1. Divide the problem into smaller parts.
2. See the reference for useful functions.

First you will need to get the data from a file into Processing. For that you will need functions like loadStrings, splitTokens etc. To store the data you will need arrays and convert from String to float or int. Once you have the data in processing, you can use that to draw some sort of graph. For example with points, lines, rects or a vertex-based shape.

that's a small program to show how often a name occurs in an array

1. String lines[] = {
2.   "anne",
3.   "bob",
4.   "bob",
5.   "anne",
6.   "matthew",
7.   "anne",
8.   "peter",
9.   "anne",
10.   "peter",
11.   "christian",
12.   "bob",
13.   "anne",
14.   "bob",
15.   "bob",
16.   "anne",
17.   "matthew",
18.   "anne",
19.   "peter",
20.   "anne",
21.   "peter",
22.   "christian"
23. };
24. // String lines[] = loadStrings("Mappe1.csv");
25. String myArray[] = {
26. };
27. // 1st: show array and copy (not really necessary)
28. println("there are " + lines.length + " lines");
29. for (int i=0; i < lines.length; i++) {
30.   println(trim(lines[i]));
31.   myArray=append(myArray, trim(lines[i]));
32. }
33. // 2nd: build HashMap
34. println ("===========================");
35. HashMap wordcount = new HashMap();
36. for (int i=0; i < myArray.length; i++) {
37.   println(trim(myArray[i]));
38.   String word = trim(myArray[i]);
39.   Integer count = (Integer)wordcount.get(word);
40.   // new?
41.   if (count == null) {
42.     // yes, new, add word
43.     wordcount.put(word, new Integer(1));
44.   }
45.   else {
46.     // no, old, increase value
47.     int newCount = count.intValue() + 1;
48.     wordcount.put(word, new Integer(newCount));
49.   }
50. } // for
51. // ----------------------------------------
52. //
53. // 3rd: show HashMap
54. println ("++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++");
55. Iterator i = wordcount.entrySet().iterator();  // Get an iterator
56. //
57. size(700, 700);
58. int xPos= 30;
59. //int yPos= height-130;
60. float lastX=0;
61. float lastY=0;
62. while (i.hasNext ()) {
63.   Map.Entry me = (Map.Entry)i.next();
64.   print(me.getKey() + " is ");
65.   println(me.getValue() + " time(s) in the csv.");
66.   String valString = me.getValue().toString( ) ;
67.   ellipse (xPos+20, height - int(valString) * 30, 4, 4);
68.   if (lastX!=0)
69.     line ( lastX, lastY, xPos+20, height - int(valString) * 30);
70.   lastX=xPos+20;
71.   lastY=height - int(valString) * 30;
72.   // textSize(int( valString )*10);
73.   // println( int( valString ));
74.   text(me.getKey().toString(), xPos, height - int(valString) * 30 - 10);
75.   xPos+=80;
76. }
77. // ------------------------------------------

I have just been introduced to Processing this week and don't know much about using codes. Is there any easy way to show me what the setup would look like to display a graph with this kind of numerical data? 

it would be nice if you could show the first 20 lines of your numerical data 

or your code if you have started writing

otherwise we can't really help you.

My data is the amount of people going into a store each week over a 54 week period.

ok, so start with

1. String lines[] = loadStrings("Mappe1.csv"); // or what your file is called

then 1st test: 

1. // 1st: show array
   
2. println("there are " + lines.length + " lines");
3. for (int i=0; i < lines.length; i++) {
4.   println(trim(lines[i]));
5. }

Greetings, Chrisir  

First prepare your data. This is easy here:

1. Open the file in notepad.
2. Replace "Week " by nothing.
3. Replace "- " by a comma.

Then your data should look like this:

etc.

Then just follow the steps as described above. Use loadStrings to get it into Processing. Create an array of the same length. Use splitTokens to split each line into parts. Convert from a String to an int. Put the int in the array. You will end up with an array of 54 values. Then you can display those in different ways.

First of all, thank you for all the help I really appreciate it! I tried putting all of my data into Notepad and saving it in the same folder as my sketch on my Desktop, but it is saying that the file is missing or unacceptable? Not sure what I am doing wrong 

Show your code.

See: File > Examples > Topics > File IO

hi,

please don't delete posts in the forum.

You asked about your data. Did you solve it?

Please check if lower / upper case is absolutely the same with the data file name and the file name you used in your code.

Next try to build a folder "data" in your sketchs folder and put the data file inside the data folder.

Greetings! 

Please note that all the processing-commands like split() or trim() we are throwing at you
can be looked up in the reference easily.

When you make yourself familiar with them, you'll see they are the stepping stones for your
sketch.

Don't hesitate to ask again.

See the reference
http://www.processing.org/reference/