amCharts & amMap blog

We just released the new version of amStock 1.2.1.0 [Download]

New features

• A new setting, <update_on_release_only> was added to <scroller> settings group. If you set it to true, the chart will not update while dragging or resizing scrollbar. The view will be updated only when you release mouse button. This is useful if you work with large data sets and want to make your chart work faster.
• Stripping unnecessary symbols from your data
  A new setting, <strip_symbols> was added to <csv> settings group. For example:
  <data_sets>
     <data_set>
        <csv>
           <strip_symbols>",</strip_symbols>
  Means the data parser will strip all " and , from your data before parsing.
• The chart can be scrolled with mouse wheel. Note, the chart must have focus (click once on the chart) in order this feature to work. This feature will not work if wmode is set to transparent or opaque (in your HTML).

We are happy to announce the release of the new version of amCharts Flex Components. The following features were added since the first release:

• candlestick and OHLC (open/high/low/close) graph types are now supported.
• negativeLineColor and negativeFillColors styles added to AmGraph. These styles allow coloring of negative part of line graph or negative columns with different color.
• Cartesian charts can be scrolled and zoomed with mouse wheel.
• Cartesian charts now support rotated axis values.
• Columns can now have rounded corners.
• Custom bullets can be used.
• Cartesian charts now support guides – both vertical and horizontal.

These are all main features we planned to add to Cartesian chart component until the final release.  We plan to add XY and Radar charts to the component set before the end of 2009.

We’ve updated our ASP.NET Controls for amCharts to support new features of 1.6.4.0 version of flash components. A couple of bugs were fixed along the way. Here’s a change log:

• FEATURES ADDED: XyChart: FillColor, FillAlpha and MinMax properties added
• FEATURE ADDED: ColumnChart: ColumnHoverColor property added.
• FEATURE ADDED: ColumnChart: ColumnCornerRadiusTop and ColumnCornerRadiusBottom properties added
• BUGFIX: PreloaderForeColor and PreloaderBackgroundColor where not rendered properly when using know color names (Black, White, etc.)
• BUGFIX: PieChart: when custom Colors where not set and AppendSettingsToExternal property was set to true, custom colors in external settings file where overridden by defaults
• BUGFIX: LineChart: YRightGridXxx settings were not applied unless some non-default setting was set on the YLeftGridXxx

Download ASP.NET Controls for amCharts.

We have just released new versions of all the charts in amCharts Bundle (Column & Bar, Line & Area, Pie & Donut, Scatter & Bubble, Radar & Polar charts) [Download]

Heres a scoop of what’s been added:

Column & Bar Chart

• FEATURE ADDED:

  Column corner radius

  Now columns can have rounded corners. Two different settings allow you specify different corner radiuses for columns top and bottom. You can also set the roundness in percents:

  <column>
     <corner_radius_top>100%</corner_radius_top>
     <corner_radius_bottom>8</corner_radius_bottom>

  [Sample]

• FEATURE ADDED:

  Roll-over color for the columns. Previously you could only set the roll-over
  brightness. Now you can set a color to which the column will change when user rolls-over the column:
  <column>
    <hover_color>#CC0000</hover_color>

Scatter & Plot (XY) Chart

• FEATURE ADDED
  New settings added to the <graph>:
  <fill_color> – sets the fill color of the graph. Note, the fill will work differently then in Line chart – it won’t fill the area between graph and axis, but rather fill the shape of the graph.
  <fill_alpha>  – sets fill opacity.
  <min_max> – you can tell the chart that it shouldn’t include graphs values when calculating min and max of the chart.
  The settings above allows you to simulate guides, draw colored areas on your chart. Check bulls_eye example to see this in action. [Sample]

All Charts 

• FEATURE ADDED
  amReturnParam function also returns the param name:
  amReturnParam(chart_id, value, param);

We have just released new version of amStock 1.2.0.0 [Download]

FEATURES ADDED:

• Columns can now have rounded corners – thanks to the new setting for <graph>:<corner_radius>.
  You can set corner radius in pixels or in percents. For example, 100%. (However from usability side we don’t recommend doing this).
• The chart can display balloon with data set’s title when user rolls-over the legend item. This is convenient when you have short data set name in the legend and want to see the full name on roll-over. To enable this feature, set <chart><legend><show_balloon> to true.
• Possibility to set <bg_alpha> (background opacity) for period_selector buttons.
• An additional parameter is passed to amGetZoom function – period. It tells which period is currently used (if the chart groups data). So now the the chart calls this function and passes: amGetZoom(chart_id, from, to, period).
• amReturnParam function also returns the param name: amReturnParam(chart_id, value, param);

We are proud to introduce you a brand new product – amCharts Flex Components.

amCharts Flex Components is a set of native components which can be used both in Adobe Flex and Air applications. The example application you can see above was creating using Adobe Flex and amCharts Flex Components.

