Beyond meeting the legal requirements below, we also wish to thank
the non-CoHort individuals and groups which have contributed to this
software by making their graphics and Java code available.
Their efforts and generosity have greatly improved this software.
The PPM and GIF image encoders in CoPlot are from the JPM package,
and are copyright (C) 1996 by Jef Poskanzer
(contact
jef@acme.com or
www.acme.com).
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use of JPM in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
The JPG image encoder (and its associated classes) in CoPlot are
Copyright (c) 1998,
James R. Weeks and BioElectroMech
(James@obrador.com or
www.obrador.com).
The disclaimer below also applies to the JPG image encoder.
The JPG image encoder in CoPlot is based in part on the work of
the Independent JPEG Group
(jpeg-info@uunet.uu.net),
which is copyright (C) 1991-1996,
Thomas G. Lane. All Rights Reserved except as specified below:
the accompanying documentation must state that
"this software is based in part on the work of
the Independent JPEG Group".
The disclaimer below also applies to the IJG code.
Toolbar Icons: The images used for most of the icons for
the toolbar buttons in all the CoHort programs are
copyright (C) 1998 by Dean S. Jones (contact
deansjones@hotmail.com
) and are part of the Java Lobby Foundation Applications Project
jfa.javalobby.org/projects/icons/index.html.
The remainder of CoText, CoStat, and CoPlot and their manuals
are copyright (C) 1998-2002 by CoHort Software
(contact
info@cohort.com or
www.cohort.com).
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
This software is provided by the author and contributors "as is" and
any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the
implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose
are disclaimed. In no event shall the author or contributors be liable
for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential
damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods
or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption)
however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict
liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way
out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of
such damage.
License
The Java byte code
(in the .class files which are collected in the cohort.jar file)
used to distribute this software
is the property of CoHort Software and its suppliers and is protected
by copyright law and international treaty provisions.
You are authorized to make and use copies of the
byte code only as part of the application in
which you received the byte code and for backup purposes.
Except as expressly provided in the foregoing sentence, you
are not authorized to reproduce and distribute the
byte code. CoHort Software reserves all rights not
expressly granted. You may not reverse engineer, decompile,
or disassemble the byte code.
Further, CoHort Software authorizes licensees to use this
software as they would use a book.
Like a book, this software may
be used by only one person on one computer at a time.
This version of the CoHort programs is gratefully dedicated to
my parents, Jane and Bill Simons. Without their generosity and support,
this version would not have been completed.
Thanks to all of the users who have
sent comments and suggestions. The programs
are vastly better because of the changes made as
a result of those comments and suggestions.
Thanks to the people outside of CoHort Software whose code
or graphics is included in the programs (see the
Copyrights section).
Thanks to all of the computer scientists,
statisticians, authors, etc. for the work which has formed
the basis of these programs. We "stand on the shoulders of giants".
Welcome to CoPlot. This is the quick introduction.
There are also lessons built into CoPlot (see Help : Lesson 1).
What is CoPlot?
CoPlot is a program for making drawings, notably drawings with graphs.
To use it, you create different types of objects (lines, filled areas,
markers, text objects, graphs, etc.) and then edit the attributes
of the objects till they look like you want them to look.
All of the objects except Path and Image objects have text
labels. The text can include
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc;
see the '<>' button on the dialog boxes)
and character entities
(HTML-like names for accented characters, Greek characters,
and mathematical symbols;
see the '&' button on the dialog boxes).
Zooming in or out.
The Screen Menu
has options which affect the appearance of the program and
the drawing on your computer's screen.
These
preferences are automatically saved (in a file called coplot.pref)
for the next time you use CoPlot.
The Macro Menu
has options to let you record and play a macro
(a series of user actions stored in a file so they can be replayed
later).
The Help Menu
provides different types of information about the
program and lessons to help you get started using the program.
Hints
- The Key To CoPlot -
To use CoPlot, you create different types of
objects (Path objects, Text objects, Graphs, etc.)
and then edit the attributes of the objects till they look like you
want them to look.
-
Picking Objects -
When you create an object, you identify its location by marking
one or more points. When you
want to pick an object (with Edit : Pick One)
for editing,
you need to click on or near those points (or the lines between them).
Thus, you need to click at the center of a graph, but you can click
anywhere along a path object.
-
Typing an Attribute? Press Enter.
When you change an attribute of an object, the
change is made right away.
For example, when editing a text object, if you choose a different font
from the list of fonts,
the text object is immediately redrawn with the new font.
For many attributes (like the Text Height
attribute of a text object),
you have to type a new value. In this case,
you must press Enter when you are through typing, so that
CoPlot knows you are done and can proceed with making the change.
Default Value - For numeric attributes that you type in (for
example, Text Height), you can return
the attribute to the default
value by erasing the current value and pressing Enter.
If you can't figure something out, try to find and read the relevant
section of the manual (see the
Menu Tree and the
Index).
If that doesn't work,
ask a knowledgeable coworker or
contact
technical support.
Menu Tree /
Index
Known Bugs
Garbled Menu Bar Words
-
Sometimes, when the program first loads, the headings on the
menu bar are wrong (the text is from other places in the program
and garbled).
When the problem occurs, use 'Screen : Fix Menubar' to
fix the menubar. In extreme cases, you need to use
'Screen : Fix Menubar' two or three times.
Menu Tree /
Index
Commands Not On The Menus
Listed below are the commands (often called shortcuts) which
are not listed on the menus.
- Right click on an object to edit it.
- If no dialog box is active,
you can edit an object by just clicking on or near
the points used to create the object
(just like Edit : Pick One).
You can then edit that object's attributes.
You can also pick additional objects of the same type to
edit simultaneously.
- Move the '+' cursor.
- The '+' cursor appears when the grid system is in effect
(see Drawing : Coordinates).
It indicates the location of the nearest grid point.
When it appears, you can move it with
your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also press
Enter (like the left mouse button)
or Esc (like the right mouse button).
If you use the arrow keys and then move the mouse (even a tiny bit),
the '+' will jump back to near the mouse's cursor.
-
Scroll bar scrolling:
-
Scroll a little up, down, right, or left.
- Click on the arrow buttons at the ends of the scroll bars.
- Scroll up or down a screenfull.
- Press the PgUp or PgDn keys.
Or, click above or below the vertical scrollbar's active-area-bar.
- Scroll to the top or bottom of the drawing.
- Press the Ctrl PgUp or Ctrl PgDn keys.
Or, drag the vertical scrollbar's active-area-bar to the
top or bottom of its range.
- Scroll left or right a screenfull.
- Press the Home or End keys.
Or, click to the left or right of the horizontal
scrollbar's active-area-bar.
- Scroll to the far left or far right of the drawing.
- Press the Ctrl Home or Ctrl End keys.
Or, drag the horizontal scrollbar's active-area-bar to the
far left or right of its range.
-
+
- Buttons
- Many dialogs have a textfield widget for entering a number and
a '+' and a '-' button to the right.
The buttons provide a fast way to increase or decrease the value.
In most cases, if you click on the buttons, the
program will change the value in the textfield to be a nice number
(one with few significant digits) that is 10 - 20% larger or smaller.
Sometime, you might wish you could just press on the + or - button
with your mouse and have the value rapidly increase or decrease.
You can't, because mouse presses on buttons don't work that way.
Instead, click on the button once (so it has focus)
and then hold down the Enter key. That
will have the desired effect.
-
. Buttons
- Some dialogs have a textfield widget for entering a number and
a "." button to the right.
These buttons provide a fast way to return to the default value
for that attribute.
-
Press Esc to close any dialog
- Press the Esc (Escape) button
to close any dialog box just as if you had
clicked on the dialog's upper right close-window icon.
Keyboard Shortcuts in Dialog Boxes
You can use various keystrokes to navigate and manipulate the
widgets in a dialog box:
- Press Tab to move the focus to the next widget.
- Press ShiftTab
to move the focus to the previous widget.
- When a button has focus (denoted by a dashed line), pressing
Enter has the same effect
as pressing the left mouse button.
Holding down Enter has the same effect
as rapidly pressing the left mouse button many times.
- When a checkbox has focus (denoted by a dashed line), pressing
Enter has the
same effect as pressing the left mouse button.
- When a choice widget has focus (denoted by a dashed line),
pressing Enter has the same effect as pressing the left
mouse button -- it drops down the list of choices. Then you
can use the arrow keys, Home, End, PgUp, PgDn,
and finally Enter to select one of the options.
Or, press Esc or click on the original choice widget
to close
the list window without making a selection.
- Press Esc to close the dialog box.
In textfields, you can
select text
and do various things with the
selected text. To select a block of text, drag with the left mouse
button, or use the shifted arrow keys
(Shift Left, Shift Right, Shift Home, Shift End).
As you extend the selection, the caret moves, too.
To select all of the text, press Ctrl A.
After selecting text:
- Typing a printable character deletes the selected text and inserts
that character.
- Ctrl C
copies
the selected text to the system clipboard.
- Ctrl X
cuts
(deletes) the selected text and copies it
to the system clipboard.
- Ctrl V
or
Shift Ins
deletes any current
selection, pastes text from the clipboard at the caret position,
and puts the caret at the end of the imported text.
- Del deletes selected text and doesn't put it
on the system clipboard.
- Ctrl Del extends the selection to the end of the
line. It then deletes the selected text and doesn't put it on the
system clipboard.
- Pressing other keys (for example, Left) turns off
the selection without deleting the text.
Menu Tree /
Index
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I install CoPlot?
For Windows computers, insert the CoPlot CD into the computer
and follow the on-screen instructions. For non-Windows computers,
download and install the trial version of CoPlot from
www.cohort.com;
it is actually the same as the CD version.
The web page includes information about command line options.
How do I get started using the program?
I don't understand how this program works.
Please read the lessons which are built into the program
(start with Help : Lesson 1).
It may be useful to read the lessons again after you have been
using CoPlot for a few weeks or months; you will probably notice
things you didn't notice the first time you read them.
Where
is the 'cohort' directory?
The cohort directory is the directory on your hard disk where
you installed the CoHort program files.
On Windows, this is often c:\cohort6 or
c:\Program Files\cohort6.
On Unix, this is often /bin/cohort6.
What were the design goals of CoPlot? CoPlot was designed
to be a very flexible, easy-to-use program for making
publication-quality scientific graphs and technical drawings.
Given limited resources, we
have put our efforts towards these goals and less effort toward fancy
looking menus, etc. While CoPlot is very good for creating
many other types of drawings (for example, flow charts, chemical
symbols, and electrical schematics), CoPlot probably won't ever have
all the features of programs dedicated to those purposes. So if you make
flow charts all day long, every day, you might consider getting
a program dedicated to that purpose. CoPlot can't be everything
to everybody, but it can strive to be the best for making
scientific graphs and most types of technical drawings.
How
do you set your prices for CoStat and CoPlot?
We have always tried to set a low price to
encourage more people to use our programs. Also, we hope that low
prices discourage people from using pirated copies - legitimate
owners get printed manuals, technical support, notices of upgrades,
and free minor upgrades. Although our software is more
expensive than academic books, we consider our software to be a good
deal: you get software (which is a lot of work to make, even if
copying the disks is cheap), you get a manual, and you get technical
support. The earnings from each version are used to fund the
development of new versions and new programs.
Why
don't
you have an academic or government discount?
We knew ahead of time that we would be selling the
programs mostly to academics and the government, so we tried to set a
low standard price.
Why is technical support free?
This encourages us to write good manuals and good software and
to offer efficient technical support.
But more than that, we don't like it when we have to pay a small fortune for
technical support for the software that we use at CoHort Software.
We didn't want to do that to our customers.
We don't have a phone queue.
When someone answers, they will immediately be able to help you.
If you do get a busy signal, wait a few minutes and try again.
How
should I cite your programs in my paper/book? We appreciate
it when you cite our programs and when you
send us copies of papers and books created in part with our programs.
Citation formats vary, but you can use variations of:
CoHort Software, 2002. CoPlot. www.cohort.com.
Monterey, California.
We also appreciate it when you mention our software and have link to
www.cohort.com on your web site.
What
are the advantages to HTML-based online documentation?
- CoHort Software can release new versions of the documentation
frequently. This lets us make big and small changes
and release the new version immediately.
- Registered users can easily retrieve the latest version from our web
site for free, anytime (24 hours a day, 365 days a year).
- Most people already have a browser (a program for
viewing HTML files) and are familiar with it.
- Browsers have many features which are useful for online documentation,
including: hypertext links, a text search procedure,
support for graphics, resizable windows, user-specified
colors, user-specified fonts, and user-specified font sizes.
Unfortunately, there are disadvantages, too:
- For lengthy passages, most people prefer reading a book to
reading a computer screen.
- Some characters (notably alpha, beta and Sigma) and symbols are
currently not available.
While you may print a copy of the online manual for your own use,
we discourage it. The printed manuals from CoHort Software
are printed on both sides of the paper, are nicely bound,
cost the same or less than the online manuals printed on your printer,
and, most important, have page number references instead of hypertext links
(which are useless on paper).
We offer both printed and online documentation. We encourage
you to use the online version whenever possible, since it is more
up-to-date. If you use the online version often,
you might want to add a bookmark to coplot.htm in
the cohort directory.
Raster
vs. Vector: Why is there no Fat Bits option?
Because CoPlot is an object-oriented (vector) drawing program,
you will not find some of the
procedures commonly available in pixel-based paint programs - notably
block moves of pixels, "fat-bits" editing, and "paint bucket" fills.
These options are replaced by superior features for an object-oriented
system:
- Block Moves Of Pixels should be accomplished by moving
groups of objects (see Edit : Objects : Move and
Edit : Points : Boxed Move).
- "Fat Bits" editing is replaced by the 'Zoom +'
button on the toolbar. Paint programs just enlarge what is already there,
while CoPlot will redraw a portion of the drawing magnified up to
100-fold, with increased resolution to match.
- "Paint Bucket" fills for filling within a boundary are replaced by
the Fill attributes of Path and Ellipse objects.
Does
CoPlot come with any clip art?
No, but you can import clip art from a variety
of sources. The best clip art is vector-based (for example, .cgm and .eps
files), since the images can be scaled to different sizes without
degradation of quality. (Although some "vector" files were
originally scanned images, so they do degrade when scaled.) These
can be imported into the current drawing with
Edit : Any Type : Add File.
For image clip art, use Create : Image to display the
images.
How
do I get a drawing on paper (for example, a map) into CoPlot?
There are two approaches:
- Use a digitizer to digitize it. This is the traditional way.
Digitizers are boards (12x12 inches up to 4x5 feet) with a stylus or
puck. You mount the drawing on the digitizer and then use the
stylus/puck like a mouse to trace the drawing. If you already have a
digitizer and the drawing isn't too complex, this is a good approach.
- Scan the image and display it with CoPlot's Create : Image.
Then create other drawing objects (mostly Path and Text objects)
to recreate the important features of the image.
This works very well. And more people have access to a scanner
than to a digitizer. And it is easier to have someone scan a drawing
for you (it takes about 1 minute) than to borrow a digitizer for a few hours.
Doesn't
CoPlot
support
freehand drawing?
Freehand drawing (also called
streaming mode and used for tracing) is where you move the mouse (or
digitizer) and the program saves all mouse movement as a line. Sorry,
no. Freehand drawing is easy to use, but dutifully records all of the
little jiggles in your hand's movement. The result is very hard to
edit. We think it is easier to create a Path object and mark
just the important points. That way, it is all under your control.
By setting the Path Type to Spline,
you only need to mark a few points to get a complex, smooth curve. Later,
that curve can be edited easily with Edit : Path : Move One Point
-- moving any of the original points will
adjust the line near that point.
What can I do about the dialog boxes obscuring the drawing?
We recommend that you don't make the main window full screen. Leave it
where it is and the size it is when it is first shown. Then, the dialog
boxes will appear to the right of the main window and not obscure
the drawing.
How do I change the xxx attribute of a yyy object?
In almost every case, you need to pick the object that you want to change
(via Edit : Pick One or some other means)
and the desired attribute will be on that dialog box.
The exceptions are:
- For parts of a graph, you need to further identify the part of the
graph that you want to change (for example, pick the desired graph
then select X Axis : Labels).
- Some graph attributes are set on the
Graph : Overview
dialog box.
- Attributes that apply to the entire drawing are on the
Drawing : Other
dialog box.
Why are nearby parts of the drawing damaged when I make changes to
this object?
When you make changes to an object,
CoPlot erases the old version of the object and then draws the new
version. When the old version is erased, other parts of the graph
that overlapped the old version will also be erased. Thus the drawing may
appear to have imperfections after a change. To redraw the drawing perfectly,
use the Redraw button on the toolbar.
These objects are right on top of each other. How can
I pick the object I want to edit?
Each of the Edit : Xxx dialog boxes has
several Pick procedures. Different pick procedures are useful
at different times. Pick One is fast and easy to use
when the objects are separate and therefore easy to pick.
The pick option which is best at handling difficult
situations is Pick List, which shows you a list of
objects which a checkbox beside each object to indicate if
it is picked or not. There is also a
Make Invisible (Make Visible) button at the bottom of
the Pick List dialog box which makes the currently
picked objects temporarily invisible (or visible again).
This
new object partly obscures this older object. How can
I change that?
Objects in a drawing are stored in a list. Initially, they
are stored in the order in which they are created.
When the drawing is redrawn,
the objects are drawn in the same order as the list.
To move an object to the beginning of the list, so it will
be drawn first and be partially hidden by other objects (if they overlap),
pick the object and then use the Hide button on the
Edit : xxx dialog box.
There is also a button labelled Show which
moves the picked objects to the end of the list,
so that they will be drawn
last and (possibly) hide other objects (if they overlap).
Related topic: You can
change the order
in which the parts of a graph are drawn.
How do change the drawing's position on the page?
There are two approaches:
- Move the drawing area. This approach is more appropriate when
the drawing area is small relative to the size of the page.
This will not change the coordinates of the objects.
- Press the 'Zoom -' button on the toolbar.
- Select
Drawing : Coordinates.
- Move the drawing area by dragging the block at the lower left
corner of the drawing area.
- Move all of the objects within the drawing area.
This approach is more appropriate when
the drawing area is large relative to the size of the page.
This will change the coordinates of the objects.
- Press the 'Zoom -' button on the toolbar.
- Select Edit : Any Type.
- Click on Pick All.
- Click on Move All.
- Drag the block that appears.
Can
I change the drawing object defaults?
Currently, no.
But for graphs, we recommend that you make a drawing with a graph
in the style that you like.
Then, whenever you want to make a new drawing with a graph, load
that drawing file and rename it (so you don't overwrite it).
Can
I combine two drawings?
Yes. Use
Edit : Any Type : Add File.
How can I export a drawing to another program?
Use CoPlot's
File : Save As
to save the drawing file in some other file format.
That section of this manual also includes recommended file
types for exporting to different programs.
Sorry, there is
currently no mechanism to place the drawing on the clipboard.
When I export the drawing to Word, it takes up a whole page. Why?
Use the 'Zoom -' button on the toolbar.
This allows you to see the drawing area. The drawing area is
the (usually) white area on the screen within a light gray area
(the piece of paper).
When you use File : Save As : WMF
(or most other file types), the entire drawing area is stored in the
.wmf file. Clearly, you need to make the drawing area smaller,
so that it tightly crops the objects on the drawing.
