How to Create a Scatter Chart in Android to Represent Data?

Last Updated : 03 Mar, 2025

If you are looking to show a huge quantity of data and you are searching for a different UI design for the representation of this type of view. Then you can represent this view using a scatter chart. A Scatter chart is used to represent data. By using this scatter chart you can easily represent data in scattered form. In this article, we will see the implementation of the Scatter Chart in Android.

What we are going to build in this article?

We will be building a simple chart in which we will be displaying a chart in which we will be displaying data. A sample GIF is given below to get an idea about what we are going to do in this article.

Note that we are going to implement this project using the Java language.

Important Attributes of Scattered Chart

Attribute	Uses
setDrawGridBackground	This method is use to set the background to the grid.
setTouchEnabled	This method is used to enable gestures on our charts.
setMaxHighlightDistance	Sets the maximum distance in screen dp a touch can be away from an entry to cause it to get highlighted.
setDragEnabled	This method is used to enable and disable dragging.
setScaleEnabled	This method is used to enable scaling.
setMaxVisibleValueCount	Sets the number of maximum visible drawn values on the chart only active when setDrawValues() is enabled
setPinchZoom	It is used to scale both the x and the y-axis with zoom.
getLegend	This method is used to get the legend of the chart.
getAxisLeft	Returns left y-axis object.
getAxisRight	Returns right y-axis object.
setDrawGridLines	This method is used to draw grid lines.
setScatterShape	Sets the ScatterShape this DataSet should be drawn with. This will search for an available IShapeRenderer and set this renderer for the DataSet.
setData	Sets new data objects for our chart.
invalidate	This method is used to invalidate the view if the view is enabled.

Step by Step Implementation

Step 1: Create a New Project

To create a new project in Android Studio please refer to How to Create/Start a New Project in Android Studio. Note that select Java as the programming language.

Step 2: Add dependency to build.gradle(Module:app)

Navigate to the Gradle Scripts > build.gradle(Module:app) and add the below dependency in the dependencies section.

implementation 'com.github.PhilJay:MPAndroidChart:v3.1.0'

After adding this navigate to the build.gradle (Project) and add the below line to it inside the repositories section.

allprojects {
   repositories {
       // add below line in repositories section
       maven { url 'https://jitpack.io' }
       google()
       centre()
    }
}

Step 3: Working with the activity_main.xml file

Go to the activity_main.xml file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the activity_main.xml file.

activity_main.xml:

XML

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout     xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"     xmlns:app="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res-auto"     xmlns:tools="http://schemas.android.com/tools"     android:layout_width="match_parent"     android:layout_height="match_parent"     android:background="@color/white"     tools:context=".MainActivity">      <!--Ui component for our bar chart-->     <com.github.mikephil.charting.charts.ScatterChart         android:id="@+id/chart_layout"         android:layout_width="350sp"         android:layout_height="700sp"         app:layout_constraintBottom_toTopOf="@+id/refresh"         app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintTop_toTopOf="parent" />      <Button         android:id="@+id/refresh"         android:layout_width="wrap_content"         android:layout_height="wrap_content"         android:text="Refresh"         app:layout_constraintBottom_toBottomOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintEnd_toEndOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintStart_toStartOf="parent"         app:layout_constraintTop_toBottomOf="@+id/chart_layout" />  </androidx.constraintlayout.widget.ConstraintLayout>

Design Output:

Step 4: Working with the MainActivity.java file

Go to the MainActivity.java file and refer to the following code. Below is the code for the MainActivity.java file. Comments are added inside the code to understand the code in more detail.

MainActivity.java:

