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Easily Build Powerful Interactive Data Visualizations Using D3 And JavaScript

The D3 package in Sencha ExtJS enables you to create interactive data visualization easily. By utilizing it, you can present the data more effectively in your web application. As a result, individuals and companies can easily uncover valuable insights. In this post, you will know the details of creating powerful data visualizations using two components: D3 Pack and D3 Hierarchy. What is D3? D3 (Data Driven Components) is an open-source JavaScript library. It enables you to create interactive data visualizations in web browsers using SVG, HTML5, and CSS. D3 allows you to bind any kind of data to the Document Object Model (DOM) and make the data interactive by applying data-driven transformation effectively. It supports a plethora of APIs. As a result, you can create and implement beautiful data visualization to your web application easily. How can I build Interactive Data Visualization with D3 and Ext JS? The Sencha D3 package is completely integrated with Ext JS. So, you can build interactive data visualization conveniently. Also, you can implement it with your Ext JS web application quickly. There are various component types in the D3 package. But in this tutorial, we will focus on two types of components: D3 Pack and D3 Words. D3 Pack As the name suggests, this component utilizes D3’s pack layout. It enables you to visualize hierarchical data as an enclosure diagram. Here is an example: To create the visualization shown above, you have to follow these steps: 1. First, you have to create the View using these codes: Ext.define(‘KitchenSink.view.d3.Pack’, { extend: ‘Ext.panel.Panel’, xtype: ‘d3-view-pack’, controller: ‘pack’,   requires: [ ‘KitchenSink.view.d3.TreeViewModel’, ‘Ext.d3.hierarchy.Pack’ ],   width: 930, height: 900, layout: ‘fit’,   viewModel: { type: ‘tree’ },   items: { xtype: ‘d3-pack’, padding: 20, bind: { store: ‘{store}’ }, tooltip: { renderer: ‘onTooltip’ } }   }); Here, you are defining the height and width of the visualization. Also, you are binding the data to store. 2. Next, you have to create the Controller. Simply add these codes:Ext.define(‘KitchenSink.view.d3.PackController’, { extend: ‘Ext.app.ViewController’, alias: ‘controller.pack’,   requires: [ ‘Ext.util.Format’ ],   onTooltip: function (component, tooltip, node, element, event) { var size = node.get(‘size’), n = node.childNodes.length;   if (size) { tooltip.setHtml(Ext.util.Format.fileSize(size)); } else { tooltip.setHtml(n + ‘ file’ + (n === 1 ? ” : ‘s’) + ‘ inside.’); } }   }); Here, you are defining the function for specifying the size of the nodes. You can find the demo here. D3 Words With the D3 Words component, you can visualize the frequently used words through a customized word cloud where a parent circles contain the child ones. Here is an example: The visualization reveals the most used words of a novel, called “Treasure Island.” You can create it quickly by simply following these steps: 1. Create the View with these codes: Ext.define(‘KitchenSink.view.d3.Words’, { extend: ‘Ext.panel.Panel’, xtype: ‘d3-view-words’, controller: ‘words’,   requires: [ ‘KitchenSink.view.d3.TreeViewModel’, ‘Ext.d3.hierarchy.Pack’ ],   width: 930, height: 900,   layout: ‘fit’, title: ‘”Treasure Island”‘s most used words’,   items: { xtype: ‘d3-pack’, reference: ‘pack’, padding: 0, nodeText: ‘word’, nodeValue: function (node) { // Instead of using `nodeValue: ‘count’` as a config, // take a qubic root of the ‘count’ to downplay // differences in the relative size of nodes. return Math.pow(node.data.count, 1/3); }, colorAxis: { // For this example, we want all nodes to have […]

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Developer Survey: Which Developer Streamers Do You Follow?

Whether you are watching on YouTube or Twitch there is no denying that online streaming of software development and video games is hot. We put together this survey to find out who your favorite developer streaming personalities are so that we can get to know them and possibly build content with them for you! Let us know in the survey below!

