Appendix A - Deployment

Overview

When you install an application that uses KavaChart, you must also install some or all of the KavaChart class files. For your convenience, we have supplied jar archives that can be used for this purpose. You may not make copies of the KavaChart API documentation to include with your software distribution, and you may not distribute KavaChart source code. This would violate your license to use KavaChart code.


Out, Damned Spot!

Demo versions of KavaChart AlaCarte or KavaChart ProServe display a prominent notice on the chart image. You can remove this by installing a license key. For KavaChart AlaCarte, use the "appletKey" param to disable the demo message. You can obtain your license key from the "MyKavaChart" section of the Visual Engineering Web Site

To install a license key for a KavaChart ProServe installation, download the key file from the "MyKavaChart" section of the Visual Engineering Web Site, and place it into your server's CLASSPATH, and the demonstration behavior should disappear. If you have problems, please contact support@ve.com for assistance.


Necessary Files

Because of KavaChart's modular construction and extensive list of supported charts, it's unlikely that any particular chart, or even any application or applet would require all KavaChart classes. Generally, you'll need your application or applet, and then a KavaChart class tree that contains some or all of the chart package, and possibly some of KavaChart's utility files or applet classes.

If you're a KavaChart AlaCarte applet user, you'll find a jar file for each applet you need in the jars directory.  No other KavaChart release files are required.

If you're using KavaChart ProServe tags or objects, the only file you need is "kcServlet.jar", plus perhaps an extract from web.xml, and KavaChart's taglib definition if you're using chart tags.


KavaChart Enteprise Edition and Archives

Since we've pre-created jar files for each of the "off-the-shelf" applets, these represent a good starting point for building delivery archives for custom charting applications. You'll want to be aware, though, that the various applet jars contain many duplicate classes. By combining the archives to achieve the right mix for your applet combination, you can get the maximum impact with the minimum footprint.

For example, the lineApp.jar jar file is about 50k. The jar file for barApp, barApp.jar is about 60k. If you extract both archives into the same directory and combine them, you'll find that the result is not 110k, but something closer to 70k. This could be significant if your pages use both bar and line charts. Considering the way applets are used on your web pages can make a tremendous perceived performance difference for your users, especially when the jar file is cached at the browser so your users notice almost no startup time.

You can also use a utility like "javamake" from Sun Labs or "genjar" with "ant" for building an archive that contains the minimum necessary classes.