Raw Data In Excel To Provide Computer Science Essay

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Prof. Mahavir Devmane1, Arvind Nair2, Balvinder Kaur Bal3, Ananth Kumbla4,Shashank Krishnan5

Department of Computer Engineering, PVPPCOE,

Eastern Express Highway, Sion-Chunabhatti, Mumbai-400022

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Abstract- Mangers Directors need information for immediate analysis and to make critical Decisions Moreover data needs to analyzed from various perspectives to broaden vision and enhance the overall outlook. It is in this scenario where data visualization comes into play.Graphical visualizations in terms of charts like pir,bar etc give end users a clear idea about critical data that need immediate retrospection.This very concept of data visualizations lead to the emergence of Dashboards which incorporated multiple charts in one pane .

Keywords: dashboards, GUI, CSS etc-

I. INTRODUCTION

The inadequacy of raw data in excel to provide any kind of insight on the underlying information resulted in the incorporation of charts.Charts and graphs gave a deeper insight into the data and gave end users a better idea on what the data is all about.With charts end users could highlight areas which needed immediate attention .For eg When the attrition rate is very high in a particular department the HR team immediately understand’s that something needs to be taken care of.Such kind of insight can only be provided through the medium of charts.Taking this concept of excel JAVAFX was a new initiative drafted from the java team Its was introduced by the F3 Project introduced by Chris Oliver.JavaFX is the next generation client stack for the Java Platform Its is designed for high performance graphics on desktop, mobile, tv.Their idea was to create attractive and interactive charts which facilated dynamicty .Moreover the advantage of Java FX was it allowed the integration of additional technologies like CSS,SQL etc. The power of JavaFX was not merely restricted to charts .User Interfaces and UI controls could also be created using JavaFX.UI Controls could be styled and presented in CSS.

Dashboards

In information technology, a dashboard is a user interface that, somewhat resembling an automobile's dashboard, organizes and presents information in a way that is easy to read. However, a computer dashboard is more likely to be interactive than an automobile dashboard (unless it is also computer-based). To some extent, most graphical user interfaces (GUIs) resemble a dashboard. However, some product developers consciously employ this metaphor (and sometimes the term) so that the user instantly recognizes the similarity. Some products that aim to integrate information from multiple components into a unified display refer to themselves as dashboards. For example, a product might obtain information from the local operating system in a computer, from one or more applications that may be running, and from one or more remote sites on the Web and present it as though it all came from the same source. Hewlett Packard developed the first such product, which began as a tool for customizing Windows desktops. Called Dashboard, the HP product was subsequently acquired by Borland and then a company called Starfish. Microsoft's Digital Dashboard tool incorporates Web-based elements (such as news, stock quotes, and so on) and corporate elements (such as e-mail, applications, and so on) into Outlook. Dashboards may be customized in a multitude of ways and named accordingly.

JAVA-FX ARCHITECTURE & FRAMEWORK

The JavaFX 2 platform is a rich client platform built on Java technology and designed to enable application developers to easily create and deploy rich Internet applications (RIAs) that behave consistently across platforms.

Figure 1 illustrates the architectural components of the JavaFX 2 platform. The sections following the diagram describe each component and how the parts interconnect. Below the JavaFX public APIs lies the engine that runs your JavaFX code. It is composed of subcomponents that include the new JavaFX high performance graphics engine, called Prism; the new small and efficient windowing system, called Glass; a media engine, and a web engine. Although these components are not exposed publicly, their descriptions can help you to better understand what runs a JavaFX application.

Figure 1 JavaFX 2 Architecture Diagram

The JavaFX 2 diagram shows the JavaFX 2 stack. The top layer, shown in a rounded red box, represents the JavaFX public APIs and the JavaFX Scene Graph. The next layer is the Quantum Toolkit. The third layer has the Prism (in a rounded blue box), Glass Windowing Toolkit (in a square beige box), Media Engine (in a square green box), and Web Engine (in a square orange box). The fourth layer consists of the Java 2D, OpenGL, and D3D. The Quantum Toolkit, Prism, Java 2D, OpenGL, and D3D, all shown in rounded blue boxes, make up the JavaFX Graphics System.The lowest layer, shown in purple, is the Java Virtual Machine. The Java Virtual Machine sits underneath the JavaFX Graphics System, Glass Windowing Toolkit, Media Engine, and the Web Engine.