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Data Visualization: 5 Ways To Be An Enterprise-Grade Master!

What is data visualization? Data Visualization is an interdisciplinary field that deals with the graphic representation of data. It is a particularly efficient way of communication when the data is diverse and potentially complex. Visualizing data, whether in charts, graphs, or some other form, is important because it can give meaning to the data for a broader audience. “Visualization gives us a way to parse and understand data so that we can add it to our stories, we can incorporate it into our thinking” says Ellie Fields, Senior Vice President of product development at Tableau. How do I start learning data visualization in Windows? With a plethora of online tools and software packages for Data Visualization available, online classes, and resources to help you hone your skills, the entry barrier for creating compelling Data Visualization is lower than ever before. That means you can become proficient in presenting data visually “without a real background” in computer science, data science, or programming. But with so many options, finding a place to start can be overwhelming. In this tutorial, we’ll introduce you to how to integrate any Python’s Data Visualization libraries with Embarcadero’s Delphi, using Python4Delphi (P4D) to get you started in creating Windows GUI apps. How does Python4Delphi help with data visualization? P4D empowers Python users with Delphi’s award-winning VCL functionalities for Windows which enables us to build native Windows apps 5x faster. This integration enables us to create a modern GUI with Windows 10 looks and responsive controls for our Python Data Visualization applications. Python4Delphi also comes with an extensive range of demos, use cases, and tutorials. How to use Matplotlib, Seaborn, Bokeh, NetworkX, and Plotly Python libraries to perform data visualization tasks All of the libraries we show in this demo can be integrated with Python4Delphi for you to easily create Windows Apps with data visualization capabilities. Prerequisites: Before we begin to work, download and install the latest Python for your platform. Follow the Python4Delphi installation instructions mentioned here. Alternatively, you can check out the easy instructions found in the Getting Started With Python4Delphi video by Jim McKeeth. Time to get started! First, open and run our Python GUI using project Demo1 from Python4Delphi with RAD Studio. Then insert the script into the lower Memo, click the Execute button, and get the result in the upper Memo. You can find the Demo1 source on GitHub. The behind the scene details of how Delphi manages to run your Python code in this amazing Python GUI can be found at this link. Open Demo01.dproj. 1. How do I Visualize Data with Matplotlib in Windows?  Matplotlib is one of the most popular and oldest data visualization libraries in Python which is commonly used in exploratory data analysis and machine learning. In data science and machine learning, Matplotlib helps us to gain insights from a huge amount of data through different data visualization techniques. With the growing demand for data science and analytics skill sets, visualizing data programmatically is one of the most crucial tasks these days. You can easily solve these tasks by combining the Matplotlib library with Python4Delphi (P4D). Matplotlib can be used in Python scripts, in the Python and IPython shell, on web application servers, and various graphical user interface toolkits (in this post, Python GUI by Delphi’s VCL using […]

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Use FNC Pack To Easily Build Powerful Dashboard Apps For Windows, Mobile, And The Web

