Base graphics/visualization

users
#1

All,

I have been collecting data for over a year in Calc. I will be rolling
over to Base to use the data more effectively. However, Base has some
drawbacks that I need some help with. I have been using the Calc data
to create graphs of some of the data. I did not see a way to do this in
Base directly, so my first question is what is the best way to create
graphics in the Base reports? For example, imagine a report that shows
the temperature highs and lows of a month, along with the average and
devation along with a graph of the daily temperature. I can see that
Calc can be used, but that approach seems like a lot of work, and may
not be able to be extensively automated. I'm also aware of a data
visualization program called R. I have not used R, and don't know if it
will integrate with Base, or replace the Base report altogehter. So I
would like some comments of the best way forward for my project.

Thanks,
Dave

#2

I have been collecting data for over a year in Calc. I will be
rolling over to Base to use the data more effectively.

One word of free advice: Avoid the "built in" database engine. Use an
external client-server RDBMS. It's so much safer. The driver for
PostgreSQL comes with LO. Embedded database files can too easily get
corrupted. That's not necessarily a problem specific to LO and/OR
HSQLDB.

However, Base has some drawbacks that I need some help with. I have
been using the Calc data to create graphs of some of the data. I did
not see a way to do this in Base directly,

You can still pull the data from the database into Calc.

https://forum.openoffice.org/en/forum/viewtopic.php?f=75&t=18511

so my first question is what is the best way to create graphics in
the Base reports?

Don't know about the report builder, never used it.

I'm also aware of a data visualization program called R. I have not
used R, and don't know if it will integrate with Base, or replace the
Base report altogehter.

R is a statistical analysis software, implemented as a "fork" of the
commercial S+. It should at least integrate with LO through Python,
since Python has an interface module RPy. Or someone may have written a
plugin that allows to use. Oh, here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/na2fatp

BTW: For anything that's not directly implementable using Calc
functions and plugins, Python is a great scripting language for
"data crunching" anyway, so learning it can be useful. It's not just for
reporting, and not just with LO and PostgreSQL.

Sincerely,

Wolfgang

#3

Thanks Wolfgang!

Dave