Display Settings
The primary purpose of the QtChart application is to produce a visual plot of one or more data values over time. There are several settings that affect how this is done.
Display Mode:
QtChart processes incoming data and saves the result in consecutive "segments", each one representing a short span of time (see here for details). The Mode setting determines how this data is used to plot the visual representation of the data. The following Modes are currently supported:
NOTE: Because these modes operate on a per-segment basis, they will produce different results only if there is more than one datapoint per segment. At the 1 Sec/Div setting for the time scale, each segment represents a period of 100ms (10/sec), so only a data rate significantly higher than 10 samples/sec would result in any difference between these modes.
This value can be set differently for each trace.
yDiv:
The yDiv setting sets the vertical scaling for a trace. The value shown represents the number of units represented by each of the horizontal lines in the chart window.
This value can be set differently for each trace. See here and here for details.
Offset:
The Offset specifies the value represented by the center horizontal line in the chart window. Changing this value effectively shifts the chart window up or down relative to the trace.
This value can be set differently for each trace. See here and here for details.
Sec/Div:
The Sec/Div setting specifies the horizontal (time) scale for all the traces. This controls the size of each data segment and the period of time represented by the chart window. See here for details.
Pause:
The Pause button allows you to temporarily disable the updating of the chart window over time. Data will continue to be recieved and processed, but the plot in the chart window will remain unchanged until you click on the Resume button.
The primary purpose of this capability is to make it freeze the display to make it easier to study a group of traces without them frequenly moving or worrying about the possiblity that portion of the trace you wish to examine will dissapear off the left of the chart window.
Trace colors:
The color assigned to each trace can be changed by right-clicking on the colored square fort the trace in the Trace List or clicking on the colored rectangular box when the trace has the focus.
Hiding a trace:
Traces can be temporarily removed from the Chart Window without removing them from the list of affecting any of their other settings.
To toggle the display of a trace (making it appear or disappear from the Chart Window), simply click on the colored square for the trace in the Trace List. A square with a gray box indicates a trace that will not appear in the Chart Window.
Shrink Mode:
To enable as many instances of QtChart to fit on the screen at a time without overlapping, a special Shrink mode allows you to remove the title bar, the menu bar, and the window borders.
To enable Shrink mode, position the window so the upper left corner is where you want it, then select "Enable Shrink Mode" from the "Options" menu.
To disable Shrink mode, click on the "Normal Size" button that appeared when you enabled Shrink mode.
Window size:
When QtChart starts up, it is set to the smallest allowed size. But you can change the window size using the usual click-hold-drag method on the bottom right corner or the borders (depending upon your operating system), or by clicking on the maximize button for the window (the location and appearance of which is dependent upon your operating system).