Technology Partner TMS Software provides a wide range of fantastic components for Delphi and C++ builder. Their components have a modern look and are well optimized. All of TMS’ components have a trial version so you can try out the various features and capabilities inside your own applications before you decide to go ahead with a purchase. Are you looking for cross-platform component set for Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux and the web? Among their other offerings TMS has a component pack called The FNC pack. FNC stands for Framework neutral components. If you use the FNC components you can get your Delphi and C++ programs to target Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, Linux and the web without any code changes simply by using the FNC components which then internally handle the various differences between the operating systems for you. What’s in the TMS FNC Pack? TMS FNC Component Studio TMS FNC Blox TMS FNC Chart TMS FNC Cloud Pack TMS FNC Core TMS FNC Dashboard Pack TMS FNC Grid Excel Bridge TMS FNC Maps TMS FNC UI Pack What is TMS FNC Dashboard Pack? TMS FNC Dashboard Pack contains, perhaps obviously, a set of controls which emulate gauges and dials you might find useful for creating dashboard type visualizations. there are a broad range of very customizable components suitable for visualizations and the components work in VCL and FMX apps as well as TMS WEB Core (TMS’ solution for creating native web applications using Delphi code). You can get a free trial of the component pack from this link: https://www.tmssoftware.com/site/tmsfncdashboardpack.asp What comes with the TMS FNC Dashboard Pack? Let’s look at what components packed inside the TMS FNC Dashboard pack. TTMSFNCWidgetProgress This is a circular progress indicator. You can add your own bitmaps to customize it. Also you can convert it to a continuous progress bar. TTMSFNCWidgetSetPoint This is an indicator with a range. We can set a point and set start, end, center point texts. So according to the value it will show relevant text. For example you could use it to indicate temperatures and get it indicate when a maximum or minimum temperature has been achieved. TTMSFNCWidgetMultiProgress This is a circular progress indicator with multiple values. This indicator can also be heavily customized such as with your own bitmaps. TTMSFNCWidgetDistributionIndicator This component can visualize Pie charts, Donut graphs, Funnel types, Horizontal bar or a Vertical bar indicator. It can show values as percentage or an absolute. You can also customize the footer and legend according to your preferences. TTMSFNCWidgetMarqueeProgress / TTMSFNCWidgetMarqueeContinuousProgress Displays as either a continuous or marquee progress indicators. TTMSFNCWidgetLCDLabel This is seven segment LCD indicator. You can adjust the number of digits and the separator positions. TTMSFNCWidgetGauge You can add any number of needles to this gauge control, custom ranges and many more. TTMSFNCWidgetArrow This is a trending indicator arrow. It will adjust it color according to its angle. TTMSFNCWidgetTrendIndicator How to provide data for TMS Dashboard controls? Adding data is easy. You can live bind to a database or add manually in the design time or runtime. Where can I find demo applications of TMS FNC Dashboard Pack? TMS offers a live demo on its website. To check the live version of the TMS FNC Dashboard Pack web version go to the following link: Live […]

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Customer use case: bringing an FMX app to the web with TMS WEB Core

After years of marketing a Delphi Windows/macOS version of my Star Analyzer program, I found that many clients wanted a web-based program which would run on any device, especially a tablet. They also wanted their data stored in the cloud so that several people could use the program at the same time. The macOS version produced by Delphi was often plagued with macOS incompatibilities, and neither version would run on a tablet. So I decided to take the leap to the web. Another deciding factor was the library of 85 Object Pascal code files that I developed over the years for use with all my programs. I definitely did not want to rewrite my library from scratch. I am rather fond of it. My Star Analyzer program included another 100 Object Pascal code files which all use my library files. So far I have not needed to write a single line of JavaScript or HTML code, and about 80% my existing Delphi code works nicely with the WEB Core components. Some of 20% of new code I had to write was relatively straight forward, and some was a bit tricky. I’ll talk about the tricky parts a bit later in in this Blog. Converting my existing FMX forms to TMS WEB Core As we all know, the components on the forms talk to your code through their event handlers. Theoretically then all I would have to do is create new forms, drop FNC and WEB Core components on the new forms, and use hook them up to most of my existing code.  Not too much work, or so I thought, but it turns out it was not quite that simple. If you look at Star Analyzer for the web you’ll see that it is built around tab controls. Click Data Entry and Data Analysis button and you’ll find there are 15 tab controls on the main form and 18 tab controls on the tabs on the main form. The original program was built around one large and complicated main form that held all the components for all 33 tabs, but the program worked nicely, and was easy to code and trouble shoot. In converting my program to WEB Core, I first duplicated this tab structure using the TTMSFNCPageControl. The new layout looked just like the old layout, and was easy to work with in programming, but it would not compile. It turns out that you can’t compile a program with thousands of components and 33 tabs on one main form. It chokes the compiler. Using Hosted Forms to reduce the complexity of browser pages The solution was to use a TTMSFNCTabSet (which has no pages, just tabs) and to use a hosted form as shown in the TMSDemosWebBasicsFormhosting demo provide by TMS. The text and number of tabs on the main TabSet are changed in code, and the controls that used to be on the tabs are now on a Hosted Form. In the image below the area outside the red box is the main form, while the area inside the red box shows one of the 23 different Hosted Forms. The advantage of Hosted Forms is that each web browser page has a small number of components and on it.  This Case statement below shows how the hosted forms […]

