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Best open-source visualization frameworks?

8 points by tommaxwell ↗ HN
I'm building a Rails app and would like to visualize the size of a users folders based on how many files are inside of them. I'm considering giving D3.js a try, but am not sure if I can have it dynamically update as files are added to each folder. I'd like to be able to input my JSON data (which is something D3 does do).

Unless D3.js is the best choice, any other good alternatives?

3 comments

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boothead
d3.js hands down. You absolutely can update in d3 stuff in real time, all you do is create a transition and re-bind the updated data. I've previously built the front end to a trading system that streams events to the browser and updates a d3 visualization over a websocket, and once you get your head around how d3 does things it's the perfect tool for this kind of thing.

Here's a tutorial that looks quite good: http://blog.visual.ly/creating-animations-and-transitions-wi...

jmandzik
Seconded. It's got a learning curve, but its hands down the most well thought out library I've used. It's actively maintained by Mike Bostock, a thought leader in this space.