Example to draw “Time Series Line Chart” using jfreechart in Java

A very good example of “Time Series Chart” is available here :

www.java2s.com/Code/Java/Chart/JFreeChartTimeSeriesDemo12.htm

I am writing this example to explore it further means to describe which settings you can change as per your requirements. I have tried my best to document everything. Please let me know if you have any questions after going through the code. Let's start...

TimeSeriesChart.java

//Code Starts here

/*

 * To change this template, choose Tools | Templates

 * and open the template in the editor.

 */

package jfreecharts;

/**

 *

 * @author sshankar

 */

import java.awt.BasicStroke;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;

import java.awt.Color;

import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;

import java.awt.event.ActionListener;

import java.awt.Stroke;

import java.io.File;

import java.text.SimpleDateFormat;

import javax.swing.JButton;

import javax.swing.JFileChooser;

import javax.swing.JFrame;

import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

import javax.swing.JPanel;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.DateAxis;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.DateTickMarkPosition;

import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;

import org.jfree.chart.ChartFactory;

import org.jfree.chart.ChartPanel;

import org.jfree.chart.ChartUtilities;

import org.jfree.chart.JFreeChart;

import org.jfree.chart.plot.XYPlot;

import org.jfree.chart.renderer.xy.XYItemRenderer;

import org.jfree.chart.renderer.xy.XYLineAndShapeRenderer;

import org.jfree.data.time.Second;

import org.jfree.data.time.TimeSeries;

import org.jfree.data.time.TimeSeriesCollection;

import org.jfree.data.xy.XYDataset;

import org.jfree.ui.ApplicationFrame;

import org.jfree.ui.RefineryUtilities;

/**

 * A demo.

 *

 */

public class TimeSeriesChart extends ApplicationFrame {

    /**

     * A demo.

     *

     * @param title  the frame title.

     */

    public TimeSeriesChart(final String title) {

        super(title);

        final XYDataset dataset = createDataset();

        final JFreeChart chart = createChart(dataset);

        final ChartPanel chartPanel = new ChartPanel(chart);

        chartPanel.setPreferredSize(new java.awt.Dimension(800, 600));

        chartPanel.setMouseZoomable(true, false);

        this.add(chartPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);

        

        JPanel customPanel = new JPanel();

        JButton saveButton = new JButton("Save Graph as Image");

        saveButton.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {

                try{                                       

                    //Code to display save dialog box

                    String graph_file_name = "";

                    final JFrame frame = new JFrame();

                    JFileChooser chooser = new JFileChooser();

                    //Code to select files of .jpg extention only

                    ExampleFileFilter filter = new ExampleFileFilter();

                    filter.addExtension("jpg");

                    filter.setDescription("JPEG image");

                    chooser.setFileFilter(filter);

                    int choice = 0;

                    do{

                        choice = chooser.showSaveDialog(frame);

                    }while(choice != JFileChooser.APPROVE_OPTION);

                    graph_file_name = chooser.getSelectedFile().getAbsolutePath();

                   

                    //code to find if extension is already given with file name or not

                    String fileName = graph_file_name;

                    String ext      = "";

                   

                    int mid= fileName.lastIndexOf(".");

                    if(mid > 0){

                        ext   = fileName.substring(mid+1,fileName.length()); 

                    }

                                       

                    if(!(ext != null && !ext.trim().isEmpty() && ext.length() != 0)) {

                        graph_file_name = graph_file_name+".jpg";

                    }

 

                    // Save as JPEG

                    ChartUtilities.saveChartAsJPEG(new File(graph_file_name), chart, 800, 600);

                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"Image Saved Successfully.", "Information", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

                

                }catch(Exception ex){

                    JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null,"Please try again", "Information", JOptionPane.INFORMATION_MESSAGE);

                }

            }

        });

       

        customPanel.add(saveButton);

         this.add(customPanel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);

       

    }

     /**

     * Creates a chart.

     *

     * @param dataset  a dataset.

     *

     * @return A chart.

