Once upon a time, I had something of a reputation for creating Charts in SQL. Bar Charts, Pie Charts, Gantt Charts and several other unlikely chart types, all created with SQL. And all presented on the one stage SQL has: SQL*Plus. See for example such riveting articles like http://technology.amis.nl/blog/1890/creating-a-gantt-chart-in-sql, http://technology.amis.nl/blog/1937/gauge-charts-in-sql-or-how-to-produce-the-worlds-ugliest-speedometers and http://technology.amis.nl/blog/398/pie-charts-in-sql-how-pathetic-can-you-get. Now I am back, with another look at charts produced straight out of the Oracle Database – this time using a different stage to present the chart on. With the Embedded PL/SQL Gateway – introduced in release 10g – the Oracle Database has a different stage to present information on or a different user interface to interact through: the web browser.

This article demonstrates how we can present charts – in the web browser using the CANVAS tag – based directly on a PL/SQL package in the database. No middle tier is required in between, no additional libraries are frameworks need to be configured. It’s only between the package and your browser.

Granted, you have seen More >