Java

package com.gfg.scatter_bar;  import android.os.Bundle; import android.view.View; import android.widget.Button; import androidx.appcompat.app.AppCompatActivity; import com.github.mikephil.charting.charts.ScatterChart; import com.github.mikephil.charting.components.Legend; import com.github.mikephil.charting.components.XAxis; import com.github.mikephil.charting.components.YAxis; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.Entry; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.ScatterData; import com.github.mikephil.charting.data.ScatterDataSet; import com.github.mikephil.charting.interfaces.datasets.IScatterDataSet; import com.github.mikephil.charting.utils.ColorTemplate; import java.util.ArrayList;  public class MainActivity extends AppCompatActivity {     private ScatterChart scatterChart;     private Button refreshButton;      @Override     protected void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {         super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);         setContentView(R.layout.activity_main);          // Initialize the scatter chart and button         scatterChart = findViewById(R.id.chart_layout);         refreshButton = findViewById(R.id.refresh);          configureChartAppearance();         setupChartData();          // Set up the button click listener         refreshButton.setOnClickListener(new View.OnClickListener() {             @Override             public void onClick(View v) {                 resetChart();             }         });     }      private void configureChartAppearance() {         // Disable the description of the scatter chart         scatterChart.getDescription().setEnabled(false);         scatterChart.setDrawGridBackground(false);         scatterChart.setTouchEnabled(true);         scatterChart.setMaxHighlightDistance(50f);         scatterChart.setDragEnabled(true);         scatterChart.setScaleEnabled(true);         scatterChart.setMaxVisibleValueCount(200);         scatterChart.setPinchZoom(true);          // Configure the legend         Legend legend = scatterChart.getLegend();         legend.setVerticalAlignment(Legend.LegendVerticalAlignment.TOP);         legend.setHorizontalAlignment(Legend.LegendHorizontalAlignment.RIGHT);         legend.setOrientation(Legend.LegendOrientation.VERTICAL);         legend.setDrawInside(false);         legend.setXOffset(5f);          // Configure the Y-axis         YAxis leftAxis = scatterChart.getAxisLeft();         leftAxis.setAxisMinimum(0f);                  // Disable the right Y-axis         scatterChart.getAxisRight().setEnabled(false);           // Configure the X-axis         XAxis xAxis = scatterChart.getXAxis();         xAxis.setDrawGridLines(false);                  // Set granularity to 1 for better spacing         xAxis.setGranularity(1f);                   // Set the maximum value for the X-axis         xAxis.setAxisMaximum(70f);      }      private void setupChartData() {                  // Create data sets for the scatter chart         // with increased distance         ArrayList<Entry> dataSet1Entries = createDataSetEntries(0, 11, 5);          ArrayList<Entry> dataSet2Entries = createDataSetEntries(11, 21, 6);          ArrayList<Entry> dataSet3Entries = createDataSetEntries(21, 31, 7);          // Create scatter data sets         ScatterDataSet dataSet1 = createScatterDataSet(dataSet1Entries, "Point 1",                 ScatterChart.ScatterShape.SQUARE, ColorTemplate.COLORFUL_COLORS[0]);                  ScatterDataSet dataSet2 = createScatterDataSet(dataSet2Entries, "Point 2",                 ScatterChart.ScatterShape.CIRCLE, ColorTemplate.COLORFUL_COLORS[1]);                  dataSet2.setScatterShapeHoleColor(ColorTemplate.COLORFUL_COLORS[3]);         dataSet2.setScatterShapeHoleRadius(3f);          ScatterDataSet dataSet3 = createScatterDataSet(dataSet3Entries, "Point 3",                 ScatterChart.ScatterShape.CIRCLE, ColorTemplate.COLORFUL_COLORS[2]);          // Set the size for scatter shapes         float scatterShapeSize = 10f; // Slightly larger for better visibility         dataSet1.setScatterShapeSize(scatterShapeSize);         dataSet2.setScatterShapeSize(scatterShapeSize);         dataSet3.setScatterShapeSize(scatterShapeSize);          // Create a list of data sets and set it to the chart         ArrayList<IScatterDataSet> dataSets = new ArrayList<>();         dataSets.add(dataSet1);         dataSets.add(dataSet2);         dataSets.add(dataSet3);          ScatterData scatterData = new ScatterData(dataSets);         scatterData.setValueTextSize(10f);         scatterChart.setData(scatterData);                  // Refresh the chart         scatterChart.invalidate();      }      private void resetChart() {                  // Reset the chart data         scatterChart.clear();                  // Re-setup the chart data         setupChartData();           // Zoom out the chart         scatterChart.fitScreen();     }      private ArrayList<Entry> createDataSetEntries(int start, int end, int multiplier) {         ArrayList<Entry> entries = new ArrayList<>();         for (int i = start; i < end; i++) {             // Increase the distance between points by adjusting the Y value             entries.add(new Entry(i * 2, i * multiplier));          }         return entries;     }      private ScatterDataSet createScatterDataSet(ArrayList<Entry> entries,                 String label, ScatterChart.ScatterShape shape, int color)          {         ScatterDataSet dataSet = new ScatterDataSet(entries, label);         dataSet.setScatterShape(shape);         dataSet.setColor(color);         return dataSet;     } }

After adding the above code now run your app and see the output of the app.