420 ) or ( width = 565, height >= 420 )

Line2D ( width >= 565, height = 420 ) or ( width = 565, height >= 420 )

Pie2D & Pie3D ( width >= 350, height = 350 ) or ( width = 350, height >= 350 )



So for example, a Column2D chart sized to chartWidth=450;chartHeight=350 will display and print properly, but a Column2D chart of chartWidth=440;chartHeight=350 will shrink slightly when printed, and a Column2D chart of chartWidth=460;chartHeight=350 will become larger when printed.

[Pallav]

Hi,



I'm myself not sure why you are getting different results. Ideally, all charts (barring the bar charts, as they've different size .fla) should scale out the same way.



chartWidth and chartHeight are dynamic variables which are supplied at run-time. With noScale mode as the scaling mode, we render the chart according to this width/height. As such, the only method is to re-compile the .fla with document size as this size (during design time).

[daehl]

Hi, Pallav.



Did you try printing out the example charts I listed above? And if so, did you get the same results as I, or different?

I'm myself not sure why you are getting different results.

From your answer, I can't tell whether you're saying you just can't explain why they print out differently, or that you did print them out, but they instead printed the same exact size (different than my results).



I'm really impressed with FusionCharts so far, but printing is a huge problem. Unless I use the chart sizes I listed at the end of my original message above, the charts either reduce or enlarge--sometimes to the point they are not visible at all. That makes it very time-intensive (and is sometimes impossible) to control printed output--even when printing natively. Which is a real shame for this otherwise incredibly useful product.

[daehl]

:cool: I added information to my original posting. These are all chart dimensions that I have found to be "stable" when printing natively using Flash's contextual "Print..." command for charts created in FusionCharts Free for FMP. I have tested this in Safari2, FireFox2 and IE6 and they work for me.

Bar2D ( width >= 400, height = 450 ) or ( width = 400, height >= 450 )

Column2D ( width >= 450, height = 350 ) or ( width = 450, height >= 350 )

Column3D & StackedColumn2D ( width >= 565, height = 420 ) or ( width = 565, height >= 420 )

Line2D ( width >= 565, height = 420 ) or ( width = 565, height >= 420 )

Pie2D & Pie3D ( width >= 350, height = 350 ) or ( width = 350, height >= 350 )

If you choose numbers outside these ranges, the charts will resize. Larger numbers will cause the printouts to scale upwards (enlarge), smaller numbers will make them scale downwards (reduce). The larger the difference, the larger the scaling (my guess is it increases linearly, but I haven't tried to measure the scaling). You can preview the scaling without printing simply by choosing the contextual Flash command "Show All" after right-clicking (or control-clicking) on the chart itself.





I still wonder where these numbers come from. Does anyone on the FusionCharts team find them familiar?

Do the numbers: 350, 400, 420, 450 or 565 appear hardcoded as dimensions anywhere in the FusionCharts flash code for the respective charts?

[srividya_sharma]

Hi,

In the new Free version, there is a print button on the layout for chart. Try using that button on Mac + safari.

Srividya

[daehl]

Hi, Srividya.



I haven't had a chance to test it extensively. But so far I don't see a difference printing out of Safari 3.1.

[srividya_sharma]

Have you tried the new version of FusionCharts Free For FileMaker?

There are some fixes made in this version for printing.

Srividya

[andries]

Thanks for this post. We encounter the same problems... but indeed with the margins given in the first post, we could work around some problems. But still... if we want to print on a poster... it will not work :-) and this method implies many limitations on the printing capabilities...



Thanks !

[daehl]

andries (5/30/2008) Thanks for this post. We encounter the same problems... but indeed with the margins given in the first post, we could work around some problems. But still... if we want to print on a poster... it will not work :-) and this method implies many limitations on the printing capabilities...

Yes, in my experience, FusionCharts (including FCFF version 2) has severe limits on it's printing capabilities.



It is possible to print fairly large printouts of single charts. I regularly print charts on tabloid paper (11"x17"). The results aren't perfect, but are pretty good. The trick is to pick the correct chart size that match the output proportions. And as long as you print using the built-in flash engine it looks okay (though rasterization becomes more evident the larger you go, even when using the built-in Flash print method.)



So for example, if I wanted to print a 3d Column chart in landscape orientation on 11"x17" paper, I'd want to choose a resolution that doesn't re-size.



Column3D ( width >= 565, height = 420 ) or ( width = 565, height >= 420 )



So the proportions I'd choose to exactly fit this size would be: width = 649, height 420. (which is the same proportion as 17x11)



And I might choose 6 point type so the type doesn't look too large

?v=Free&chart=[chartWidth=649;chartHeight=420;]]&chartParams=[caption=Sample Chart;baseFontSize=6;]&data=10;20;30;40&labels=Label 1;Label 2;Label 3;Label 4

This biggest downside is that choosing a specific chart size becomes very limiting when designing database layouts. You're stuck using only a single chart size based on the specific output size you're targetting. It is possible to create separate layouts exclusively for printing. And, yes, that can be a lot of hassle and maintenance.



Much, much worse, is trying to print a combination of charts on a single sheet at high resolution. That's almost impossible and is, in my opinion, the most significant limitation for fully utilizing FusionCharts (and possibly any Flash-based solution). There's just no good way to do it, and even the best workarounds I've found are nightmares.

[daehl]

Well, I've tried using the "Print" button included with the FusionCharts FFM v2 sample databases, and they aren't even printing properly in FileMaker Pro 9 (Mac), not to mention Safari 3.1 via IWP.



Same behavior as before with v1. Only the dimensions I listed above print without re-scaling uncontrollably.



I don't mean to be rude, but don't you FusionCharts developers have a Mac you can test printing these on?

[vr_driver]

Hi all, I have submitted a bug report to Mozilla regarding this, so hopefully it will be actioned in future version of FF.

Steve



FYI

https://bugzilla.moz...g.cgi?id=498259

[saptarshi]

Hello,



Hey, thanks so much for posting the bug on the Bugzilla forum.



Hopefully this will be looked in to now.

[jhning]

Ahhh i'm encountering the same issue. I'm using Safari browser on a mac too.

The weird thing is that only if FCF charts are used and following the print standards kindly posted by daehl, i get a decent print.



FusionCharts v3 i purchased apparently will have scaling issues regardless whether i conform to certain sizing of the width and height.

(Needless to say, i'd prefer to use v3 since i've purchased it but its giving me printing issues. I'd like to avoid exporting the chart as an image)



Any ideas why could this be happening??