Reviewer`s Guide
Transcription
Reviewer`s Guide
Reviewer’s Guide PopChart 4.0 Interactive Charting Software Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 © 2002 Corda Technologies Inc. Corda and PopChart are trademarks of and the Corda logo is a registered trademark of Corda Technologies Inc. for use in the United States and other countries. Other product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The information contained in this document was examined carefully and is believed to be accurate as of its date of publication. ii Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Contact References For publication in your story For information on PopChart, send your readers to www.corda.com. NOT for publication; For use by editors only Press relations contact: Cheryl Snapp Meservy Wing Snapp Agency 508 S. Orem Blvd. Orem, UT 84058 E-mail: csnapp@mwsagency.com Phone: (801) 434-4440 Fax: (801) 434-4441 Technical support contact: Mardell Cheney Vice President of Development & Chief Technology Officer Corda Technologies, Inc. 350 South 400 West, Suite 100 Lindon, UT 84042 E-mail: mcheney@corda.com Phone: (801) 805-9420 Fax: (801) 805-9405 Marketing contact: Richard Lambert Director of Marketing Corda Technologies, Inc. 350 South 400 West, Suite 100 Lindon, UT 84042 E-mail: rlambert@corda.com Phone: (801) 805-9431 Fax: (801) 805-9405 iii Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Table of Contents Part 1: All About PopChart ....................................................................................1 What Does PopChart Do? .................................................................................1 How Does It Work? ...........................................................................................3 The PopChart Platform......................................................................................4 Server Products .............................................................................................4 Desktop Design Tool Products.......................................................................5 What do Users Need to Interact With Charts?...................................................5 What’s New in PopChart 4.0? ...........................................................................5 Reader Info Box ................................................................................................6 Part 2: Building a PopChart ..................................................................................7 Installing PopChart 4.0 ......................................................................................7 Hands-On Exercise of PopChart .......................................................................7 Appearance Files ............................................................................................10 What Kinds of Charts Are Available? ............................................................... 11 Which Image Format? .....................................................................................12 Best Image Fallback........................................................................................13 Getting the Image Into a Web Page ................................................................13 Building a Chart With Dynamic Data ...............................................................14 Part 3: Serving Sight-Impaired Users..................................................................15 Additional Materials.............................................................................................17 PopChart Pricing .............................................................................................18 Differences Among PopChart Server Products ...............................................19 About Corda Technologies Inc.........................................................................20 Press Release .................................................................................................21 iv Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 A Note To Product Reviewers This brief guide provides information to help you publish a review of PopChart 4.0. We hope you’ll find it useful; we’d like your feedback and look forward to your published review. Additional resources are available to assist you with your review. The best place to go is the PopChart Documentation, which you will find on your Windows Start menu after installing the PopChart software. Detailed examples with extensive code samples and explanations can be found there. Additionally, many examples are located on Corda’s Web site, at www.corda.com. v Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Part 1: All About PopChart Your review of PopChart will likely address two questions: what is it and who needs it? PopChart is currently in use in hundreds of locations. Corda believes that PopChart Server is the fastest, most robust, and most versatile data visualization and charting tool on the market today. Key Editorial Statement PopChart helps decision-makers see the big picture and the close-up view of their data by presenting up-to-the-second charts that are one click away from ever-greater levels of detail. Here’s a more practical way of looking at PopChart: • Medical researchers can track incidence rates of different cancers nationwide and drill down to state, county and city levels. Visit cas.popchart.com/cancer to see this remarkable application in action. • Financial analysts can view a historical stock chart and click on a red notation point to instantly display related news stories for the corresponding day. Go to cas.popchart.com/reuters to see this chart; be sure to try different stock symbols to prove that you’re looking at up-to-the-minute share price and volume