I am making use of the JFreeChart library to plot the progress of a genetic algorithm in real time.
I'm using Swing for the UI. I have a panel where I draw all the various parameters for the algorithm, and a ChartPanel object. This object is drawn before I call the algorithm's search method (which updates the chart's XYSeries object at each generation), and at the end of the search, with all the values being accurately plotted.
According to the docs, the ChartPanel object is redrawn when its respective chart is updated. Obviously, the Swing panel itself isn't being redrawn until after the search is done, and I call repaint(), but what can I do to fix this?
This is the chart code:
public class XYSeriesDemo {
private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;
private XYSeries series;
private JFreeChart chart;
public XYSeriesDemo(String str) {
series = new XYSeries(str);
XYSeriesCollection data = new XYSeriesCollection(series);
chart = createChart(data);
}
public XYSeries getSeries() {
return series;
}
public ChartPanel getChartPanel() {
return new ChartPanel(chart);
}
private JFreeChart createChart(final XYDataset data) {
JFreeChart chart = ChartFactory.createXYLineChart(
"Best fitness across generations",
"Generation",
"Fitness",
data,
PlotOrientation.VERTICAL,
true,
true,
false
);
XYPlot plot = chart.getXYPlot();
ValueAxis axis = plot.getDomainAxis();
axis.setAutoRange(true);
axis = plot.getRangeAxis();
axis.setAutoRange(true);
return chart;
}
}
In my panel constructor, I'm doing the following (this gets an empty chart drawn):
demo = new XYSeriesDemo("Best fitness");
this.add(demo.getChartPanel());
This is the method that the Swing frame calls in my JPanel object when the user orders a search:
public void solve() {
gen = new Random(seed);
XYSeries s = demo.getSeries();
GeneticAlgorithm ga = new GeneticAlgorithm(pop, crossoverP, mutationP,
eliteSize, maxGens, gen, s);
best = ga.search();
state = State.SOLVED;
time = ga.getTime() / 1E9;
}
At each generation, the search method in the algorithm simply does:
series.add(generation, pop.getBestFitness());
Thank you for reading.