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Live Chart

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Live Chart is a real-time charting library for GTK4 and Vala, based on Cairo.

Features

  • Live animated series (lines, smooth lines, area, bar) within a single chart
  • Smart y-axis computation
  • Highly configurable
  • Extendable

Screenshots

Documentation

Getting started

Take a look at code examples :

Compile and run with :

meson build
ninja -C build
./build/examples/example
./build/examples/example-fixed-max
./build/examples/example-hide-parts
./build/examples/example-configure-labels
./build/examples/example-static-renderer

Dependencies

dependency
libgee-0.8-dev
libgtk-4-dev

API

Full valadoc API documentation here

Chart widget

Chart widget is the main entrypoint of your live chart.

var chart = LiveChart.Chart();

As Chart object derives from Gtk.DrawingArea, you can directly attach it to any container widgets :

var window = new Gtk.Window();
window.add(chart);

Series

A Serie is basically a structure that :

  • Contains its own data set
  • Has a name, like Temperature in Paris
  • Know how it renders on the chart, i.e as Bar, a Line, a SmoothLineArea...

Create and attach a Serie

// Serie with a default Line renderer
var serie_name = "Temperature in Paris";
var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie(serie_name);

// Or inject the renderer
var serie_name = "Temperature in Paris";
var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie(serie_name, new LiveChart.Bar());

Then register the Serie to the Chart :

var serie_name = "Temperature in Paris";
var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie(serie_name);
chart.add_serie(paris);

The serie attached into chart is removable from the chart.

var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie("Temperature in Paris");
var msm_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie("Temperature in Mont Saint-Michel")
chart.add_serie(paris_temperature);
chart.add_serie(msm_temperature);
//...
chart.remove_serie(paris_temperature);  //Remove specified serie.
chart.remove_all_series();              //Remove all series from the chart.

Interacting with series

All methods of Serie class could be called before or after having been attached to the chart using chart.add_serie method, exepted for the Renderer and underlying data store.

Accessing a serie can be done via :

  • the local reference in your code
  • the accessor methods of chart.series object : by index chart.series[index] / chart.series.get(index) or by name chart.series.get_by_name(name). Beware, these methods may throw a ChartError.SERIE_NOT_FOUND error.

Adding data points method

Please note that your Serie must have been registered to the Chart before being able to add data points to this serie.

Adding a point / value to a serie using serie.add method automatically compute a timestamp stored in underlying value container. If you need to manually compute a timestamp, in milliseconds, use serie.add_with_timestamp(double value, int64 timestamp)

serie.add(19.5);
//or
serie.add_with_timestamp(19.5, 15978984664);

Name

serie.name = "Temperature in Paris (%s)".printf(last_value);

Visibility

You can programmatically hide / display the serie :

serie.visible = true;//or false

Lines and outlines

Lines and outlines (for bar series) can be configured with Serie.line property. Full configuration details available in Path class.

serie.line.color = { 0.0f, 0.1f, 0.8f, 1.0f };
serie.line.width = 2;
serie.line.dash = Dash() {dashes = {1}, offset = 2};
serie.line.visibility = false;//or true

About color : Gdk.RGBA struct.
Dashes : please refer to valadoc and cairo c documentation

For series with area, this impact only the outline, not the area itself.

Clear underlying data

Remove all data from underlying data store :

serie.clear();

Data accessor

serie.get_values();

Underlying data buffer

When you add a data point to a serie, it is stored in a LiveChart.Values object, which derives from Gee.LinkedList. To avoid your program growing too much in memory, be default, LiveChart.Values keeps only the last 1000 values. You can change that behaviour by injecting manually a LiveChart.Values object in your serie and specify the buffer size in Values constructor.

var serie_name = "Temperature in Paris";
Values values = new Values(50000); // buffer of 50 000 data points
var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie(serie_name, new LiveChart.Line(values));

chart.add_serie(paris);

Serie renderers

A Serie renderer is responsible of drawing data points to the chart's surface. It is passed as second argument of Serie constructor :

var serie_name = "Temperature in Paris";
Values values = new Values(50000); // buffer of 50 000 data points
var paris_temperature = new LiveChart.Serie(serie_name, new LiveChart.Line(values));

chart.add_serie(paris);

There's currently 6 built-in series available.

Lines

Line renderer connects each data point with a straight segment.

Smooth line renderer connects each data point with a bezier spline for a smoother rendering.

