Implementing a Real-Time Chart with AJAX and SVG

Before continuing, please make sure your web browser supports SVG. The code in this case study has been tested with Firefox 1.5, Internet Explorer with the Adobe SVG Viewer, and Apache Batik. You can test the online demo accessing the link you can find at http://ajaxphp.packtpub.com.

Firefox ships with integrated SVG support. Being at its first version, this SVG implementation does have some problems that you need to take into consideration when writing the code, and the performance isn’t excellent.

To load SVG in Internet Explorer, you need to install an external SVG plug-in. The SVG plug-in we used in our tests is the one from Adobe, which you can download at http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/main.html. The installation process is very simple; you just need to download a small file named SVGView.exe, and execute it. The first time you load an SVG page, you will be asked to confirm the terms of agreement.

Finally, we also tested the application...