Real-Time Stock Market Risk Visualization Tool

A small JavaFX application that polls Alpha Vantage for a stock's latest price and plots it in real time.

This branch includes:

• Refactoring: extraction of AlphaVantageClient for HTTP + JSON parsing
• App improvements: better logging, configuration, and safer UI updates
• This README with run instructions

Prerequisites

• Java 11+ (or newer; JavaFX should be compatible with your JDK)
• JavaFX on the module path (or use a JavaFX-enabled JDK / SDK distribution). If using OpenJFX, install the JavaFX SDK appropriate to your platform.
• Maven or Gradle to build, or run from an IDE that supports JavaFX.

Getting an API key

1. Get a free API key from Alpha Vantage: https://www.alphavantage.co/support/#api-key
2. Provide the API key to the application using one of:
   • Environment variable: ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY
   • Or create a file named api_key.txt in the working directory containing the key.

Note: The free Alpha Vantage tier has rate limits (typically 5 calls per minute). The app defaults to a 12 second poll interval to stay comfortably within that limit. If you change polling, respect the rate limits.

Run (example)

With Maven (adjust JavaFX module flags as needed):

• Set API key (example on macOS / Linux): export ALPHA_VANTAGE_API_KEY=your_key_here
• Run: mvn -Dexec.mainClass="org.example.App" exec:java

Or via java (if you build a jar and include JavaFX on classpath/module-path): java -jar myapp.jar

You can also pass runtime overrides via system properties:

• -Dstock.symbol=AAPL (default: AAPL)
• -Dpoll.interval.seconds=12 (default: 12)
• -Dmax.points=100 (default: 100)

Example (run with custom symbol & interval): mvn -Dstock.symbol=MSFT -Dpoll.interval.seconds=15 -Dexec.mainClass="org.example.App" exec:java

Building

Use your preferred tool (Maven/Gradle/IDE). Ensure JavaFX dependencies are set when building/running outside of an IDE.

Testing

• Unit tests can be added for AlphaVantageClient by mocking HTTP responses