Realtime and Auto Updating Plot in C#

 Hi there, now I am going to show you how to create an auto updating plot in c# based on timer. The complete video guide is available on my Youtube Channel.

I have put the full code at the end of this page.

To begin, create a simple template consisted of "Chart" and "Button" like this :

Don't forget to change series type to "line'. To do that, click chart, see properties and find "Series", from the collection, change the "ChartType" to "Line".

Create a new timer :

System.Windows.Forms.Timer PlotTimer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer();

Create a void function that can be called each by the timer. This function is used to generated data and plot them to the chart. This is the code :

 private void RealTimePlot(Object myObject, EventArgs myEventArgs)
        {
            int length = 400;
            double[] x = new double[length];
            double[] y = new double[length];
            Random rd = new Random();
            double amplitude = rd.Next(0, length);
            chart1.Series[0].Points.Clear();
            for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
            {
                x[i] = i;  
                y[i] = amplitude * (Math.Sin(i));
                chart1.Series[0].Points.AddXY(x[i], y[i]);
            }
            chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Minimum = 0;
            chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Maximum = length;
        }

Now, connect the Timer and the function you have created :

            PlotTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(RealTimePlot);

and set the speed of plot in miliseconds :

      PlotTimer.Interval = 400;

Finally, under the push button, put a code to start and stop the plot. It is just like this :

 if (PlotTimer.Enabled == true)

            {

                PlotTimer.Enabled = false;
            }

            else

            {
                PlotTimer.Enabled = true;
            }

Compile and Run. You should have a program like this :

Here is the complete code in visual C# :

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;
namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();
        }
        System.Windows.Forms.Timer PlotTimer = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer();
        private void RealTimePlot(Object myObject, EventArgs myEventArgs)
        {
            int length = 400;
            double[] x = new double[length];
            double[] y = new double[length];
            Random rd = new Random();
            double amplitude = rd.Next(0, length);
            chart1.Series[0].Points.Clear();
            for (int i = 0; i < length; i++)
            {
                x[i] = i;
                
                y[i] = amplitude * (Math.Sin(i));
                chart1.Series[0].Points.AddXY(x[i], y[i]);
            }
            chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Minimum = 0;
            chart1.ChartAreas[0].AxisY.Maximum = length;
        }

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
 
            PlotTimer.Interval = 400;
            PlotTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(RealTimePlot);
            
        }
        private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            if (PlotTimer.Enabled == true)
            {
                PlotTimer.Enabled = false;
            }
            else
            {
                PlotTimer.Enabled = true;
            }
        }
        private void chart1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
        }
    }
}