making graphs with xCode

Question

Hi I need to graph some arrays to analyse signals, I have a cocoa project going. Can anyone tell me where I can find tools to simplify this task?

Basically i want to display my arrays like on a graphing calculator.

Answer 1

Hi Yan,

XCode allows you to create data formatters to present object data in the debugger, but it doesn't provide any way to graphically represent the data using charts or graphs. (At least, not that I know of!) I think that's beyond the scope of XCode. You might consider dumping the data from your array to a file using a bit of code or the console, and then loading it into Excel or MATLAB. Then you can create a graph of your signal with no problem.

Just out of curiosity, are you familiar with another IDE that provides graphs of array data? I know tools like MATLAB and Mathematica do it pretty nicely, but I've never seen it in an IDE.

Answer 2

Take a look at this post to the Apple mailing lists. http://lists.apple.com/archives/scitech/2007/Jun/msg00022.html

It mentions 3 potential graphing packages that you can try. I have not had personal experience with them, so buyer beware, but it will at least give you a start on where to look.

Answer 3

Even though it's a young library, I'd suggest looking at the open source Core Plot framework. It works on Mac and iPhone and can currently plot line and bar charts. As I said, it's young and a lot of the core functionality is still being written, but it might work right now for your case.