Select
Drawing : Coordinates
and drag the
blocks at the edges of the drawing area inward, so that the drawing
area is no larger than is necessary to contain the drawing objects.
How do I change the background color on the screen?
Use Drawing : Background Color.
Other attributes which apply to the entire drawing can be found
on the Drawing menu.
Why do I have a white background on the screen but not
when I export the drawing to a different program?
Use Drawing : Background Color and select white.
If the color labelled 'nd' (notDrawn) is selected, you will
see white on the screen but no color information will be
saved in a file saved with File : Save As.
You must explicitly specify white to get a white background
in the other program; otherwise, the background will be transparent.
When I have several changes to make to a drawing, do I have to
wait for CoPlot to finish each revision?
No. Uncheck Screen : Automatic Redraw.
Then, changes will be shown on the screen only when you press
the Redraw button on the toolbar. This is preferable when
you have numerous changes to make and/or when you work
with large datasets or maps, which redraw slowly.
Why is this x not being drawn?
Why aren't my changes being shown on the screen?
If an object is not being drawn and you think it should be, here are
some things to check.
- Make sure the Color of the object is something other
than notDrawn.
- Make sure the position of the object is within the
drawing area (try 'Zoom -' to see if it appears).
- Make sure the object's Group is visible
(use Drawing : Groups : Visible Groups : All).
- If data are not being plotted, make sure all the necessary
variables have been specified and that the data file actually has
valid data within the range shown on the graph.
- When none of your changes result in changes to the
drawing on the screen, make sure Screen : Automatic Redraw
is checked. Or press the Redraw button on the toolbar.
The graphics cursor moves in big jumps, can I change that?
How do I align objects?
What is that '+' cursor (a horizontal and a vertical line)
near the main cursor?
CoPlot drawings have a grid -- an array of points. When you
create an object or move an object, it can only be positioned
on a grid point.
When the '+' cursor is visible, it tells you that the grid system
is active for the current operation and shows you where the
nearest grid point is.
You can move the '+' cursor with the
arrow keys.
You can make the grid points visible (or not) with
Drawing : Coordinates : Draw Grid.
You can change the distance between grid points with
Drawing : Coordinates : Grid Size,
or by pressing the 'Grid +' or 'Grid -' buttons on the toolbar.
If you make the grid size really small, it is as if the grid
isn't there; you can position points anywhere.
If you make the grid size somewhat coarse (0.1 inches or 0.5 cm),
it makes it easy to line up objects by sight on the screen.
I select a Fill pattern but all I get is solid fill. Why?
It is likely that the Fill Size attribute has been set too small
and/or the line Fill Linewidth attribute has been set too big. The
resulting lines that make up the hatch pattern are so close together
that it looks like a solid fill. Change the
Fill Size to a larger number (for example, 0.1) and/or line
Fill Linewidth to a smaller number (for example, 0.003).
How
can
I set the default directory for my drawing files?
You probably can't. The default directory is simply the
directory of the most recently used drawing file
(see File : 1).
Oops!
I
just overwrote an important drawing file. Can I recover it?
Probably. Whenever CoPlot saves a drawing, it saves the old
version of the drawing file as 'backup.draw' in the cohort
directory. Here are two ways to recover it:
- Use a file manger (like Windows Explorer) to change the
name of the 'backup.draw' file
in the cohort directory
to some other, new name.
- In a command line window, move to the
cohort directory
(in Windows, type cd \cohort6, but
substitute the correct cohort directory name).
Then rename the file
(in Windows, type ren backup.draw newName.draw).
You should then be able to use CoPlot's File : Open to
open the renamed file.
How
can I change the size of the entire drawing?
There are two approaches:
- If you want to make the objects be printed bigger
but not change their coordinates,
the easiest method (and least likely to cause trouble)
is to reduce the
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale.
- If you want to leave the objects the same size
and with the same coordinates
but you want to increase the size of the drawing area
so that you can draw other things at the edges,
the easiest method (and least likely to cause trouble)
is to use the 'Zoom -' button and then choose
Drawing : Coordinates.
Then you can drag the blocks at the edges of the drawing outward to
expand the drawing area (you are graphically changing
X Min Bound, X Max Bound, Y Min Bound, Y Max Bound).
- If you really want to change the coordinates of all the objects:
- Use Edit : Any Type : Pick All : Move.
- Set the X Scale and Y Scale as desired.
- Specify the Origin X,Y carefully, since the expansion will
be relative to that point.
- Specify the Destination X,Y
(usually the same as the Origin X,Y).
- Press OK.
The danger with this approach is that the coordinates of the
objects may no longer be on grid points, and that may make
future editing awkward.
Can I make a drawing "to scale" (for example, 1 inch = 1 foot)?
Yes. See
Drawing : Coordinates.
How
do I get a mirror image of an object?
- Use one of the Edit : Xxx procedures
and pick the object(s) you want a mirror image of.
- Choose Move or Copy.
- Set the X Scale to -1 if you want to flip the
object in the x direction. Or set the Y Scale to -1
to flip it in the y direction.
- Specify the Origin X,Y and Destination X,Y
carefully. If you want to flip it in place, the Origin and
Destination should be at the center of the object.
- Press OK.
How can I export the drawing to another program?
Use File : Save As.
How can I save part of a drawing for use in other drawings?
To save part of a drawing:
- Use Edit : Any Type.
- Use the Pick options to pick the desired objects.
- Use Save In File.
To load a different drawing into the current drawing, use
Edit : Any Type : Add File.
How can I get a hole in an object?
For Path objects, see the Make Subpath button on
the Create : Path
dialog box.
For Ellipse objects, see the Inner Size attribute on
the Edit : Ellipse
dialog box.
How
can
I
find out which .draw files use a certain .dt file or
have a certain piece of text in them?
Since .draw files are ASCII files, you can use any file search
tool to search them.
- In Windows, use Start : Find (or Search) : Files or Folders
to search for all *.draw files which contain the desired text.
- In Unix/Linux, use grep
to search for all *.draw files which contain the desired text.
Mysterious
file-related
problems?
Some mysterious file-related problems can occur if your
hard disk has problems. Try using a program that
checks your hard disk for errors.
- In Windows, use Start : Programs : Accessories : System Tools :
ScanDisk. The Quick Check is usually sufficient. But
every few months you should use the Thorough Check.
- This is less likely in Unix/Linux, which tend to automatically
check the hard disk. Consult your system administrator
for suggestions.
Problems with floppy disks can usually be traced to
dirty heads. Buy and use a disk cleaning kit.
Colored
objects on the screen are being printed as light
gray. Can I prevent that?
Most printer drivers for black and white printers (like laser printers)
convert colored objects (on the screen) into gray objects
(on the printer).
You can prevent this and draw all objects with black by using
Drawing : Other : Draw Colors As : Black,
which changes colors to black on-the-fly (not permanently).
What can I do to speed up the program?
See Speed.
Why
did the
buttons stop working?
Very, very rarely the buttons in the dialog boxes stop
responding to mouse clicks
(thereby making the program look frozen) but the program
still responds to other user actions (like the keyboard).
Try clicking the right mouse button.
Then see if clicking the left mouse button works correctly.
Is the program frozen?
The program will appear to be frozen if you hide a Print or File
dialog box with the main window. The solution is to move the
main window to uncover and then close the Print or File dialog box.
A CoHort program will sometimes also appear frozen for a few seconds
(more, in extreme cases) when you are running
a lot of programs on a computer with a modest amount of memory,
especially when you have been using some other program and return
to the CoHort program. In this situation, your computer's
disk light will be on. The program will become unfrozen when
the disk light goes off.
What if I still can't figure out something?
If you can't figure something out, try to find and read the relevant
section of the manual (see the
Menu Tree and the
Index).
If that doesn't work,
ask a knowledgeable coworker or
contact
technical support.
Menu Tree /
Index
Frequently Asked Questions Related To Graphs
How do I get started with graphs? I don't understand how this program works.
Please read CoPlot's Help : Lesson 6.
It may be useful to read the lessons again after you have been
using CoPlot for a few weeks or months; you will probably learn
things you didn't learn the first time you read them.
How are CoPlot's graphing capabilities
different from spreadsheet/business graphing
programs?
CoPlot has several features which business/spreadsheet
graphing programs do not, including:
- Different kinds of graphs: 3D graphs, contour graphs, triangular
graphs, nchannel graphs, true 3D bar charts (viewable from any
direction), polar coordinates graphs, etc.
- Curve-fitting (linear and non-linear).
- Error bars, even asymmetric and horizontal error bars.
- Any number of levels of subscripts and superscripts.
- The full Greek alphabet.
- Easy user-positioning of titles and comments.
- Multiple graphs on a page.
- Extensive drawing capabilities.
- Extensive data manipulation and statistical analysis
capabilities.
- Unlimited datafile size (not just 8,192, 32,000, or 64,000 rows).
- Plotting different datasets with different x columns (not just
one x and many y columns).
- Plotting user-defined functions.
- Plotting user-defined marker types.
- Different kinds of axes: log, log log, natural log, square root,
probability, date, time, etc.
- Fonts, markers, and line widths of any size, not just a few sizes.
- Control over the size and shape of the graph.
Why do parts of graphs have two part names?
It is a fairly
simple way to organize all of the attributes for all of the parts of a
graph. Hierarchical systems are a good way to organize a large number
of objects; that's why scientists give genus and species names to
plants and animals.
How should I arrange the data in the datafile for plotting?
Often, there are a couple of formats which could be used. The simplest
approach is: for each dataset (that is, a group of points that will
be represented by a line or a set of markers on a graph), make two
columns in the data file: one for the x data and one for the y data.
In the Edit : Graph dialog box,
choose Dataset : New Dataset to create a new dataset
(which will subsequently be called Dataset 1). CoPlot will show
you the dialog box with its attributes (which you can change).
If you want to plot another group of data,
choose Dataset : New Dataset to create a new dataset
(which will subsequently be called Dataset 2). CoPlot will show
you the dialog box with its attributes (which you can change).
If you want to plot more datasets,
keep adding pairs of columns to the data file and keep using
Dataset : New Dataset to make create more datasets.
Alternatively, you may already have a data file from some other
source, and you may want to plot a subset of the rows in one way
(for example, with filled square markers) and another subset
another way (for example, with unfilled square markers).
The solution here is to use the
Edit : Graph : Dataset : 1 : Keep If to specify an equation
which selects the first subset of data and
Edit : Graph : Dataset : 2 : Keep If to specify an equation
which selects the second subset of data.
For other types of graphs (for example, bar graphs), it should be helpful
to read the section of the manual with describes different
Dataset : Representations.
Is there a way to plot part of a dataset on a graph?
Yes. Use
Edit : Graph : Dataset : x : Keep If
and enter a boolean expression which will be applied to each row of the data
file (for example, col(1)>20 and col(2)+5<col(1).
This is also a useful technique for
plotting part of a dataset with one type of marker and a different
part of the dataset with another type of marker.
Why does CoPlot change my axis titles and ranges after I use the
datafile editor or when I load a new datafile? At certain times
CoPlot makes various changes to the graph automatically to make sure
that the graph always plots all of the data, that the axes are
appropriately labeled, and that the axis titles are appropriate. You can
suppress these changes by entering specific values for specific parts
of the graph (not just .=default).
For example, starting from the Edit : Graph
dialog box:
- For the graph title, see Graph : Title 1.
- For the axis range, see X Axis : Overview : Low
and High.
- For the axis title, see X Axis : Title 1.
The labels on the axis overlap. What can I do?
If the labels on the X axes overlap
(because you have lots of labels or because the labels are long or
because the graph is small), set the
Edit : Graph : X Axis : Labels : Angle to 270 or 315 degrees
and the X Axis : Labels : H Align to Left.
This turns the labels and allows you to put a large number of long
labels in a very small area. Another alternative is to change the
X Axis : Overview : Divisions 1 to a number that is larger
than the default (for example, twice the default).
Why are parts of the graph erased when I make changes to a
function?
When you change a function (or any other part
of a graph), CoPlot erases the old function and draws in the new
function. When the old function is erased, other parts of the graph
that overlapped the old function will also be erased. Thus the graph may
appear to have imperfections after a change.
To redraw the drawing perfectly,
use the Redraw button on the toolbar.
When I have several changes to make to a graph, do I have to
wait for CoPlot to finish each revision?
No. Uncheck Screen : Automatic Redraw.
Then, changes will be shown on the screen only when you press
the Redraw button on the toolbar. This is preferable when
you have numerous changes to make and/or when you work
with large datasets or maps, which redraw slowly.
Can I plot a whole bunch of separate lines as one dataset?
Yes, but all of the lines will have the same attributes. The basic
approach takes advantage of the fact that CoPlot can leave a gap
where there is a missing value: make sure
Drawing : Other : Missing values make gaps is checked.
Let's say you have 2 columns in the data file,
x and y, and a large number of rows. Put the x,y values for the first
line at the top of the column. Then leave a blank row. Then put the
x,y values for the next line in the next rows. Then leave a blank
row. Etc. When this dataset is plotted, there will be a gap in
the line corresponding to every blank row in the datafile.
How do I make bar graphs?
In CoPlot, bar graphs are not different types of graphs.
They are just different
Graph : Dataset : Representations
on XY graphs (for example,
BarGraph/100%, BarGraph/Grouped, BarGraph/Stacked).
When Java CoPlot draws a graph, it notices if
these representations are in use, looks for all of the
datasets which are using each of these, and plots them
appropriately. An advantage of this approach is that
you can easily mix these representations with other representations
on the same XY graph.
You can make bar graphs by using
Create : Graph
and then using Dataset : New Dataset repeatedly.
But it is usually easier to use
Create : Bar Graph.
If you want other types of bar graphs,
or want a variation of one of the standard types of bar
graphs, you can use an XY graph and the Dataset Representation called
Bars/2D. This representation of data takes two data points
for each bar, x1,y2 and x2,y2, which are the two endpoints of the bar.
You can use this to draw horizontal bars, bars at irregular positions
along the x axis, bars which go above and below y=0, bars which float
above y=0, etc.
Can I get a correctly-sized error bar in the legend? It is
a common situation to want one error bar to be drawn as a legend for
the entire dataset. Sorry, CoPlot does not do this automatically in
the legend. There are two work-arounds:
- Create a dataset with one data point.
This is the preferred
method, but you are limited to putting the error bar within the
graph, not anywhere in the drawing area. Here is how to accomplish this:
- Use Datafile : 1 to get to your datafile.
- Use Edit : Insert Columns
to create 4 more columns: X, Y, Low, High.
- On the first row of the data file, enter X,Y,Low,High values.
X,Y defines there the error bar will be based.
Low and High define the error values.
- Exit CoStat.
- Create a new dataset with Edit : Graph : Dataset : New Dataset.
- Set Representation: Marker.
- Set the marker Type to be Marker Font, character #48
(a blank).
- Make sure Drawing : Other : Draw error bars through markers
is checked.
- Use Edit : Graph : Comment : New Comment
to write a comment next to the error bar.
- You can draw the error bar any where in the drawing area with
a Dimension object (use Create : Dimension and set the
Arrow Angle to 180°.
This data representation uses many different colors. Why do
only some of the colors show up in the legend?
For data and function representations that use many different colors,
you can select how many colors appear in the legend with
Edit : Graph : Legend : Grid Colors
How can I export data to other programs?
CoStat can create ASCII data files in different formats.
Or, it put tab-separated ASCII values on the clipboard
(if the file isn't too big).
Use Datafile : 1 to get to CoStat.
Then use File : Save As and select the desired
File Type.
Why are there gaps in the line that draws this dataset?
CoPlot usually puts gaps in a line where there are missing data
points. You can make the gaps go away by un-checking
Drawing : Other : Missing values make gaps.
Why isn't my function visible?
- Check all of the settings on the
Edit : Graph : Function : x menu,
notably Color (it should not be 'notDrawn'),
Representation (Line is a safe bet),
From (it should be '.') and
To (it should be '.').
- If there is an error message regarding the function, correct the
error in the function's text.
- Make sure the Edit : Graph : Y Axis : Overview : Low
and High values are both set to '.'.
- Calculate a few values with CoStat's Statistics : Utility :
Evaluate a function (or with a calculator) and see if the
equation gives the values you expect.
Can I plot X, Y, DX, DY vector data?
Not directly.
You need to convert to the data to X, Y, Size, Angle data
before you can use
Edit : Graph : Dataset : 1 : Representation : Vector.
- Use Datafile : 1 : File : New
to make a datafile with 6 columns: X, Y, DX, DY, Size, and Angle.
- Enter the X, Y, DX, DY data.
- Use Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to transform column 5: hypot(col(4), col(5))
- Use Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to transform column 6: atanXY(col(4), col(5))
Can
I change the graph defaults?
Currently, no.
But for graphs, we recommend that you make a drawing with a graph
in the style that you like.
Then, whenever you want to make a new drawing with a graph, load
that drawing file and rename it (so you don't overwrite it).
I created some Text objects to annotate my graph. But when
I changed the axis ranges, the Text objects didn't move.
What can I do?
Use
Edit : Graph : Comment
instead.
The location of a Graph Comments is specified in graph coordinates,
not drawing coordinates. So if you change the axis ranges,
Graph Comments will be repositioned appropriately.
Can
I plot distance,angle data?
Distance,angle data is generated
by surveyors who start at a known point and measure the distance and angle
to a second point. From the second point, they measure the
distance and angle to a third point. The process is
repeated many times. CoPlot can't use this data directly, but you can
use the datafile editor to convert it to x,y data:
- Use Datafile : 1 : File : New
to make a datafile with 4 columns:
Distance, Angle, X, and Y.
- Enter the Distance and Angle data.
- Use Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to transform column 3:
originalX + col(1)*cos(radians(col(2)))
(but substitute the numeric value of originalX).
- Use Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to transform column 4:
originalY + col(1)*sin(radians(col(2)))
(but substitute the numeric value of originalY).
- Use Transformations : Accumulate to accumulate column 3.
- Use Transformations : Accumulate to accumulate column 4.
I
moved
my drawing file to another computer. Now CoPlot
gives me a File Not Found error message for the
datafile (or image file)!
Data and images are kept in separate files, so you
need to move them, too. CoPlot will automatically find the
datafile or image files if they are in the same directory
as the .draw file in the new computer;
otherwise, you may need to reload the data and image files.
If you routinely move files from one computer to/from
another computer, CoPlot has a system for dealing with the problem
(see Screen : Path Aliases).
Why are datafiles and image files separate from drawing files?
Two reasons:
- If a .dt file is used by more than one drawing, you save space on the
disk. If the .dt file is large or you have many drawings which use it,
the savings are large.
- If you detect and fix an error in the .dt
file (for example, a mis-typed number),
the correction can be made cleanly and will apply to all graphs
which use that data.
Because of this, we are reluctant to change things
so that the data is kept within the drawing file.
We do encourage you to use
a file naming system which make it obvious which data file belongs
with which graphs: the first few characters of the file name should
be the same. For example, wheat.dt might be used by wheat.gra,
wheatcol.gra, wheat1.gra, and wheat994.gra. This also makes it
easier to copy the necessary files to another directory
or another computer.
How
do I make changes to a graph that CoPlot's Graph objects can't make?
Graph objects are very flexible, but there are a few things
they can't do. (For example, you might wish that you could change
where the city, state, or country names appear on maps.)
In these cases, consider using
Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
which save the picked graph as large number of drawing objects,
mostly Path and Text objects. You can then edit these drawing objects
as you would edit other drawing objects.
