JWAVE

Java™ Graphic Components

The WaveGraph class

The WaveGraph "superclass" is an abstract class in the IFC which handles most of the work for creating visualization in a java applet or application. It is subclassed or derived from to create classes which can create actual graphics and visualizations by communicating with a PV-WAVE based graphic server. Some of the tasks it performs include:

Communicate with PV-WAVE Graphic Server
WaveGraph can send the graphic requests to PV-WAVE using a CGI script. Data to be plotted is passed in binary format. A method of communicating with a local PV-WAVE based server via a file is also supported for standalone applications. We plan on supporting IIOP in the future for speed and standards compliance.

Delivers Images, Animation Sequences, and VRML
WaveGraph creates a ContainerView which can contain either a static image (2D or 3D plot) or an animation sequence, with appropriate methods available to start, stop, increment, and animate at a given rate and direction. Also, it can direct the browser to display a VRML world, provided the browser is capable of displaying the VRML mime type.

Encapsulates most PV-WAVE keywords
Most plotting keywords supported by PV-WAVE are available as mutator methods of the form "setKeyword", such as "setXRange", "setTicklen" etc. Classes derived from WaveGraph only need to implement those methods that are unique.

Exposes protected data to subclasses
WaveGraph saves all of its instance data in protected variables and provides "addKeyword" methods so that classes derived from WaveGraph can access this data and select which data to send to PV-WAVE as part of a graphic request.

Graphic classes derived from WaveGraph

The following classes have been derived from WaveGraph to create special plot types:

WavePlot Creates 2D X/Y plots via the PV-WAVE PLOT procedure
WaveHistogram Creates histogram plots via the PV-WAVE PLOT_HISTOGRAM procedure
WaveContour Creates contour plots via the PV-WAVE CONTOUR and CONTOURFILL procedures
WaveSurface Creates wireframe surfaces via the PV-WAVE SURFACE procedure
WaveShade_Surf Creates shaded surface plots via the PV-WAVE SHADE_SURF procedure
WaveSurf_Anim Creates animated surface plots via the PV-WAVE SHADE_SURF procedure
WaveVRMLSurface Creates VRML worlds with wireframe or shaded surface representations of data via the PV-WAVE VRMLSurface procedure
WavePie Creates pie charts via the PV-WAVE PIE_CHART2 procedure
WaveBar3D Creates 3D bar charts via the PV-WAVE BAR_3D procedure

Example Code Fragment

The following code fragment shows how easy it is to incorporate a plot into your interface.

   //
   // Initialize the WavePlot component with a position, size, and
   // URL for the server to be used to process the graphic requests.
   //
   plot = new WavePlot( 25, 30, 400, 300 );
   plot.setServer( "http://vrml.boulder.vni.com" );
   mainRootView().addSubview( plot );

   //
   // Create some dummy random data and associate it with the plot
   //
   double[] data = new double[100];
   for(int i =0; i<100; i++) data[i]=Math.random();
   plot.setY( data );

   //
   // Set some attributes for the plot
   //
   plot.setRegion( .01, .05, .95, .95 );
   plot.setYRange( 0, 1.25);
   plot.setYStyle( 1 );
   plot.setTitle( "Test Plot" );
   plot.setSubtitle( "Random Data" );
   plot.setXTitle( "X Axes" );
   plot.setYTitle( "Y Axes" );
   plot.setColor( "cyan" );

   //
   // Draw the plot
   //
   plot.plot();