Options for Generating Charts from Oracle Queries

Question

Is there a simple (possibly free) way to generate charts (including Pie) out of Oracle SQL queries. Preferably generated as an image file.

I came across Oracle Chart Builder, but it doesn't seem quite what I want.

Answer 1

Oracle Application Express (APEX) lets you build web-based applications using PL/SQL. It has a pretty decent charting engine so you can use that to build a pie chart from the results of a query. APEX is free and included with recent versions of Oracle though you will have to do some initial setup and configuration.

Answer 2

I'd probably start with Google Charts. There's a demo here pulling database data into a chart.

One question is where do you want your image file to go.

Option 1. On to the database server. You can actually call the URL through the UTL_HTTP package, pull down the raw data and store it in the database as a BLOB or write it to a file with UTL_FILE

Option 2. Into a browser client. This is where you'd need some gateway between the database server and the browser. 10g/11g has an HTTP server embedded in the database which can be used (eg by a product like Apex). The apex listener is another way to get data out in a format that is easily processed.

An intermediate product, like jasperreports, might also be appropriate. It's a more formal 'enterprisey' approach to database reporting.

Or you can go old-school and have pie-charts in ol' SQL Plus