How to make only one point label visible for QLineSeries/QXYSeries - c++

Question

I am using the qtcharts module of qt.
I am using c++ but it does not matter if the solution comes for another language (I will translate it afterwards).
Problem: I plot a bunch of QLineSeries in a QChart and I want to display the point labels only when hovering them.
I planned to use the signal QXYSeries::hovered() to detect when the mouse moves over a point (the same when the mouse moves away the point).
I know that there exists a member function QXYSeries::setPointLabelsVisible() but it makes visible all the points of the series.
I want to be able to display only one point at a time because the series are relatively large and displaying all the labels would degrade the readability.
Question: Is it possible to display only one point label for a QLineSeries ? If yes, how ?
I could not find such a feature anywhere in the Qt documentation.
Here is a baseline code sample to start with (for convenience):
Declaration:
#include <QMainWindow>
class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
Q_OBJECT
public:
MainWindow();
};
Definition:
#include <QApplication>
#include <QLineSeries>
#include <QDateTimeAxis>
#include <QValueAxis>
#include <QChartView>
#include <QDateTime>
int main(int argc, char ** argv)
{
QApplication app(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return app.exec();
}
MainWindow::MainWindow()
{
setWindowTitle("QtCharts baseline");
resize(800, 500);
QtCharts::QChart * chart = new QtCharts::QChart;
chart->setTitle("Baseline sample");
chart->legend()->setAlignment(Qt::AlignRight);
QtCharts::QDateTimeAxis * time_axis = new QtCharts::QDateTimeAxis;
time_axis->setFormat("hh:mm:ss");
time_axis->setTitleText("Time");
time_axis->setTickCount(5);
QtCharts::QValueAxis * value_axis = new QtCharts::QValueAxis;
value_axis->setTitleText("Value (unit)");
value_axis->setTickCount(6);
chart->addAxis(time_axis, Qt::AlignBottom);
chart->addAxis(value_axis, Qt::AlignLeft);
QtCharts::QLineSeries * ls = new QtCharts::QLineSeries;
ls->setName("Test series");
ls->setPointsVisible(true);
//ls->setPointLabelsVisible(true);
QDateTime dt = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
ls->append(dt.toMSecsSinceEpoch(), -10);
ls->append(dt.addSecs(1).toMSecsSinceEpoch(), 8);
ls->append(dt.addSecs(2).toMSecsSinceEpoch(), 27);
ls->append(dt.addSecs(3).toMSecsSinceEpoch(), 12);
ls->append(dt.addSecs(4).toMSecsSinceEpoch(), 42);
chart->addSeries(ls);
ls->attachAxis(time_axis);
ls->attachAxis(value_axis);
QtCharts::QChartView * view = new QtCharts::QChartView;
view->setChart(chart);
this->setCentralWidget(view);
}

Answer 1

One technique you could try is making a "shadow" copy of the line series with just the one or few points you need, sitting on top of the actual data line. Draw with a transparent pen so the line doesn't show up but set the labels to be visible. You can add/remove/change points to the shadow copy of the line series, and only the labels you want drawn can be added to the series. The link shows one
example of the technique.