How can I get bar graphs with horizontal bars?
Use Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Angle : 270.
How
can
I get the numeric data from an already printed
graph? (For example, from a graph printed in a scientific
journal.)
- You need to get the printed graph into an image file
(.gif, .jpg, .png, or .pcx). There are two approaches to this:
- Scan the image with a scanner. Save the image as a .gif
(or other) file.
- Fax the image to a computer with a fax board. Export the fax
to a .gif (or other) file.
- Use Create : Image to display the image file
on the screen. Increase its Size so that it
basically fills the CoPlot window. If it is slightly tilted,
change its Angle so that it is perfectly upright.
- Use Create : Graph to make a graph object.
Edit the graph so that it mimics the original graph:
- Use Graph : Overview : X Axis Size and Y Axis Size
so that the graph object is the correct size.
- Use X Axis : Overview : Low and High
so that the X axis has the same range.
- Use Y Axis : Overview : Low and High
so that the Y axis has the same range.
- Use
Edit : Graph : Graph : Get.
- Set Get What to Graph Coordinates.
- Click on the data points.
- Mark a
- Create a data file from the results:
- Choose CoPlot's Datafile : 1
- Choose CoStat's File : Open : Clipboard
- Click on Replace Old Data.
- Use CoStat's File : Save As to save the datafile.
The Y axis range is [a] to [b]. Why doesn't the label for [a]
show up?
- Ensure that the end of the range really is at [a]
(for example, 0) by choosing Edit : Graph : Y Axis
and changing Low to [a] (even if it already say [a]).
- Make sure that Edit : Graph : Y Axis : Labels : Draw First Label
is checked.
- In unusual cases, it may be
necessary to enter a slightly lower value, for example, [a]-0.001.
I have a nice graph. Can I now make it the basis for
a series of graphs by using Graph Array?
Sorry. No. Graph Array makes it's own graph objects and can't
incorporate existing graph objects.
However, you can use Edit : Graph : Copy and make
multiple copies of you graph, setting the Origin X,Y
and Destination X,Y values so that the new
graphs are arranged in an array.
This is almost as good as a Graph Array.
Afterwards, you can use Edit : Graph : Pick One to
edit one graph at a time.
Or, you can use Edit : Graph : Pick All to
edit all of the graphs simultaneously.
How
do
I
get
different
axes
and plot different datasets
on the left and right Y axes?
There are two approaches:
- If you haven't already started, you can use
Create : Graph Array.
Set Type to 2 Y Axes.
- If you already have a graph with one dataset plotted on the left
Y axis:
- Use Edit : Graph : Copy
to make a copy of the first graph at the exact same location
(Origin X,Y equals Destination X,Y).
The new graph is now the currently picked graph.
- Use Y Axis : Overview and
change Visible to Opposite Axis.
- Choose Dataset : 1 and change the Y
variable to some other column.
How
do
I get broken axes?
(For example, 0, then a break, then 1 to 1000 on a log scale.) There
are two approaches.
- The Proper Way: Create two graphs: Create the first graph.
Then use Edit : Graph : Copy
to make a copy of the first graph to the left or right.
The new graph is now the currently picked graph.
Edit it till it looks like you want it to look.
- The Quick and Dirty Method for a single value on the left graph:
Use the datafile editor to change the x value from 0 to 0.1 in the
data file. Then make a single graph with the x axis range from 0.1
to 1000. Then change the first label on the X axis to "0" with
X Axis : Labels : Text.
How can I plot data from 2 (or more) datafiles on 1 graph?
Use Datafile : 1 and File : Open to open the
first datafile.
Use Datafile : 2 and File : Open to open the
second datafile.
When editing the graph, you can use Dataset : x : Datafile
to specify which datafile should be use for which dataset.
How do I get hollow markers to erase what is beneath them?
This isn't built into the program, but you can do it.
Create two datasets. For the first one, set
Representation to 'filled circle', set the
Color to white (or whatever background color you want),
and set Legend to nothing.
For the second dataset, set the
Representation to 'hollow circle' and the color to black.
How
do
I get tick marks and labels at specific,
unevenly spaced locations?
Use Edit : Graph : X Axis : Overview and set
Divisions 1 to be a comma-separated-value list
of where you want the labels and primary ticks to be.
Can
I identify a data point on
a graph or get other information from a graph?
Yes. Use Edit : Graph : Graph : Get
and set Get What to Data points.
Then click on the data point you want more information about.
Can
I plot functions over a limited X range?
Yes. Use Edit : Graph : Function : x : From
and/or To to specify the low and high ends of the
range for the function.
How
do
I plot parametric equations?
Parametric equations are representations of functions
in which X and Y are each functions of an independent variable, e.g.,
T. For example, you could make a circle by plotting X=cos(t),
Y=sin(t) over the range t=0 to 2pi. To do this,
- Use CoPlot's Datafile : 1 : File : New to create a datafile with
3 columns, T, X, and Y.
- Use CoStat's Transformations : Regular to transform column 1
into a series of values from t=0 to 2pi with
an increment of 0.05.
- Use CoStat's Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to convert column 2 to be cos(col(1)).
- Use CoStat's Transformations : Transform (Numeric)
to convert column 3 to be sin(col(1)).
- Use CoStat's File : Save As to name and save the data file.
- Use CoPlot's Create : Graph to create a graph.
- Use CoPlot's Edit : Graph : Dataset : New Dataset
to create a new dataset which plots X=column #2 and Y=column #3.
Can I plot a slice of a 3D surface on a 2D graph? Yes.
Let's say you have a
gridded dataset
with the gridded x,y,z data in columns 1, 2, and 3, respectively,
and you want to get the slice where Y=3.
- Pick the graph you want to work with
(for example, use Edit : Pick One).
- Choose Graph : Overview : Type : XY.
- Choose Dataset : New Dataset.
- Set the X: 1) X.
- Set the Y: 3) Z.
- Set Keep If: col(2)==3.
To get a slice in the other direction (for example, where X=5),
set X: 2) Y and set Keep If: col(1)==5.
Can
I
identify data points with labels?
Yes. There are two approaches:
- If you want to label most or all of the data points,
use the dataset representation called Markers/labels
to put a label beside each marker.
The text for the labels comes from one of the columns in the datafile.
- If you want to label just a few of the data points,
use Edit : Graph : Comment : New Comment
to create comments which positioned in graph coordinates.
One advantage to this approach is that the comments
can have boxes (or other shapes) around them.
Can
I
calculate the volume of a 3D surface?
It is often useful to know the volume
defined by a 3D surface or the area of the surface which falls within
a given range of elevations. While CoPlot does not yet have a feature
to calculate these values automatically, you can do the calculation
using existing procedures. To calculate the volume of a gridded data
set:
- Use CoPlot's Datafile : 1 : File : Open to open the datafile.
- Use CoStat's Edit : Insert Columns to insert one
double column (at the end) for temporary use.
(Call it temp.)
- Use Transformations : Transform (Numeric) to
calculate the volume associated with each data point. For example,
if the gridded Z data is column #3 (measured in feet), and the new
variable is column #4, and the distance between grid points on the X
and Y axis is 300 feet, you would use an equation like
column #4 = col(3)*300*300.
- Use Transformation : Accumulate to accumulate
the values in column 4.
- Scroll to the last row of
the spreadsheet in order to read the accumulated volume in column 4.
This is a pretty good estimate of the volume. To get a less good
approximation of the surface area within a specific elevation range
(for example, z=700 to 800),
use Transformations : If Then Else (Numeric)
in step 3 and use If col(3)>700 and col(3)<=800 Then
300*300 Else 0.
How can I create X and Y values for already gridded Z data?
If you already have the Z values from a regular grid (but not the X
and Y values), you need to create 2 columns of data with the
appropriate X and Y values. You can do this with
Datafile : 1 : Transformations : Make Indices.
Why isn't one of my datasets (or functions) appearing in the legend?
How can I make a dataset (or function) not appear in the legend?
Check Edit : Graph : Dataset (or Function) : x : Legend.
If it is set to nothing, there will be no entry for that
dataset (or function) in the legend.
Can
I change the order in which parts of the graph are drawn?
Yes. See
Edit : Graph : Graph : Drawing Order.
Related topic: You can
change the order
in which the drawing objects are drawn,
in order to control which drawing objects are partly obscured
by other drawing objects.
Can CoPlot draw part of the graph, then draw some drawing objects,
then draw the rest of the graph?
No. All parts of a graph are drawn together. But there is another approach:
make two graphs and Hide one of them. You can
edit the 'hidden' graph so that it will
draw part of the original graph and not the rest (set the Color
for those graph parts to 'NotDrawn').
You can edit the second graph so that it will
draw the other parts of the original graph (set the Color
for the other graph parts to 'NotDrawn').
Related topic: You can
change the order
in which the drawing objects are drawn,
in order to control which drawing objects are partly obscured
by other drawing objects.
How
do
I set up a drawing for A4 paper?
There are several attributes on CoPlot's
Drawing : Coordinates dialog box
which let you select A4 paper (Common Sizes : A4),
change the drawing bounds to fill A4 paper, and change the units to cm.
But the easiest thing to do is use File : Open : CoPlot (.draw)
to open the metric.draw file in the
cohort directory.
This is a drawing file in which all of the changes
have already been made to Drawing : Coordinates
so that you can work in cm on A4 paper.
Then, use File : Save As
to give the file a new name.
What if I still can't figure out something?
If you can't figure something out, try to find and read the relevant
section of the manual (see the
Menu Tree and the
Index).
If that doesn't work,
ask a knowledgeable coworker or
contact
technical support.
Menu Tree /
Index
Suggestions
The goal of CoPlot is to provide you with an
inexpensive, flexible way to produce your own high-quality
scientific graphs and technical drawings.
CoHort Software hopes that CoPlot helps you reach that goal.
General Comments -
The most important advice for setting up
graphs is: Keep it simple. Don't put too much on one graph. Make
sure everything is as clear as possible. Make sure text is easily
legible.
Try using macros for frequently performed operations.
See Macro.
Posters -
The best quality posters
are "stats" or "PMT's" from a blueprint store. These are moderately
expensive enlargements of your art work. Stats can be any size you
want.
Many photocopy stores can now do a photocopy enlargement of
8.5"x11" drawings to 17"x22" or larger for a very low price, and the
quality is quite good.
Slides -
The best way to make
slides is with a film recorder, a device specifically made for taking
computer-generated images and recording them on film. There are
numerous brands of film recorders. All film recorders can create
slides from images stored in graphics files. The department
in your university or company that maintains the film recorder will
know what types of files can be used by the software
that drives the film recorder. Many of the graphics
file types that CoPlot can create are commonly used to send images to
film recorders: WMF, HPGL/2, PostScript, and CGM.
If
you don't have a film
recorder, you can take slides directly off your computer screen.
If possible, use a telephoto lens (80 to 135mm) to flatten the screen.
Pick a slow film (such as ASA 64 or 100).
Use a tripod and a
cable (shutter) release (or the camera's self-timer if you don't have
a cable release). You may need to use a close-up lens (an inexpensive
lens that screws onto your regular lens) to be able to focus close
enough. Make sure the film plane is parallel to the screen to avoid
distortion. Set the screen contrast fairly high, but avoid blurring.
Make sure the room is very dark (do it at night with the lights off
and curtains closed). The shutter speed should be 1/4 second or
slower to make the monitor's scan line invisible. Determine the
approximate exposure by doing a test roll; try 1-second exposures at
all apertures (although apertures in the middle or high end of the
range give the best-quality photos). Do not depend entirely on your
exposure meter; it will tend to overexpose graphs that don't have
large filled areas. When you decide on an exposure setting, use the
same setting for all graphs. (Advice from Allan Fertig, Agricultural
Communications, University of Arizona.)
Slides from a laser printer
-
Another approach to making slides is to get a
good quality printout (from your laser printer or plotter) and make
slides from the output with a copy stand. Given the high resolution
of commonly available printers, this is an
excellent and inexpensive alternative to
slide making machines. Many photo-finishing companies now provide
1-hour service for a minimal surcharge.
Polaroid makes 2 types of instant film that you may find useful.
PolaBlue produces instant 35mm white on blue slides from black on
white printout. PolaChrome produces instant color slides (good for
photographing color screens directly).
Many copy stores now have special color laser copiers that can make
slides directly from any original. The results from the new color
printers are especially good.
Animated
GIF and
MPEG
Movies -
Animated .gif files and MPEG files can store a series of images
in a file. The images in the file can later be displayed like a movie.
Because animated .gif files do not change the images in any way
(unlike MPEG files), they are usually more suitable for storing
a series of images from CoPlot.
Although CoPlot currently can't create animated .gif files
directly from its animations, it is still pretty easy to do.
First, you need to use CoPlot to save the individual frames of an animation
in separate .gif files (a macro may make this easier). Then
you need to combine the individual .gif files into an animated .gif file
with a separate program.
We use and recommend "GIF Construction Set Professional",
a $20 shareware program from
Alchemy Mindworks Inc. (http://www.mindworkshop.com).
Style -
Three
excellent
books
about style in statistical graphics are The Visual Display
of Quantitative Information (1983), Envisioning
Information (1990), and Visual Explanations
by Edward R. Tufte. Not only does he show you
examples of superb and horrible graphics, he explains the rationale
behind his judgments. He believes in minimizing "chartjunk" - the
unnecessary lines and fill styles that clutter most graphics. He
discusses how to emphasize the data, not the chart. He warns of
techniques that compromise the integrity of graphics. We recommend
his books highly. We at CoHort Software hope that CoPlot is
sufficiently flexible that you can use it to explore non-standard,
good graphics design.
Practical Graph Design -
A great book about
style in graphs is Elements of Graph Design by
Stephen M. Kosslyn (1994). This is a very practical style manual
which covers almost all standard types of graphs. The book has page
after page of examples of the right way and wrong way to create
different kinds of graphs.
The Elements of Graphing Data
is an excellent book by William S. Cleveland.
The book reflects his years of experience making technical graphs
at AT&T Bell Laboratories.
He makes good use of graph arrays.
False 3D and Perspective
-
CoPlot
does not support adding a false third dimension to 2D text and 2D
bars; we at CoHort Software believe it is unnecessary clutter that
detracts from the readability of the graph, in addition to being
misleading.
Plot a dataset twice for special effects
-
It is sometimes
useful to plot a dataset twice, that is, to set the
Dataset : 1 : X and Y
variables to be the same as the
Dataset : 2 : X and Y variables. You can
then choose different representations for each dataset. For
example, you could plot
Dataset : 1 with Representation: Marker,
with no lines between the markers, and
Dataset : 2 with Representation : Fill zero.
Such combinations are not possible without plotting
the dataset twice.
Height
vs.
width
of a graph -
The shape of a graph (set by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : X Axis Size and
Y Axis Size) can greatly influence a reader's interpretation of the
data. The appropriate width-to-height ratio often depends on the
precision of the measurements of the data along each axis. Graphs
that are relatively tall emphasize changes in the y variable. Graphs
that are relatively wide make changes appear to be slower and more
gradual. Graphs should almost never be taller than they are wide.
Time graphs with little precision along the X axis should be somewhat
narrower, but they should rarely be taller than they are wide.
Correlation matrix and scatterplot xy graphs should usually be
square. Graphs with a large range of data along the X axis (e.g., a
time series) should be wide - perhaps several times as wide as they
are high. (Tufte, 1983)
Consider using tables instead of graphs
-
Some pie and bar graphs plot few data points and therefore
convey relatively little information in a large amount of space. It
can be a lot of trouble to read the legend to find out what's what.
In many cases, it is more legible and takes less space to put the
data in a simple table in a logical order.
Menu Tree /
Index
Switching From DOS CoStat, CoPlot, and CoDraw
Here are items of interest to people switching from DOS CoStat, CoPlot,
and CoDraw to Java CoPlot.
- DOS CoPlot and DOS CoDraw
- The features of DOS CoPlot and CoDraw are now combined in
Java CoPlot. Java CoPlot works basically like DOS CoDraw did: it is
a drawing program.
You create drawings by creating drawing objects and manipulating
their attributes.
Java CoPlot has a new object type that DOS CoDraw didn't have, Graph.
With it, you can create one or more graphs in the drawing.
See CoPlot's Help : Lesson 1.
- DOS CoStat
- The DOS CoStat is replaced very directly by Java CoStat, which
exists as a separate program and as a fully-integrated part of CoPlot.
CoPlot's Datafile menu lets you load and work with up
to 15 data files per drawing.
See CoStat's Help : Getting Started.
- DOS CoText
- The DOS CoText is replaced very directly by Java CoText, which
exists as a separate program and a fully-integrated part of CoPlot
and CoStat (where it captures and displays results from
statistical procedures).
See CoText's Help : Getting Started.
- Menus
- The DOS programs
had their own unique graphical user interface.
Java CoPlot uses a more standard interface with a menu and various
dialog boxes with standard widgets.
See the Menu Tree.
- What!? The DOS keystroke menu system is gone!
- Yes. Sorry. We liked it, too. You could work very quickly
if you knew the programs well and were a touch typist. But
most users nowadays want to see a typical
Windows/Mac/UNIX graphical user interface,
so we have done our best to meld the two styles.
Once you get used to it, you will see that all of the features
of the DOS programs are still there, often with basically the same
names, but with a somewhat altered interface.
- DOS CoPlot's Graph : File and
DOS CoDraw's Global : File Menus
- are replaced by Java CoPlot's
File
menu.
For example, DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Save
is replaced by Java CoPlot's File : Save.
- CoPlot's and CoDraw's Update Screen Menus
- are replaced by Java CoPlot's
Drawing
menu (for settings related just to the current drawing) and
Java CoPlot's
Screen
menu (for settings related just to the screen and for all drawings).
- DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's
Update Screen : Coordinates Menu
- is replaced by Java CoPlot's
Drawing : Coordinates
dialog box.
That dialog box also controls the scaling and
positioning of the drawing on the printed
page (which used to be part of
DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's printing procedure).
- DOS CoDraw's Line, Arrow, Bezier Line, Marker, Spline,
Filled Area, Rectangle, Bezier Filled Area and Spline Filled Area
Objects
- All of those DOS CoDraw object types are replaced by Java CoPlot's
Path
object type. A path is a series of points and a set of
attributes describing how the object should be drawn.
By changing the attributes, you can draw anything the DOS
objects could have drawn, and much more.
There is an attribute which specifies if the points should be
connected by straight line segments, spline sections, or
used as Bezier control and end points.
There are
separate attributes for the background color, fill (hatch) color,
and line (perimeter) color.
There are many other attributes.
- DOS CoDraw's Circle and Pie
- are replaced by Java CoPlot's
Ellipse
object. Like the
Path object, Ellipse objects have many attributes so they
can be used to draw many different types of objects.
- DOS CoPlot Always Had One Graph
- In DOS CoPlot, there was always one active graph on the screen.
But initially,
Java CoPlot shows you an empty drawing with no drawing objects, not even
a graph. If you want to draw a graph, you must first use
Create : Graph
(or press the graph icon on the left edge
of the main window) to create a graph.
- DOS CoDraw's and CoPlot's Menus
- In DOS CoPlot, there was only one active Graph, so the menu system
was focused on that one graph. At any time, you could identify a part
of a graph (for example, the X Axis : Title) and then
edit the attributes of that part of the graph. In Java CoPlot, there may be
many graphs (and other drawing objects) in the drawing, so you must first
pick the graph
(identify it as the drawing object you want to edit).
