Time Plot - Plotting

Use the Time Plot visualizer to send measurements from your Arduino to MegunoLink for plotting. Time, for the x-axis, can either be supplied by MegunoLink as it receives your data, or included in the message sent from the Arduino (from a real-time clock, for example).

Time plots are useful for testing new sensors such as accelerometers, temperature, force and many more. Just read the sensor, send the data to MegunoLink using functions from the TimePlot library and it will appear on screen. You can zoom, edit series styles, auto-scroll and export data to the clipboard or a file.

Arduino data plotted using MegunoLink Pro TimePlot

MegunoLink plots data received over the serial port from an Arduino or any microcontroller

This page contains detailed documentation for the time plot visualizer.

Check out our getting started plotting Arduino data for a introduction to plotting with MegunoLink.

Getting Started

Creating a Time Plot Visualizer

Select Time Plot from the visualizer menu or toolbox to add a new time plot visualizer window to your MegunoLink project. You can add as many plot windows as you like. Use message channels in your Arduino sketch to control the data show on each plot.

Drag the visualizer tab to organize the windows in your MegunoLink project.

Time plot visualizer controls can also be added to interface panels.

User Interface

Plot properties and series styles can be set using buttons on the plot toolbar. Along with tools to select and remove series, zoom and pan, you can also hide or show the plot legend and toggle visibility of the summary table.

The summary table lists the series which have been detected along with useful statistics including the minimum, maximum and average value received for each series.

Turn on auto-scrolling mode to automatically update the x-axis to show the latest data. Old data will scroll off the left edge of the plot. Data out of view is not lost; simply use the zoom tools to change your view of the data received.

Time plot visualizer — The time plot visualizer user interface.

Visualizer Toolbar

Use the tools on the visualizer toolbar to change the content and appearance of the time-plot.

Tool	Description
	Connect/disconnect the selected connection. Use the drop-down to select the connection used by this visualizer.
	Select the channels processed by the visualizer.
	Show/hide the series summary table.
	Show/hide the series legend.
	Show/hide the cursor panel.
	Enable/disable auto-scroll/ run mode.
	Open the plot properties editor to change axis labels and ranges.
	Open the series property editor for the selected series to change line and marker styles and the axis the series is linked to.
	Delete all of the series from the plot.
	Delete the selected series from the plot.
	Selection tool. Select this tool to pick a series from the plot for editing or deleting.
	Zoom tool. Select this tool to pick a rectangle on the plot to zoom into. Use the drop-down menu to limit zooming to a horizontal or vertical region, or select a specific time range for the x-axis.
	Pan tool. Select this tool to drag the view of data plotted. Use the drop-down menu to limit dragging to horizontal or vertical panning.
	Cursor tool. Select this tool to reposition cursors on the graph.
	Zoom all. Change the plot axis limits to show all the data.
	Zoom back. Return to the previous settings of the plot axis limits.
	Export the plot’s data to an external file, either as an image or tabulated numbers.
	Copy the plot’s data to the clipboard (to paste it into another program, such as Microsoft Excel). Or copy an image of the plot to paste it into a document, such as Microsoft Word.
	Import series data from a text file into the plot.
	Open online documentation for the visualizer.

Sending Data from an Arduino

We’ve created a library for Arduino to make it easier to send data to MegunoLink for plotting. After you install the Arduino library,

Add #include "MegunoLink.h" to the top of your Arduino program
Create a TimePlot variable
Call SendData to send data to MegunoLink for plotting

Refer to the Arduino time plot library reference for details on all the methods available.

This simple example sets the graph titles and sends a the current value from analog channel 0 to MegunoLink.

#include "MegunoLink.h" // Helpful functions for communicating with MegunoLink. 

// Millis value when the data was last sent. 
long LastSent;

// Interval (milliseconds) between sending analog data
const unsigned SendInterval = 200; // [ms]

// The plot we are sending data to.
TimePlot MyPlot;

void setup()
{
  Serial.begin(9600);

  LastSent = millis();

  MyPlot.SetTitle("My Analog Measurement");
  MyPlot.SetXlabel("Time");
  MyPlot.SetYlabel("Value");
  MyPlot.SetSeriesProperties("ADCValue", Plot::Magenta, Plot::Solid, 2, Plot::Square);
}

void loop()
{
  if ((millis() - LastSent) > SendInterval)
  {
    LastSent = millis();

    int DataValue = analogRead(0);
    MyPlot.SendData("ADCValue", DataValue);
  }
}

#include "MegunoLink.h" // Helpful functions for communicating with MegunoLink.

// Millis value when the data was last sent.

long LastSent;

// Interval (milliseconds) between sending analog data

const unsigned SendInterval = 200; // [ms]

// The plot we are sending data to.

TimePlot MyPlot;

void setup()

{

Serial.begin(9600);

LastSent = millis();

MyPlot.SetTitle("My Analog Measurement");

MyPlot.SetXlabel("Time");

MyPlot.SetYlabel("Value");

MyPlot.SetSeriesProperties("ADCValue", Plot::Magenta, Plot::Solid, 2, Plot::Square);

}

void loop()

{

if ((millis() - LastSent) > SendInterval)

{

LastSent = millis();

int DataValue = analogRead(0);

MyPlot.SendData("ADCValue", DataValue);

}

More Information

Getting started plotting data: for an introduction on plotting your Arduino data with MegunoLink.
Arduino time plot library reference: for details on sending data to MegunoLink from your Arduino sketch.
Plot properties: changing the appearance of plots and labels.
Series properties: change the appearance of series on the plot.
Default series properties: change the default styles applied to new series.
Using multiple plots: to send data to different plots in your MegunoLink project.
Exporting data: save the data in your plot to an image or CSV file.