Lines with area

For area renderers, you can control the area color via the area_alpha: double property (default : 0.1):

var smooth_line = LiveChart.SmoothLineArea();
smooth_line.color = Gdk.RGBA() {red = 0.0f, green = 0.0f, blue = 1.0f, alpha = 1.0f};
smooth_line.area_alpha = 0.5;

The area color is not yet configurable : it's always equal to color.

Histogram

Static lines

Threshold renderer draws a straight line at a given value. Below, the red threshold line is defined at 200MB :

var threshold = new LiveChart.Serie("threshold",  new LiveChart.ThresholdLine(200.0));
threshold.line.color = { 0.8f, 0.1f, 0.1f, 1.0f };
threshold.value = 250.0; // update threshold at runtime

Max and Min bound line renderer draws a straight line which represents either a MIN or a MAX of a given serie, or of all series. In the example below, the yellow line represents the MAX value of all series, the purple one represents the MAX of HEAP

var heap = new LiveChart.Serie("HEAP", new LiveChart.SmoothLineArea());
heap.line.color = { 0.3f, 0.8f, 0.1f, 1.0f };

var rss = new LiveChart.Serie("RSS",  new LiveChart.Line());
rss.line.color = { 0.8f, 0.1f, 0.8f, 1.0f };

var max = new LiveChart.Serie("MAX OF RSS OR HEAP", new LiveChart.MaxBoundLine());
var mrss = new LiveChart.Serie("MAX HEAP", new LiveChart.MaxBoundLine.from_serie(rss));
max.line.color = { 0.8f, 0.5f, 0.2f, 1.0f };
mrss.line.color = { 0.5f, 0f, 1.0f, 1.0f };

chart.add_serie(heap);
chart.add_serie(rss);
chart.add_serie(max);
chart.add_serie(mrss);

Chart configuration

The Configuration object can be retrieved from Chart.config property for further adjustments :

var chart = new LiveChart.Chart();
var config = chart.config;
// Adjust the configuration

You can also inject the Config object to the chart constructor if you prefer to adjust is before chart first renderer :

var config = LiveChart.Config();
// Adjust the configuration
var chart = new LiveChart.Chart(config);

Axes configuration

Labels (x and y axis)

Labels are the time for the x-axis and values for the y-axis.

  • Axes labels visibility
var axis;

var labels;

labels = config.x_axis.labels;
//or
labels = config.y_axis.labels;

labels.visible = false;
  • Axes label fonts
var labels;

labels = config.x_axis.labels;
//or
labels = config.y_axis.labels;

labels.font.size = 12;                      // uint8     In pixels
labels.font.color = { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f };   // Gdk.RGBA
labels.font.weight = Cairo.FontWeight.BOLD; // Cairo.FontWeight
labels.font.slant =  Cairo.FontSlant.ITALIC;// Cairo.FontSlant

Axis lines

Axis lines are horizontal or vertical guidelines - depending on which axis they're attached - aligned on labels.

Line axis

  • Line color
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.lines.color = Gdk.RGBA() {red = 1.0f, green = 1.0f, blue = 1.0f, alpha = 0.2f}; //Light grey
  • Line width
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.lines.width = 1.0;
  • Line dashes
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.lines.dashes = LiveChart.Dash() {dashes = {5.0}, offset = 0.0};

For more information about cairo dashes, please refer to valadoc and cairo c documentation

  • Lines visibility
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.lines.visible = false;

Main axes (a.k.a x and y axis, or abscissa and ordinate)

Main axes can be configured via the axis attribute of each axis :

var axis_config;

axis_config = config.x_axis.axis;
//or
axis_config = config.y_axis.axis;

The configuration is the same than Axis lines :

var axis_config;

axis_config = config.x_axis.axis;
//or
axis_config = config.y_axis.axis;

axis_config.color = Gdk.RGBA() {red = 1.0f, green = 1.0f, blue = 1.0f, alpha = 0.2f}; //Light grey
axis_config.width = 1.0;
axis_config.dash = LiveChart.Dash() {dashes = {5.0}, offset = 0.0};
axis_config.visible = false;

x-axis

  • Tick interval (in seconds, default 10)

Define the time laps, in seconds, between each ticks on x-axis.

var x_axis = config.x_axis;
x_axis.tick_interval = 10; // 10 seconds between each ticks

The lower is the value, the faster the data points are moving from right to left.