Then you can identify a part of the graph
(for example, X Axis : Title 1 on the Edit : Graph
dialog box) and edit its attributes.
- DOS CoDraw's Edit Procedure
- To pick an object by clicking on it,
use Java CoPlot's
Edit : Pick One
procedure or the Pick One button on the toolbar.
Or, if no dialog boxes are open, just right click on the object.
- DOS CoDraw's Variety Edit Procedure
- To pick a variety of objects of different types,
use Java CoPlot's
Edit : Any Type
procedure
or the light blue 'E' button on the left side of the main window.
- DOS CoDraw's Just Edit Procedure
- To identify a type of object and then click on objects of that type
which you want to edit,
use one of the light blue 'E' buttons
on the left side of the main window.
- DOS CoDraw's Individual Edit
- DOS CoDraw's Individual Edit offered a quick way
to edit individual objects or individual points within an object.
Those procedures are replaced by
Java CoPlot's
Edit : Objects and
Edit : Points Move
procedures.
Procedures like these which are specific to Path objects
(Insert Point, Delete Point, Break Path, Join Paths)
can be found in the
Edit : Path
dialog box.
- Importing .dra and .gra Files
- Use Java CoPlot's
File : Open : CoDraw DOS (.dra),
File : Open : CoPlot DOS (.gra),
or
File : Open : CoPlot DOS Group (.grg)
to convert
.dra, .gra, or .grg files into Java CoPlot's .draw file format.
.dra imports work quite well. .gra and .grg imports work pretty well,
but there may be small imperfections in the converted graphs
that you will need to fix by hand.
Java CoPlot's
.draw files
are ASCII files; so if you need to, you can
edit them with a text editor.
- .dt Data Files
- DOS CoStat encouraged you to describe the data file in terms of variables,
replicates, and factors with treatments. Java CoStat just has rows and
columns. DOS CoStat only stored double precision floating point numerical
data. Java CoStat lets you store different types of data, including text data.
- Importing .dt Files
- Use Java CoStat's
File : Open : CoStat (.dt)
to import older .dt files into Java CoPlot's newer .dt file format.
The new .dt files support many different data types (not just
double precision real numbers), including Strings of any length.
Strings are handy in CoPlot because they allow you to plot
text labels beside data points.
- DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's .fnt Font Files
- If you made your own custom fonts with DOS CoDraw,
Java CoPlot can use the DOS .fnt font files if you copy them into
the new
cohort directory.
It is best if you have
three files for each font family:
name.fnt (the regular weight font, for example, helvet.fnt),
name-l.fnt (the light weight font, for example, helvet-l.fnt),
name-b.fnt (the bold font, for example, helvet-b.fnt).
DOS CoPlot and CoDraw's Update Screen : Font Load is
replaced by Java CoPlot's
Drawing : Load Fonts.
Unfortunately, Java CoPlot does not yet have a character editor
to replace the one in DOS CoDraw.
Java CoPlot supports system fonts on screen and
when saving to some types of graphics files (notably PostScript).
- DOS CoPlot's .mp* Map Files
- Java CoPlot can use the DOS
.mp* map files
if you copy them into
the new cohort directory.
- Saving Java CoPlot's .draw Files As .dra or .gra Files
- Sorry. You can't. Java CoPlot has so many new features that it
would be impossible to do even a reasonably good job of generating
.gra files. It would be possible to do a simplistic job of generating
.dra files, but too much information would be lost and the results
would be hard to work with and not what you are hoping for.
Please move forward to the new programs, not back to the old programs.
- Saving Java CoStat's .dt Files As DOS CoStat .dt Files
- Sorry. You can't. Java CoStat supports String data
(DOS CoStat didn't), so data would be lost.
If you really need to get data from Java CoStat into
DOS CoStat, use Java CoStat's
File : Save As : File Type : ASCII - Comma Separated.
At least the numeric data can be transferred.
- Colors
- In DOS CoPlot and DOS CoDraw, there were 9 palettes of 16 colors
each. In Java CoPlot, there is one palette of 142
colors.
And you can
also create and use any custom color that you want.
- CoPlot's Top X Axis and Right Y Axis
- If you just want to have the same ticks and labels on the
Top X axis or the Right Y axis, use Java CoPlot's
Edit : Graph : X (or Y) Axis : Overview : Visible : Both Axes.
Or you can use the Visible : Both Axes setting for
individual parts of the graph, for example the
X Axis : Labels.
If you want a different axis range, different ticks, different labels
or you want to plot a dataset with the Right Y axis, you need to
make two graphs.
- Create one graph which plots one of the datasets and uses
the left Y axis only.
- Press the X Axis button and set
Low and High to specific numeric values.
- Use Copy on the Edit : Graph dialog
box to make a copy of the graph without moving it.
- Now that the second graph is the picked graph,
change the Dataset's Y variable and press the Y Axis
button and set Visible to Opposite axis.
- For future editing, remember that you can use the
Edit : Graph : Pick List procedure to pick either or both of
the graphs.
- DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Group and Quick Switch
- Now that Graphs are just another type of drawing object,
it is easy to have multiple graphs in a drawing.
There is no longer a need for DOS CoPlot's Grouped Graph
(to sort-of get multiple graphs on the screen)
or Graph : File : Quick Switch
(to quickly switch between several different graphs).
In Java CoPlot, you can get multiple graphs
in a couple of different ways:
- DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Save As Draw
- In DOS CoPlot, if you wanted to draw something other than
a graph, you had to use Graph : File : Save As Draw
and then use DOS CoDraw.
In Java CoPlot, the graph is already part of a drawing, so
you can use the various Create options to draw
other things on the drawing.
See Help : Lesson 1.
In DOS CoPlot, you also had to use Graph : File : Save As Draw
to edit the parts of a graph in unusual ways in CoDraw.
In Java CoPlot, you can use
Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
to convert a graph into a collection of drawing objects and
immediately edit them.
- DOS CoPlot's Origin Graph
- In DOS CoPlot, this was a separate graph type.
In Java CoPlot, use an XY graph, but set
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Draw XY Graph As Origin Graph.
- DOS CoPlot's Histogram and 3D Histogram Graphs
- In DOS CoPlot, these were separate graph types.
In Java CoPlot, Histogram is just one type
of dataset representation on XY graphs, and
3D Histogram is just one type of
Dataset Representation
on 3D graphs.
- DOS CoPlot's Grouped Bars, Stacked Bars, 100% Bars Graphs
- In DOS CoPlot, these were separate graph types.
In Java CoPlot, they are just different
Dataset Representations
on XY graphs. When Java CoPlot draws a graph, it notices if
these representations are in use, looks for all of the
datasets which are using each of these, and plots them
appropriately. An advantage of this approach is that
you can easily mix these representations with other representations
on the same XY graph.
- DOS CoPlot's N-Channel, Matrix, Multivariate Bar Graphs
- In DOS CoPlot, these were a separate graph types that
were plotted as what looked like an array of XY graphs.
In Java CoPlot, they are all replaced by
Create : Graph Array
which helps you set up and manage a 2D array of XY graphs.
An advantage of this approach is that you
can make different Y Axis ranges for each of the graphs.
Or, you can put two datasets in one of the graphs.
- DOS CoPlot's Data Indicates
- For the dataset, select Representation : Markers/Labels.
- Set Labels to the column with the values you want to display.
You might want to use CoStat's Edit : Insert Columns and
Transformations : Indices To Strings
to make a new column with values derived from some other column.
- Select Position: 5) Center Center.
- Set Marker Type to one of the unused markers (#48?).
- CoPlot and CoDraw's Embedded Text Commands
- DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's embedded text commands which generated
unusual characters are replaced by Java CoPlot's HTML-like
character entities,
which all start with '&' and all end with ';'.
For example, Á generates 'Á'.
In every situation where character entities can be used, Java CoPlot
has a '&' button which pops up a window to help you
pick the characters from lists. Or, you can just type the
names into the textfields.
All of the characters which were available in the DOS programs
are available in Java CoPlot, and more.
DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's embedded text commands which were
formatting commands are replaced by Java CoPlot's HTML-like
embedded text tags,
which all start with '<' and all end with '>'.
For example, '<b>' makes subsequent text bold and
'</b>' makes subsequent text not bold.
In every situation where tags can be used, Java CoPlot
has a '<>' button which pops up a window to help you
pick the tags from a list. Or, you can just type the
tags into the textfields.
All of the formatting commands which were available in the DOS programs
are available in Java CoPlot, and more.
- DOS CoStat's and CoPlot's Equations
- Java CoStat and CoPlot support equations which are very similar to
DOS CoStat's and CoPlot's equations
(see Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)),
but the new equations support a much larger number of built-in
functions and can be used for String processing as well as
numeric processing.
See also
Differences from the DOS CoHort Equation Evaluator
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Macros
- Macros
in Java CoPlot and CoStat are just as easy to use as macros in the
DOS programs (start recording with Macro : Record; later play them
with Macro : Play). But the new macros can be greatly
extended because they stored named commands (not just keystrokes)
and because they use a language (see
The Macro Language
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm))
which supports variables, control structures
(if, else, for, while etc.), procedures, etc.
Because the DOS macros just stored keystrokes, there is no way
for Java CoPlot or Java CoStat to automatically convert them for use in
Java CoPlot or CoStat. We recommend you open the old macro files in a text
editor (like CoPlot's Edit : Show CoText) so you can view
them while recording replacement macros in Java CoPlot.
The DOS macros supported a feature called Display Yes/No/Off.
Currently, there is no comparable feature in the new programs.
- Technical Support
- Technical support remains the same - free.
You can call, email, fax, or mail your questions
to CoHort Software
(note our new address and fax number as we have moved).
Menu Tree /
Index
CoStat
CoStat is the datafile editor which is built into CoPlot.
It can also do statistical procedures with the data.
CoStat is run when you choose Datafile : x.
With it, you can open a data file, view the data,
transform the data, do regressions, etc. See the
CoStat Manual (costat.htm)
for more information.
Results from the statistics procedure are put into a text
editor called CoText. See
CoText's Help menu for more information about using CoText.
CoPlot, CoStat, and CoText share the same
memory allocation
(in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)).
Menu Tree /
Index
CoText
CoText is the text editor which is built into CoStat and which captures
and displays statistical results. It pops up automatically when needed.
With it, you can view results, annotate results, print results to a file,
etc. The commands are similar to Microsoft Word. See
CoText's Help menu for more information.
CoPlot, CoStat, and CoText share the same
memory allocation
(in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)).
CoText doesn't appear?
If you have minimized CoText (so that
it is only an icon), it will not appear after you run a statistical procedure.
You must un-minimize it (by clicking on the icon) to make it reappear.
CoText in CoPlot - You can also create and use a separate
instance of CoText from within CoPlot with
Screen : Show CoText.
Sometimes it is handy to have easy access to a text editor.
This is a different instance of CoText than the one used by CoStat
to capture and display statistical results or CoStat's
Screen : Show CoText.
Menu Tree /
Index
File
The File menu has all of the options related to
opening, saving, and printing the drawings stored in
CoPlot's .draw files.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : New Window
In the stand-alone
version of CoPlot, this option opens a new, empty, .draw file
in a new CoPlot window. The original window and file are not affected.
In some ways, the windows act like independent programs:
- CoPlot doesn't check if another window is already editing the same file,
so there is no synchronization.
- You can close the windows in any order.
In other ways, the windows act like part of the same program:
- All CoPlot windows share the same
memory allocation
(in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)),
so the individual file size limit will be reduced.
- If one window crashes or freezes, they will all crash or freeze.
Hopefully, all serious problems will be handled and crashes
won't be a problem.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : New
If the current document isn't empty,
this first asks if you want to save the current file.
Then it removes all drawing objects from memory and returns to the
default
Drawing Coordinates
so that you have a
new, empty, .draw file.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Open
- File : Open has a sub-menu which lets you specify the type
of graphics file to be loaded (for example, CoPlot's native .draw files,
.gif files, .jpg files,
Adobe Illustrator .eps files,
Windows MetaFile .wmf files, DOS CoDraw's .dra files,
DOS CoPlot's .gra or .grg files, etc.).
- After selecting the file type, if the current document isn't empty,
CoPlot asks if you want to save the current file.
- File : Open then shows you a dialog box that lets you
specify the file you want to load.
- CoPlot opens the file that you specified.
The 'File : Open' Button on the toolbar right
below the menu allows you to open any supported type of file.
It is an alternative to all of the 'File : Open'
menu options.
Initially, it shows you the "*.draw" files, but
you can change that to see other file types
(for example, "*.gif" or "*.wmf" or even "a*.wmf").
If you specify a file name without an extension,
it appends ".draw" to the file name.
After you specify the file's name, it tries to open
the file. It guesses the type of file based on the
extension of the file's name (for example, ".draw" or ".gif").
Error Messages -
If errors occur while opening a file,
the program tries to continue processing the file.
Only the first error is reported. CoPlot also prints some
diagnostic information to the console window (the text-only window
associated with CoPlot). The diagnostic information can be useful
to employees of CoHort Software when trying to track down problems.
Can I import graphs from Excel, SigmaPlot, Axum, Origin, SAS, ...?
Sorry, CoPlot can't directly import the graph descriptions
from these other files.
The best you can do is use File : Save As in the other program
to save the graph in a .wmf or .cgm file and import that into CoPlot with
File : Open : Windows MetaFile (.wmf) or CGM.
File Types -
- CoPlot (.draw)
- This is CoPlot's native file format. Files can be opened and
saved very quickly, with no loss of information.
The names of CoPlot's drawing files always end in ".draw".
If you choose to open a .draw file and type in a file name
that doesn't end in ".draw", CoPlot will add the ".draw" for you.
If you load a .draw file that has a graph which uses a data file
and the data file is not found in the specified directory,
the .draw file's directory will also be searched.
- GIF (.gif)
JPG (.jpg)
PCX (.pcx)
PNG (.png)
PPM (.ppm)
- All of these procedures open an image file and make
a drawing that has one image object (the file you specify).
The drawing will be the exact size needed to hold that image.
To do this, these procedures create a drawing with one
image object
(see Create : Image).
Then, they set several items on the
Drawing : Coordinates
dialog box:
- X/Y Max Bounds are set to match the
original size of the image.
- Units Name is set to "pixels".
- Scale is set to 100 pixels per inch.
The resulting drawing is like any other drawing: you can create
new drawing objects (Path objects, Text objects, etc.)
and you can edit existing drawing objects.
For example, you could edit the image object that displays the
image file you opened, changing its Contrast or
Brightness setting.
These procedures are useful for loading an image,
optionally annotating it, and saving it (perhaps in a
different type of image file), while keeping the original size.
For example, you could load a .pcx image and save
it as a .gif image.
If you just want to use an image as smaller part of a drawing, use
Create : Image
instead.
- Adobe Illustrator (.eps)
- CoPlot can correctly read in most, but not all, Adobe Illustrator
.eps files. Many clip art libraries are in this format.
Some clip art libraries are scanned in -- they often have problems and
look crude when imported. Other clip art libraries have pictures
that have been drawn -- they tend to import well and look good.
- Adobe Illustrator files are a subset of the EPS specification.
CoPlot can only read in EPS files made by Adobe Illustrator, or files
which follow that standard. If CoPlot doesn't think the file is
compatible, you will get the error message telling you so.
- If you have a file that is plain PostScript (not the Adobe
Illustrator subset), you may be able to use some other program
to convert the file into an Adobe Illustrator file.
For example, pstoedit,
GhostScript, and GhostView
are open source programs available on the web
(http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/)
which can accomplish this task.
- Adobe has stopped publishing the specifications for Illustrator
files, so we have done our best to figure out what is in the newer
files, with mixed results.
- Fonts other than Helvetica, Times Roman, and Courier will be
converted to Times Roman.
- AutoCad (.dxf)
- CoPlot can correctly read in most, but not all, .dxf files.
- The .dxf files must be ASCII (not binary). This is the most
common type.
- CoPlot supports most types of entities (objects like lines, fill,
and text). But CoPlot does not support most variants of dimension text.
- Polylines - CoPlot does not support the arc and bulge features
of Polylines. Instead, CoPlot treats Polylines as a series of straight
line segments. If it is important, you must convert these to splines
manually.
- CoPlot supports 2D entities only. 3D entities are ignored.
- The most significant potential problem is that CoPlot does not
support entities in the Block section of the DXF file. These are
objects that are defined once and then replicated many times
throughout the drawing. Most drawings do not use these; some do.
If you have access to AutoCad and the original drawing, use
dxfout's Entities option to make a dxf file with just entities.
- CoPlot supports AutoCad's standard predefined line types, but
not user-defined line types.
- All entities are drawn with black. Color-by-layer information is
lost.
- CGM (.cgm)
- Computer Graphics Metafile is an ANSI standard,
increasingly common, vector-based, drawing
file format. Some clip art libraries are available in this format.
CoPlot can correctly read in most, but not all CGM files. CGM is a large
specification. Different companies have implemented subsets
of it in different ways. This makes it difficult to import them
all perfectly. CoPlot tries to follow the specification as closely
as possible. Most CGM files will read in correctly.
- CoPlot reads in binary (not ASCII) cgm files. This is the most
common type.
- CoPlot supports the most common number formats and number precisions.
- CoDraw DOS (.dra), CoPlot DOS (.gra), CoPlot DOS Group (.grg)
- Importing DOS CoDraw's .dra files works
well, since the new CoPlot mostly supports a superset of the
attributes of the DOS CoDraw (an exception is viewports).
Importing DOS CoPlot's .gra and .grg files works
well for most files, but does not handle some
unusual features.
- Light Weight (-l) Fonts -
References to the light fonts in .gra or .dra files
are converted to regular fonts. This isn't strictly correct,
but we want to discourage the use of light fonts.
The new normal fonts are already light enough, so
you shouldn't need to use the light fonts anymore
except in unusual circumstances.
See embedded text tags
for information about using the '<b>' and
'</b>' tags
to control the weight of the fonts used in the new CoPlot.
- Century font - References to Century fonts in .gra and
.dra files will be converted to references to Times Roman
(TmsRmn), since the fonts are similar and Times Roman
is now supported by a system font and therefore looks better.
The Century font is still available (see
Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Mono font - References to Mono fonts in .gra and
.dra files will be converted to references to Courier
(Cour), since the fonts are similar and Cour
is now supported by a system font and therefore looks better.
The Mono font is still available (see
Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Embedded text commands - Most embedded text commands
convert correctly.
A few don't convert correctly, notably '\>'
and '\<'.
- Multiple spaces in text may be converted in a way the user
doesn't want (it is an awkward problem). You may need to do
some hand editing (adding ' ' or
'<rt=0.2>') to get exactly what you want.
- Text Spacing and Text Width -
The Java version of CoPlot doesn't
support the Text Spacing or Text Width attributes.
So if a piece
of text used Spacing other than 0, or
Width other than 1,
that new text will not have the exact same width as the old text.
You may need to do
some hand editing to get exactly what you want.
- Colors -
Since .dra palette colors are stored in the cohort.set file,
the information is
not available to this procedure. Hence, color numbers
are interpreted as the colors from the default palettes.
But palette 7 colors (since they are stored in the .dra file)
are always imported correctly.
The colors in the default palettes have been changed slightly
to match the standard GUI color scheme:
color 0 is now white and color F is now black.
