Drawing a simple line graph in Java

Question

In my program I want to draw a simple score line graph. I have a text file and on each line is an integer score, which I read in and want to pass as argument to my graph class. I'm having some trouble implementing the graph class and all the examples I've seen have their methods in the same class as their main, which I won't have.

I want to be able to pass my array to the object and generate a graph, but when calling my paint method it is asking me for a Graphics g... This is what I have so far:

public class Graph extends JPanel {

    public void paintGraph (Graphics g){

        ArrayList<Integer> scores = new ArrayList<Integer>(10);

        Random r = new Random();

        for (int i : scores){
            i = r.nextInt(20);
            System.out.println(r);
        }

        int y1;
        int y2;

        for (int i = 0; i < scores.size(); i++){
            y1 = scores.get(i);
            y2 = scores.get(i+1);
            g.drawLine(i, y1, i+1, y2);
        }
    }
}

For now I have inserted a simple random number generator to fill up my array.

I have an existing frame and basically want to instantiate the Graph class and mount the panel onto my frame. I'm really sorry that this question seems so jumbled by the way, but I've had little sleep...

The code in my main statement is:

testFrame = new JFrame();
testFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
Graph graph = new Graph();
testFrame.add(graph);

I'm not sure exactly what an SSCE is but this is my attempt at one:

public class Test {

    JFrame testFrame;
    public Test() {
        testFrame = new JFrame();
        testFrame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        Graph graph = new Graph();
        testFrame.add(graph);
        testFrame.setBounds(100, 100, 764, 470);
        testFrame.setVisible(true);
    }

Graph.java

public class Graph extends JPanel {
    public Graph() {
       setSize(500, 500);
    }

    @Override
    public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
        Graphics2D gr = (Graphics2D) g; // This is if you want to use Graphics2D
        // Now do the drawing here
        ArrayList<Integer> scores = new ArrayList<Integer>(10);

        Random r = new Random();

        for (int i : scores) {
            i = r.nextInt(20);
            System.out.println(r);
        }

        int y1;
        int y2;

        for (int i = 0; i < scores.size() - 1; i++) {
            y1 = (scores.get(i)) * 10;
            y2 = (scores.get(i + 1)) * 10;
            gr.drawLine(i * 10, y1, (i + 1) * 10, y2);
        }
    }
}

Answer 1

Problems with your code and suggestions:

• Again you need to change the preferredSize of the component (here the Graph JPanel), not the size
• Don't set the JFrame's bounds.
• Call pack() on your JFrame after adding components to it and before calling setVisible(true)
• Your foreach loop won't work since the size of your ArrayList is 0 (test it to see that this is correct). Instead use a for loop going from 0 to 10.
• You should not have program logic inside of your paintComponent(...) method but only painting code. So I would make the ArrayList a class variable and fill it inside of the class's constructor.

For example:

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.Stroke;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;
import javax.swing.*;

@SuppressWarnings("serial")
public class DrawGraph extends JPanel {
   private static final int MAX_SCORE = 20;
   private static final int PREF_W = 800;
   private static final int PREF_H = 650;
   private static final int BORDER_GAP = 30;
   private static final Color GRAPH_COLOR = Color.green;
   private static final Color GRAPH_POINT_COLOR = new Color(150, 50, 50, 180);
   private static final Stroke GRAPH_STROKE = new BasicStroke(3f);
   private static final int GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH = 12;
   private static final int Y_HATCH_CNT = 10;
   private List<Integer> scores;

   public DrawGraph(List<Integer> scores) {
      this.scores = scores;
   }

   @Override
   protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
      super.paintComponent(g);
      Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D)g;
      g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);

      double xScale = ((double) getWidth() - 2 * BORDER_GAP) / (scores.size() - 1);
      double yScale = ((double) getHeight() - 2 * BORDER_GAP) / (MAX_SCORE - 1);

      List<Point> graphPoints = new ArrayList<Point>();
      for (int i = 0; i < scores.size(); i++) {
         int x1 = (int) (i * xScale + BORDER_GAP);
         int y1 = (int) ((MAX_SCORE - scores.get(i)) * yScale + BORDER_GAP);
         graphPoints.add(new Point(x1, y1));
      }

      // create x and y axes 
      g2.drawLine(BORDER_GAP, getHeight() - BORDER_GAP, BORDER_GAP, BORDER_GAP);
      g2.drawLine(BORDER_GAP, getHeight() - BORDER_GAP, getWidth() - BORDER_GAP, getHeight() - BORDER_GAP);

      // create hatch marks for y axis. 
      for (int i = 0; i < Y_HATCH_CNT; i++) {
         int x0 = BORDER_GAP;
         int x1 = GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH + BORDER_GAP;
         int y0 = getHeight() - (((i + 1) * (getHeight() - BORDER_GAP * 2)) / Y_HATCH_CNT + BORDER_GAP);
         int y1 = y0;
         g2.drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1);
      }

      // and for x axis
      for (int i = 0; i < scores.size() - 1; i++) {
         int x0 = (i + 1) * (getWidth() - BORDER_GAP * 2) / (scores.size() - 1) + BORDER_GAP;
         int x1 = x0;
         int y0 = getHeight() - BORDER_GAP;
         int y1 = y0 - GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH;
         g2.drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1);
      }

