Live Graph
Distinctive features:
- A real-time plotter that can automatically update graphs of your data while it is still being computed by your application.
- Concise and simple point-and-click interface that allows to quickly select and compare data series even in applications that output over 1000 series simultaneously.
- Transformation of data series for visual comparison by the virtue of a single click.
- The framework is Java-based and can run on any computer system. However, it is easily integrated with applications written in any programming language. Examples and tutorials are provided.
- LiveGraph reads files in a simple CSV-style format. For applications developed in Java, LiveGraph additionally provides an API that handles all data logging and persistency issues.
LiveGraph was developed in the academic domain and is being used for research on daily basis. Being open source, LiveGraph is absolutely free.
What's inside?
LiveGraph consists of 3 major components.
First, there is the LiveGraph real-time plotter application. The plotter reads the LiveGraph data file (or any other CSV file) and plots the data series contained therein on the screen. The plotter has two distinctive features which are not available elsewhere in their combination:
One is that LiveGraph can automatically re-examine the data file at short time intervals (anything between several Hz and once per hour) and update the graphs on the screen in real-time. By using specialised caching techniques LiveGraph uses only very few computational resources for the updates, even if the data file grows very large and fast.
The other is that LiveGraph automatically detects series and their headings in the data file and provides a very efficient user interface for selecting which graphs should be displayed. While many plotters trade off powerful functions for a complex, slow-to-use user interface, LiveGraph offers only a few data transformation functions and makes them available by a single click in the main legend window. This allows keeping an overview over hundreds or even thousands of graphs.
The second component of the LiveGraph framework is the data file definition for transferable data log files. The file format is closely based on the comma separated values (CSV) text file format. LiveGraph defines a few small but important extensions, such as data column header definitions and file description annotations.
This open format definition allows creating LiveGraph compatible value files in any programming language extremely easily. In addition, this format is readily understood by other frameworks that can read CSV data, including the standard office software.
The third component of LiveGraph is the writer & logger API for Java. This API provides application developers with a very flexible, fast and easy way for writing data generated by an application into LiveGraph CSV files. While the simplicity of the file format makes it straight forward for developers who use other programming languages than Java to create appropriate data files using their own routines, the API offers advanced functions such as caching.
We are hoping that the open source community will contribute to the project by providing implementations of the writer & logger API in other languages.
All this allows you to visualise the results of your application instantly and while it is still running and to manage many 100s graphs quickly and efficiently. You don't have to worry about implementing any data visualisation algorithms, instead you can concentrate on your actual task. As a useful by-product you are left with a complete data log, which you can delete later, if you do not need it.
You can find some additional information about LiveGraph's special features in the section "Why LiveGraph?". There, we explain in more detail, for which tasks there are better tools, and for which tasks LiveGraph might be the best tool currently around. In the user manual we describe the functions of LiveGraph application from the point of view of a desktop user. The developer manual provides all details you need in order to start using LiveGraph with your applications.
Contact
We greatly appreciate any feedback which could help us making LiveGraph better. If you have any questions about LiveGraph, if you have any support queries or if you would like to provide some feedback, please get in touch with us via the forums on the LiveGraph project page on SourceForge.
Licence
LiveGraph is free and open source. It is available under a BSD-style licence with the requirement that any copy acknowledges the original product and its developers. If you have any questions about the licence agreement, please read the detailed licence page or get in touch with us.