- CoPlot grouped graphs in different viewports saved as .dra file -
If you had a grouped graph in DOS CoPlot with graphs in
less-than-full-screen viewports and saved it as a .dra file,
the .dra file made use of viewports.
But the Java version doesn't support the idea of a unit-sized
drawing area, so it can't deal with viewports into that area.
Work around: read the old .dra file in DOS CoDraw and save it.
That converts the drawing into a drawing without viewports.
Then the new CoPlot can
correctly import it.
- Graphs with 2 Y Axes
-
The DOS version of CoPlot had a good simple system for
right/left Y. The new version does not have that exact
capability, but has an easy way to get 2 Y axis. Try this:
- Create one graph which plots one of the datasets and uses
the left Y axis only.
- Choose X Axis : Overview in the Edit : Graph
dialog box and set
Low and High to specific numeric values.
- Use Copy in the Edit : Graph dialog
box to make a copy of the graph without moving it.
- Now that the second graph is the picked graph,
change the Dataset's Y variable.
Also, press the Y Axis
button and set Visible to Opposite axis.
- For future editing, remember that you can use the
Pick List procedure in the Edit : Graph
dialog box to pick either or both of
the graphs.
- CoPlot 3D graphs - If you used DOS CoPlot's
Graph : Size and Shape : Interactive to specify the orientation
of the graph, the graph's orientation will be correctly imported.
If you used Graph : Size and Shape : Move Axis Endpoints,
it will not.
- DOS CoPlot's Data Rep: Markers/Variable -
allowed you to
specify a column with marker type numbers
(markers 1 - 16 or ASCII characters 32 - 127).
The new CoPlot only supports 32 - 127.
You can get markers by using Marker Type
and selecting the Marker font
so that characters 32 - 127 represent different marker types instead of
different ASCII characters.
- DOS CoPlot's Data Indicates - has no simple equivalent in
Java CoPlot. To simulate that feature, make multiple copies of a dataset,
each with a different Marker Type setting, and
each with a different Keep If equation
(so each dataset plots only a subset of the datafile)
(for example, col(1)==1, col(1)==2, etc.)
- Java CoPlot's Bar3D data representation requires X and Y index
values, while DOS CoPlot's Bar3D graph did not. So Bar3D graphs
are converted to Grouped Bars on XY graphs. The same information
is shown, but in a different format.
If you want Bars 3D, you need to create the required X
and Y columns and values in the datafile, then use Edit : Graph
to change the Dataset : x : Representation
to Bars/3D.
- Also see
Switching From DOS CoStat, CoPlot, and CoDraw.
- Windows MetaFile (.wmf)
- wmf files are the standard graphics file type for Windows programs.
CoPlot can read in most, but not all, wmf files.
- CoPlot can read vector graphics objects (for example, lines, fills,
text) in wmf files, but ignores image objects.
- Microsoft does not publish the specifications for wmf files. This
makes it difficult for us to fully support all wmf features.
- There are some variants of .wmf files. CoPlot supports the original
format and wmf files with placeable headers. CoPlot does not support
the clipboard variant or the newer enhanced metafiles.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Save
This saves the current drawing (in CoPlot's native .draw file format)
using the current name.
Datafiles - File : Save and
File : Save As : CoPlot .draw automatically
save any datafiles which have been changed.
Other File : Save As options do not automatically save
datafiles.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Save As
Save As lets you save the current drawing in many different
file formats. This is useful when you need to import a drawing in
some other program or publish a drawing on the World Wide Web.
Recommendations -
The suggested drivers for different purposes are:
- For reuse in CoPlot...
- CoPlot's native .draw format is by far the best format for
saving CoPlot's drawing for future use in CoPlot.
- For importing in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, etc...
- Use the WMF driver. In Word and PowerPoint, for example,
you can import the wmf file with
Insert : Picture : From File.
- For importing in Corel WordPerfect...
- Use the WordPerfect .wpg driver.
- For importing in Lotus AmiPro or WordPro...
- Use a CGM driver. See the CGM driver descriptions below.
- For publishing on the World Wide Web in a way that looks good
on screen but may be crude when printed...
- Use the GIF driver. The images will look good on the screen.
When printed, the images will appear a little blocky
and crude; it isn't our fault; this is the way image files work.
As PNG files become more widely supported in browsers,
they will become an attractive alternative, but with the same
drawback.
Unless your drawing includes a photo-like JPG Image object,
don't use the JPG drivers. GIF is much more suitable for
the kinds of drawings created by CoPlot than JPG is. JPG should
only be used for photo-like images.
- For publishing on the World Wide Web in a way that looks
good on screen and good when printed, but requires a plug-in...
- Use the PDF driver. Users will have to use the Adobe Acrobat
plug in (free from Adobe at
http://www.adobe.com).
The drawing will look great on the screen and when printed.
- To make a standard image file...
- In general, whenever you need an image file, use the
GIF driver, not the JPG drivers. GIF is much more suitable for
the kinds of drawings created by CoPlot than JPG is. JPG should
only be used for photo-like images.
- To make a standard vector file...
- In general, whenever you need a vector file, you can use the
PDF driver (better) or the WMF or CGM drivers (okay).
If those doesn't work, you need to compare the list
of file types that the other program can import with the list
of file types that CoPlot can generate (see below).
Colors - Unless otherwise specified, these drivers
produce color images. In most cases, when the resulting files
are printed on black and white printers,
the colors are converted to shades of gray using
dither patterns (patterns of dots).
Or, you can use
Drawing : Other : Draw Colors As
to specify how non-white and non-black colors will be
drawn temporarily: as colors, as grays, and as black.
This is useful if you want to temporarily force a color drawing
to be a grayscale or black and white drawing.
Quality -
The resolution of these drivers is a constant (for example,
the .cgm driver makes .cgm files at 600 pixels per inch of the
drawing). If you want to increase the quality of the
resulting graphics file (especially for vector graphics files),
you can temporarily change the
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale value.
For example, making the scale value half as big makes the drawing
twice as big, and doubles the apparent resolution of
the resulting graphics file.
Save Text As ... -
Some
of
the drivers have two variations which differ in how they store text.
We recommend using the Save text as text drivers most of the time.
If you have problems
with the text being poorly positioned (words may appear
too far apart or too close together, particularly on low resolution devices
such as screens), use the Save text as graphics drivers
(which will have coarser looking characters on the screen, but will never have
text positioning problems).
Driver Descriptions -
There are three categories of drivers: CoPlot's native format,
image file formats, and vector file formats. The drivers are
described below.
Comparisons - The descriptions
indicate the time it takes to generate a file and the size of the
file, based on a small, moderately complex test file that we use.
Although times and sizes
will vary for your files, the information should be useful for
comparisons.
- CoPlot's Native Format
- This is the best format for saving CoPlot's drawing for future use
in CoPlot.
- CoPlot (.draw)
- saves the drawing in CoPlot's native .draw file format,
an object-oriented format
that saves the information
stored in CoPlot's data structures so that you can recreate or edit the
drawing with CoPlot in the future.
For this option only: using File : Save As to specify
a new name for the .draw file changes the
name for the current drawing.
Since this is the native format, the files are generated very quickly
(sample=0.1 s) and are very small (sample=2.1 KB).
When you save a drawing as a .draw file, CoPlot
automatically saves any datafiles which have been changed.
Datafiles are not automatically
saved when you save the drawing in other formats.
Warning: If you make a change to a datafile which you want
to keep but you don't want to save the .draw file,
you must use CoPlot's
Datafile : x : File : Save or File : Save As
to manually save the changes to the datafile.
- Zip (.zip)
- Since the names of datafiles may change when the drawing is saved, you
must save the drawing with the Save The Drawing button.
Then, this dialog box
shows you a list of the data files, image files, and the .draw file which are
used by this drawing. If you press the Create Zip File button,
CoPlot will compress and save these files in a .zip file. The zip file is a
handy way to transmit the drawing and its associated files to your coworkers.
The zip file includes the directory names for the files, but not the drive
letters. If you don't
utilize the directory names when you unzip the file, CoPlot will still be able
to find the data and image files because they will be in the same directory
as the .draw file. The drive letters are not included because the
.zip standard doesn't support them.
- Image File Formats
- An image file is the best choice if the most important use for
the file is viewing it on a computer screen (not printing it
on a printer).
Along that line, GIFs are currently the best way to put CoPlot drawings
on HTML web pages. GIF's compressed image files are very small.
When viewed at their original size, the images
look great -- exactly like they did in CoPlot.
Image files have a couple of disadvantages compared
to vector files.
- Speed -
Large image files take longer to generate than vector files (because
of the compression process).
- Memory - Large image files require a lot of memory.
If you run out of memory, you can increase the amount of memory
allocated to the program;
see Memory
(in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)).
- Quality -
Image files only look good at the size they were created. If you
try to expand an image (for example, to print it on a printer)
it may look blocky and crude. If you try to
contract an image, parts of the image may disappear or look crude.
- Gif89a (.gif)
- saves an image of the entire drawing in a
gif89a image file.
Gif files are limited to 256 colors (usually not a problem if you
just use colors from CoPlot's palette) and must be at least 8x8 pixels.
Gif files are universally supported by web browsers.
This driver has a "resolution" of 100 pixels per inch, the same
as the CoPlot screen driver when you aren't zoomed in
(Drawing : Zoom 1).
Gif files take a long time to generate (sample=6.3 s),
but are highly compressed (sample=6 KB, the smallest of any driver other
than CoPlot's native .draw format and .png files).
- JPG High Quality (.jpg) and
JPG Small File (.jpg)
- save an image of the entire drawing in a
jpg image file. JPG files support any number of colors.
JPG files are universally supported by web browsers.
This driver has a "resolution" of 100 pixels per inch, the same
as the CoPlot screen driver when you aren't zoomed in
(Drawing : Zoom 1).
Both JPG drivers take a long time to generate the file (sample=16.7 s).
The JPG High Quality driver produces better quality
but larger files (sample=50 KB).
The JPG Small File driver produces lower quality
but smaller files (sample=27 KB).
Unlike .gif, .pcx, .png, and .ppm files, .jpg is a "lossy" format
(information is lost). JPG files doesn't store the exact original image;
they store an altered version. For photo-like images, the changes
are barely noticeable. For drawings from CoPlot, the changes
are annoying.
In general, you should use the GIF driver instead of
either of the JPG drivers.
GIF is much more suitable for
the kinds of drawings created by CoPlot than JPG is. JPG is
better for photo-like images.
- PCX B&W (.pcx) and
PCX Color (.pcx)
- save an image of the entire drawing in a
pcx image file. PCX files are an older file format once widely used
(notably by scanners and fax machines) but still with
significant support. They have a simple compression
scheme which works well with the kinds of drawings created by
CoPlot. This driver has a "resolution" of 100 pixels per inch,
the same
as the CoPlot screen driver when you aren't zoomed in
(Drawing : Zoom 1).
Both PCX drivers are reasonably fast and produce small files.
The PCX B&W driver produces monochrome images
(suitable for fax machines) (4.0 s, 7 KB). This driver uses
dither patterns (like halftone dots) to simulate shades of gray.
The PCX Color driver produces color images (4.6 s, 18 KB).
Color PCX files are limited to 256 colors so this driver always
uses the nearest colors in the standard CoPlot palette.
- .png
- saves an image of the entire drawing in a png image file.
png files are an increasingly common lossless image file type on the
World Wide Web.
This driver has a "resolution" of 100 pixels per inch, the same
as the CoPlot screen driver (when you aren't zoomed in --
Drawing : Zoom 1).
Because png files are lossless, they do a good job (better
then .jpg files) at
compressing drawings that don't have images in them.
Unlike gif files (which are limited to 256 colors),
png files allow any number of colors.
The files are generated slowly (sample=16 s)
but are very small (sample=6 KB, the smallest of any driver other
than CoPlot's native .draw format and .gif files).).
- .ppm
- saves an image of the entire drawing in a ppm image file.
ppm files are a commonly used intermediate image file type on Unix
computers. There are free utilities to convert ppm files into many
other types of image files; visit
www.acme.com.
This driver has a "resolution" of 100 pixels per inch, the same
as the CoPlot screen driver (when you aren't zoomed in --
Drawing : Zoom 1).
ppm files are not
compressed, so they are generated pretty quickly (sample=3.7 s)
but are very large (sample=542 KB)!
- Vector File Formats
- Vector files store instructions for drawing a drawing.
They are usually the best choice when you are most concerned
about the quality of the drawing when printed, although they look
okay on a screen.
Vector files can be scaled to any size
(tiny or huge) and still look good.
In most cases, the files are larger but are created more
quickly than image files. Vector files have a few
potential problems:
- The crude text on the screen problem:
Except for the PostScript and PDF drivers, any text in vector files
will appear crude when the vector file is
displayed on a computer screen by another program. The good news
is that when you print the files, the text will look very good.
- The
colored line printing problem:
Only the PDF and WMF drivers have this problem.)
If you print a colored (non-black)
line on a black and white printer,
some programs will draw the lines as solid black instead of with
a gray-like dither pattern. This is usually a minor problem,
but it can be serious
with colored text (which has lines drawn around the edges)
and other objects. If this is a problem for your drawing,
change the color of all Text objects to be black.
- The hollow object problem:
If you make a solid filled path object
with a subpath (to put a hole in the object) or an Ellipse
object with Inner Size > 0
(to make a doughnut shape), the resulting
vector files can be huge. The problem is that (currently)
some of the
drivers need to draw these shaped by filling in the filled area
with lots and lots of lines.
- The Image object problem:
Image Objects make the files huge. Currently, if your
drawing includes a photo-like image file, the resulting vector
file will be huge.
- Acrobat .pdf
- This driver creates version 1.0 .pdf files for Adobe's Acrobat program.
These files can be viewed and printed
with the Acrobat plug-in (available for
free for most browsers from Adobe at
http://www.adobe.com).
The drawings look good on the screen and when printed.
This driver uses the values from the
Drawing : Coordinates :
Page Width/Height and Left/Bottom Margin
settings to position the drawing on the page.
This driver has a resolution of 1200 dpi.
Along with the PostScript driver, this is the fastest driver (sample=0.4 s)
and generates very small files (sample=14 KB).
Because this driver uses PostScript fonts when possible,
text drawn with this driver has the best possible quality.
PDF files suffer from the
colored line printing problem.
If you use
Drawing : Other : Author,
the author's name will be put in the .pdf file.
- CGM Save text as graphics (.cgm)
CGM Save text as text (.cgm)
- These drivers create version 1 .cgm files in the ANSI standard Computer
Graphics Metafile format,
which was until recently the only officially standard
vector graphics file format.
For the difference between the two drivers,
see Save Text As ....
CGM files can be imported into many
other programs, notably all Microsoft programs
(for example, Word and PowerPoint).
This driver has a resolution of 600 dpi.
The files are produced very quickly (sample=0.5 s)
and are moderately sized (sample=50 KB).
If you use
Drawing : Other : Author,
the author's name will be put in the .cgm file.
If you have trouble importing cgm files in MS Word or PowerPoint,
you may need to reinstall your Microsoft programs to load the
CGM graphics filter. This isn't as bad as it sounds. The installer
knows about your current installation, and just needs to know what other
features you want installed. In this case: install All
(not just some) of the graphics filters.
- HPGL/2 B&W
- This driver creates HPGL/2 black and white files which can
be printed on HPGL/2 printers, notably HP DeskJet
and LaserJet printers
and HP raster plotters (not pen plotters). Colors in your
drawing are converted to shades of gray.
This driver uses the values from the
Drawing : Coordinates :
Page Width/Height and Left/Bottom Margin
settings to position the drawing on the page.
This driver has a resolution of 1016 dpi.
The files are produced very quickly (sample=0.8 s)
and are very small (sample=40 KB).
- HPGL/2 Color
- This driver creates HPGL/2 color files which can
be printed on HPGL/2 color printers,
notably color HP DeskJet and color LaserJet printers
and HP color raster plotters (not pen plotters).
This driver uses the values from the
Drawing : Coordinates :
Page Width/Height and Left/Bottom Margin
settings to position the drawing on the page.
This driver has a resolution of 1016 dpi.
The files are produced very quickly (sample=0.8 s)
and are moderately sized (sample=42 KB).
- PostScript .eps
- This driver creates Encapsulated PostScript version 2.0 files.
They are
suitable for printing on PostScript printers (just copy them to the
printer with a DOS command like
copy myfile.eps lpt1: ).
This driver uses the values from the
Drawing : Coordinates :
Page Width/Height and Left/Bottom Margin
settings to position the drawing on the page.
This driver has a resolution of 1200 dpi.
Along with the Acrobat PDF driver, this is the fastest driver (sample=0.3 s)
and generates very small files (sample=11 KB).
Because this driver uses PostScript fonts when possible,
text drawn with this driver has the best possible quality.
If you use
Drawing : Other : Author,
the author's name will be put in the .eps file.
Many programs (like Microsoft Word) will let you insert an
.eps file, but won't show you the drawing on screen and will
only print it on a PostScript printer. There is a free (for
non-commercial use) pair of programs called
GhostScript
(the non-graphical engine) and
GhostView
(the graphical frontend)
(available at
http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~ghost/)
that allow you to view, convert, and print .eps files.
PCTeX
lets you insert an .eps file in a document but
may stretch the drawing if it isn't square.
If this problem occurs, change the
Drawing : Coordinates : Drawing Bounds
to make the drawing square before using
File : Save As : PostScript .eps.
By default, the screen size (the coarseness of the dots used
to simulate shades of gray) used by eps files is quite fine.
You may want to make it more coarse so that your printouts
look better when photocopied. You can make the change
by editing the .eps file with a text editor:
After the line that starts with: "%%PageBoundingBox:",
add a new line:
"75 45 {dup mul exch dup mul add 1 exch sub} setscreen",
where 75 is the dots per inch (dpi) of the screen (75 is medium coarse)
and 45 is the angle (in degrees) of rotation for the screen.
You may wish to use a different dpi value.
- SVG Save text as graphics (.svg)
SVG Save text as text (.svg)
- These drivers create version 1.0 SVG files.
For the difference between the two drivers,
see Save Text As ....
SVG is the new standard from W3C
(http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/)
for Scalable Vector Graphics. Someday, you will be able
to refer to .svg files in HTML documents just as you currently
can refer to .gif and .jpg files. Someday, HTML browsers
will display these files without plugins. But right now, you need
to get a plugin for your browser.
The most common one is available from Adobe
(http://www.adobe.com/svg/viewer/install/).
Also available is a standalone viewer
called Jackaroo
(http://www-sop.inria.fr/koala/jackaroo/).
Others are available on the web (search for "SVG viewer"
with your favorite web search engine).
The SVG drivers have a resolution of 1000 dpi.
The files are produced fairly quickly (sample=0.9 s)
and are fairly large (sample=62 KB). The results look good
on the screen and when printed. With the current driver,
if your CoPlot drawing has
an Image object, the .svg file will be huge.
- WMF Save text as graphics (.wmf)
WMF Save text as text (.wmf)
- These drivers create version 3.0 Windows MetaFiles.
For the difference between the two drivers,
see Save Text As ....
They are
an acceptable way of transferring images to many Windows programs
(notably all Microsoft programs, for example, Word and PowerPoint),
but suffer from the
colored line printing problem.
These drivers have a resolution of 1000 dpi.
The files are produced very quickly (sample=0.5 s)
and are moderately sized (sample=29 KB).