SCENE GRAPH

The JavaFX scene graph, shown as part of the top layer in Figure 1, is the starting point for constructing a JavaFX application. It is a hierarchical tree of nodes that represents all of the visual elements of the application's user interface. It can handle input and can be rendered.

A single element in a scene graph is called a node. Each node has an ID, style class, and bounding volume. With the exception of the root node of a scene graph, each node in a scene graph has a single parent and zero or more children. It can also have the following:

Effects, such as blurs and shadows

Opacity

Transforms

Event handlers (such as mouse, key and input method)

An application-specific state

Unlike in Swing and Abstract Window Toolkit (AWT), the JavaFX scene graph also has the graphics primitives, such as rectangles and text, in addition to having controls, layout containers, images and media.

For most uses, the scene graph simplifies working with UIs, especially when rich UIs are used. Animating various graphics in the scene graph can be accomplished quickly using the javafx.animation APIs, and declarative methods, such as XML doc, also work well.

The javafx.scene API allows the creation and specification of several types of content, such as:

Nodes: Shapes (2-D and 3-D), images, media, embedded web browser, text, UI controls, charts, groups, and containers

State: Transforms (positioning and orientation of nodes), visual effects, and other visual state of the content

Effects: Simple objects that change the appearance of scene graph nodes, such as blurs, shadows, and color adjustment

JAVA APIs FOR JAVA-FX FEATURES

The JavaFX 2 platform includes a complete set of public APIs, also shown in the topmost layer in Figure 1. These APIs provide unparalleled freedom and flexibility to construct rich client applications (RIAs). The JavaFX platform combines the best capabilities of the Java platform with comprehensive, immersive media functionality into an intuitive and comprehensive one-stop development environment. These new Java APIs for JavaFX features:

Allow the use of powerful Java features, such as generics, annotations, and multithreading.

Make it easier for Web developers to use JavaFX from other popular dynamic languages, such as JRuby, Groovy, and JavaScript.

Allow Java developers to use other system languages, such as Groovy, for writing large or complex JavaFX applications.

Allow the use of binding similar to that in JavaFX Script language. This includes support for high performance lazy binding, binding expressions, bound sequence expressions, and partial bind reevaluation. Alternative languages (like Groovy) can use this binding library to introduce binding syntax similar to that of JavaFX Script.

Extend the Java collections library to include observable lists and maps, which allow applications to wire user interfaces to data models, observe changes in those data models, and update the corresponding UI control accordingly.

The JavaFX 2 APIs and programming model are a continuation of the JavaFX 1.x product line. Most of the JavaFX APIs have been ported directly to Java. Some APIs, such as Layout and Media, along with many other details, have been improved and simplified based on feedback received from users of the JavaFX 1.x release. JavaFX 2 relies more on web standards, such as CSS for styling controls and ARIA for accessibility specifications. The use of additional web standards is also under review.

VI. CSS

JavaFX Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provides the ability to apply customized styling to the user interface of a JavaFX application without changing any of that application's source code. CSS can be applied to any node in the JavaFX scene graph and are applied to the nodes asynchronously. JavaFX CSS styles can also be easily assigned to the scene at runtime, allowing an application's appearance to dynamically change.

Figure 2 demonstrates the application of two different CSS styles to the same set of UI controls.

Figure 2 CSS Style Sheet Sample

JavaFX CSS is based on the W3C CSS version 2.1 specifications, with some additions from current work on version 3. The JavaFX CSS support and extensions have been designed to allow JavaFX CSS style sheets to be parsed cleanly by any compliant CSS parser, even one that does not support JavaFX extensions. This enables the mixing of CSS styles for JavaFX and for other purposes (such as for HTML pages) into a single style sheet. All JavaFX property names are prefixed with a vendor extension of "-fx-", including those that might seem to be compatible with standard HTML CSS, because some JavaFX values have slightly different semantics.

VII. UI CONTROLS

The JavaFX UI controls available through the JavaFX API are built by using nodes in the scene graph. They can take full advantage of the visually rich features of the JavaFX platform and are portable across different platforms. JavaFX CSS allows for theming and skinning of the UI controls.

