Member Avatar for daino

Hi all

This may seem relly naive but I'm only new to C++. If, in the future I want to build charting software for stock-charts, etc and want a very professional and portable widget toolkit to use with C++ which one should I use and what should I be looking for.

Are some better than others? Are they free or do you pay for them?
Obviously I'm not so familiar with this area so lots of detail woudl be great. If anyone knows some good books that can answer allot of these questions that would also be very helpful.
Thanks so much.
Danny2000

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As asked about building professional, portable stock-charting software and after the pointer posts from , and , here are practical, toolkit-agnostic criteria and hands-on tips that matter more than brand names.

First, spell out requirements before you pick anything: target platforms and OS versions, maximum data points and update rate, interactions you need (zoom, pan, selection, drawing), export/print needs, packaging and distribution targets, and whether you want native widgets or a fully custom-drawn canvas. Those constraints decide which toolkit features are essential: a low-level drawing API, a way to access GPU surfaces, good text/layout support, and an active project/community.

Chart-specific engineering notes you can apply immediately: keep rendering fast by using a retained canvas model (cache static layers like axes/grid), double-buffer or use GPU-backed surfaces for smooth updates, and avoid redrawing unchanged regions. Do heavy work off the UI thread: aggregate ticks into OHLC bars, calculate indicators and level-of-detail (LOD) downsampling in background workers, then publish compact snapshots to the UI. For downsampling consider per-pixel min/max bucketing or shape-preserving algorithms (LTTB-style) so visual structure is kept while points drop.

Performance and robustness tips: batch draw calls and reuse vertex/bitmap buffers; minimize allocations on the render path; measure with realistic data (not tiny samples); implement partial redraws when panning/zooming; and add tests for high-DPI scaling and text layout. Also check licensing and distribution constraints early if you plan to sell the app.

Practical next steps: prototype a tiny renderer that draws 100k+ points and time it; test a candidate toolkit by seeing if it exposes a GPU/context hook and supports offscreen surfaces; check project activity and examples of custom canvases; and read modern graphics/real-time-rendering resources to understand trade-offs before committing.

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Member Avatar for siddhant3s

So, you are a new bie in C++. You are just doing console programming right now. Right? I mean all sought of Black& white interface. You want create a window-like GUI.
Hmm, Well, there are lot of GUI library out there. You can try anyone you want. But the choice matters.
I personally use GTK+ Library which is (i feel the best) free, cross-platformed, LGPLed and comes with a huge support. Basically it is meant for C users. But there exists a (famous) C++ port to it which implements GTK+ as a OOP tool. It is called gtkmm (GTK minus minus). Go grab it.
BTW, what is your compiler, Operating system?

Also, wxWidget is a good library indeed. You can check that as well.

Member Avatar for daino

Thanks so much for your reply. I'm using DevC++ (bloodshed) but i'm only at the phase of learing how things fit into eachother but in time the more I know the more I'll be able to move from subject to subject in C++.

I've also read about Zinc and NextStep. Are these ok? What kid of money would I pay for this kind of thing?

Can I make charts using any of the above? Thanks again.
Danny2000

Member Avatar for marco93

If it's on Windows, you don't need anything.
Just use the standard Chart control

Member Avatar for xyzt

look at QT

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