Supported chart types
Current version of amCharts Flex Components supports two main base chart types: pie (donut) and Cartesian charts. The latter can display a number of different charts including lines, step lines, smoothed lines and columns. All of these can be stacked or 100% stacked. The chart can be rotated by 90 degrees so columns can became bars. We will be adding additional types in the upcoming months.

Main features

• can accept and parse date/time-based data and display data points as well as data at custom/irregular intervals
• zooming
• scrolling
• any number of value axes
• logarithmic scale
• can be rotated by 90 degrees
• reversed value axis
• chart legend can hide/show chart items
• and a lot more…

Roadmap
The components are currently in beta stage. The plan is to release final version by the end of 2009. The following chart types will be added during this period: candlestick, ohlc, xy/bubble and radar/polar.
While charts are in beta phase, you can purchase them with a 30% discount. This is a good opportunity to test our next generation product early as well take advantage of the lower price offering. You will receive final version as well as any other minor versions released after that for free.
amStock Flex Component will be released in the first half of the 2010. As it is with our regular Flash-based charts it will be a separate product sold separately and not included in our basic chart package (amCharts Flex Components).

Differences from amCharts bundle
Users already using amCharts Bundle might ask – is amCharts Flex Components just a port to support Adobe Flex? The answer is no. amCharts Flex Components is a complete rewrite of our charts and are true native Adobe Flex components that bring all the easiness and development power Flex framework and Flex Builder has to offer. Furthermore the new charts are more powerful and feature-rich than current versions of our Flash-based charts.

Free usage
As with all other products from amCharts, you can use amCharts Flex Components for free. The only limitation of the free version is that a small link to this web site will be displayed in the top left corner of your charts.

Visit amCharts Flex components web site

We just released amStock v. 1.1.8.0. [Download]

New features

Stock chart now supports milliseconds.

You can exclude the graph when calculating min and max values for the axis if you set <min_max>false</min_max> for this graph.

Fixed bugs

When all graphs of an axis are hidden, the grid lines and values of the axis dissapear.

Calling removeGraph() does not remove all the traces of the graph. (legend entries as well as Y-axis remains)

When redraw=true chart is resized properly but reverts to original width/height when rebuild() is called.

We have just released an updated version of ASP.NET controls for amCharts. This release (1.6.3.0) includes all the new features of amCharts bundle 1.6.3.0. See the change log below for details.

Download ASP.NET Controls for amCharts.

Changes in ASP.NET Controls for amCharts version 1.6.3.0:

• FEATURE ADDED: XY chart: added ZoomDisableAxis property. You can disable vertical or horizontal zoom. Set x to disable horizontal and y to disable vertical zoom.
• FEATURE ADDED: XY chart: added global BulletMaxSize and BulletMinSize properties.
• FEATURE ADDED: all charts: added ScientificMax and ScientificMin properties. These properties control limits when chart starts displaying values in scientific notation.
• FEATURE ADDED: all charts: added JsEnabled property. In case you don’t use any flash – JavaScript communication, you should set this setting to false – this will save some CPU and will disable the security warning message which appears when opening the chart from hard drive.
• FEATURE ADDED: Column chart, Line chart: ValuesDuration (column chart) and YLeftValuesDuration/YRightValuesDuration (line chart) properties added. In case you want your axis to display formatted durations instead of numbers, you have to set the unit of the duration in your data. For example, if your values in data represents seconds, set “ss” here.
• FEATURED ADDED: Column, Line and XY charts: added PercentileMargins property. When it’s set to true margin settings are treated as percentile values.
• BUGFIX: LineChart: DataLabelFormatString wasn’t sent to the flash controls in LineChartGraph