Figure 3 shows some of the UI controls that are currently supported. New Java UI controls, like TitlePane or Accordion, have been introduced with the JavaFX 2 SDK. These new controls reside in the javafx.scene.control package.

Figure 3 JavaFX UI Controls Sample

VIII. LAYOUT

Layout containers or panes can be used to allow for flexible and dynamic arrangements of the UI controls within a scene graph of a JavaFX application. The JavaFX Layout API includes the following container classes that automate common layout models:

The BorderPane class lays out its content nodes in the top, bottom, right, left, or center region.

The HBox class arranges its content nodes horizontally in a single row.

The VBox class arranges its content nodes vertically in a single column.

The StackPane class places its content nodes in a back-to-front single stack.

The GridPane class enables the developer to create a flexible grid of rows and columns in which to lay out content nodes.

The FlowPane class arranges its content nodes in either a horizontal or vertical "flow," wrapping at the specified width (for horizontal) or height (for vertical) boundaries.

The TilePane class places its content nodes in uniformly sized layout cells or tiles

The AnchorPane class enables developers to create anchor nodes to the top, bottom, left side, or center of the layout.

To achieve a desired layout structure, different containers can be nested within a JavaFX application.

IX. DEPLOYMENT

JavaFX applications can be deployed on a desktop or in a browser in three different deployment modes:

Standalone – The JavaFX application is installed on a local drive and is run by double-clicking the JAR file. This mode is ideal when users do not need or do not have online access.

Browser – In this mode, the JavaFX application is embedded in a web page and is started automatically when the web page is accessed. It can interact with the web page through JavaScript.

Web Start – This mode downloads the application from a central location on the web and then runs it on the desktop. Once it is downloaded, users can start the application by double-clicking the JNLP file.

X. JavaFX : ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

PROS-

Offers a Java API => Leverage your Java skills and use existing JVM features and libraries

Offers DSLs for further JVM languages, e.g. Groovy (GroovyFX) and Scala (ScalaFX). Read this article to learn how to benefit by using modern JVM languages instead of Java: "JavaFX 2.0 and Scala.

optional: "layouting" language FXML to split UI definition from behaviour => choose your favorite between programming (with Java) and layouting (with FXML)

Same development environment for backend and web client (including debugging, refactoring, etc.)

No cross-browser problems

CSS support (as in HTML)

HTML and / or JavaScript can be integrated in a JavaFX application

Swing and JavaFX can be used in same application, so existing Swing applications can be extended

JavaFX 2 provides a unified architecture for writing an application once and then deploying it to various contexts (standalone application, embedded in a web browser or run via Java Web Start). Additional contexts will be added in the future (e.g. running the same application on a mobile device).

CONS-

Java Runtime Environment is required on client

Only parts of JavaFX are open source. The Oracle JavaFX runtime and SDK will continue to be released under the Java Binary Code License

JavaFX for Mac only available as Developer Preview

JavaFX for Linux not available yet (Developer Preview planned for Q3 of 2012)

No information about future of JavaFX Mobile yet (at least I did not find anything, if someone has a link, please add a comment!)

Offers less widgets and other features than HTML5

Though JavaFX is the (future) replacement for Swing, development is different due to several new concepts. Of course, this is the consequence of adding RIA features such as animations => Thus, this is no real disadvantage, and its still easier for a Java developer to learn some new concepts than learning HTML and JavaScript

XI. The future of JavaFX

JavaFX is facing tough competition, especially because of the cutting edge competition given by Silverlight and Flex.

Performance wise JavaFX is known to be slow, but since Javafx1.2 they have speed up the performance upto 3X. But again 1.2 is no more compatible with 1.1

(The JavaFX roadmap as of October 2012)

JavaFX currently has a lot of deployment issues that need fixation. JavaFX is evolving into a library and has a future as a Java UI, The unique scripting language is out, and what's in is a vision of a library of UI components that can be leveraged for different platforms, including mobile and desktop platforms. In a sense, JavaFX is evolving to be the strategic future UI technology for Java.

XII. CONCLUSION

Hence we can conclude that the JavaFX software can be used for creating GUIs and Graphs with great aesthetics. They collectively increase the aesthetic sense of the software and make it more attractive than the standard Java Swing software.