  • Tick length (in pixels, default 60)

Define the distance, in pixels, between each ticks on x-axis.

var x_axis = config.x_axis;
x_axis.tick_length = 60; // 60 pixels between each ticks

For example, with tick_interval=10 and tick_length=60, each second is displayed as 6 pixels on the chart.

  • Show fraction (bool, default false)

Define if the timepoints on x-axis would be printed with fractional part or not.

var x_axis = config.x_axis;
x_axis.show_fraction = true; // Shows timepoint in the format: "HH:MM:SS.xxx"
  • Slide timeline (bool, default false)

Define if the timeline(each of timepoints and grid line) is moving or fixed. If true, then each timepoints has fixed value, slides along the flow of time.

var x_axis = config.x_axis;
x_axis.slide_timeline = true; // Slides the timeline like horizontal scrolling with the chart.

y-axis

  • Unit

Define the unit of values displayed along y-axis. Default to empty string.

var y_axis = config.y_axis;
y_axis.unit = "%";
  • Fixed maximum value (default null)

Sometimes, the maximum value displayed on y-axis must be fixed, for example when value is a percentage, or whenever you know the maximum possible value.

var y_axis = config.y_axis;
y_axis.unit = "%";
y_axis.fixed_max = 100.0;
y_axis.tick_interval = 25.0;

With this configuration, the y-axis will display 5 ticks : 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%, the maximum possible value.

Sometimes, you won't know the fixed max value. Think about the total memory available on a system. In that case, you may want to cap it a bit higher in order to keep optimal chart ventilation. For instance, if the max value is 8.2, you may want to ceil it to 9, or if the max value is 859 you may want to ceil it to 900.

For that purpose, use LiveChart.cap method :

var y_axis = config.y_axis;
y_axis.unit = "GB";
y_axis.fixed_max = LiveChart.cap((int) max_mem));
  • Ratio threshold (default 1.118)

When not using fixed_max options, the chart drawable area is 1.118 times higher than needed to display all points. You can reduce or increase that ratio :

var y_axis = config.y_axis;
y_axis.ratio_threshold = 1.0f; // The higher point will always be on the higher part of the chart
y_axis.ratio_threshold = 2.0f; // The higher point will always be on the middle of the drawing area

Paddings

Paddings are distance between the chart window and the real drawing area where your data will be displayed.

var config = new LiveChart.Config();
var chart = new LiveChart.Chart(config);

/*
public Padding() {
    smart = AutoPadding.TOP | AutoPadding.RIGHT | AutoPadding.BOTTOM | AutoPadding.LEFT;
    top = 0;
    right = 0;
    bottom = 0;
    left = 0;
}
*/

Smart paddings

By default, because side paddings may depends on text length and font size, smart auto-padding feature is set to AutoPadding.TOP | AutoPadding.RIGHT | AutoPadding.BOTTOM | AutoPadding.LEFT. It means all paddings are smart computed.

Smart paddings are bit fields (a.k.a flags), so you can apply bitwise operators to combine them :

// Smart padding only for Left and Bottom paddings
config.padding.smart = LiveChart.AutoPadding.LEFT | LiveChart.AutoPadding.BOTTOM;

When a side isn't configured as "smart", it fallbacks to global padding settings.

To complety disable smart padding, set config.padding.smart to AutoPadding.NONE :

config.padding.smart = LiveChart.AutoPadding.LEFT | LiveChart.AutoPadding.BOTTOM;

Global paddings

Paddings can be set - in pixel - for each sides. If you need to force a padding, remember to disable the smart padding for this side.

// Remove AutoPadding.TOP from smart padding before setting a custom padding.top value
config.padding.smart = LiveChart.AutoPadding.RIGHT | LiveChart.AutoPadding.BOTTOM | LiveChart.AutoPadding.LEFT;
config.padding.top = 10; // in pixels

Background

Chart has a default colored background that can be changed via the Background.color property :

var chart = new LiveChart.Chart();
chart.background.color = Gdk.RGBA() {red = 1.0f, green = 1.0f, blue = 1.0f, alpha = 1.0f}; //White background

Legend

  • Visibility
var chart = new LiveChart.Chart(config);

chart.legend.visible = false; // Hide legend
  • Legend font
var chart = new LiveChart.Chart(config);
var legend = vhart.legend;

legend.labels.font.size = 12;                      // uint8     In pixels
legend.labels.font.color = { 1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f };   // Gdk.RGBA
legend.labels.font.weight = Cairo.FontWeight.BOLD; // Cairo.FontWeight
legend.labels.font.slant =  Cairo.FontSlant.ITALIC;// Cairo.FontSlant

