How can I update a JFreeChart's appearance after it's been made visible?

Question

How can I use JFreeChart to dynamically update a chart's appearance after it's been made visible?

Answer 1

The class ChartPanel is convenient for this, as it has methods to control the chart's overall appearance, including properties and zoom state. In addition it's also possible to access the chart's components, as shown below. This related example illustrates a JToolBar of zoom buttons.

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.EventQueue;
import java.awt.FlowLayout;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.text.NumberFormat;
import javax.swing.AbstractAction;
import javax.swing.DefaultComboBoxModel;
import javax.swing.JButton;
import javax.swing.JComboBox;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import javax.swing.JPanel;
import org.jfree.chart.ChartFactory;
import org.jfree.chart.ChartPanel;
import org.jfree.chart.JFreeChart;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.DateAxis;
import org.jfree.chart.axis.NumberAxis;
import org.jfree.chart.plot.XYPlot;
import org.jfree.chart.renderer.xy.XYLineAndShapeRenderer;
import org.jfree.data.time.TimeSeries;
import org.jfree.data.time.TimeSeriesCollection;
import org.jfree.data.time.Year;
import org.jfree.data.xy.XYDataset;

/** @see http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5522575 */
public class ChartPanelDemo {

    private static final String title = "Return On Investment";
    private ChartPanel chartPanel = createChart();

    public ChartPanelDemo() {
        JFrame f = new JFrame(title);
        f.setTitle(title);
        f.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        f.setLayout(new BorderLayout(0, 5));
        f.add(chartPanel, BorderLayout.CENTER);
        chartPanel.setMouseWheelEnabled(true);
        chartPanel.setHorizontalAxisTrace(true);
        chartPanel.setVerticalAxisTrace(true);

        JPanel panel = new JPanel(new FlowLayout(FlowLayout.RIGHT));
        panel.add(createTrace());
        panel.add(createDate());
        panel.add(createZoom());
        f.add(panel, BorderLayout.SOUTH);
        f.pack();
        f.setLocationRelativeTo(null);
        f.setVisible(true);
    }

    private JComboBox createTrace() {
        final JComboBox trace = new JComboBox();
        final String[] traceCmds = {"Enable Trace", "Disable Trace"};
        trace.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(traceCmds));
        trace.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                if (traceCmds[0].equals(trace.getSelectedItem())) {
                    chartPanel.setHorizontalAxisTrace(true);
                    chartPanel.setVerticalAxisTrace(true);
                    chartPanel.repaint();
                } else {
                    chartPanel.setHorizontalAxisTrace(false);
                    chartPanel.setVerticalAxisTrace(false);
                    chartPanel.repaint();
                }
            }
        });
        return trace;
    }

    private JComboBox createDate() {
        final JComboBox date = new JComboBox();
        final String[] dateCmds = {"Horizontal Dates", "Vertical Dates"};
        date.setModel(new DefaultComboBoxModel(dateCmds));
        date.addActionListener(new ActionListener() {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                JFreeChart chart = chartPanel.getChart();
                XYPlot plot = (XYPlot) chart.getPlot();
                DateAxis domain = (DateAxis) plot.getDomainAxis();
                if (dateCmds[0].equals(date.getSelectedItem())) {
                    domain.setVerticalTickLabels(false);
                } else {
                    domain.setVerticalTickLabels(true);
                }
            }
        });
        return date;
    }

    private JButton createZoom() {
        final JButton auto = new JButton(new AbstractAction("Auto Zoom") {

            @Override
            public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
                chartPanel.restoreAutoBounds();
            }
        });
        return auto;
    }

    private ChartPanel createChart() {
        XYDataset roiData = createDataset();
        JFreeChart chart = ChartFactory.createTimeSeriesChart(
            title, "Date", "Value", roiData, true, true, false);
        XYPlot plot = chart.getXYPlot();
        XYLineAndShapeRenderer renderer =
            (XYLineAndShapeRenderer) plot.getRenderer();
        renderer.setBaseShapesVisible(true);
        NumberFormat currency = NumberFormat.getCurrencyInstance();
        currency.setMaximumFractionDigits(0);
        NumberAxis rangeAxis = (NumberAxis) plot.getRangeAxis();
        rangeAxis.setNumberFormatOverride(currency);
        return new ChartPanel(chart);
    }

    private XYDataset createDataset() {
        TimeSeriesCollection tsc = new TimeSeriesCollection();
        tsc.addSeries(createSeries("Projected", 200));
        tsc.addSeries(createSeries("Actual", 100));
        return tsc;
    }

    private TimeSeries createSeries(String name, double scale) {
        TimeSeries series = new TimeSeries(name);
        for (int i = 0; i < 6; i++) {
            series.add(new Year(2005 + i), Math.pow(2, i) * scale);
        }
        return series;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {

            @Override
            public void run() {
                ChartPanelDemo cpd = new ChartPanelDemo();
            }
        });
    }
}