data. Analysts can also retrieve data from another Web site using “screen scraping” to retrieve HTML tables that are converted to interactive charts. Go to www.corda.com/examples/go/stock. Once again enter different stock symbols to see up to the minute stock information. • A worldwide overnight express-delivery service analyzes tardy package deliveries by distribution center, and drills down first to branch depot and then individual truck/driver performance. • Sales managers can view aggregate sales data for all stores in a region and then drill down to see which items sell best by location and date. • Visit www.corda.com/examples/go/sports/jp_baseball.cfm to see PopChart’s internal support for international languages. What Does PopChart Do? PopChart displays realtime charts. But these aren’t static run-of-the-mill images. These are dynamic, interactive images that you click on to drill down to more detailed data. What’s really exciting is that PopChart Server generates these charts and graphs in real time, on the fly, using up-to-the-instant current data. 1 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Note: We’ll present some examples in this guide, but because PopChart is a realtime interactive platform, the best way to see them is in actual operation. We’ll provide you with URLs to some live demos. The best way to understand PopChart is to see an example. You can find the interactive Web version of this demo at www.corda.com/examples. The sales director for Acme Foods views a realtime interactive PopChart-generated pie chart that shows different categories contribution to total sales. Using the mouse to hover over different chart segments causes each department’s label and total sales to pop up. A mouse click on the green seafood segment drills down to the next level of detail. This second level of detail shows the items that constitute the seafood category and their relative overall contribution to sales. 2 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Again, a mouse hover highlights individual items along with their sales figures. A click on the lobster bar drills down yet again to more detail about that item. This level of detail shows lobster sales as a line graph plotted over time. Looks like sales peaked as summer drew to a close. You’ve just seen a simple example of PopChart 4.0. How Does It Work? You send three items to the PopChart server: data, a PopChart appearance file (kind of like a template for a graph), and formatting options. In return you get a PopChart image—a graphical representation of your data. But there’s more: that chart is fully interactive—complete with pop-up text and the ability to drill down to another graph that explains a data item in greater detail. And depending on the data set used, you can keep drilling down to deeper level of details. Data Sources: Data can come from a variety of sources, including a database table query, XML, data files formatted text, or previously generated HTML screens that are “scraped” for appropriate fields, and more. Output Formats: The image can be in one of many different types of formats, including FLASH, SVG, PNG, GIF, PDF, EPS, WBMP, and even 508-compliant text for the visually impaired (more on that later in this guide). You can also interface natively with PopChart Server in variety of environments, from simple HTML to Cold Fusion to a Java Application Server. PopChart Server even supports XML, making it easy to integrate with your existing database system. 3 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 The PopChart Platform Corda developed PopChart as a family of related products that work together as a complete system. These component products are divided into two groups, server products and client desktop design tool products. Here is a quick overview of the entire family of PopChart 4.0 products. Key Editorial Statement PopChart Server is written in 100% Java and can run on any platform. Server Products PopChart Server is Corda’s basic charting and graphing solution that works with any database and Web application server to deliver GIF/PNG charts and graphs to any Web browser in a split second. PopChart Server Pro, the next step up, is a feature-rich charting and graphing solution that accepts data from any database and delivers the chart to any browser. Server Pro can auto-detect the browser capability and delivers the highest-quality image the browser is capable of displaying. Server Pro contains all the features of PopChart Server with many additional elements, including Flash and SVG image output. PopChart Server Enterprise is the premier solution in the server-based charting and graphing market. PopChart Server Enterprise has all of the benefits of PopChart Server Pro with many additional features. Enterprise is capable of delivering huge volumes of interactive, compelling charts and graphs from any database and Web application server to any browser. • A feature comparison chart for the three server products can be found on page 19. PopChart Live is a Java applet that displays interactive, client-generated charts and graphs. The PopChart Live applet takes raw data and applies it to a PopChart template to generate a graph on the client’s Web browser in real time. PopChart Live works on all Java enabled browsers and graphs data from any database. 