Creating dynamic charts from an external file

Introduction

This tutorial shows you how to set up the Flash MX charting components to take data from an external source such as an ASP page or text file. It was written after I spent ages trying to get the charting components to talk to an ASP file and didn't find too much help online!

You can connect to any external data providing the data file is set up in the right format. You can also use the data file to add information such as the title and sort order to the chart.

The tutorial is divided into the following parts:

• Structuring the data file
• Creating your movie
• Connecting to the data file
• Getting data into the chart
• Adding other chart information

This tutorial doesn't show you how to create a data file from a database. It also assumes that you know how to use Flash MX.

If you want to connect the chart to an XML file, see the tutorial Creating dynamic charts from an XML file.