Dynamically updating a QChart

Question

I have a class that plots a candlestick for given data. I am trying to dynamically update the plot as soon a new data is received. Data is received at irregular intervals.

What mechanism can I use in order to let the class know it's time to update the plot and act upon updating the plot with the newly received data point?

Class function append_data_and_plot() appends the data but the plot never gets updated. Could someone kindly shed light on what the issue is?

import sys
from PyQt5.QtChart import QCandlestickSeries, QChart, QChartView, QCandlestickSet
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow
from PyQt5.QtCore import Qt, QPointF
from PyQt5 import QtChart as qc
import time

class myCandlestick():
    def __init__(self, data):
        self.data = data
        self.app = QApplication(sys.argv)

        self.series = QCandlestickSeries()
        self.series.setDecreasingColor(Qt.red)
        self.series.setIncreasingColor(Qt.green)

        self.ma5 = qc.QLineSeries() 
        self.tm = []

        for num, o, h, l, c, m in self.data:
            self.series.append(QCandlestickSet(o, h, l, c))
            self.ma5.append(QPointF(num, m))
            self.tm.append(str(num))

        self.chart = QChart()

        self.chart.addSeries(self.series)  # candle
        self.chart.addSeries(self.ma5)  # ma5 line

        self.chart.createDefaultAxes()
        self.chart.legend().hide()

        self.chart.axisX(self.series).setCategories(self.tm)
        self.chart.axisX(self.ma5).setVisible(False)

        self.chartview = QChartView(self.chart)
        self.ui = QMainWindow()
        self.ui.setGeometry(50, 50, 500, 300)
        self.ui.setCentralWidget(self.chartview)
        self.ui.show()
        sys.exit(self.app.exec_())

    def append_data_and_plot(self, d):
        '''Append and update the plot'''
        num, o, h, l, c, m = d
        self.series.append(QCandlestickSet(o, h, l, c))
        self.ui.show()
        #sys.exit(self.app.exec_())


data = ((1, 7380, 7520, 7380, 7510, 7324),
        (2, 7520, 7580, 7410, 7440, 7372),
        (3, 7440, 7650, 7310, 7520, 7434),
        (4, 7450, 7640, 7450, 7550, 7480),
        (5, 7510, 7590, 7460, 7490, 7502),
        (6, 7500, 7590, 7480, 7560, 7512),
        (7, 7560, 7830, 7540, 7800, 7584))

m = myCandlestick(data)

# Data is received at irregular intervals
time.sleep(1)
m.append_data_and_plot((8, 7560, 7830, 7540, 7800, 7584))

# Data is received at irregular intervals
time.sleep(0.1)
m.append_data_and_plot((9, 7450, 7640, 7450, 7550, 7480))

# Data is received at irregular intervals
time.sleep(2.5)
m.append_data_and_plot((10, 7380, 7520, 7380, 7510, 7324))

[finplot](https://pypi.org/project/finplot/) is based on Qt and has a nice api which makes it [trivial](https://github.com/highfestiva/finplot/blob/master/finplot/example-bitmex-ws.py#L72) to update any plot. — Jonas Byström, Sep 03 '20 at 00:52

eyllanesc · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-08T19:12:13.110

Qt uses an event loop to handle the events and tasks of the gui, and that is the code "app.exec_ ()" so all the code after that line will not be executed, and if it is added to that it is used sys.exit () will make the application terminate when the Qt eventloop ends.