4 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Desktop Design Tool Products PopChart Builder is a graphical design tool with a user-friendly interface for building appearance files for use by all PopChart Server products. PopChart Builder’s wizard allows you to start with a pre-built template or create your own highly-customized chart or graph. You can preview the Web page appearance in Builder and you can create drill-down, pop-up and note text objects for testing. PopChart Express is an easy to use desktop tool that allows you to create compelling, interactive charts and graphs by simply copying and pasting data from a spreadsheet. Publish your GIF, Flash or SVG charts to the Web with descriptive text attached that enables the visually impaired to understand the data. Drop the same graphs into a PowerPoint presentation for fully-interactive presentations. Reduce the tedious, timeconsuming hassles in moving spreadsheet graphs to the Web. What do Users Need to Interact With Charts? No special application needs to be installed on individual users’ computers. However, PCs or Macs need to have the appropriate plug-ins to view Flash, SVG, or PNG content within their Web browsers. What’s New in PopChart 4.0? PopChart 4.0 is a complete, from-the-ground-up, reworking of the PopChart platform. It is hard to believe that with all of the great features such as Flash, SVG, GIF, PNG, and WBMP image output, descriptive text for 508 compliance, drilldown, pop-up and rollover and blazing speed that there is still more to add. Here are the top new features in PopChart 4.0. 5 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 New Feature Highlights • • • • • • • • • • • • Server failover, server clustering, load balancing Security enhancements PDF, EPS and HTML table output for printed output International language support, such as Chinese, Japanese Custom font support XML and .NET support HTML-based administrator console eliminates server restarts Graphical reporting tracks hits per hour and per day Static annotations can be generated dynamically with the chart. Wizard template creator with preview simplifies chart design Creates 508-compliant charts for visually impaired users Many new graph types Reader Info Box If your review will carry a reader info box, here is information that you can use. Reader Info Box In brief PopChart 4.0 is a powerful business tool that creates graphs and charts in real time, with live data, and makes those charts interactive, allowing users to click, drilling down to successive layers of detail. Base Price PopChart Server, $1,595; Server Pro, $3,995; Server Enterprise, $6,995; PopChart Live, $995; PopChart Builder, $395; PopChart Xpress, $295 Note: Server products and Live include Builder product. Accessories Additional server and multi-CPU licensing available. Warranty Server products and Live include varying levels of first-year renewable maintenance; Vendor Corda Technologies Inc. Lindon, Utah Web site www.corda.com 6 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Part 2: Building a PopChart Installing PopChart 4.0 To do your review of the PopChart platform, you’ll want to install two items: • PopChart Enterprise Server • PopChart Builder Desktop Design Tool To keep things simplified, we suggest that you install the server and client on the same computer. During the installation process, you will be prompted for two software keys, one for the Builder product and the other for the Server product. The Installation will ask if you want to install a Java virtual machine (JVM) specifically for PopChart, or share one already on your computer. We suggest you install a new one; this will avoid problems when you uninstall PopChart after completion of your review. Hands-On Exercise of PopChart In this procedure, you’ll create a simple chart using the PopChart Builder, then you’ll start the server so you can view the live chart in your browser. This exercise should take about ten minutes. 1. Start PopChart Builder. The Wizard appears. Choose Create New Project From a Template and click Next. 7 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 2. Select a template and click Next. There are lots to choose from. Four template families, exist: Basic, Everglades, etc.. Twelve chart types (pie charts, etc.) are in each family. Each chart type contains several individual layouts. 3. In the Data Selection Window, change any values you’d like. In a more complex application, data will probably be retrieved using a database query. • You can copy data from most spreadsheet programs or table formats and paste it directly into the data editor. • Usually, when you create an appearance file, the data in this screen is irrelevant—it’s there only to help you visualize a completed graph. Normally. the appearance file is used to graph data that is sent to it dynamically. 4. Choose a color theme and make any wanted changes to the border and background. Click Finish to leave the PopChart Wizard and go to the PopChart Builder designer. If you were creating a more complex appearance file, you could continue to customize it in this designer. 5. Save this Appearance File to the default directory as chart1.pcxml. 8 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Next, you’ll create the code needed to embed your chart on a Web page. 6. From the menu, choose File > Sample Code > Java. 7. Choose an image type (GIF, Flash, SVG). Select JavaScript, then click Copy Code to Clipboard. Note: Best image fallback queries the user’s browser and presents the graph in a “fallback” format if, say, you choose Flash and it is not installed or supported. 8. Open any text editor, such as Notepad, and paste the code from the clipboard. 9. Save the code to any directory as chart1.html. Most of the time you will want to add dynamic data and/or special effects to your graph. • Normally, you would add dynamic data and/or special effects to your graph. 10. Close PopChart Builder and start PopChart Server. 