- WordPerfect .wpg
- This driver creates files in the DrawPerfect 5.1 format and is
good for moving drawings into WordPerfect.
This driver has a resolution of 600 dpi.
The files are produced very quickly (sample=0.4 s)
and are moderately sized (sample=27 KB).
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Page Setup
This dialog box lets you set
the drawing size (within which you draw things)
and coordinate
system,
the page size (for when the drawing is printed),
and the page margins (which position the drawing on the printed page).
Actually, it is the same dialog box as
Drawing : Coordinates.
Currently, CoPlot ignores the page size setting on the
File : Print dialog box. You must select the desired
page size and orientation here
(or with Drawing : Coordinates).
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Print
The File : Print dialog box lets you set up
a print job. It lets you select:
- Which printer to use.
- The properties of the printer (for example, its resolution).
- The number of copies to be printed.
Default Settings -
Currently, the printer's default settings are not affected by
the changes you make on this dialog box,
so your changes won't be remembered
from one print job to the next. If you want to change the defaults
in MS Windows, use Start : Settings : Control Panel :
Printers : your printer :
Print : Properties and make your changes there.
Page Size and Orientation should be set up
with File : Page Setup or
Drawing : Coordinates
(they are actually the same dialog box),
not with File : Print.
The settings for Page Size and Orientation on the
File : Print dialog box are ignored (sorry, it is a
quirk of Java). To print in landscape orientation, specify a
Page Size where the Width is greater than
the Height.
Printing Within a Macro - If you use File : Print
while recording a macro, the macro will not record any changes you
make on the file print dialog box.
When you play that macro, the file print dialog
box will not be shown and the default printer settings
will be used for the print job.
Notes About Specific Printers
- HP LaserJets without PostScript
- You may need to check
Properties : Graphics : Graphics Mode :
Use Raster Graphics, not Use Vector Graphics.
Some HP LaserJets don't have enough memory to handle
printing complex drawings via vector graphics.
Printing is also faster with Raster Graphics.
The Properties : Graphics : Dithering settings have
little effect. All of the settings are too fine (even
the Coarse setting). This is the driver's responsibility.
There is nothing we can do about it. Consider finding
a PostScript printer, which offers much better control
over what it calls 'Halftoning'.
Remote Printing - CoPlot's
File : Save As
offers an alternative route
to printing, notably for remote printing,
since it can save the drawing in
different types of graphics files which can be printed later
or on a different printer. This can be useful when you
want to send the drawing to other people so they can view
and print it. For example, you can print via:
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Use File : Save As : Acrobat PDF to save the drawing in a .pdf
file. Then anyone can use Adobe Acrobat Reader (available for free from
Adobe's web site, www.adobe.com)
to view and print the file.
- HTML Browsers (for example, Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator)
- Use File : Save As : GIF89a (.gif) to save the
drawing in a .gif
file. .gif files can be viewed (good quality) and printed (poor quality)
with any HTML browser.
- Microsoft Word or PowerPoint
- Use File : Save As : WMF to save the
drawing in a .wmf
file. Then anyone can use Insert : Picture : From File
in Word to view and print the file.
- PostScript printers
- You can print to PostScript printers by using
File : Save As : PostScript .eps to save the drawing in an .eps
file. Then, in a DOS window in Windows,
type copy myfile.eps lpt1: to
copy the file to the printer (substitute your file name). If your printer
is on the 2nd or 3rd parallel port, use lpt2: or lpt3:.
- HP LaserJets (and compatibles)
- You can print to most HP LaserJets (perhaps not some of the L models)
by using
File : Save As : HPGL/2 B&W to save the drawing in a HPGL (.hp2)
file. Then, in a DOS window, type
copy myfile.hp2 lpt1: to
copy the file to the printer (substitute your file name). If your printer
is on the 2nd or 3rd parallel port, use lpt2: or lpt3:.
Menu Tree /
Index
File : 1-9
Options 1-9 on the File menu first ask if you want to
save the current file. Then they re-open a recently used
.draw file.
Only files opened or saved as .draw files are placed on the list.
Other file types (for example, .eps files) are not.
The list of recent files is automatically saved in the
CoPlot.pref preference file
(which is described in the CoStat Manual, costat.htm).
Menu Tree /
Index
File : Exit
This first asks if you want to save the current drawing file.
Then it closes the CoPlot window. If multiple CoPlot windows are open
(via File : New Window),
the other CoPlot windows are not affected.
Menu Tree /
Index
Datafile
Datafiles are the source of data to be plotted on graphs.
CoPlot has slots to hold up to 15 datafiles.
Choosing one of the slots
on the Datafile menu lets you load data into that slot
and edit it. It is
useful (but not required) to load the data before creating the graph.
The data editor that is built into CoPlot is called
CoStat.
See the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
CoStat can also do statistical procedures (like regressions) on the data.
If the datafile slot you choose is empty,
you can use CoStat's File : Open
to load data from an existing
data file, or use File : New to set up a new data file
(so you can type in the data).
After you have loaded data into a Datafile slot, you can use
Create : Graph
to create a graph. After creating a graph, the
Edit : Graph dialog box will pop up
so that you can edit the graph
until it looks like you want it to look. The Dataset
options on that dialog box let you specify which columns of which datafile
you want to plot on the graph.
Saving Data -
If you make changes to a datafile and want to save the changes,
use CoStat's File : Save or File : Save As
to save the changes to a disk drive.
When you save a drawing as a .draw file, CoPlot
automatically saves any datafiles
which have been changed. Datafiles are not automatically
saved when you save the drawing in other formats.
Warning: If you make a change to a datafile which you want
to keep but you don't want to save the .draw file,
you must use CoPlot's
Datafile : x : File : Save or File : Save As
to manually save the changes to the datafile.
Is the data stored in the .draw file?
CoPlot's .draw files don't store the data from the data files.
Instead, they just remember the name of the data file. Thus, data
is always stored in a separate file. It was set up this way so that
several graphs in one or more drawings can refer to one data
file. Changes to that one data file (for example, fixing a mis-typed
data value) will be reflected in all of the graphs which
refer to that data file. This promotes data integrity (since there
is only one copy of the data to maintain) and saves disk space
(important for large data files).
So if you want to email a .draw file which references a datafile, you
need to email the .draw file and the datafile file.
A list of files used by the current drawing can be found at
Drawing : List Of Files.
Removing a datafile from the list -
To remove a datafile from the datafile list:
- Use CoPlot's Datafile : x to select the datafile.
- Use CoStat's File : Close to close the file.
- Close the CoStat window (File : Exit
or the CoStat window's upper right 'X' button).
Menu Tree /
Index
Create
CoPlot is a program for making drawings, notably drawings with graphs.
To use it:
- You create different types of objects (Big Text, Dimension,
Ellipse, Graph, Image, Path, or Text).
- You edit the attributes of the objects until they look like you
want them to look.
You can edit an object immediately after you create it or
any time afterwards.
The Create menu lets you pick which
type of drawing object you want
to create.
See:
Or, you can use the icons along the upper part of the left edge of the
CoPlot window, which are shortcuts to the Create : Xxx menu
options.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Big Text
Big Text objects are actually blocks of text drawn within shapes
(for example, rectangles, triangles, circles), although
you can draw the text alone (the default), or the shape alone.
The size of the
shape is (usually) automatically adjusted to accommodate the text.
Create : Big Text opens a simple dialog box. Basically,
you just click on the position where you want the Big Text object
to be created.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new Big Text objects.
When you create a new Big Text object, it will have the attributes
of the last Big Text object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Right after you create a Big Text object, the
Edit : Big Text
dialog box appears so you can edit the object's attributes.
Try Text instead?
Big Text objects are usually multi-line blocks of
text. When you edit a Big Text object, all editing is done
in a text editor. If you want to work with a small piece of
text (usually one or two lines), consider using
Create : Text instead.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Dimension
Create : Dimension opens a simple dialog box. Follow the
directions in the dialog box to create a dimension object. A
dimension object is a piece of text with arrows extending from the
left and right of the text to the two points that you specify.
The angle of the text is determined by the two points that you
specify. If you turn your head so that the first point is on
your left and the second point is on your right, the text will
be "upright".
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
Dimension objects support a special tag,
dimension,
which displays the distance between the two points, in
Drawing Coordinates.
The most common form of this tag is <dimension g>
which displays the distance with a 'general' format number.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new dimension objects.
When you create a new Dimension object, it will have the attributes
of the last Dimension object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Edit - If you press Edit after creating a
dimension object, you can
edit the dimension object's attributes
until it looks like you want it to look. The attributes include
the line color, arrow type, and arrow size,
and the initial font, text height, text color, etc.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Ellipse
Create : Ellipse opens a simple dialog box. Follow the
directions in the dialog box to create an ellipse.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new ellipse objects.
When you create a new Ellipse object, it will have the attributes
of the last Ellipse object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Edit - If you press Edit after creating an ellipse object,
you can
edit the ellipse's attributes
until it looks like you want it to look. Ellipses have a large
number of attributes which allow them to be drawn many ways, for
example: as circles, arcs, ellipses, pies, pie slices,
doughnut (torus) shapes, etc.
Ellipses can have text to identify the ellipse.
The text can include a special
embedded text tag
(<arcdimension d g>) which displays the arc angle.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Graph
Create : Graph opens a simple dialog box. Follow the
directions in the dialog box to create a standard XY graph.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new graph objects.
When you create a new Graph object, it will have the default attributes.
Right after you create a graph, the
Edit : Graph dialog box will pop up
so that you can edit the graph
until it looks like you want it to look. There are a large number
of editable options which allow you to change the type of graph,
specify data and functions to be plotted, and change the
appearance of each part of the graph (by specifying
line types, line widths, colors, etc.).
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Graph Array
Create : Graph Array opens a dialog box that lets you
create and manage the Graph Array (a 2D array of Graph objects).
This is useful when you want
to make what appears to be a graph with 2 Y axes, a
graph with multiple Y axes, an n Channel graph,
a Correlation Matrix, or a 2D array of separate graphs.
After creating the graph array,
you can edit the graphs individually or simultaneously,
as you would edit any other graphs
(see Edit : Graph).
The Graph Array isn't a separate object, but rather
a convenient way of working with a 2D array of graph objects.
There is only one Graph Array per drawing.
Once the Graph Array has been created, you can use
Create : Graph Array again to modify it.
Or you can use
Edit : Graph Array
if you only want to change the size, shape, or position of
the graphs.
The Red Graph Outlines - as you make changes to the attributes
on this dialog box, CoPlot draws (in red)
the outlines of the graphs that will
result if you press Apply.
The options on the Create : Graph Array dialog box are:
- Type
- specifies the basic style of the graph array.
Type: Layout Only manages the size and shape of the graphs,
but makes no other changes to the graphs.
All of the other Types
make more changes to the graphs, including:
- Setting up 1 Dataset per graph, using the X and Y columns of data
that you specify.
- Making sure that various X and Y axis parts are visible (black)
or not notDrawn, as appropriate.
- Turning off the legends for all graphs. The axis titles for
the individual graphs are sufficient to identify the X and Y
variables.
The Type options are:
- Layout Only - manages the size and shape of the graphs,
but makes no other changes to the graphs.
- 2 Y Axes - manages two superimposed
graphs which have a common X variable and X Axis, but different
Y variables and Y axes. The first graph's Y axis is visible on
the left. The second graph's Y axis is visible on the right.
- Multiple Y Axes - manages several superimposed
graphs which have a common X variable and X Axis, but different
Y variables and Y axes. The Y axes extend progressively further
to the left of the graph.
- N Channel - manages several graphs stacked on top
of each other, with a common X variable and X Axis, but
different Y variables and Y axes. If you want an nChannel graph
where the graphs are not touching each other, use
Type: Separate Graphs and set n Columns to
1.
- Correlation Matrix - manages a 2D array of graphs
where the graphs are touching each other and where the X variable
is the same for the graphs in a given column and the Y variable
is the same for the graphs in a given row.
- Separate Graphs - manages a 2D array of graphs
where the graphs are not touching each other and where the
X variable is the same for the graphs in a given column and
the Y variable is the same for the graphs in a given row.
- Center X, Y
- specifies the center for the entire graph array.
You can use the left mouse button to drag the block that appears
on the screen at the center of the graph array. Or, you can enter
the X, Y values (in
Drawing Coordinates).
- X, Y Axis Size
- specifies the length of the graph's X and Y axes (in
Drawing Coordinates).
All graphs in the array will be the same size.
This works by setting each graph's
Graph : Overview : X Axis : Size and Y Axis : Size.
- Between Columns, Rows
- specifies the distance (in
Drawing Coordinates)
between the centers of the columns and
the centers of the rows.
- For Type: Multiple Y Axes or 2 Y Axes,
both of these values are forced to be 0, so the graphs are all
superimposed.
- For Type: N Channel, Between Rows
is forced to be the same as the Y Axis Size so the
graphs are touching.
- For Type: Correlation Matrix, Between Columns and
Between Rows
are forced to be the same as the X and Y Axis Size
so the graphs are touching.
- Y Axis Offset
- For Type: Multiple Y Axes, this specifies the
distance (in
Drawing Coordinates)
that Y axes are offset from one another.
- Datafile
- specifies which Datafile
will provide data for the graphs.
- n Columns, n Rows
- specifies how many columns and how many rows of graphs
the graph array will have.
Column 1 (which uses the X1 data) is at the left.
Row 1 (which uses the Y1 data) is at the top.
- Xn, Yn
- specifies which columns in the datafile will provide the
x data for graphs in columns 1, 2, 3, ... and the
y data for graphs in rows 1, 2, 3, ...
Although the dialog box only shows up to 10 x and y variables,
nColumns and/or nRows can be bigger than 10.
In this case, X11 is assumed to be the column in the data file
to the right of the X10 column;
X12 is the column after that; ...
Similarly, Y11 is assumed to be the column in the data file
to the right of the Y10 column;
Y12 is the column after that; ...
- Group For New Objects
- lets you specify the
group
number for new graph objects.
- Apply
- creates the graph array as described by the settings above.
- Edit the Graphs
- takes you to the Edit : Graph
dialog box, with all of the graphs in the graph array picked (so
you can edit them simultaneously).
- Undo All
- resets all of the settings and changes all of the graph array's
graphs to be as they were when you opened this dialog box.
- Close
- closes this dialog box. The current settings are remembered
by the program (until another drawing is opened)
and in this drawing's .draw file for
the next time this dialog box is opened for this drawing.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Image
Create : Image opens a simple dialog box so you can
create an image object. Image objects display images from
standard image files (.gif, .jpg, etc.). CoPlot's .draw files
store the file names, not the image data.
Follow the directions in the dialog box to load an image from a file
and specify the location where it will be drawn. The location
is specified as the center of the image.
Does the .draw file store the image? No. CoPlot's drawing
files just remember the name of the image file,
they don't store the image data.
So if you want to email a .draw file which references an image, you
need to email the .draw file and the image file.
A list of files used by the current drawing can be found at
Drawing : List Of Files.
Browse -
The browse button lets you browse through lists
of specific types of image files: Icons, *.gif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.pcx,
*.png, and *.ppm files.
The Icons option brings up a visual
system for picking icons.
Icons are small images (32x32 pixels) which come with CoPlot.
If you pick one of the icons, it puts the
icon's name (for example, Icons:Science:21) in the
File Name field in the Create : Image dialog box, so
that the icon will be displayed (not an image from a separate
image file) when you create the image object.
Icons look best at Size: 0.32, 0.64 and 0.96 inches.
They look okay at Size: 0.3, 0.35, 0.65, and 1 inch.
They don't look very good at larger sizes or when printed.
If you downloaded CoPlot from the CoHort web site, the standard
installation of CoPlot includes only a small number of icons. You
can download the full set of icons from the CoPlot download page at
www.cohort.com/javadownload2.html#icons.
If you installed CoPlot from a CD, you have the full set of icons.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new image objects.
When you create a new Image object, it will have the attributes
of the last Image object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Edit - If you press Edit after creating an image object,
you can
edit the image's attributes:
choose a different file,
specify the attributes of the image (there are many),
or specify a different location where
it will be drawn, etc.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Path
Create : Path opens a simple dialog box. Follow the
directions in the dialog box to create a Path object.
A Path is basically a series of points and a set of attributes
describing how the path should be drawn.
The attributes allow
Paths to be drawn many ways (for example, as simple lines,
curved lines, curved lines with arrows, a series of markers,
or as filled areas).
Buttons - For most Path objects, you will just use your mouse to click on the
points that define the path, and double click on the last point to signify
the end of the path. But this dialog also has 3 buttons to assist you
in defining a path.
- Remove Last Point - This removes the point you just
added to the path. You can also right click in the drawing area
to remove the last point.
- Close Path - This adds a point to the path at the location
of the first point in the path (actually, the first point in the
current subpath).
- Make Subpath - This is like a MoveTo
command in PostScript
or SVG. It leaves the path that you have been creating intact, but
it also starts creating a new subpath that is part of the same Path object.
Close Path is usually used right before Make Subpath.
Among other purposes, subpaths allow you to create path objects with holes
in them. For example, if a path has an outer subpath (for example, a rectangle)
and an inner subpath (for example, a smaller rectangle inside the original
rectangle) and the Path object is drawn with a Background Color
or Fill pattern,
the interior of the smaller rectangle will not be filled.
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new path objects.
When you create a new Path object, it will have the attributes
of the last Path object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Edit - If you press Edit after creating a path object,
you can
edit the path's attributes
until the path looks like you want it to look.
The attributes include:
- How the line is drawn: straight lines between points,
curved splines between points,
or treating the points as Bezier control and end points.
- Whether the resulting shape is filled with a solid background
color, filled with a pattern, drawn with markers at the marked points,
and/or drawn with a line on the perimeter.
- The line types, line colors, fill types, fill colors, marker
types, marker colors, marker sizes, etc., which will be used.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Text
Text objects are actually text drawn within shapes (for example,
rectangles, triangles, circles), although
you can draw the text alone (the default), or the shape alone.
The size of the
shape is (usually) automatically adjusted to accommodate the text.
Create : Text opens a simple dialog box. Follow the
directions in the dialog box to create a text object.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
The Group For New Objects textfield
lets you specify the
group
number for new text objects.
When you create a new Text object, it will have the attributes
of the last Text object that you created (or the default attributes
if this is the first one).
Edit - If you press Edit after creating a text object,
you can
edit the text object's attributes
until it looks like you want it to look. The attributes include
the initial font, text height, color, etc.
Try Big Text instead?
Text objects are intended to be one line (or maybe a few short lines)
of text. When you edit a text object, all editing is done in a
small, one-line, text field.
If you want to work with a larger block of text, consider using
Create : Big Text instead.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Rectangle
This is a simple way to create a Text object with a (usually)
rectangular shape. Unlike Create : Text, this dialog box does
not insist that you enter text for the object, and the object's
position is initially defined by two points (two opposite corners of
the rectangle), not one.
Afterwards, you can use Edit : Text to edit the
Text object.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Bar Graph
Given a Datafile with a Labels column
and one or more columns of numeric data,
this dialog box simplifies the process of making a bar graph.
Each row of the datafile provides the data for one group (or stack) of bars.
The colors are assigned automatically.
After the graph is created, you can edit it like any other Graph object.
Here is some data (from wheatmea.dt)
representing the yields of 3 varieties of
wheat (Dwarf, Semi-Dwarf, and Normal) grown at 4 locations
(Butte, Shelby, Dillon, and Havre).