The solution is to use the eventloop to update the gui, for example using a QTimer:

import sys
from PyQt5.QtChart import QCandlestickSeries, QChart, QChartView, QCandlestickSet
from PyQt5.QtWidgets import QApplication, QMainWindow
from PyQt5.QtCore import Qt, QPointF, QObject, pyqtSignal, QTimer
from PyQt5 import QtChart as qc

import random


class MainWindow(QMainWindow):
    def __init__(self, data, parent=None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self.data = data

        self.series = QCandlestickSeries()
        self.series.setDecreasingColor(Qt.red)
        self.series.setIncreasingColor(Qt.green)

        self.ma5 = qc.QLineSeries()
        self.tm = []

        self.chart = QChart()

        self.chart.addSeries(self.series)  # candle
        self.chart.addSeries(self.ma5)  # ma5 line

        self.chart.createDefaultAxes()
        self.chart.legend().hide()

        self.chart.axisX(self.series).setCategories(self.tm)
        self.chart.axisX(self.ma5).setVisible(False)

        self.chartview = QChartView(self.chart)
        self.setGeometry(50, 50, 500, 300)
        self.setCentralWidget(self.chartview)

    def append_data_and_plot(self, d):
        """Append and update the plot"""
        num, o, h, l, c, m = d

        ax1 = self.chart.axisX(self.ma5)
        ay1 = self.chart.axisY(self.ma5)

        xmin = xmax = num
        ymin = ymax = m

        step = 10
        offset = 100

        for p in self.ma5.pointsVector()[-step:]:
            xmin = min(p.x(), xmin)
            xmax = max(p.x(), xmax)

            ymin = min(p.y(), ymin) - offset
            ymax = max(p.y(), ymax) + offset

        xmin = max(0, xmax - step)

        ax1.setMin(xmin)
        ax1.setMax(xmax)
        ay1.setMin(ymin)
        ay1.setMax(ymax)

        self.ma5.append(QPointF(num, m))
        self.tm.append(str(num))

        self.series.append(QCandlestickSet(o, h, l, c))
        ax2 = self.chart.axisX(self.series)
        ax2.setCategories(self.tm)
        ax2.setMin(str(xmin))
        ax2.setMax(str(xmax))

        ay2 = self.chart.axisY(self.series)
        ay2.setMin(ymin)
        ay2.setMax(ymax)


def create_data():


    i = 1
    while True:
        i += 1
        yield (
            i,
            random.randint(7000, 8000),
            random.randint(7000, 8000),
            random.randint(7000, 8000),
            random.randint(7000, 8000),
            random.randint(7000, 8000),
        )


class Producer(QObject):
    dataChanged = pyqtSignal(list)

    def __init__(self, parent=None):
        super().__init__(parent)
        self.iter = create_data()
        QTimer.singleShot(random.randint(0, 1500), self.send_data)

    def send_data(self):
        d = list(next(self.iter))
        self.dataChanged.emit(d)
        QTimer.singleShot(random.randint(0, 1500), self.send_data)


def main():
    app = QApplication(sys.argv)

    data = ((1, 7380, 7520, 7380, 7510, 7324),)
    w = MainWindow(data)
    w.show()

    p = Producer()
    p.dataChanged.connect(w.append_data_and_plot)

    sys.exit(app.exec_())


if __name__ == "__main__":
    main()

Thanks for your answer. In my case, receiving data happens randomly and not at a regular interval. Is this an issue here? — afp_2008, Jul 08 '20 at 18:55
@AFP The question is: how do you receive the data ?, I did not see any line of code about it so I had to emulate data, but in general there should be no problems — eyllanesc, Jul 08 '20 at 18:59
Is there any dedicated way of creating a signal that only triggers when new data is received without `QTimer`? — afp_2008, Jul 08 '20 at 19:05
In my question, I simulated irregular data reception by using `time.sleep(1)`, `time.sleep(0.1)`, `time.sleep(2.5)`. — afp_2008, Jul 08 '20 at 19:07
@AFP If I do not have information on how you obtain the data, then it will be impossible for me to point out the way, bye. — eyllanesc, Jul 08 '20 at 19:08
@AFP The regular intervals is not the problem, for example I have updated my example causing it to update at irregular intervals. I think you don't understand how to connect your acquisition logic with the GUI. — eyllanesc, Jul 08 '20 at 19:14
Truly appreciate your time to help me and thanks for sharing your knowledge. I am going to study your code in detail and learn a lot from it. — afp_2008, Jul 08 '20 at 19:30

Dynamically updating a QChart

1 Answers1