VTK/Examples/Cxx/Plotting/LinePlot

This example demonstrates how to plot XY data.

LinePlot.cxx

#include <vtkVersion.h>
#include <vtkRenderer.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindowInteractor.h>
#include <vtkRenderWindow.h>
#include <vtkSmartPointer.h>
#include <vtkChartXY.h>
#include <vtkTable.h>
#include <vtkPlot.h>
#include <vtkFloatArray.h>
#include <vtkContextView.h>
#include <vtkContextScene.h>
#include <vtkPen.h>
 
int main(int, char *[])
{
  // Create a table with some points in it
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkTable> table = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkTable>::New();
 
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray> arrX = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray>::New();
  arrX->SetName("X Axis");
  table->AddColumn(arrX);
 
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray> arrC = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray>::New();
  arrC->SetName("Cosine");
  table->AddColumn(arrC);
 
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray> arrS = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkFloatArray>::New();
  arrS->SetName("Sine");
  table->AddColumn(arrS);
 
  // Fill in the table with some example values
  int numPoints = 69;
  float inc = 7.5 / (numPoints-1);
  table->SetNumberOfRows(numPoints);
  for (int i = 0; i < numPoints; ++i)
  {
    table->SetValue(i, 0, i * inc);
    table->SetValue(i, 1, cos(i * inc));
    table->SetValue(i, 2, sin(i * inc));
  }
 
  // Set up the view
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkContextView> view = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkContextView>::New();
  view->GetRenderer()->SetBackground(1.0, 1.0, 1.0);
 
  // Add multiple line plots, setting the colors etc
  vtkSmartPointer<vtkChartXY> chart = 
    vtkSmartPointer<vtkChartXY>::New();
  view->GetScene()->AddItem(chart);
  vtkPlot *line = chart->AddPlot(vtkChart::LINE);
#if VTK_MAJOR_VERSION <= 5
  line->SetInput(table, 0, 1);
#else
  line->SetInputData(table, 0, 1);
#endif
  line->SetColor(0, 255, 0, 255);
  line->SetWidth(1.0);
  line = chart->AddPlot(vtkChart::LINE);
#if VTK_MAJOR_VERSION <= 5
  line->SetInput(table, 0, 2);
#else
  line->SetInputData(table, 0, 2);
#endif
  line->SetColor(255, 0, 0, 255);
  line->SetWidth(5.0);

  // For dotted line, the line type can be from 2 to 5 for different dash/dot
  // patterns (see enum in vtkPen containing DASH_LINE, value 2):
#ifndef WIN32
  line->GetPen()->SetLineType(vtkPen::DASH_LINE);
#endif
  // (ifdef-ed out on Windows because DASH_LINE does not work on Windows
  //  machines with built-in Intel HD graphics card...)

  //view->GetRenderWindow()->SetMultiSamples(0);

  // Start interactor
  view->GetInteractor()->Initialize();
  view->GetInteractor()->Start();
 
  return EXIT_SUCCESS;
}

Please try the new VTKExamples website.

CMakeLists.txt

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 2.8)

PROJECT(LinePlot)

find_package(VTK REQUIRED)
include(${VTK_USE_FILE})

add_executable(LinePlot MACOSX_BUNDLE LinePlot.cxx)

if(VTK_LIBRARIES)
  target_link_libraries(LinePlot ${VTK_LIBRARIES})
else()
  target_link_libraries(LinePlot vtkHybrid vtkWidgets)
endif()

Download and Build LinePlot

Click here to download LinePlot. and its CMakeLists.txt file.

Once the tarball LinePlot.tar has been downloaded and extracted,

cd LinePlot/build 

• If VTK is installed:

cmake ..

• If VTK is not installed but compiled on your system, you will need to specify the path to your VTK build:

cmake -DVTK_DIR:PATH=/home/me/vtk_build ..

Build the project:

make

and run it:

./LinePlot

WINDOWS USERS PLEASE NOTE: Be sure to add the VTK bin directory to your path. This will resolve the VTK dll's at run time.