Sparkline graphs using data: URIs

A while back, I ran across sparkline graphs, created by Edward Tufte for displaying data visually in a very compact space, usually inline with text. Google uses these extensively in their Analytics product, and it seemed like a great fit for representing data on the ZingLists administrative dashboard.

There are two easily found implementations of sparkline graphs for Ruby: Sparklines and Bumpspark. Bumpspark is nice because the graphs use data: URIs and don’t require any extra parts server-side, but the Sparklines plugin offers far more drawing options.

Why not the best of both? Here is a modified sparkline_tag method for Sparklines, which accepts a new option, :inline_data. When true, it emits a data: URI instead of a reference back to your server. I like this for several reasons: it loads faster, it doesn’t require a new controller, and it doesn’t require a new route if you’ve done away with the generic /:controller/:action/:id and are using RESTful routes.

require 'base64'
 
  def sparkline_tag(results = [], options = {})
    tag_options = { :class => (options[:class] || 'sparkline'),
                    :alt => "Sparkline Graph" }
    if options.delete(:inline_data)
      tag_options.merge!(:src => "data:image/png;base64,#{Base64.encode64(Sparklines.plot(results, options)).gsub("\n", "")}")
    else
      url = { :controller => 'sparklines', :results => results.join(',') }
      tag_options.merge!(:src => url_for(url.merge(options)))
    end
    tag(:img, tag_options)
  end

Update: When I emailed this to Geoff (who maintains Sparklines), he reminded me that IE doesn’t support data: URIs, so :inline_data isn’t useful if your pages need to display in IE.