Extending Chart by external components

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Why not implement everything in OOo?

Intro: External Programs

Implementing all open issues directly into OOo will be both difficult and unnecessary. It is not always pertinent to reinvent the wheel and I will present later a better solution.

DISADVANTAGES

global disadvantages

  • many resources are needed (coders, persons to test the new features, financial constraints and time delays)
  • code becomes more and more complex, more difficult to understand by new developers, more testing time needed
  • most experienced coders work already on other open source projects; less availability for a new project

specific disadvantages

scripting (see later the asymptote program)

  • most of the current implementation has very limited scripting support
  • automation will therefore be difficult;
  • few users will develop new macros/ enhance the existing functionality of Chart because they will need to learn a new scripting language and/or OOo code

NO scripting means new functionality must be hardcoded into the Chart module

  • only users with advanced OOo knowledge will be able to do that

ALTERNATIVES

The main idea is:

  • to break the monolithic structure of Chart into various modules and
  • export the functionality into various external packages;
    • the new OXT extension architecture should ease this process;

A very good alternative is to do all advanced things with dedicated external software, when such free alternatives exist. Below are listed some existing programs suitable for this task: (see also Links section below)

    • gnuplot: powerful scientific package
    • asymptote: powerful scripting capabilities
      • powerful descriptive vector graphics language for technical drawing
    • R (with over 500 packages):
      • extensive data visualization capabilities: see examples below for details;
      • also ideal for scripting;
    • ggobi: data visualisation system for exploring high-dimensional data
      • see also the R-package rggobi
    • YALE: a data mining application
      • for specialized data visualization techniques, see the screenshots;
      • examples include: 2D and 3D scatter plots, the Self-Organising Maps (SOM) and many other advanced techniques
    • octave: a high level mathematical language
    • various other packages, e.g. FreeMind and many more, each suitable for some specific task.

ADVANTAGES

  • New Features: once the external program is embedded into OOo, one can easily implement many new features (from the specific program) with minimal effort (see also Automation)
  • Advanced Solutions: dedicated programs offer more advanced solutions than any OOo implementation (or even that of competitive software)
  • Resources:
    • less resources needed
    • programs are developed by their own groups,
    • tested by appropriate folks (mostly proffesionals) and therefore
    • NO major delays and less propensity for bugs
    • new features are implemented more easily (we at OOo need only make a new Menu/Gui and paste the correct syntax/call to the external program)
  • CODE: smaller code, smaller program
    • only users that need that option will run it (or download it; see also the note below)
    • most other users will not have it installed, therefore OOo should also run faster; not so many resources loaded
  • Automation:
    • some of these programs come with very powerful scripting capabilities, e.g. gnuplot, asymptote, R-software
    • the previous programs are used by millions of users, many of whom already know the scripting/ programming language, and therefore do NOT need to learn a new language (see downloads on sourceforge.net for the first 2 programs)
    • easy creation of new macros/scripts; no need to hardcode new functionality into OOo


Another strong reason why external software is a better alternative: 

If the coders aren't working with people that know how to do numerical methods
then what are the odds that it'll even come out correctly [quote from a user]


A special note:

  • because some licenses may not be compatible with OOo (although they are still open source), I DO NOT MEAN to include the code in OOo
  • what I mean is a general mechanism in place that allows OOo to communicate (bidirectioanly) with the external software
  • instruct users what external programs (extensions) do exist and where to find them (provide url)
  • allow users to easily access the functionality of external programs through OOo Menus (or functions)


Links

see also:

External Software

External Chart Types examples

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