bradleyross.opensource.jfreechart.helpers

Class TickUnitCollection

java.lang.Object

bradleyross.opensource.jfreechart.helpers.TickUnitCollection

public class TickUnitCollection
extends Object

Create a new collection of tick units.

This class contains methods that help to control the appearance of the axis and the associated tick marks.

Author:

Bradley Ross

See Also:

TickUnits, DateTickUnit

Nested Class Summary

Nested Classes

Modifier and Type	Class and Description
protected class	TickUnitCollection.MNFormat java.text.DateFormat class required to satisfy the formatting requirements of the JFreeChart package.

Field Summary

Fields

Modifier and Type	Field and Description
protected int	outerDebugLevel Controls amount of diagnostic messages

Constructor Summary

Constructors

Constructor and Description
TickUnitCollection() Default constructor.
TickUnitCollection(int value) Constructor allowing extra debugging aids.

Method Summary

Methods

Modifier and Type	Method and Description
TickUnits	getDailyUnits() Creates tick marks at 24 hour (daily) intervals.
int	getDebugLevel() Getter for outerDebugLevel
TickUnits	getHourlyUnits(int hours) Set up tick marks at multiple hour intervals.
TickUnits	getNewUnits() Creates tick marks at twelve hour intervals.
TickUnits	getNumberUnits(double size) Specify the distance between tick marks.
TickUnits	getNumberUnits(double size, NumberFormat formatter) Specify the distance between tick marks and the format to be used in presenting the values for the tick marks.
void	setDebugLevel(int value) Setter for outerDebugLevel.
void	setMNTickMarks(JFreeChart chart) Set up the time tick marks and text items for the charts so that the time axis has letters indicating noon and midnight as well as the day of week, day of month and month.
void	setMNTickMarks(JFreeChart chart, Date startTimeIn, Date endTime) Set up the time tick marks and text items for the charts so that the time axis has letters indicating noon and midnight as well as the day of week, day of month and month.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Field Detail

outerDebugLevel

protected int outerDebugLevel

Controls amount of diagnostic messages

See Also:

getDebugLevel(), setDebugLevel(int)

Constructor Detail

TickUnitCollection

public TickUnitCollection(int value)

Constructor allowing extra debugging aids.

Parameters:

value - Value for outerDebugLevel

TickUnitCollection

public TickUnitCollection()

Default constructor.

Method Detail

getDebugLevel

public int getDebugLevel()

Getter for outerDebugLevel

Returns:

Value of outerDebugLevel

See Also:

outerDebugLevel

setDebugLevel

public void setDebugLevel(int value)

Setter for outerDebugLevel.

Parameters:

value - Value for outerDebugLevel

See Also:

outerDebugLevel

setMNTickMarks

public void setMNTickMarks(JFreeChart chart)

Set up the time tick marks and text items for the charts so that the time axis has letters indicating noon and midnight as well as the day of week, day of month and month.

This version didn't work. The version specifying start and end times worked.

Parameters:

chart - JFreeChart object to be modified.

setMNTickMarks

public void setMNTickMarks(JFreeChart chart,
                  Date startTimeIn,
                  Date endTime)

Set up the time tick marks and text items for the charts so that the time axis has letters indicating noon and midnight as well as the day of week, day of month and month.

It is necessary to specify the starting and ending time so that the three time based axis can be lined up correctly. For the three axis (month/day, day of week, noon/midnight), the following actions are carried out.

When I didn't set the upper/lower bounds of each domain axis and turn off autoranging, only the first row appeared.

• setAutoRange(false) is used to turn off automatic adjustment of the axis range and the setLowerBound and setUpperBound methods are used to set the time range.

• The color of the axis line is set to the background color so that it becomes invisible.

• The setDateFormatOverride, setStandardTickUnits, setAutoTickUnitSelection, and setTickMarkPosition methods are used to set the appearance of the axis.

There appears to be a problem with the JFreeChart software. Unless I moved the start to before the start of the first interval, the first interval was reduced in length by an hour. Moving the start time created an initial interval that was two milliseconds in length.

Parameters:

chart - JFreeChart object to be modified.

startTimeIn - Start of time domain range

endTime - End of time domain range

getNewUnits

public TickUnits getNewUnits()

Creates tick marks at twelve hour intervals.

org.jfree.chart.axis.TickUnits implements the org.jfree.chart.axis.TickUnitSource interface.

org.jfree.chart.axis.DateTickUnit is a subclass of the abstract class org.jfree.chart.axis.TickUnit.

According to section 9.4.8 of the manual, you use the setStandardTickUnits method of the axis object to specify the tick mark collection to be used.
DateAxis.setStandardTickUnits(TickUnitSource)

Returns:

Object defining set of tick marks.

See Also:

TickUnitSource, TickUnits, TickUnit, DateTickUnit

getHourlyUnits

public TickUnits getHourlyUnits(int hours)

Set up tick marks at multiple hour intervals.

Recommended intervals are 2, 3, 4, 6, and 12 hours. Other intervals may have a strange appearance.

Parameters:

hours - Number of hours per tick mark

Returns:

Set of tick units

getDailyUnits

public TickUnits getDailyUnits()

Creates tick marks at 24 hour (daily) intervals.

The constructor getDailyUnits() behaves the same as getHourlyUnits(24).

Returns:

Object defining tick marks

getNumberUnits

public TickUnits getNumberUnits(double size)

Specify the distance between tick marks.

This allows the tick marks on a plot with multiple range axis to be lined up to provide a cleaner appearance.

Parameters:

size - Distance between tick marks

Returns:

Set of tick units

getNumberUnits

public TickUnits getNumberUnits(double size,
                       NumberFormat formatter)

Specify the distance between tick marks and the format to be used in presenting the values for the tick marks.

This allows the tick marks on a plot with multiple range axis to be lined up to provide a cleaner appearance.

Parameters:

size - Distance between tick marks

formatter - Formatter to be used for values of tick marks

Returns:

Set of tick units