If you have raw data that has not yet been summarized in this format,
see CoStat's
Statistics : Miscellaneous : Mean±2SD (for Bar Graphs).
Location Dwarf Semi-dwarf Normal
--------- --------- ---------- ---------
Butte 58.39 43.4075 22.4725
Shelby 25.245 25.5575 19.665
Dillon 39.3725 33.155 27.165
Havre 26.78 23.255 23.5225
Here are the different types of bar graphs that can be created
with this dialog box using the data shown above.
Menu Tree /
Index
Create : Pie Chart
Given a Datafile with a Labels column and a
Data column, this procedure creates a pie chart
(or plasmid map) by creating a set of Ellipse
objects.
Each row of the datafile provides the data for one slice of the pie.
After you create the pie chart, you can edit the
ellipses with
Edit : Ellipse.
Here is some sample data and the resulting sample pie chart
(see pie.draw in the
cohort directory):
Labels Data
--------- ---------
Solutions 3
Problems 97
There are no Pie Chart objects in CoPlot. This dialog
box is a "wizard" to simplify the creation of the ellipse objects
which (taken as a group) look like a pie chart.
Multi-Pie Chart - After you create a pie chart, if you
Edit the ellipses and set the
Ellipse Inner Size attribute to something bigger than 0,
you can get shapes that are like slices of a doughnut. You can use
this to make a series of pie charts, each with the same center point
but different Ellipse Size and Ellipse Inner Size
attributes. The resulting multi-pie chart is useful for showing
relative changes over time:
Plasmid Map - Plasmid maps are used to diagram relevant
parts of a plasmid. Usually, they are drawn as a thickened
circle with different segments colored differently and
identified with some text. Although plasmid maps are
used for very different purposes than pie charts, they are drawn
in a very similar way. The only difference is that the ellipse
objects for a pie chart use an Ellipse Inner Size of
0, whereas the ellipse
objects for a plasmid map use an Ellipse Inner Size of
slightly less than the Ellipse Inner Size.
Here is a plasmid map (see also genetic.draw in the
cohort directory):
Initial Attributes -
When you create a new pie chart, some of the attributes
will be from the last Ellipse object that you created
(or the default attributes if this is the first one).
But most of the attributes will be a fixed set of
attributes which are appropriate for pie charts.
Edit - Immediately after you create a pie chart,
you can press the Edit button to edit the
ellipse objects in that pie chart. Or, at any time,
you can use
Edit : Ellipse
to edit the ellipses in a pie chart individually
(use Pick List) or as a group
(use Pick Box, Pick List, or
Pick All). Attributes that you may want to
change are:
- Ellipse Size - to change the size of the pie chart.
- Ellipse Inner Size - to change the inner size of the
pie slices. For pie charts, set this to 0.
For plasmid maps, set this to slightly less than the
Ellipse Size.
- Line Color - If adjacent pie slices are not
sufficiently differently colored, choose Line Color: black.
- Text options - These are all useful. If you have
a large number of pie slices, you may want to chose
Text Position: 2) Radial, out.
- Move One - If you want an "exploded" pie slice
(one that is pulled away from the pie), use Pick List
to pick just that pie slice. Then use Move One
to reposition it.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Datafile
- specifies the
Datafile which contains the
data which will be used to create the pie chart.
- Labels
- specifies the column in the datafile with the
labels for the pie slices.
- Data
- specifies the column in the datafile with the
data which determines the relative size of the pie slices.
- Keep If
- specifies a boolean equation which is applied to each row of the data
file and which determines which rows will be used when
creating the pie chart.
The result of the
equation should be true or false;
numeric values will be interpreted
as 0 is false, everything else is true. The equation can
refer to the numbers in the various columns (for example,
col(2)>=20 & col(4)*2<col(5).
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- A
- This leads to a list of characters (#32 to #255,
as defined by the ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding).
If you click on a character,
it will be inserted into the textfield
at the current insertion point.
- f()
- has a list of functions (and other things)
that you can put in the equation.
If you click on a function, it will be inserted
into the equation at the current insertion point.
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Initial Angle
- This specifies the initial angle of the initial pie slice.
Subsequent slices are drawn counterclockwise.
If the labels for your pie slices are overwriting each other,
you may be able to solve the problem by using a different
Initial Angle. Otherwise, you may need to change the order of
the rows of data in the datafile.
- Legend Type
- This specifies how the pie slices will be labelled.
- Center X Y
- When press Enter in one of these textfields or
when you click on the position on the drawing where you
want the pie chart to be drawn, the pie chart will be created.
- Edit
- This takes you to the
Edit : Ellipse
dialog box with the ellipses from the most recently created
pie chart picked (so you can edit them simultaneously).
- Undo
- This lets you delete the pie charts you have
just created, one-by-one.
- Close
- This closes this dialog box.
- Group For New Objects
- lets you specify the
group
number for new objects.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit
The Edit menu leads to several different ways to
edit the attributes of existing objects.
Picking Objects -
Before you can edit an object,
you have to pick it
(that is, identify the object that you want to edit).
There are several ways to pick objects (see below).
Once you have picked an object, you will see an
Edit : someType dialog box
where you can see and change that object's attributes.
You can also use the Pick options at the bottom of
those dialog boxes to pick additional
objects of the same type to
edit simultaneously.
- Edit : Pick One -
lets you pick an object
by clicking on or near the points used to create the object.
You can then edit that object's attributes.
You can also pick additional objects of the same type to
edit simultaneously.
- Edit : Any Type -
lets you pick one or more objects of different types and edit them
simultaneously. Because different types of objects have different
attributes, you can't edit their attributes, but you can move,
copy, or delete the objects simultaneously.
-
Edit : Big Text
Edit : Dimension
Edit : Ellipse
Edit : Graph
Edit : Graph Array
Edit : Image
Edit : Path
Edit : Text
These options let you identify
the type of object you want to edit.
After the dialog box appears, you can choose one of the Pick
options to pick which objects you want to edit.
You can then edit the picked objects' attributes simultaneously.
Or, Just Click On An Object - If no dialog box is active,
you can pick an object by just right-clicking on or near
the points used to create the object
(just like Edit : Pick One).
Other Options on the Edit Menu:
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Pick One
Edit : Pick One lets you pick one object
by clicking on or near
the points used to create the object.
You can then edit that object's attributes.
The options on the Edit menu below Pick One are similar,
but they lead to the Pick One dialogs for specific object types
(for example, Edit : Ellipse : Pick One).
See:
Icon Buttons - The icon buttons with the light blue 'E's
on the left side of the main window work as if you
had selected one of the Edit : Xxx menu items
and then pressed the Pick One button on that dialog box.
Thus, they let you identify the type of object you want to
edit and then pick items of the type by clicking on them.
Graph Array - The Graph Array is actually a group of
separate graph objects. So if you use Edit : Pick One and
click on a graph in the Graph Array, you can edit that graph.
If you want to edit all of the graphs in the Graph Array
simultaneously, use
Edit : Graph Array
and click on the Edit the Graphs button.
An Alternative - If no dialog box is active,
you can edit an object by right-clicking on or near
the points used to create the object
(just like Edit : Pick One).
You can then edit that object's attributes.
You can also pick additional objects of the same type to
edit simultaneously.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Any Type
Edit : Any Type
lets you pick one or more objects of different types and edit them
simultaneously. Because different types of objects have different
attributes, you can't edit their attributes, but you can move,
copy, or delete them simultaneously.
The light blue 'E' button on the left edge of the screen
is a shortcut to this dialog box.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Any Type and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked objects.
-
Pick One
- lets you pick additional objects one-by-one, by clicking
on or near them. Then, you can edit all of the picked objects simultaneously.
-
Unpick One
- lets you unpick additional objects one-by-one, by clicking
on or near them.
-
Pick Box
- lets you pick additional objects by specifying a box.
Any objects with one or more points in the box will be picked.
Then, you can edit all of the picked objects simultaneously.
This works faster than Pick One (because the algorithm is simpler),
although the difference will only be noticeable on very complex drawings.
-
Pick List
- lets you pick or unpick objects from a list of objects.
A list is displayed with up to 10 objects, indicating if each one
has been picked. You can easily pick or unpick an object
by clicking on its checkbox.
If there are more than 10 objects, there will
be a Page option at the bottom of the dialog box which lets
you select additional pages (each displaying another 10 objects).
Change the Text - For most types of objects,
you can change the text for the object here. (Remember to press
Enter after each change.)
This isn't an option for
path objects, since they don't have text associated with them.
For Big Text
objects, you can't change the text because the textfield just
indicates the first few characters of the text.
For graph objects the text is not the title of the graph; it is
just text for identification purposes (since the Graph : Title 1
is often just ".") and is only visible and useful on this dialog box.
-
Pick Color
- lets you pick additional objects by specifying a color.
Any objects which use that color for the any purpose
(Background Color, Line Color, Text Color, whatever)
will be picked.
(Although the colors used by parts of a graph and the colors
in an image are not pickable.)
Then, you can edit all of the picked objects simultaneously.
-
Pick Groups
- lets you pick additional objects by specifying one or more group numbers
(for example, "1-3, 5" or "all").
Any objects in those groups will be picked.
Then, you can edit all of the picked objects simultaneously.
-
Unpick All
- lets you unpick all of the picked objects.
Presumably, you will then use one of the Pick procedures
to pick objects to edit. There is no need to Unpick objects
before closing the dialog box; that is done automatically.
-
Pick All
- In the Edit : Any Type dialog box,
this lets you pick all of the objects.
In the Edit : Xxx dialog boxes other than Edit : Any Type,
this picks all of the objects of the current type (for example,
all Path objects).
In all situations, this only picks objects which are in
visible groups.
-
Move
- lets you scale, rotate, and/or move all of the
picked objects. A dialog box will let you specify:
- X Y Scale
- the scale factors for the x and y directions. This will change the
size of the picked object(s) before it is rotated and moved.
This may be a positive
or negative, floating point value. For example, a value of 1 leads to
no change; a value of 2 leads to double size;
a value of 0.5 leads to half size;
and a value of -1 leads to a mirror image (which works better
for some object types than others).
- Rotate (degrees)
- specifies the angle (in positive or negative, floating point,
counter-clockwise degrees) for the rotation.
A value of 0 leads to no change.
- Origin X, Y and Destination X, Y
- specify how the object will be moved.
- OK
- to actually perform the Move.
Graphs - When you use Move and X/Y Scale to change
the size of a graph, the parts of the graph
(for example, the Graph : Title 1 : Height
and Dataset : 1 : Size (Marker))
also change size. If you don't want the size of the parts of the graph
to change, use Graph : Overview : Size, which just changes
the size of the graph's rectangle (or cube for 3D graphs).
-
Copy
- is like Move, except that
you can make one or more copies of the original object(s).
The original object(s) is left unchanged.
The group of picked objects is redefined to be just the last copy of the
object(s).
-
Delete
- erases the picked objects (makes them invisible);
asks you if you are sure you want to delete them;
then deletes them (if you clicked on Yes).
-
Move One
- lets you move individual picked objects by dragging blocks
that are temporarily drawn at each picked object's first point.
After dragging an object, you can move it more by typing
a newer X,Y position or by using the + and - buttons.
There is an Undo button to undo the changes, one by one. One
unusual feature is that each time you drag an object,
two undo events (not just one) are generated.
This is useful, because if you then press Undo once, the object
is returned to its original position so you can use
the + and - buttons to move it.
Hint for Aligning Objects -
Use the 'Grid +' toolbar button to get a fairly coarse grid
(for example, 0.1 inches or 0.5 cm).
Then use Move One
(or any of the other 'Move' options elsewhere in the program)
to move the objects into alignment.
With a coarse grid,
you can get objects in perfect alignment
even if you just do it visually
(without looking at the coordinates).
-
Move All
- lets you move all of the picked objects by dragging the block
that is temporarily drawn at the first picked object's first point.
Or you can directly specify a new X,Y position (so that all
the objects will be moved relative to that change).
-
Move One Point
- (for Path, Dimension, and Any Type objects)
lets you move individual points in picked objects by
dragging blocks
that are temporarily drawn at each picked object's points.
After dragging a point, you can move it more by typing
a newer X,Y position or by using the + and - buttons.
There is an Undo button to undo the changes, one by one. One
unusual feature is that each time you drag a point,
two undo events (not just one) are generated.
This is useful, because if you then press Undo once, the point
is returned to its original position so you can use
the + and - buttons to move it.
-
Insert Point
- (for Path objects only) brings up a dialog box that lets you insert
points in picked path objects by clicking and dragging on the line segment
(or near the endpoint) where you want to insert a point.
If the Path Type is Bezier, you should generally
insert 3 points (2 control points and 1 endpoint) into the path
in quick succession. See Bezier Paths.
-
Delete Point
- (for Path objects only) brings up a dialog box that lets you delete
individual points in picked path objects by clicking on the points
you want to delete. If you delete the last point
in an object, the object will be deleted.
-
Break Path
- (for Path objects only) brings up a dialog box that lets you break
a path object into two path objects by clicking on one of
the points in the path. That point then becomes one of the end points
of each of the resulting two path objects.
If the Path Type is Bezier, you should generally
break the path at one of the interior Bezier segment endpoints,
not a control point.
See Bezier Paths.
-
Join Paths
- (for Path objects only)
To combine two Path objects into one, drag the mouse from an endpoint
of one path to an endpoint of a different path.
The combined path will have the attributes of the
first path.
It is generally best not to join a Bezier path and a non-Bezier path.
See Bezier Paths.
-
Hide
- hides the objects.
Objects in a drawing are stored in a list. When the drawing is redrawn,
the objects are drawn in the same order as the list. Hide moves
the picked objects to the beginning of the list, so they will be drawn
first and partially hidden by other objects (if they overlap).
-
Show
- shows the objects.
Show is like Hide except that it moves
the picked objects to the end of the list, so they will be drawn
last and (possibly) hide other objects (if they overlap).
-
Make Invisible
(and Make Visible)
- erases (or draws) the picked objects. This does not delete them
from the drawing, it just makes them temporarily invisible (or visible).
It is useful to press this button twice
when you want to verify which objects have been picked.
Screen : Redraw and the Redraw Icon Have Precedence -
If the picked objects are currently invisible and you press
Screen : Redraw or the Redraw toolbar button,
all objects (including the picked objects) will be redrawn.
-
Save In File
- This saves the currently picked objects in a .draw file.
The file has all of the same settings as the main .draw file.
-
Add File
- (This is only available on the Edit : Any Type
dialog box.) This procedure adds the drawing objects from another
graphics file to the current drawing.
- File Types - You can add the same types of graphics files
that you can open with File : Open.
See File : Open
for a complete description of these file types
and issues related to opening them.
- Objects - The graphics in the incoming graphics files
are converted to standard drawing objects (Big Text,
Dimension, Ellipse, Graph, Image, Path, or Text) in CoPlot.
You can edit the objects in the standard ways.
- Drawing Settings - All of the settings
on the Drawing menu (for example, in
Drawing : Coordinates and Drawing : Other)
will not be changed by the incoming drawing.
Similarly, the current drawing's Create : Graph Array
settings will not be affected.
- Groups - The new objects will be in the same group that
they were in in the incoming drawing.
That will usually be group 0, but
objects in .draw files may make use of other groups.
The current Group for new objects value is not used.
Use Edit : Any Type : Group right after adding the file
if you want to change
the group that the new objects are assigned to.
Beware: if the group that the new objects are part of
is not visible, the objects will not be visible. See
Visible Groups.
- Picked - The new objects drawings will be
picked.
This is very useful.
It allows you to use Move, Copy or other procedures
on the Edit : Any Type dialog box to manipulate
the new drawing objects simultaneously.
For example, it is quite common
to need to change the size of the new objects
(use Move). It is also common to change their
Group attribute so that they can be edited
simultaneously at any time in the future.
- Datafiles - If you import a .draw file that uses one or more
Datafiles and if those Datafile slots are already filled in the
current drawing, the new datafiles will be shifted to other
datafile slots. If there are no available slots, an error message
will be displayed. Datasets in the new Graph objects which
reference these
datafiles will be modified so that they reference the new slots
where the datafiles are stored.
- Fonts - If an incoming .draw file uses non-standard fonts loaded
in place of the standard fonts (see
Drawing : Load Fonts),
the standard fonts will be used instead.
If the incoming .draw file uses font slots that were empty in the
original drawing, those fonts will be loaded and used correctly.
-
Visible Groups
- Each object belongs to a group. Groups are numbered 0..65535.
Visible Groups lets you choose which groups of
objects are visible by specifying a list of visible groups
(for example 0-3, 5 or All).
See also Drawing : Groups.
Groups with picked objects will be automatically added to the list
that you specify. For example, if you have picked an object
in group 1 and you specify that you want to make
groups 4,6 visible, CoPlot will make groups
1,4,6 visible.
This is useful because it ensures that currently picked objects
will remain visible.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Big Text
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of a Big Text object:
- An Edit : Big Text dialog box appears automatically
immediately after you create a Big Text object
with Create : Big Text.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on or near the creation point for an existing
Big Text object.
- Choose Edit : Pick One and click on the
pickable point of any existing Big Text object.
- Choose Edit : Big Text.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black 'T' and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Big Text and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
Big Text objects are actually blocks of text drawn within shapes
(for example, rectangles, triangles, circles), although
you can draw the text alone (the default), or the shape alone.
The size of the
shape is (usually) automatically adjusted to accommodate the text.
The size of the shape's features (for example, the size of the arcs at the
corners of a rounded rectangle) is determined by the Text Height,
even if
no text is displayed. A shape's minimum height and width are determined
by the Text Height and the Shape Border,
even if no text is displayed.
Big Text objects have many attributes which you can change
in order to make the Big Text look like you want it to look.
What is the difference between Text and Big Text?
Text objects are intended to be for one line (or maybe a few short lines)
of text.
When you edit a text object, all editing is done in a
small, one-line, text field.
Big Text is intended to be for large blocks of text.
When you edit a Big Text object, a text editor screen appears.
Otherwise, they are identical.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Text
- opens up a text editor,
CoText, which allows you to
edit the text. In CoText, choose File : Save or
File : Exit : Save? Yes when you want to
save the changes that you have made to the text.
Big Text can include
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc.).
The Edit : Insert Tag option in CoText
lets you insert embedded text tags.
Big Text can also include
character entities
(HTML-like names for accented characters, Greek characters, and
mathematical symbols).
The Edit : Insert Character Entity option in CoText
has a drop down list of character groups
and an image showing the characters in that group.
When you choose a character, the character's name
is inserted in the text at the current insertion point.
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Text Position
- specifies the position for the text within the shape (if the
shape is larger than necessary for the text).
The horizontal component also specifies whether the text is initially
left justified, centered, or right justified.
The default is Center center.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn
and none of the other Line attributes will be stored.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Shape Type
- specifies the type of shape which is drawn around the text.
The default is Rectangle.
The shape is only visible if Background Color
or Line Color is not notDrawn.
- Shape V Align
- specifies the vertical alignment of the shape, relative
to the object's location point. There are Shape V Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The Above and Below options are useful
when the Shape Type points up or down.
The default is Shape Center.
- Shape H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the shape, relative
to the object's location point. There are Shape H Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The Farther Left and Farther Right options are useful
when the Shape Type points left or right.
The default is Center.
