Simple Scatter Graph

Simple Scatter Graph shows how to make a simple scatter graph visualization using Scatter3D and QML.

For instructions about how to interact with the graph, see this page.

For instructions on how to create a new Qt Quick application of your own, see Qt Creator help.

Running the Example

To run the example from Qt Creator, open the Welcome mode and select the example from Examples. For more information, see Qt Creator: Tutorial: Build and run.

Application Basics

Before diving into the QML code, take a look at the application main.cpp.

This application implements a 'Quit' button in the UI, so you want to connect the QQmlEngine::quit() signal to the application's QWindow::close() slot:

QObject::connect(viewer.engine(), &QQmlEngine::quit, &viewer, &QWindow::close);

To make deployment a little simpler, gather all of the application's .qml files to a resource file (qmlscatter.qrc):

<RCC>
    <qresource prefix="/">
        <file>qml/qmlscatter/Data.qml</file>
        <file>qml/qmlscatter/main.qml</file>
    </qresource>
</RCC>

This also requires setting the main.qml to be read from the resource (qrc:):

viewer.setSource(QUrl("qrc:/qml/qmlscatter/main.qml"));

When using cmake instead of qmake, the .qml files are added into a QML module in the CMakeLists.txt instead:

qt6_add_qml_module(qmlscatter
    URI Scatter
    VERSION 1.0
    NO_RESOURCE_TARGET_PATH
    QML_FILES
        qml/qmlscatter/Data.qml
        qml/qmlscatter/main.qml
)

Finally, make the application run in a maximized window:

viewer.showMaximized();

Setting up the Graph

First, import all the needed QML modules:

import QtQuick
import QtQuick.Controls
import QtDataVisualization

Then, create the main Item and call it mainView:

Item {
    id: mainView

Then, add another Item inside the main Item, and call it dataView. This will be the item to hold the Scatter3D graph. Anchor it to the parent bottom:

Item {
    id: dataView
    anchors.bottom: parent.bottom

Next, add the Scatter3D graph itself. Add it inside the dataView and name it scatterGraph. Make it fill the dataView:

Scatter3D {
    id: scatterGraph
    anchors.fill: parent

Now the graph is ready for use, but has no data. It also has the default axes and visual properties.

Next, modify some visual properties first by adding the following inside scatterGraph:

theme: themeQt
shadowQuality: AbstractGraph3D.ShadowQualityHigh
scene.activeCamera.cameraPreset: Camera3D.CameraPresetFront

A customized theme was added, the shadow quality changed, and the camera position adjusted. The other visual properties are fine, so there is no need to change them.

The custom theme is based on a predefined theme, Theme3D.ThemeQt, but the font in it is changed:

Theme3D {
    id: themeQt
    type: Theme3D.ThemeQt
    font.pointSize: 40
}

Then, start feeding the graph some data.

Adding Data to the Graph

Create a Data item inside the mainView and name it seriesData:

Data {
    id: seriesData
}

The seriesData item contains the data models for all three series used in this example.

This is the component that holds the data in Data.qml. It has an Item as the main component.

In the main component, add the data itself to a ListModel and name it dataModel:

ListModel {
    id: dataModel
    ListElement{ xPos: -10.0; yPos: 5.0; zPos: -5.0 }
    ...

Add two more of these to the other two series, and name them dataModelTwo and dataModelThree.

Then, expose the data models to be usable from main.qml. Do this by defining them as aliases in the main data component:

property alias model: dataModel
property alias modelTwo: dataModelTwo
property alias modelThree: dataModelThree

Now you can use the data from Data.qml with scatterGraph in main.qml. First, add a Scatter3DSeries and call it scatterSeries:

Scatter3DSeries {
    id: scatterSeries

Then, set up selection label format for the series:

itemLabelFormat: "Series 1: X:@xLabel Y:@yLabel Z:@zLabel"

And finally, add the data for series one in a ItemModelScatterDataProxy. Set the data itself as the itemModel for the proxy:

ItemModelScatterDataProxy {
    itemModel: seriesData.model
    xPosRole: "xPos"
    yPosRole: "yPos"
    zPosRole: "zPos"
}

Add the other two series in the same way, but modify some series-specific details a bit:

Scatter3DSeries {
    id: scatterSeriesTwo
    itemLabelFormat: "Series 2: X:@xLabel Y:@yLabel Z:@zLabel"
    itemSize: 0.05
    mesh: Abstract3DSeries.MeshCube
    ...

Then, modify the properties of the default axes in scatterGraph a bit:

axisX.segmentCount: 3
axisX.subSegmentCount: 2
axisX.labelFormat: "%.2f"
axisZ.segmentCount: 2
axisZ.subSegmentCount: 2
axisZ.labelFormat: "%.2f"
axisY.segmentCount: 2
axisY.subSegmentCount: 2
axisY.labelFormat: "%.2f"

After that, add a few buttons to the mainView to control the graph, one of which is shown as an example:

Button {
    id: shadowToggle
    width: mainView.buttonWidth // Calculated elsewhere based on screen orientation
    anchors.left: parent.left
    anchors.top: parent.top
    anchors.margins: 5
    text: scatterGraph.shadowsSupported ? "Hide Shadows" : "Shadows not supported"
    enabled: scatterGraph.shadowsSupported
    onClicked: {
        if (scatterGraph.shadowQuality === AbstractGraph3D.ShadowQualityNone) {
            scatterGraph.shadowQuality = AbstractGraph3D.ShadowQualityHigh;
            text = "Hide Shadows";
        } else {
            scatterGraph.shadowQuality = AbstractGraph3D.ShadowQualityNone;
            text = "Show Shadows";
        }
    }
}

Then, modify dataView to make some room for the buttons at the top:

Item {
    id: dataView
    anchors.bottom: parent.bottom
    width: parent.width
    // Adjust the space based on screen orientation:
    // If we're in portrait mode, we have 3 rows of buttons, otherwise they are all in one row.
    height: parent.height - (mainView.portraitMode ? shadowToggle.implicitHeight * 3 + 25
                                                   : shadowToggle.implicitHeight + 10)
    ...

And you're done!

Example Contents

Example project @ code.qt.io