9 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 11. Use your browser to open the chart1.html file you just saved. That’s all there is to it! Note: The “D” at the bottom right of the chart is a key feature of PopChart 4.0. Click on it. When you click the “D,” PopChart renders the chart as descriptive text which can be read to a sightimpaired user. PopChart 4.0 is 100 percent compliant with Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1998. Read the section in this guide, “Serving SightImpaired Users.” Appearance Files Granted, this was a simple example, but it demonstrates that a chart’s appearance and data are completely separate. This is similar to the way a wordprocessing or page-layout program uses style sheets or templates. In PopChart, these are called Appearance Files. All charts that reference a particular appearance file, are updated the very next time they are requested by a user. Key Editorial Statement Charts and graphs in PopChart are NEVER cached. Images are always built, served, and displayed on request with live, current data. 10 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Appearance files can be built from scratch, or you can customize one from a template using the PopChart Wizard (as in the previous exercise). You can also create custom templates. What Kinds of Charts Are Available? Of course bar, pie, line, and area charts are available. But PopChart 4.0 also supports many unusual—and remarkably useful charts. Here are four examples. For the complete set, visit www.corda.com/examples/graph_styles. Bubble graphs display sets of three values. One is represented by its location on the x-axis, one by its y-axis location, and the third by its value, represented by its relative size. Bubbles can be plotted against time or X values . Candlestick stock graphs use boxes to indicate open and close prices, and lines to show highs and lows. (If the open price is higher, the box is solid. If the close price is higher, the box is hollow.) 11 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 LED Bar Gauges change color to indicate whether the monitored data is within defined limits. Colors can be selected to suit the application such as green for ok, yellow for caution and red for alarm. Bulb Gauges change color to indicate whether the monitored data is within defined limits. Colors can be selected to suit the application such as green for ok, yellow for caution, and red for alarm. Which Image Format? PopChart can create graphics in a wide variety of standard graphics formats. For best image quality, Corda recommend that serving PopChart images in the Macromedia Flash or SVG formats. • Flash1 and SVG2: These are the preferred formats. 1 Flash is a vector graphic image type developed by Macromedia and is widely used in Web sites. Flash images are small, load quickly and have interactive capabilities such as drill-down, rollover, and PopUp text. Flash images print at a high resolution. A Flash viewer is required to view a Flash image. It is estimated that more than 96% of Internet users already have the proper Flash viewer. For additional information on Flash, visit www.macromedia.com/software/flash. 2 SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is a new image format created and adopted by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) as the standard for vector graphic images. Based on XML, SVG images can be zoomed in and out without losing any details and have smaller file size than do JPEG, GIF, Flash, or PNG images. SVG makes possible high-resolution printing, animation, drill down, rollover, and pop up text along with other special effects. SVG is an open standard. Adobe is promoting SVG and bundles the SVG viewer with 12 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 • PDF and EPS: Images in these formats allow no interactivity. Drill-down, rollover data labels, transparency, and PopUp text are not available. • PNG: Interactivity in PNG is supported via image-maps. Some older browsers may not support drill-down effects, rollover data labels, and PopUp text. Also, feedback will be slow: it may take up to 2 seconds for rollover data labels or PopUp text to appear. • GIF: This format support only 256 colors, not good if your charts use lots of gradient coloring. Interactivity is supported via image-maps and has the same issues as PNG. • WBMP: Wireless BitMaP is the standard image format for wireless devices that use WAP (Wireless Application Protocol). WBMP's are uncompressed, black and white bitmaps that are intended for use on devices with small screens and limited bandwidth connections. Color is not supported and images should be no larger than 96 x 48 pixels. Best Image Fallback Great, so with all these image formats, how do you decide what to do if a user’s browser doesn’t have the appropriate plug-in? With PopChart’s Best Image Fallback facility, you can instruct the user's browser to decide dynamically what image format to display. For example, the user will see the PopChart image in GIF format if they don't have the Flash or SVG plug-in. Getting the Image Into a Web Page In the earlier exercise, you generated JavaScript code that you later saved and opened as a Web page. This was an introduction to the PopChart Embedder, a utility used to embed PopChart images into Web pages. There are several versions of this utility, including Java, JavaBeans, JavaScript, COM, and .NET. You could embed PopChart images on a Web page using straight HTML code, but writing and maintaining such code can be very tedious and confusing. The PopChart Embedder generates the code and does all the hard work for you. All you have to do is create a PopChart Embedder object, set a few attributes, and then call the getEmbeddingHTML() method. The getEmbeddingHTML() method then "compiles" your PopChart and returns the code necessary to request an image of the PopChart from PopChart Server. Acrobat 5.0. However, many users do not yet have the plug-in and will have to download it before they can view PopChart Images in the SVG format. Visit www.adobe.com/svg/ for additional information. 