Dundas Pie Chart Server Control 1.0

The Dundas Pie Chart Server control (AspPieChart.dll) dynamically creates jpeg images of pie charts.

This readme file describes how to get the demonstration ASP pages up and running on your site. (The control is used in the two ASP demos to embed these jpegs into ASP pages via <IMG> tags.)

For detailed documentation on the control download the compiled Html help file from our web site, which contains the control documentation and documentation for the template editor, along with information on other free classes from Dundas Software.

Overview of the Two ASP Demos

There are two ASP demos.

The first demo consists of two ASP pages: UCChart1.ASP and PieChart1.ASP. UCChart1.ASP is the main page and PieChart1.ASP is embedded into this main page with an <IMG> tag. The demo displays a pie chart as a jpeg, and allows the user to explode pie slices, add/remove pie slices, etc. This demo uses Session level variables.

The second demo consists also consists of two ASP pages: UCChart2.ASP and PieChart2.ASP. UCChart2.ASP is the main page and PieChart2.ASP is embedded into this main page with an <IMG> tag as well. The demo randomly loads one of five templates and then outputs the resulting jpeg to the end-user. Pie slices are randomly exploded, and the size of each pie slice is random as well.

Notice that the secondary ASP page does not contain ANY html code.

Hosting the ASP Demos.

In order to host these two demos you must use either MS Internet Information Server (IIS) or MS Personal Web Server (Win 9x). There are several ways that you can host and view these two demos.

From the Installation Directory.

Once you have finished the installation you can view the ASP pages right from the installation directories.; If you are running Win NT then use Windows Explorer, select the Sample folder (created by the installation) and select "Properties". Choose the Web Sharing tab folder and select "Share this Folder". Then choose an alias for the Sample directory and make sure that "Read" and "Scripts" are selected in the Edit Alias window. Also make sure that the web server (PWS or IIS) is running. Then enter the loopback address with the alias you created followed by the name of the ASP page to view into the URL text box in your browser. For example, assuming the alias you created is called "Alias", enter the following into the URL text box of your browser: http://127.0.0.1/Alias/UCChart1.ASP or http://MYCOMPUTER/Alias/UCChart1.ASP; If you are running Win 9x with Personal Web Server then set Read and Script permissions for your installation directory by opening the Properties dialog of PWS and use the Advanced tab folder.
From a New Interdev Project.: If you are an ASP developer and are using Microsoft's Interdev you can open a new project and import the four ASP files required for the two demos. MAKE SURE you also copy the Textures, Templates and Chart folders to your project directory! Make sure the directory structure of the install files is the same as the directory structure of your project directory. In other words: the Textures, Templates, and Chart folders must be at the same directory level as the ASP pages and the two picture files.

Copy the Installed Files to your Web Directory.: You can also copy install files to either your root directory of your web server (typically C:\InetPub\WWWRoot) or a sub-directory of your web server. This way you do not have to set up directory permissions. Just make sure that you copy ALL FILES from the Sample directory which was created by the install.

Note that the installed sample directory also contains the pie chart template editor - PieTEditor.exe. Copying this is optional, but you may find it handy to have located in your working sample directory.

Trouble Shooting

The page loads but the pie chart image does not.: Possible Solutions:; One of the directories created by the installation is missing from the web server location. This may be the case if you are NOT using the installation directory as your source directory. The Templates, Textures, and Chart directory must exist at the same level as the ASP pages.; The ActiveX control was not properly registered. Use regsvr32.exe to register the control (the control should be registered during the installation, however).
: The ASP page which creates the jpeg image contains html headers. Remove any html code (e.g. <Body>, <Head>, etc.) from this page and try again.
HTTP Error 403 Forbidden: Execute Access Forbidden: You have not set up the permissions for your directory. Use Windows Explorer to set up proper directory permissions (see Method 1 of Hosting the ASP Demos) if you are running Win NT. If you are using Win 9x with PWS then use the Advanced property page in the PWS Properties property sheet.

HTTP Error 404 File Not Found: The URL you are specifying in your browser is incorrect. Determine where your ASP pages are and enter the appropriate URL (e.g. http://127.0.0.1/RelativePathFromRootWebDirectory/UCChart1.ASP).
I can not right-click over the pie chart image and save it to disk as a jpeg: Make sure that the ASP page which generates the jpeg is using html buffering. Put a "Response.Buffer = True" statement at the top of your ASP page and then send the page contents to the browser by placing a "Response.End" statement after the method call which creates the jpeg.