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Upcoming Miletus cross platform support

About 3 weeks ago we released TMS WEB Core v1.7 Ancona. One of the new features was Miletus, our new framework to create desktop applications with TMS WEB Core. It was exciting to see that many of you showed interest in Miletus, so we’ll take a look at what you can expect in the future. What’s coming in TMS WEB Core 1.8 We launched Miletus with Windows 32-bit and 64-bit support, but our goal was already set from the beginning: a cross platform alternative that is based on TMS WEB Core. To make this possible, research work has already started before the TMS WEB Core v1.7 release. We are happy to share that as of today here in the labs, we can already target MacOS and Linux! Starting from TMS WEB Core 1.8 you’ll be able to select the MacOS and Linux target. This will mean that you can create MacOS and Linux applications on Windows without an additional connection to the target systems! After the proper setup, you’ll only need to copy your created application to the operating system of your choice. Keep in mind that for distribution it’s recommended to sign your application and that can only be done on the target operating systems. Why choose Miletus? Miletus is not meant to be an Electron replacement, but rather something to co-exists next to our current Electron support as an alternative to those who want: No NodeJS dependency Smaller executable sizes Less deployed files More broad local database support You can take full advantage of web technologies combined with native operating system level operations: There’s a lot of native functionality exposed already. Access to the local file system, operating system menus and notifications, drag and drop functionality, global shortcuts just to name a few. We are always looking to extend the native support based on your feedback!  You don’t necessarily need a DB backend running, you can easily connect to a local DB file or a cloud DB service just like in a VCL or FMX application! For cross platform targets, the following databases will be supported: SQLite, MSSQL, PostgreSQL, mySQL. This if of course only the beginning, we already have plans to expand the supported DB list! The power of HTML5 and CSS3 is at your disposal. There are a huge amount of libraries and templates available for web applications that you can not only reuse in your Miletus application but with their help you can also create visually more pleasing user interfaces!  And did you know? It’s easy to migrate your existing TMS WEB Core application to Miletus. Watch this hands-on video from our colleague Dr. Holger Flick, who explains the process in detail: After the TMS WEB Core v1.8 release the next step will be to bring Miletus to TMS WEB Core VSC too. We already did some further research in this area, and our results are promising to bring a truly cross platform experience! But that’s not the only long-term goal: based on the feedback we got, we’ll also look to add more DB support!  As mentioned earlier, we have full control over this technology which means we can extend the palette of components and functionalities without depending on 3rd party solutions while maintaining the advantages listed above. We are eager to learn what you’d like to […]