     */

    private JFreeChart createChart(final XYDataset dataset) {

        final JFreeChart chart = ChartFactory.createTimeSeriesChart(

            "Sample Chart",

            "Date",

            "Value",

            dataset,

            true,

            true,

            false

        );

        chart.setBackgroundPaint(Color.LIGHT_GRAY);//light gray

       

        final XYPlot plot = chart.getXYPlot();

        plot.setBackgroundPaint(new Color(0xffffe0));

        plot.setDomainGridlinesVisible(true);

        plot.setDomainGridlinePaint(Color.lightGray);

        plot.setRangeGridlinesVisible(true);

        plot.setRangeGridlinePaint(Color.lightGray);

        plot.setDomainCrosshairVisible(true);

        plot.setRangeCrosshairVisible(false);

               

        final XYItemRenderer xyitemrenderer  = plot.getRenderer();

        if (xyitemrenderer  instanceof XYLineAndShapeRenderer) {

            final XYLineAndShapeRenderer renderer = (XYLineAndShapeRenderer) xyitemrenderer;

            renderer.setBaseShapesFilled(true);

            renderer.setBaseShapesVisible(true);

            renderer.setShapesVisible( true );

            renderer.setDrawOutlines( true );

           

            //sets the joint level size means the dot size which join two points on a graph 2f,3f

            Stroke stroke = new BasicStroke(

            3f, BasicStroke.CAP_ROUND, BasicStroke.JOIN_BEVEL);

            renderer.setBaseOutlineStroke(stroke);

                       

        }

       

               

        final DateAxis xaxis = (DateAxis) plot.getDomainAxis();

         //Change domain axis lable by 180/4=45 degree

        //axis.setLabelAngle(Math.PI / 4.0);

       

        //Sets the Tick Labels means domain value labels by 90 degree

        xaxis.setVerticalTickLabels(true);

       

        //Try to play with it. It will work only in case of  horizontal tick mark

        xaxis.setTickMarkPosition(DateTickMarkPosition.MIDDLE);

       

        //set date format

        xaxis.setDateFormatOverride(new SimpleDateFormat("HH:mm:ss MM-dd-yy"));

       

        final NumberAxis yaxis = (NumberAxis) plot.getRangeAxis();

        //To set range values integer only. Default are float

        yaxis.setStandardTickUnits(NumberAxis.createIntegerTickUnits());

       

        return chart;

    }

   

    /**

     * Creates a sample dataset.

     *

     * @return the dataset.

     */

    private XYDataset createDataset() {

        final TimeSeriesCollection dataset = new TimeSeriesCollection();

        dataset.setDomainIsPointsInTime(true);

                

        final TimeSeries s1 = new TimeSeries("Series 1", Second.class);

        s1.add(new Second(0, 0, 0, 7, 7, 2012), 12);

        s1.add(new Second(0, 30, 2, 7, 7, 2012), 31);

        s1.add(new Second(0, 15, 12, 7, 7, 2012), 80);

       

        final TimeSeries s2 = new TimeSeries("Series 2", Second.class);

        s2.add(new Second(0, 20, 3, 7, 7, 2012), 50);

        s2.add(new Second(0, 40, 6, 7, 7, 2012), 63);

        s2.add(new Second(0, 25, 12, 7, 7, 2012), 77);

       

        final TimeSeries s3 = new TimeSeries("Series 2", Second.class);

        s3.add(new Second(0, 10, 1, 7, 7, 2012), 52);

        s3.add(new Second(0, 20, 12, 7, 7, 2012), 66);

        s3.add(new Second(0, 35, 9, 7, 7, 2012), 79);

       

        dataset.addSeries(s1);

        dataset.addSeries(s2);

        dataset.addSeries(s3);

       

        return dataset;

}

   

     

    /**

     * Starting point for the demonstration application.

     *

     * @param args  ignored.

     */

    public static void main(final String[] args) {

        final TimeSeriesChart demo = new TimeSeriesChart("Time Series Chart");

        demo.pack();

        RefineryUtilities.centerFrameOnScreen(demo);

        demo.setVisible(true);

   }

}

Output :

You can also save graph as image by clicking on  "Save Graph as Image" button.

Note : In Simple Line Chart you can’t perform zooming operations. But in Time

Series Line Chart you can also perform zoom-in operations. For that, go to the 

graph area and drag mouse pointer from left-to-right and top-to-bottom in such 

a way that a rectangle or square is drawn. Drop the mouse pointer; it would 

zoom-in for that particular area (rectangle). To zoom-out drag mouse from right 

to left or bottom-to-top.

Thanks !!!!!!!!!!!! Enjoy Programming  :)