      Stroke oldStroke = g2.getStroke();
      g2.setColor(GRAPH_COLOR);
      g2.setStroke(GRAPH_STROKE);
      for (int i = 0; i < graphPoints.size() - 1; i++) {
         int x1 = graphPoints.get(i).x;
         int y1 = graphPoints.get(i).y;
         int x2 = graphPoints.get(i + 1).x;
         int y2 = graphPoints.get(i + 1).y;
         g2.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2);         
      }

      g2.setStroke(oldStroke);      
      g2.setColor(GRAPH_POINT_COLOR);
      for (int i = 0; i < graphPoints.size(); i++) {
         int x = graphPoints.get(i).x - GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH / 2;
         int y = graphPoints.get(i).y - GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH / 2;;
         int ovalW = GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH;
         int ovalH = GRAPH_POINT_WIDTH;
         g2.fillOval(x, y, ovalW, ovalH);
      }
   }

   @Override
   public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
      return new Dimension(PREF_W, PREF_H);
   }

   private static void createAndShowGui() {
      List<Integer> scores = new ArrayList<Integer>();
      Random random = new Random();
      int maxDataPoints = 16;
      int maxScore = 20;
      for (int i = 0; i < maxDataPoints ; i++) {
         scores.add(random.nextInt(maxScore));
      }
      DrawGraph mainPanel = new DrawGraph(scores);

      JFrame frame = new JFrame("DrawGraph");
      frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
      frame.pack();
      frame.setLocationByPlatform(true);
      frame.setVisible(true);
   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}

Which will create a graph that looks like so:

Answer 2

Just complementing Hovercraft Full Of Eels's solution:

I reworked his code, tweaked it a bit, adding a grid, axis labels and now the Y-axis goes from the minimum value present up to the maximum value. I planned on adding a couple of getters/setters but I didn't need them, you can add them if you want.

Here is the Gist link, I'll also paste the code below: GraphPanel on Gist

import java.awt.BasicStroke;
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.FontMetrics;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import java.awt.Graphics2D;
import java.awt.Point;
import java.awt.RenderingHints;
import java.awt.Stroke;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.List;
import java.util.Random;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import javax.swing.SwingUtilities;

public class GraphPanel extends JPanel {

    private int width = 800;
    private int heigth = 400;
    private int padding = 25;
    private int labelPadding = 25;
    private Color lineColor = new Color(44, 102, 230, 180);
    private Color pointColor = new Color(100, 100, 100, 180);
    private Color gridColor = new Color(200, 200, 200, 200);
    private static final Stroke GRAPH_STROKE = new BasicStroke(2f);
    private int pointWidth = 4;
    private int numberYDivisions = 10;
    private List<Double> scores;

    public GraphPanel(List<Double> scores) {
        this.scores = scores;
    }

    @Override
    protected void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
        super.paintComponent(g);
        Graphics2D g2 = (Graphics2D) g;
        g2.setRenderingHint(RenderingHints.KEY_ANTIALIASING, RenderingHints.VALUE_ANTIALIAS_ON);

        double xScale = ((double) getWidth() - (2 * padding) - labelPadding) / (scores.size() - 1);
        double yScale = ((double) getHeight() - 2 * padding - labelPadding) / (getMaxScore() - getMinScore());

        List<Point> graphPoints = new ArrayList<>();
        for (int i = 0; i < scores.size(); i++) {
            int x1 = (int) (i * xScale + padding + labelPadding);
            int y1 = (int) ((getMaxScore() - scores.get(i)) * yScale + padding);
            graphPoints.add(new Point(x1, y1));
        }

        // draw white background
        g2.setColor(Color.WHITE);
        g2.fillRect(padding + labelPadding, padding, getWidth() - (2 * padding) - labelPadding, getHeight() - 2 * padding - labelPadding);
        g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);

        // create hatch marks and grid lines for y axis.
        for (int i = 0; i < numberYDivisions + 1; i++) {
            int x0 = padding + labelPadding;
            int x1 = pointWidth + padding + labelPadding;
            int y0 = getHeight() - ((i * (getHeight() - padding * 2 - labelPadding)) / numberYDivisions + padding + labelPadding);
            int y1 = y0;
            if (scores.size() > 0) {
                g2.setColor(gridColor);
                g2.drawLine(padding + labelPadding + 1 + pointWidth, y0, getWidth() - padding, y1);
                g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                String yLabel = ((int) ((getMinScore() + (getMaxScore() - getMinScore()) * ((i * 1.0) / numberYDivisions)) * 100)) / 100.0 + "";
                FontMetrics metrics = g2.getFontMetrics();
                int labelWidth = metrics.stringWidth(yLabel);
                g2.drawString(yLabel, x0 - labelWidth - 5, y0 + (metrics.getHeight() / 2) - 3);
            }
            g2.drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1);
        }