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Ext JS 7.4 Has Arrived

The Sencha Team is excited to announce the release of our Sencha Ext JS 7.4, the latest milestone version update for our best-in-class JavaScript framework.  This release includes many highly requested features and upgrades including 4 new rich Grid features, and addresses 15 customer reported tickets for both Classic and Modern Toolkit. What’s New in Ext JS 7.4   Multi-level Grouping The MultiGrouping grid feature allows the Grid Panel to display the Store data that is grouped by multiple groupers. Here is an example of what it looks like:   Classic Toolkit Feature   Modern Toolkit Plugin Grouping Panel This plugin allows your end-users to drag and drop grid columns to the grouping panel section that is visible above the grid panel. The user can move the dimensions in the grouping panel in which order he/she wants. Classic Toolkit Plugin Summaries for groups and total Quickly define functions for aggregation such as sum, min, max count and more per column. Grouping Summary in Classic Toolkit. Grouping Summary in Modern Toolkit. Filterbar This classic and modern toolkit plugin will add a docked bar under the grid headers and depending on the grid columns configuration, filter fields will be added. Filterbar in Classic Toolkit. Filterbar in Modern Toolkit. New KitchenSink examples Ext JS 7.4 will bring new Grid examples in KitchenSink to help show how to configure and use the new 4 Grid features. Modern – Multi level grouping and Summaries Modern – Grid Filterbar Classic – Multi level grouping and Summaries Classic – Grid Filterbar   Bug Fixes With 15 bug fixes, this release brings a solid set of improvements that the Ext JS users have been waiting for. Please see the Ext JS 7.4 release notes ExtGen and Sencha Cmd ExtGen 7.4 and Sencha Cmd have been updated to support Ext JS 7.4. With Open Tooling, @sencha/[email protected], you can unlock many build features of Sencha Cmd by passing environment options through your npm scripts. These options are then sent to Sencha Cmd via Sencha’s custom webpack plugin. You now can enable the dynamic package loader from your scripts by passing an environment variable through the webpack plugin: –env.cmdopts=–uses. You may recognize this is the same flag used by Sencha Cmd CLI. Sencha’s custom webpack plugin exposes the variable cmdopts to your npm scripts. Within the webpack plugin, this variable is parsed into an array of build options for Sencha Cmd. Building for testing is also available by Cmd Opts. Explore the Building npm based Applications docs for more information.   What’s Next? The engineering team is pacing well on regular quarterly releases and we are committed to delivering new features, quality, performance and usability enhancements and improvements all along.  The work on supporting Ext JS 7.4 in Sencha Architect, Sencha Themer, Sencha Upgrade Advisor and Sencha Bridges (ExtReact, ExtAngular and ExtWebComponents) is in full swing*! Our goal is to provide you with continual support through quality and performance enhancements. If you have any feedback or questions, drop us a note here or get in touch.   *Features are not committed until completed and GA released. Try Ext JS 7.4

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Developer Stories: Ruslan Gospodarencu Explains His E-Schimb Software

Ruslan Gospodarencu started working with version 6 of Delphi. He submitted his software (E-Schimb) as a showcase entry at the Delphi 26th Showcase Challenge and we asked more about his adventures with Delphi. Visit his website at E-Schimb for more details about his software. When did you start using RAD Studio/Delphi and have long have you been using it? I’ve started to use Delphi from version 6 for small projects. From 2010 I’ve started to work on larger projects and switched to Delphi 10.3 when it was released. What was it like building software before you had RAD Studio/Delphi? I have experience working with different programming languages and over the years I have tried to use different IDEs, but none of them have been as convenient and fast in working as Delphi. How did RAD Studio/Delphi help you create your showcase application? Simplicity was the most important reason I chose Delphi. Working with visual elements, the ability to form a unique and visual application design, code structuring, working with databases, are just some of the benefits of using the Delphi IDE. What made RAD Studio/Delphi stand out from other options? From my practice, before starting work on a project I spend a lot of time thinking about how the given system should work so that it contains the established functional of the tasks and fulfills the proposed objectives. When I started thinking about this project, the first thought that was was that the best solution for development is none other than Delphi. What made you happiest about working with RAD Studio/Delphi? The first thing that made me happier was introduction of FireDAC. Before that i’ve been using different components for different databases, but now it is much more easier to achieve the same goals. Then it was livebindings and Firemonkey. I was very excited with all of them. What have you been able to achieve through using RAD Studio/Delphi to create your showcase application? User interface design. Working with database. Comfortable work using messaging system. Reporting. What are some future plans for your showcase application? Multilingual support. Report designer. Use of different databases (PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB, MS SQL, NoSQL) also cloud databases (like Amazon Aurora). Thank you, Ruslan! Check out his showcase entry through the link below Showcase

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A Clean Workflow: Are You A Secret Soaper?

