I am looking to create a line chart which will plot an array of data which has a corresponding x value (date/time) and y value associated with it. The chart can have any number of series (different lines on the same graph). You can think of this as like how yahoo/google graph a particular stock and if you want to compare different companies stock prices on the same chart.
The problem I am facing is that the data I am given might not be given in regular intervals (e.g. series 1 might give an array of plots that occur every 15 mins, series2 might be 10 mins, etc). Also the data might not have the same start / end time (e.g. series 1 starts at 8:40 am, series 2 starts at 8:42 am). There can also be holes in the data where no data was gathered (want to display this as nothing in the chart)
I have thought about some potential ways to solve this problem
- Put everything on a 1 minute interval (the smallest possible interval) and place null values for everything we do not have data for. I need to have null values because there are datatips on the graph when you hover over a point to tell you what the value is at that point. The problem with this is that this will cause the graph to become a point graph rather than a line graph and will look ugly. I can tell dojo to interpret the data between null values but I also want to have explicit null values (e.g. when the market is not open leave the space as nothing rather than connecting the lines)
- Round the data to the closest interval. The problem with this is the data is no longer accurate for that particular moment which is a problem.
- Don't allow them to be plotted together (not an option).
- Use a different charting library (last resort)
I am using the dojox charting library and I cannot change the back end code that gives me the data.
What are my options?