        // and for x axis
        for (int i = 0; i < scores.size(); i++) {
            if (scores.size() > 1) {
                int x0 = i * (getWidth() - padding * 2 - labelPadding) / (scores.size() - 1) + padding + labelPadding;
                int x1 = x0;
                int y0 = getHeight() - padding - labelPadding;
                int y1 = y0 - pointWidth;
                if ((i % ((int) ((scores.size() / 20.0)) + 1)) == 0) {
                    g2.setColor(gridColor);
                    g2.drawLine(x0, getHeight() - padding - labelPadding - 1 - pointWidth, x1, padding);
                    g2.setColor(Color.BLACK);
                    String xLabel = i + "";
                    FontMetrics metrics = g2.getFontMetrics();
                    int labelWidth = metrics.stringWidth(xLabel);
                    g2.drawString(xLabel, x0 - labelWidth / 2, y0 + metrics.getHeight() + 3);
                }
                g2.drawLine(x0, y0, x1, y1);
            }
        }

        // create x and y axes 
        g2.drawLine(padding + labelPadding, getHeight() - padding - labelPadding, padding + labelPadding, padding);
        g2.drawLine(padding + labelPadding, getHeight() - padding - labelPadding, getWidth() - padding, getHeight() - padding - labelPadding);

        Stroke oldStroke = g2.getStroke();
        g2.setColor(lineColor);
        g2.setStroke(GRAPH_STROKE);
        for (int i = 0; i < graphPoints.size() - 1; i++) {
            int x1 = graphPoints.get(i).x;
            int y1 = graphPoints.get(i).y;
            int x2 = graphPoints.get(i + 1).x;
            int y2 = graphPoints.get(i + 1).y;
            g2.drawLine(x1, y1, x2, y2);
        }

        g2.setStroke(oldStroke);
        g2.setColor(pointColor);
        for (int i = 0; i < graphPoints.size(); i++) {
            int x = graphPoints.get(i).x - pointWidth / 2;
            int y = graphPoints.get(i).y - pointWidth / 2;
            int ovalW = pointWidth;
            int ovalH = pointWidth;
            g2.fillOval(x, y, ovalW, ovalH);
        }
    }

//    @Override
//    public Dimension getPreferredSize() {
//        return new Dimension(width, heigth);
//    }
    private double getMinScore() {
        double minScore = Double.MAX_VALUE;
        for (Double score : scores) {
            minScore = Math.min(minScore, score);
        }
        return minScore;
    }

    private double getMaxScore() {
        double maxScore = Double.MIN_VALUE;
        for (Double score : scores) {
            maxScore = Math.max(maxScore, score);
        }
        return maxScore;
    }

    public void setScores(List<Double> scores) {
        this.scores = scores;
        invalidate();
        this.repaint();
    }

    public List<Double> getScores() {
        return scores;
    }

    private static void createAndShowGui() {
        List<Double> scores = new ArrayList<>();
        Random random = new Random();
        int maxDataPoints = 40;
        int maxScore = 10;
        for (int i = 0; i < maxDataPoints; i++) {
            scores.add((double) random.nextDouble() * maxScore);
//            scores.add((double) i);
        }
        GraphPanel mainPanel = new GraphPanel(scores);
        mainPanel.setPreferredSize(new Dimension(800, 600));
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("DrawGraph");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        frame.getContentPane().add(mainPanel);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        frame.setVisible(true);
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            createAndShowGui();
         }
      });
   }
}

It looks like this:

Answer 3

There exist many open source projects that handle all the drawing of line charts for you with a couple of lines of code. Here's how you can draw a line chart from data in a couple text (CSV) file with the XChart library. Disclaimer: I'm the lead developer of the project.

In this example, two text files exist in ./CSV/CSVChartRows/. Notice that each row in the files represents a data point to be plotted and that each file represents a different series. series1 contains x, y, and error bar data, whereas series2 contains just x and y, data.

series1.csv

1,12,1.4
2,34,1.12
3,56,1.21
4,47,1.5

series2.csv

1,56
2,34
3,12
4,26

Source Code

public class CSVChartRows {

  public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {

    // import chart from a folder containing CSV files
    XYChart chart = CSVImporter.getChartFromCSVDir("./CSV/CSVChartRows/", DataOrientation.Rows, 600, 400);

    // Show it
    new SwingWrapper(chart).displayChart();
  }
}

Resulting Plot

Answer 4

Or simply use the JFreechart library - http://www.jfree.org/jfreechart/ .

Answer 5

Override the paintComponent method of your panel so you can custom draw. Like this:

@Override
public void paintComponent(Graphics g) {
    Graphics2D gr = (Graphics2D) g; //this is if you want to use Graphics2D
    //now do the drawing here
    ...
}

Answer 6

Hovercraft Full Of Eels' answer is very good, but i had to change it a bit in order to get it working on my program:

int y1 = (int) ((this.height - 2 * BORDER_GAP) - (values.get(i) * yScale - BORDER_GAP));

instead of

int y1 = (int) (scores.get(i) * yScale + BORDER_GAP);

because if i used his way the graphic would be upside down

(you'd see it if you used hardcoded values (e.g 1,3,5,7,9) instead of random values)