If you’re anything like me you don’t probably put a huge amount of thought into the workflow processes that go into making a bar of soap. In fact, most of the time I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about what soap is actually MADE from let alone how it’s made. I mean, I know there’s something called “parfum” and if I pay a bit extra the soap has a fancy name or advertising which implies I will suddenly smell like the freshest mountain breeze… but even then I only have the most vague idea of the litany of chemical names on the ingredients label and even then if you dumped them onto the table in front of me I’d be lost. Enter the Soapers Imagine then my surprise to find out that there is a whole cadre of people out there who not only understands the difference between Linoleic and Linolenic acid but actually know the whole process and procedures behind making their own soaps. They are affectionately called “soapers“. SoapOpera makes making soap less of a soap opera drama SoapOpera, from Russian Company Eco Electrics, is a Delphi mobile application which helps soapers through the whole workflow process of making their own soaps. Making great use of RAD Studio Delphi’s Firemonkey cross platform FMX framework the beautifully engineered Android app contains tools to assist with ingredient calculations and recipe storage as well as an oils database. It’s a great-looking mobile app with terrific functionality. Website SoapOpera Google Play SoapOpera Screenshot Gallery RAD Studio gets your desktop and mobile apps to market fast – are you ready to clean up?

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Developer Stories: Marco Wobben Discusses His CaseTalk Software

Marco Wobben has been using Delphi since the 1.0 version. He submitted his software (CaseTalk) as a showcase entry at the Delphi 26th Showcase Challenge and we got to talk to him about his Delphi adventure after many years of developing with it. You can check out his software through the CaseTalk website. When did you start using RAD Studio/Delphi and have long have you been using it? I have been using Delphi since version1.0, but to be honest I was a Pascal fan starting at Turbo Pascal 3. Graduated University using Turbo Pascal for Windows. What was it like building software before you had RAD Studio/Delphi? I have built various off-the-shelf applications using the TTT toolkit, before even TVision was available. Building Windows applications using TP for Windows, was doable, but extremely cumbersome. Every form had to be made up with a resource editor, and completely independent of that the code had to match up the resources. Lot’s of trial and error in case of a mistake. How did RAD Studio/Delphi help you create your showcase application? CaseTalk is entirely built in Delphi, I could not have built such a rich client interface without the superb IDE which integrates OOPascal, Components, Live Designers, and neatly integrated debuggers. What made RAD Studio/Delphi stand out from other options? We’ve tried Java using jBuilder for a project once. The IDE worked, but there were so many resource leaks, that we spent a large part of our time working out how to control application memory/garbage collections. Developing in Delphi with full control is amazing and beyond comparison. What made you happiest about working with RAD Studio/Delphi? Delphi is amazing, it allows developers to go high level design to low level api and sql code. It all works as expected and newbies can grow into it at any pace and level. Being able to use ready made components, libraries, API’s, and database frameworks, and even being able to swap one out for another, is just very productive. What have you been able to achieve through using RAD Studio/Delphi to create your showcase application? With Delphi, the speed of debugging, compiling, adding new features is a dream. It is so fast, with a click of a button, the application is compiled and running. The level of service I can give to my customers is amazing. It’s almost an instant delivery from design to hand-off. What are some future plans for your showcase application? Currently, CaseTalk is developed in to a suite of Delphi applications. It contains the Information Modeler, which performs model to model transformations. The CaseTalk manager provides a Teams solution to store multiple models and versions in centralized dbms. The CaseTalk Viewer shows ER and UML diagrams, and now the CaseTalk Portal will be released, which is a Delphi build web service to publish all data to all users in the enterprise. Thank you, Marco! Check out the link below for his showcase entry. Showcase

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