13 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 For detailed examples with code samples refer to the chapter “Embedding PopChart Images in a Web Page” in the PopChart Server User Guide. Building a Chart With Dynamic Data Key Editorial Point The most important part of a graph is its data. PopChart Server's most powerful feature is its ability to import live, dynamic data into a PopChart image every time that image is requested by a user. Charts are never cached. When live data replaces an appearance file’s sample data, PopChart Server has the power to automatically rescale, resize, and reposition objects as necessary. PopChart Server accepts many different data formats. For example, developers can use a Web application to make SQL queries to a database, process the results, and output the data in a format compatible with PopChart XML or PopChart Script. Four strategies are available: • Sending Data with PopChart XML, a new XML format for interfacing with PopChart • Sending Data with PopChart Script, an object oriented scripting language • Importing Data from Data Files, including tab-delimited, comma-separated, and XML data files, as well as HTML tables within web pages. • Importing Data Directly from Databases, fetching data with SQL queries from OBDC/JBDC driven databases. To see the embedder in action and follow a real example, consult the chapter “Embedding PopChart Images In A Web Page” in the PopChart Server User Guide. Code Fragments are available if you plan to examine the more advanced aspects of PopChart 4.0. • Web App Servers: www.corda.com/devzone/technical/ • Data Sources: www.corda.com/devzone/data_method/ Chart types are available at: www.corda.com/examples/graph_styles/ 14 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Part 3: Serving Sight-Impaired Users Corda Technologies recognizes the importance of providing equal access to information for users who are visually impaired—and the federal government has made it the law of the land for federal employees. Key Editorial Statement Corda is the first and only company providing multiple charting and graphing solutions that create accessible, 508-compliant charts and graphs with descriptive text3. The descriptive text can be used by a text-to-speech device to audibly describe the chart or graph. The result: a visually impaired user can understand the graphical information. The descriptive text feature is present throught the the PopChart family of charting and graphing solutions. Section 508: Fast Facts • • • 800,000 visually impaired persons currently use the Web 6.5 million Americans age 55 or older have severe vision loss By 2030 this number will double Source: Corda Section 508: Federal Policy Section 508 requires that Federal agencies electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities. Source: www.section508.gov 3 As of March 31, 2002. 15 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Although the Workforce Investment Act of 19984 applies only to federal organizations, many private organizations are also realizing the need to provide a method for visually impaired users to access important data. 4 On August 7, 1998, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, Public Law 105-220. Title IV of the Act is the Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998. Subsection 408(b) amended section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 794d). Subsection 508(a)(1) requires that when Federal departments and agencies develop, procure, maintain, or use Electronic and Information Technology (EIT), they shall ensure that the EIT allows Federal employees with disabilities to have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by other Federal employees. Section 508 also requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from a Federal department or agency, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public without disabilities. The Rehabilitation Act became federal law on June 21, 2001. For more information, visit www.section508.gov. 16 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Additional Materials 17 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 PopChart Pricing • • PopChart Server Enterprise is licensed per server and CPU. PopChart Builder is licensed per developer. Features of PopChart 4.0 Server Products PopChart Server 4.0 Foundation Includes PopChart Server and PopChart Builder 1 year Maintenance PopChart Server Pro 4.0 Foundation Includes PopChart Server Pro and PopChart Builder 1 year Maintenance PopChart Server Enterprise 4.0 Foundation Includes PopChart Server Enterprise and PopChart Builder 1 year Maintenance PopChart Live 3.8 Foundation Includes PopChart Live and PopChart Live Builder 1 year Support Price. $1,595 2 CPU $3,995 2 CPU $6,995 4 CPU $995 $395 PopChart Builder 4.0 PopChart Xpress 3.5 Includes one year free support (30 days via telephone and email, following 11 months via email) 18 $295 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Differences Among PopChart Server Products There are three different editions of Corda’s PopChart Server. These are PopChart Server, PopChart Server Pro, and PopChart Server Enterprise. The following table identifies the features offered in each edition. Features of PopChart 4.0 Server Products Std. Pro Ent. Administration Console (HTML based) ● ● ● PopChart XML Appearance Files ● ● ● XML data file support ● ● ● Graphical Logging ● ● ● Double-Byte character support ● ● ● Drill-down Effects, PopUp Text, and Rollover Data Labels ● ● ● Additional font support (includes font converter) international ● ● ● Accessible descriptive text for the visually impaired (508 compliant) ● ● ● COM PopChart