Chart element visibility

You can prevent all chart parts from being displayed, by using the visible property of each part.

var config = new LiveChart.Config();

var chart = new LiveChart.Chart(config);
chart.legend.visible = false; //Hide legend
chart.grid.visible = false;   //Hide grid

If you want to get rid of chart padding, remember to disable smart paddings and set all paddings to 0.

var config = new LiveChart.Config();
config.padding = LiveChart.Padding() { smart = LiveChart.AutoPadding.NONE, top = 0, right = 0, bottom = 0, left = 0};

In order to hide labels only, refer to axis labels

  • Axes visibility
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.axis.visible = false;
  • Both axes & labels visibility
var axis;

axis = config.x_axis;
//or
axis = config.y_axis;
axis.visible = false;

Advanced usages

Programmatic export

You can export your chart in PNG format :

var filename = "chart_export.png";
chart.to_png(filename);

Controlling refresh rate

By default, the chart is refreshed every 100ms and very time a new data point is added. If it doesn't fit your needs, you can adjust the refresh rate. The lower, the smoother.

(Extra)You can also control the scrolling ratio with 2nd arg (default is 1.0).

var chart = LiveChart.Chart();
chart.refresh_every(-1); // means to stop auto-refresh.
chart.refresh_every(1000); // refresh every 1000ms
chart.refresh_every(100, 0.0); // refresh every 100ms, and pausing

Seeking on the timeline.

If you want to watch the past data, then you can specify the time which you want to seek. Time is represented in unixtime milliseconds in default.

var chart = LiveChart.Chart();
var conv_usec = chart.config.time.conv_us;
chart.config.time.current -= 5000; // Go 5 seconds back.
chart.config.time.current = GLib.get_real_time() / conv_usec; // Go to System's local time.

Specify the range of the timeline.

In default, timestamp is treated in milliseconds. But if you want to treat timestamp in microseconds or seconds, then you can call config.time.set_range in the first to use other the range in your app.

(Warning!) If you switched to other range from "m"(milliseconds), you cannot push values with Serie.add(double value).

var chart = LiveChart.Chart();
var serie = new LiveChart.Serie("USEC VALS",  new LiveChart.Line());
chart.config.time.set_range("u"); //"u" means microseconds. "m" means milliseconds. "s" to seconds.
chart.add_serie(serie);
serie.add_with_timestamp(100.0, GLib.get_real_time() / chart.config.time.conv_us); //serie.add(val) is only usable in millisecs.

Deal with your own data

LiveChart uses custom Value struct to store recorded values. Basically, it stores the value, as a double, and a timestamp. If you use to store in a Gee.Collection<double?>, without any timestamp information - most of the time because you know the interval between each points - and need to import them in a LiveChart, don't panic, there's a solution.

Use Chart.add_unaware_timestamp_collection() or Chart.add_unaware_timestamp_collection_by_index():

// Your own dataset
var unaware_timestamp_collection = new Gee.ArrayList<double?>();
unaware_timestamp_collection.add(5);
unaware_timestamp_collection.add(10);
unaware_timestamp_collection.add(15);

var chart = new LiveChart.Chart();
var serie = new LiveChart.Serie("CPU usage");

//Potentially, you may want to clean up the existing data
serie.clear();

//You know that, in your own model, there's 2000ms between each of your points
var timespan_between_value = 2000;

chart.add_unaware_timestamp_collection(serie, unaware_timestamp_collection, timespan_between_value);
//or
chart.add_unaware_timestamp_collection_by_index(0, unaware_timestamp_collection, timespan_between_value);

Et voilà !

CAUTIONS

Removing LiveChart.Chart from Gtk.Widget

Removing LiveChart.Chart from Gtk.Widget without stopping auto-refresh causes memory leak.

var window = new Gtk.Window();
var chart = new LiveChart.Chart();
window.add(chart);

//...
chart.refresh_every(-1);  //Don't forget to stop auto-refresh if your app replaces the LiveChart.Chart widget.
window.remove(chart);

How LiveChart versions works ?

  • For each new feature, the minor version number will be bumped
  • For each bug fix, small improvement or documentation update, the patch version number will be bumped

We'll do our best to never break the API on minor and patch updates. If we do it, it's not intentional so don't hesitate to open an issue !

Some classes, structs, methods, attributes or property will be marked as Deprecated, please check the compiler warnings about them. All the stuff marked as Deprecated will be removed from Livechart 2.0.0, one day...