## Overview
FusionCharts is a flash charting component that can be used to render data-driven animated charts. Made in Adobe Flash 8 (formerly Macromedia Flash), FusionCharts can be used with any web scripting language like HTML, .NET, ASP, JSP, PHP, ColdFusion etc., to deliver interactive and powerful charts. Using XML as its data interface, FusionCharts makes full use of fluid beauty of Flash to create compact, interactive and visually-arresting charts.
Advantages of using FusionCharts
| Animated and interactive Charts
| Using FusionCharts, you can quickly and easily render animated charts that have a lot of interactive options for the end users. Different chart types support different forms of animation and interactivity, thereby providing a different experience to the end users.
| Easy yet powerful AJAX/JavaScript integration
| FusionCharts offers advanced options to integrate charts with AJAX applications or JavaScript modules. You can update charts on client side, invoke JavaScript functions as hotspot links, or make dynamic calls for XML data to server without involving any page refreshes.
| No installation hassles
| To use FusionCharts, you do not have to install anything on your server. All you need to do is copy paste the SWF files (the core files of FusionCharts) to your server, just like you would do to any image files - and you're ready to go! So, even on those servers which do not allow installation of ActiveX or any other form of components, FusionCharts can run without any hassles.
| Easy to use
| FusionCharts makes the chart creation process a painless experience for you. Since it uses XML as its data, all you need to do is convert your data into XML using a programming language or using the visual GUI provided in FusionCharts - and that's all what is required to create interactive and animated charts.
| Runs on a variety of platforms
| Irrespective of what server side scripting language you're using, FusionCharts can be used to create charts in that. Since FusionCharts uses XML as the data interface, you can run it on any server and against any scripting language. Also, to view the charts, your users just need to have Adobe Flash Player 8, which is one of the most used browser plugins on the planet.
| Reduces load on your servers
| In traditional image based charting systems, the charts are generated as image at the server side. So, for each chart that you need to serve to a user, you'll have to build complex images on the server and then stream it to the client. When the need of hour is high, this can be an expensive resource on the server, as image creation takes a lot of toll on the server. FusionCharts brings you great relief - all the charts are rendered at client side using the widely installed Adobe Flash Platform. The server is just responsible for streaming the pre-built SWF files and your XML data files to the end viewers. From there on, Flash Player takes the onus of rendering the charts. Also, the chart SWF Files can be cached so that you can just update the data, and not send chart SWF files every time.
| A plethora of chart types
| FusionCharts v3 offers you a plethora of chart types. From the basic bar, column, line, pie etc. to the advanced combination charts, you can build all the charts with the same ease of use.
| Clear licensing policies
| FusionCharts offers you a clear cut no-nonsense licensing model. We do NOT charge for per-testing server or per-production server. Once you buy a license of FusionCharts, you can host it on multiple servers, if all those servers are hosting the same website. We offer unlimited development servers, unlimited test servers and unlimited CPUs on a given server with each license of FusionCharts. Moreover, if you're using multiple technologies for the same application - like say, ASP for a few modules and PHP for a few modules, you can use FusionCharts for both of them, without having to pay us anything additional. This saves you a lot on licensing cost and renders a generic look and feel to all the charts of your application.