Embedder (ASP, Cold Fusion) ● ● ● .NET PopChart Embedder ● ● ● JavaScript PopChart Embedder (HTML) ● ● ● Java PopChart Embedder (JSP, Servlets) ● ● JavaBean PopChart Embedder (JSP) ● ● Best Image Fallback ● ● ● ● Anti-aliasing for GIF and PNG ● ● Flash & SVG Image output ● ● WBMP Image output ● ● GIF & PNG Image output ● PDF & EPS Image output ● HTTP Redirectors for greater security and SSL Support (Servlet, ISAPI (Windows IIS), and Apache versions) ● HTML table output ● Clustering ● Caching ● 19 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 About Corda Technologies Inc. Since its inception in April 1996 as a privately founded corporation, Corda Technologies, Inc. has been the technology leader in the data visualization market. To successfully compete in the fast pace digital marketplace, businesses and individuals need the ability to easily make sense of the vast quantity of data that affects their business and well-being. While data tables and static data charts take a step towards making sense of the flood of data, those tools fall short. Through the culmination of twelve years of research and development, Corda has developed data visualization solutions and services that go far beyond static data graphs and charts. Corda is the global leader for interactive data-driven graphics. It is the first company to provide support for SVG images, the first to provide 508 compliant charts with D-link descriptive text, and the first nonMacromedia company to release a product that supported Flash images. With more flexibility, scalability and speed than other charting solutions, Corda’s PopChart family of tools and services are the leading choice for fast and easy to build charts and graphs. Corda’s solutions display data as visual images allowing customers to explore relationships, perform analysis and more easily understand their data. Whether for internal reporting, Net publishing, or personalized information delivery, PopChart services and tools cater to a wide variety of markets and can be leveraged by virtually any organization to effectively communicate critical information to its specific Web audience. 20 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 Press Release Corda Technologies Releases PopChart Version 4.0 New 4.0 Version of Charting/Graphing Solution Ready for Web Services Including .NET and Java with Support for XML Standards LINDON, Utah March 4, 2002 — CORDA Technologies Inc., a Lindon-based developer of dynamic, interactive, Web-based charting and graphing solutions, Monday announced the new 4.0 Version of its PopChart server products. Corda has added many additional features to this major upgrade that increase the benefit to the IT professional as well as the end user of the charts and graphs. PopChart 4.0 is available now. PopChart 4.0 is ready for the rapidly emerging Web Services market including .NET and Java with end-to-end support of XML. Through XML, information can be easily extracted and exchanged between databases, enhancing e-commerce and business intelligence applications. PopChart 4.0 allows users to deliver and utilize charts and graphs as a Web Service. Neal Williams, chief executive officer of Corda, said, ``I am excited about the new additions to our products. We have provided benefits to everyone that uses PopChart from the IT technician responsible for installation, to the IT manager responsible for implementation, to the person using the charts and graphs to understand mission critical data. ``I am proud of Corda's success and continued industry-leading charting and graphing solutions.'' Managers today are buried with mountains of crucial data that they are expected to understand and take into account when making decisions. Visualization of that data is key to understanding. In PopChart 4.0, data visualization has been enhanced by inclusion of PDF and EPS output. This output allows users to easily create clean, crisp charts and graphs within PDF reports for viewing and printing. The visual appeal of chart presentation has also been enhanced in PopChart 4.0 with the ability to directly import background images. The IT professional will appreciate the new administration console that facilitates deployment, monitoring and maintenance of PopChart. Server uptime availability is strengthened with PopChart's advanced clustering support and server failover. Chart and graph creation is made easy and intuitive with the visual design and template creation tool, PopChart Builder. The new 4.0 version of Builder includes 21 Reviewer’s Guide: PopChart 4.0 a Windows True Type font converter that provides full double-byte support for international language symbols. PopChart's direct database connectivity permits a developer to connect directly to a database from PopChart. All of the new features serve to augment the outstanding features that are already a part of the PopChart family. PopChart provides Flash and SVG images that have drilldown and popup features to assist in navigating through data. There is wireless and handheld support using WBMP output. PopChart works with any database and any browser, and with Best Image Fallback, the highest quality image is always delivered to the browser. Many different graphs types are supported in both vector and bitmap images. All graphs and charts can easily be configured to be 508 compliant with descriptive text that permits the visually impaired to have the information read to them by a screen reader. About Corda Technologies Corda Technologies is the global leader in providing interactive data visualization solutions. With more flexibility, scalability and speed than any other charting solutions, Corda's family of tools and services are the leading choice for fast and easy to build charts and graphs. # # # 22