Time data with irregular intervals

author(s): Torstein Hønsi

by Amit Sinha

HTML

<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/highcharts.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/modules/series-label.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/modules/exporting.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/modules/export-data.js"></script>
<script src="https://code.highcharts.com/modules/accessibility.js"></script>

<figure class="highcharts-figure">
    <div id="container"></div>
    <p class="highcharts-description">
        This demo visualizes a data set with irregular time intervals.
        Highcharts comes with sophisticated functionality for dealing
        with time data, including support for different time zones and
        irregular intervals.
    </p>
</figure>

CSS

.highcharts-figure, .highcharts-data-table table {
    min-width: 310px; 
    max-width: 800px;
    margin: 1em auto;
}

.highcharts-data-table table {
	font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;
	border-collapse: collapse;
	border: 1px solid #EBEBEB;
	margin: 10px auto;
	text-align: center;
	width: 100%;
	max-width: 500px;
}
.highcharts-data-table caption {
    padding: 1em 0;
    font-size: 1.2em;
    color: #555;
}
.highcharts-data-table th {
	font-weight: 600;
    padding: 0.5em;
}
.highcharts-data-table td, .highcharts-data-table th, .highcharts-data-table caption {
    padding: 0.5em;
}
.highcharts-data-table thead tr, .highcharts-data-table tr:nth-child(even) {
    background: #f8f8f8;
}
.highcharts-data-table tr:hover {
    background: #f1f7ff;
}

JavaScript

Highcharts.chart('container', {
    chart: {
        type: 'spline'
    },
    title: {
        text: 'Snow depth at Vikjafjellet, Norway'
    },
    subtitle: {
        text: 'Irregular time data in Highcharts JS'
    },
    xAxis: {
        type: 'datetime',
        dateTimeLabelFormats: { // don't display the dummy year
            month: '%e. %b',
            year: '%b'
        },
        title: {
            text: 'Date'
        }
    },
    yAxis: {
        title: {
            text: 'Snow depth (m)'
        },
        min: 0
    },
    tooltip: {
        headerFormat: '<b>{series.name}</b><br>',
        pointFormat: '{point.x:%e. %b}: {point.y:.2f} m'
    },

    plotOptions: {
        series: {
            marker: {
                enabled: true
            }
        }
    },

    colors: ['#6CF', '#39F', '#06C', '#036', '#000'],

    // Define the data points. All series have a dummy year
    // of 1970/71 in order to be compared on the same x axis. Note
    // that in JavaScript, months start at 0 for January, 1 for February etc.
    series: [{
        name: "Winter 2014-2015",
        data: [
            [Date.UTC(1970, 10, 25), 0],
            [Date.UTC(1970, 11,  6), 0.25],
            [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 20), 1.41],
            [Date.UTC(1970, 11, 25), 1.64],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 0,  4), 1.6],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 0, 17), 2.55],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 0, 24), 2.62],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 1,  4), 2.5],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 1, 14), 2.42],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 2,  6), 2.74],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 2, 14), 2.62],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 2, 24), 2.6],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 3,  1), 2.81],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 3, 11), 2.63],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 3, 27), 2.77],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 4,  4), 2.68],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 4,  9), 2.56],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 4, 14), 2.39],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 4, 19), 2.3],
            [Date.UTC(1971, 5,  4), 2],
           ...