Powerful Diagramming for the Web
The Web is built on an ever-growing number of technologies. That's why we have created several solutions for sharing and interacting with diagrams in your web applications.
yFiles for HTML offers fully interactive diagram viewing and editing support across HTML5-capable modern web browsers — no plugin required.
It features the diagramming canvas as a JavaScript component, client-side automatic layout, and an extensive API with touch support offering unlimited customization possibilities.
yFiles for Silverlight makes fully interactive diagram viewing and editing possible in Microsoft .NET framework projects.
It features the diagramming canvas as a Silverlight control, client-side automatic layout, and an extensive API offering endless customization possibilities.
yFiles FLEX makes fully interactive diagram viewing and editing possible in Flex-based Rich Internet Application (RIA) projects.
It features the diagramming canvas as a Flex component, both client-side and server-side automatic layout, and an extensive API offering a wealth of customization possibilities.
yFiles AJAX offers diagram viewing and interaction support across all modern web browsers — no plugin required.
Client-side features include the canvas as a Dojo widget and a comprehensive interaction API with touch support, while the bundled server-side Java component provides automatic layout and bitmap image and SVG generation.
Our powerful yFiles for Java library provides several options for creating graphs for the Web: from simple image output, to adding graphing to Java applets and Java Web Start applications. Many of our customers find that their requirements for web diagramming can be met with yFiles for Java.
Feature Comparison
The following table provides a comparison of the out-of-the-box features of our web products.
| Feature | yFiles for HTML |
yFiles for Silverlight |
yFiles FLEX | yFiles AJAX | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nodes | Create, Delete, Move, Resize |  |
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| Custom Nodes | Bitmap, Vector | |
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| Edges | Create, Delete | |
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| Bends | Create, Delete, Move | |
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 (1) |
| Node Labels | Create, Edit | |
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| Edge Labels | Create, Edit | |
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(1) |
| Tooltips | |
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| Context Menu | |
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| Overview | |
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| Layout | Client-Side | |
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(2) |
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| Server-Side | |
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| Animation | |
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| Pan | Scroll Bar | |
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| Mouse Drag | |
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| Zoom | Mouse Wheel | |
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| Marquee | |
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| Selection | Marquee | |
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| Export | Image | (3) |
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(4) |
(5) |
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| SVG | |
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| Load/Save | (6) |
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| Printing | |
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(2)Requires yFiles FLEX Client Layout Extension
(3)Depends on the browser
(4)Requires yExport and yFiles for Java on the server
(5)Requires yExport
(6)Depends on the browser
Requirements
The minimum technical requirements for yFiles Web products are as follows:
| yFiles for HTML |
yFiles for Silverlight |
yFiles FLEX | yFiles AJAX | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client | Plugin | None | Silverlight 5 | Flash Player 10 | None |
| Browser | HTML5-capable browser with SVG support | Plugin available for all major browsers and platforms. | None(7) |
Firefox 3.6 Internet Explorer 7 (SVG Mode requires IE 9) Chrome 15 Safari 5.1.1 |
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| Server | Server Environment | - | - |
A servlet container such as Apache Tomcat 5.5 for Java Server Bundle Microsoft IIS for .NET Server Bundle |
A servlet container such as Apache Tomcat 5.5 |
| Runtime Environment | - | - |
J2RE 1.4.2 for Java Server Bundle Microsoft .NET framework 3.5 for .NET Server Bundle |
J2RE 1.4.2 | |
| Development | Tools | a JavaScript-capable IDE is recommended |
Visual Studio 2012 |
Visual Studio is recommended with the .NET Server Bundle |
Java SDK 1.4.2 |
Advantages Comparison
If you are still unsure about which solution to use, consider their relative strengths:
| Product | Client Technology | Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|---|---|
| yFiles for HTML | HTML5/JavaScript |
No browser plugin required Client-side layout calculation |
Performance depends on JavaScript engines |
| yFiles for Silverlight | Silverlight |
Cross-platform, cross-browser development Client-side layout calculation |
Silverlight 4 plugin required |
| yFiles FLEX | Flash Player |
Cross-platform, cross-browser development Complete client-side diagramming API Both client-side and server-side layout calculation possible |
Flash Player 10 plugin required |
| yFiles AJAX | JavaScript/DOM |
No browser plugin required Good performance with large graphs |
Restricted to web standard scripting/user interface design Limited client-side editing support |
| yFiles for Java | Java applet | Access to the complete JDK and yFiles for Java API |
Dependent on a specific version of the Java plugin Startup may be slow |
| Java Web Start | Access to the complete JDK and yFiles for Java API | Java Runtime Environment required | |
| Image based | No plugins required | Limited interaction possibilities |
Learn more about yFiles for HTML, yFiles for Silverlight, yFiles FLEX, and yFiles AJAX at their individual product pages.
For additional help in selecting a product, please contact our sales team.
