[SOLVED] C# GUI for serial port data ploting

[stelikas]

Hi to all,

I have a project in which i have to sample a signal with a microcontroller and to plot it in a PC in C# (visual studio).
The microcontroller is programmed allready and i can extract with a terminal the data that the microcontroller send.
My big problem is that i can't plot the data in my PC.
Can someone help me with this. I have to plot the serial data in time and frequency domain (FFT). Until now i can just adjust the parameters of the serial port and just see the data like a terminal.
I don't know how to do the rest. In the end it will look like an oscilloscope with a spectrum analyzer.

Thank you very much.

Ioannis

 

[horace1]

I have done similar plotting of serial or TCP data in Visual Studio C++ so C# should be similar
1. acquire serial data from a SerialPort component and store in an array
2. using the Form paint() method use a graphics object to plot the array data on the screen
e.g. some sample C++ code

// repaint screen on invalidate
	private: System::Void Form1_Paint(System::Object^  sender, System::Windows::Forms::PaintEventArgs^  e) {
		Graphics^ g = e->Graphics;								// get graphics context
		g->Clear(Color::White);									// clear the background
		Color aColor = Color::Green;							// draw green rectangle
		SolidBrush^ aBrush = gcnew SolidBrush(aColor);
		e->Graphics->FillRectangle(aBrush, 10, 10, 20, 30);
		// draw lines showing potentiometer values
		Pen^ blackPen = gcnew Pen( Color::Black,2.0f );			// draw a black line
		e->Graphics->DrawLine( blackPen, 50, 50, 50 + analogue_pot()/2, 50);

when the plotting reaches the edge of the screen you can scroll the data

 

[shahbaz.ele]

dear stelikas
are you calculating FFt in microcontroller ?
If yes can you send me the code please ?

 

[zorx]

Well, since Visual Studio 2008 and now in 2010 there is a MS Chart control that gives you a huge possibilities for drawing a certain type of chart. More about this on: **broken link removed**
I guess that calculating FFT for the block of data under C# is not a problem (just google a little bit)