- Shape Width
- specifies the width of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Width will be the actual width if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text needs more space than the Width setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as wide as necessary to accommodate the text.
The default is "." (indicating auto-sizing,
with no automatic word-wrap),
but it may be any value greater than 0.
- Shape Height
- specifies the height of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Height will be the actual height if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text needs more space than the Height setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as tall as necessary to accommodate the text.
The default is "." (indicating auto-sizing),
but it may be any value greater than 0.
- Shape Border
- specifies the relative size of the border around the text,
within the shape. The default is 1. [Added in 6.100.]
- Shape Angle
- specifies the angle for the shape
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- Shape Shadow
- specifies the shadow type for the shape.
Shadows are always colored gray.
The offset of the shadow is determined by the Text Height.
There are options for single shadows and triple shadows (implying
several objects). The default is (none).
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked Big Text objects.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional Big Text objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Dimension
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of a dimension object:
- Click the Edit button on the Create : Dimension
dialog box right after you create the dimension object.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on or near an existing dimension object.
- Choose Edit : Pick One and
click between the two points of any existing dimension object.
- Choose Edit : Dimension.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black double-ended arrow and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Dimension and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
A dimension object is a piece of text with arrows extending from the
left and right of the text to the two points that you specify.
Dimension objects have many attributes which you can change
in order to make the objects look like you want them to look.
Dimension objects support a special tag,
dimension,
which displays the distance between the two points, in
Drawing Coordinates.
The most common form of this tag is <dimension g>
which displays the distance with a 'general' format number.
The text will be drawn at an angle, as described by the
path from the first point to the second point.
If you want the text to be upside down from what
you see, exchange the positions of the two points with
Move One Point.
If there is more than one line of text, the
text will be drawn left justified by default. Add
"<center>" or "<right>" to the
beginning of the text if you want the text centered or
right justified.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Text
- specifies the characters to be written.
If the text is too long to fit between the two points, it will be drawn
beyond the second point and the arrows will point inwards.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
Dimension objects support a special tag,
dimension,
which displays the distance between the two points, in
Drawing Coordinates.
The most common form of this tag is <dimension g>
which displays the distance with a 'general' format number.
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn
and none of the other Line attributes will be stored.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Arrow Type Start, Finish
- specifies the type of arrowhead (notDrawn, Fancy, Filled or
Line) for the first and second point.
The color of the arrow heads is the line color. So if Line Color
is set to notDrawn, the arrowheads won't be drawn.
- Arrow Headsize
- specifies the length
(in Drawing Coordinates)
along one edge of the arrowhead.
- Arrow Angle
- specifies the angle (in degrees, 0 - 360) of the arrow head.
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked dimension objects.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional dimension objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Ellipse
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of an ellipse:
- Click the Edit button on the Create : Ellipse
dialog box right after you create the ellipse.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on or near the center of an existing ellipse.
- Choose Edit : Pick One and click on any existing ellipse.
- Choose Edit : Ellipse.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black ellipse and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Ellipse and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
By changing their attributes, ellipse objects can be made into
various ellipse-like shapes (for example,
circles, arcs, ellipses, pies, pie slices,
doughnut (torus) shapes, and doughnuts with slices cut out).
Ellipses can have text to identify the ellipse.
The text can include a special
embedded text tag
(<arcdimension d g>)
which displays the arc angle.
If there is more than one line of text
and it is on the right side of the ellipse,
it will be left justified. If
text is on the left side of the ellipse, it will be right justified.
There are three types of attributes on the dialog box:
- 1) Ellipse attributes
- determine how the perimeter
of the ellipse object is drawn. These are the attributes that determine
which ellipse-like shape will be drawn. For example,
if Ellipse Width is 1, a circle will be drawn. But
if Ellipse Width is 2, an ellipse will be drawn that is
twice as wide as high.
When experimenting with Ellipse attributes,
we recommend initially changing just one attribute at a time to be
different from the defaults (which generates a circle). Then you can
easily see the effect of that one change.
- 2) The various Color attributes
- determine if a given component of the ellipse
(the Background, Fill, Line, or Text)
is to be drawn. For example, if Line Color is black,
a black line will be drawn around the perimeter of the ellipse.
But if Line Color
is set to notDrawn, no line will be drawn.
- 3) The component's attributes
- specify the details of how that component is to be drawn (provided
the color for that component is not notDrawn). For example,
Line Type, Line Dashsize and Line Width determine how the
line will be drawn, if Line Color is not notDrawn).
Important:
If a component color (for example, Line Color)
is notDrawn, none of the component's
other attributes (for example, Line Width)
will be stored.
Therefore, first set the component color
to something other than notDrawn, then set the other attributes.
For example, first set Line Color to red4,
then set Line Width to 0.1, not vice versa.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Ellipse Size
- specifies the basic size (radius)
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the ellipse.
-
Ellipse Inner Size
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of an inner ellipse, which parallels the main ellipse. It is only visible
if the value of Ellipse Inner Size is greater than 0 and
if Background Color or Fill Color
is not notDrawn. If it is visible, it lets you make a
"torus" (a doughnut shape).
-
Ellipse Width
- specifies the width of the ellipse, relative to
Ellipse Size (the height).
A value of 1 generates a circle.
Any other value generates an ellipse.
-
Ellipse nSides (2..360)
- specifies the integer number of sides used to draw the ellipse (if
Ellipse Start=0 and Ellipse Finish=360). Thus, ellipses
are really polygons with any number of sides: 3 sides makes a
triangle, 4 a square, 5 a pentagon, etc. If the ellipse object has a large
number of sides, for example 90 (the default) or 180,
it will look like an ellipse.
-
Ellipse Start (degrees)
- specifies the angle (in floating point, counter-clockwise degrees)
that the ellipse starts at. This should be 0 to draw a full ellipse.
Changing this (and/or Ellipse Finish) lets you draw several shapes:
arcs, pie slices, and doughnuts with slices cut out.
If the Ellipse Finish angle is less than the
Ellipse Start angle, the ellipse will be
drawn counter-clockwise. If abs(finish-start)>=360,
a full circle/ellipse will be drawn.
- Ellipse Finish (degrees)
- is like Start, except that it specifies the finishing angle.
- Ellipse Angle (degrees)
- specifies the angle (in floating-point counter-clockwise degrees)
of the main axis of the ellipse.
This lets you rotate the object. A value of 0
means that it isn't rotated.
When the ellipse's text is active, it is better to
leave Ellipse Angle at 0 and use the
Ellipse Start and Ellipse Finish
angles to rotate the ellipse, because
Ellipse Angle affects the way the text is drawn.
Use Ellipse Angle to rotate the ellipse when you will be
viewing the ellipse from a different angle. For example,
Ellipse Angle: 90 is appropriate when you want to draw a pie chart
and view it rotated (text and ellipses) to 90 degrees.
Ellipse Angle is also useful when Ellipse nSides
is a small number an you want to rotate the resulting polygon.
- Ellipse Skew (degrees)
- specifies the angle of the secondary axis relative to its standard position
(90 degrees counter-clockwise from the main axis). Only in unusual
circumstances will you want to change this from its default value of 0.
-
Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the object.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn;
otherwise it makes the ellipse look like a pie, pie slice, or torus.
- Fill Color
- specifies the color
for the fill pattern (a hatch pattern or bit-mapped
pattern).
If this is set to notDrawn, the fill pattern won't be drawn
and none of the other Fill attributes will be stored.
- Fill Type
- specifies a hatch pattern (a combination of horizontal,
vertical, and diagonal lines) or a bit-mapped pattern.
The bit-mapped patterns are only scaled to a limited number of
sizes (integer multiples of the original pattern), so don't be surprised
if a small change to Fill Size has no effect.
- Fill Size
- specifies the distance
(in Drawing Coordinates)
between lines in the hatch patterns or the
unit size of bit-mapped patterns.
- Fill Linewidth
- specifies the linewidth
(in Drawing Coordinates)
used to draw the hatch patterns.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the ellipse.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn
and none of the other Line attributes will be stored.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Arrow Type Start, Finish
- specifies the type of arrowhead (notDrawn, Fancy, Filled or
Line) for the start and the finish of the ellipse's path.
The color of the arrow heads is the line color. So if Line Color
is set to notDrawn, the arrowheads won't be drawn.
- Arrow Headsize
- specifies the length
(in Drawing Coordinates)
along one edge of the arrowhead.
- Arrow Angle
- specifies the angle (0 - 360 degrees)
of the arrow head.
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Text
- specifies the characters to be written.
The text is only visible if the
Text Color is not notDrawn.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Text Position
- specifies the position for the text.
The default is '0) Horizontal, out'.
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked ellipse objects.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional ellipse objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of a graph:
- Create a graph.
The Edit : Graph dialog box pops up right after you
create a graph.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on the center of an existing graph.
- Choose Edit : Pick One
and click on the center of any existing graph.
- Choose Edit : Graph.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black graph and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Graph and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
Each graph has many, many attributes which you can change
in order to make it look like you want it to look. There are
attributes which allow you to change the type of graph,
specify data and functions to be plotted, and change the
appearance of each part of the graph (by specifying
line types, line widths, colors, etc.).
Parts Of A Graph -
The Edit : Graph dialog box is different from the
Edit dialog boxes for
other drawing objects because graphs have so many attributes. Each graph is
composed of many parts and each part has its own attributes.
To edit graphs:
- Identify a part of the graph you want to change.
- Change the attributes of that part of the graph.
Each graph part has a two part name. The first parts of the names are
Graph, Map, Dataset, Function, Comment, X Axis, etc. You can see
the second parts of the names on the related drop-down lists. For example:
choose X Axis : Title 1 to see a secondary dialog box
with the attributes of the X Axis's primary title.
When you close one of the secondary dialog boxes, you will again see
the Edit : Graph dialog box.
Or, just pick another part of the graph and the previous
secondary dialog box will be automatically closed.
Here is an illustration with many parts of the graph labelled:
The options on the Edit : Graph dialog box are:
- Graph:
- Overview
- which includes the type of graph and the graph size and shape.
- Title 1
- Title 2
- Drawing Order -
lets you change the order in which parts
of the graph are drawn.
- Get -
lets you get various types of information from a graph.
For example, you can click on a data point
to get its numerical value and to find out what
row it is on in the data file.
- Make Map
- lets you set up a map (for example, by specifying a
place that you would like the map centered on).
- Save As Drawing Objects
- lets you save all of the parts the currently picked graph(s)
as drawing objects
so they can be edited in unusual ways.
- Map:
-
All, 1, 2, ..., New Layer
- These options let you edit existing map layers or create a new layer.
Each map layer has attributes which specify which type of
map data (for example, nation boundaries or state boundaries)
will be drawn on the graph. You can create as many map layers as you
want on each graph.
- Dataset:
-
All, 1, 2, ..., New Dataset
- These options let you edit existing datasets or create a new dataset.
Each dataset has attributes which specify which columns
of data from which datafile will be used and how they will be plotted.
You can create and display as many datasets as you want on each graph.
- Function:
-
All, 1, 2, ..., New Function
- These options let you edit existing functions or create a new function.
Each function has attributes which specify what the
function is and how it will be plotted.
You can create and display as many functions as you want on each graph.
- X/Y/Z/All Axes:
- Legend...
This button leads to the Legend dialog box.
- Comment:
-
All, 1, 2, ..., New Comment
- These options let you edit existing comments or create a new comment.
Each comment has attributes which specify what the
text is and how and where it will be plotted.
Comments are like CoPlot's Text objects; but a Comment's
position is specified in graph coordinates, whereas
a Text object's position is specified in Drawing Coordinates.
You can create and display as many comments as you want on each graph.
- Visible - lets you quickly make the entire graph
visible (checked) or not visible (not checked).
- Group - lets you specify the
group
number for the picked graph objects.
More Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional graph objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Related Settings - Usually, all attributes related to a
part of a graph can be found on the dialog box for that part of the
graph (for example, Edit : Graph : X Axis : Title 1).
Sometimes there are related settings in other dialog boxes.
- The
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
dialog box has several "wizards" (Color, Division 1, Division 2,
and Visible). When you change one of these settings,
CoPlot actually makes several changes to several individual
parts of the graph.
- The
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
dialog box has some settings that apply to all datasets
(Dataset Labels Font, and Dataset Labels Font Style)
and to all datasets and functions
(Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light).
- The Drawing : Other
dialog box has several settings which apply to all Graph objects,
including:
- Minimum Line Width
- Draw bold markers
- Draw lines through markers
- Draw error bars through markers
- Draw caps on error bars
- Missing values make gaps
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
The Edit : Graph
: Graph : Overview dialog box
lets you specify the Graph Type, Color, and size and shape.
The options on the Graph : Overview dialog box are:
-
Type
- specifies the type of graph:
-
XY
- is the most common graph for plotting data and/or equations.
-
3D
- is the 3D version of the XY graph.
-
Conic
- is used to make maps with
Alber's Equal-Area Conic Projection. This projection is used
extensively by the USGS, notably for all of the sectional maps of the
U.S. It is good for mapping areas that are wider than high. It
should not be used to make a map spanning the equator. Equal areas
anywhere on the map are close to equal sizes.
See Orthographic (below) for more details about map graphs.
-
Mercator
- is used to make maps with the Mercator projection.
Straight, parallel meridians and parallels make it
good for navigational purposes. It is useful for maps of the whole
world, but polar areas appear too large on these maps.
See Orthographic (below) for more details about map graphs.
-
Orthographic
- is used to make maps with
the Orthographic projection.
This map is the view you would see if you used a
telescope to view the earth from far, far out in space. It appears
very realistic. All lines through the center point of the map are
along 'great circles'. (A 'great circle' is the circle created when
you pass a plane through the center of a sphere.)
This makes it easy to plot the shortest route
from the center point to any other point on the map.
Here are some details that pertain to Conic, Mercator, and
Orthographic maps.
- The X axis is always used for Longitude
(degrees East (+) or West (-) from the Prime Meridian) and
the Y axis is always used for Latitude (degrees North (+)
or South (-) from the equator).
Map graphs are designed to always show the proper
projection, so there are some restrictions for map graphs
that don't apply to other graphs. For example, you can't set
the X Axis : Overview : Low and High so that
Low>High.
- The axis types are always constrained to be
Linear or Degrees.
If you choose Degrees,
the Divisions setting for the X and Y Axis
Labels, Ticks, and Grids
will be appropriate for degrees. For
example, 20' (1/3 of a degree) divisions look good on a
Degrees axis, but divisions of .33333333 would look bad on a
Linear axis. If you choose Linear,
the divisions will be
appropriate for a linear axis with decimal numbers.
- All graphs are sized to be as large as possible but centered
within the area defined by Graph : X Axis Size
and Graph : Y Axis Size.
- The orthographic graph always shows the full world.
The center of the graph will be the center of the X and Y axis ranges.
Conic
and Mercator can display various ranges on the X and Y axis.
- For most parts of the orthographic graph's axes, the
Visible setting is treated as 0=nothing,
anything else is
'visible'.
The X Axis : Axis Line is drawn as a line around the perimeter.
- Orthographic uses crude clipping -- anything out of range is
considered not clippable.
-
Polar
- plots data and/or equations in polar coordinates.
- The center of the graph is always y=0. The edge of the graph
is yMax=max(abs(userSpecifiedLow),abs(userSpecifiedHigh)).
This is done because negative y values project through the origin.
The Y axis is always Linear.
- The X Axis : Type can be Linear
(0..360 equals one cycle)
or Pi (0..2PI equals one cycle).
- If Graph : Draw Polar Graph As Compass Graph is checked,
x=0 is at 12 o'clock and the angles increase in a clockwise
direction. Otherwise, x=0 is at 3 o'clock and the angles
increase in a counterclockwise direction. Setting the
range on the X axis so that Low>High will not change this.
- If the axis range is greater than 360 (or 2pi), a framework
of 0..360 (or 0..2PI) is drawn. Points are plotted where it
is appropriate (-5 degrees -> 355 degrees). The user-specified
axis range determines what range of the dataset/function
will be plotted.
- If the axis range is less than 360 (or 2pi), a framework
of just that range is drawn. Thus, you can make a graph of
x=0..180 degrees and you will just see the top half of the circle.
The user-specified
axis range determines what range of dataset/function is allowed.
- If you want to display 0..360, but want to clip dataset/functions
to a smaller range, use the individual Dataset : KeepIf and
Function : Extent options.
- Polar graphs clip correctly.
-
Triangle
- (also called a ternary or tri-linear graph) is a very specialized
graph. It is used to compare 3-component mixtures. The sum of the 3
components is always 100%. For example, different soil types can be
described by their sand, silt, and clay components.
- The Graph : X Axis Size determines the size of the graph.
- Normally, the X axis will be 0 on the left and
100 on the right.
If you check Graph : Draw Triangle Graph Reversed,
the graph will be reversed
(100 on the left, 0 on the right). The reversed form is the
standard for the USDA soil classification charts.
- The shape of the graph is always an equilateral triangle.
- The Axis Type for all axes is
constrained to be Linear.
- The axis ranges are normally 0..100, but other values are possible.
The axes always go from low to high.
The axis range's are all always equal. The program constrains
the y range is by adjusting yHigh so that the y range equals the
x range. The z range is entirely constrained so that
zMin=100-xMin-yMax, and zMax=100-xMin-yMin.
So, it is important
to change the xMin and xMax first; then yMin, then yMax.
- Data is plotted by summing x+y+z and treating that sum as unity.
Then you can plot x/sum, y/sum, z/sum on the x,y,z axes
(which are always treated as percentages units). Thus, your raw
data can be numbers that sum to 1, or 100, or whatever;
they will plot the same.
- Triangle graphs use crude clipping -- anything out of range is
considered not clippable.
- Draw XY Graph As Origin Graph
- This affects the way an XY graph is drawn.
When this is checked,
the (for example, X) axis line, ticks, and labels are drawn
where the other axis (for example, Y) equals 0.
Thus the axis lines will
be drawn through the origin (x=0, y=0).
- Draw Polar Graph As Compass Graph
- This affects the way the polar graph is drawn.
When this is checked,
x=0 is at 12 o'clock and the angles increase in a clockwise
direction. Otherwise, x=0 is at 3 o'clock and the angles
increase in a counterclockwise direction. Setting the
range on the X axis so that low>high will not change this.
- Draw Triangle Graph Reversed
- This affects the way the triangle graph is drawn.
Normally, the X axis will have 0 on the left and 100 on the right.
When this is checked, the graph will be reversed
(100 on the left, 0 on the right). The reversed form is the
standard for the USDA soil classification charts (as shown above).
-
Background Color
- specifies the background color for the graph.
If the Background Color is set to notDrawn,
the graph's background will be transparent.
See also
Drawing : Background Color,
which specifies for background color for the entire drawing.
-
Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light
- When this is checked, the color arrays for many function
and dataset representations are arranged so that the dark colors
are used for the lower values and the light colors are used
for the higher values. When this is not checked, the reverse
is true.
- Dataset Labels Font
- The font to be used for datasets whenever
text is needed (
Representation: Grid/2D/bold nth line,
Grid/2D/bold nth spline,
Markers/Labels, Markers/Labels3D,
WindBarb, etc.).
It is used for some function representations, too
(Grid/2D/bold nth line, Grid/2D/bold nth spline).
- Dataset Labels Font Style
- This sets the style (Plain, Bold, Italics, or
Bold Italics) for the font to be used for datasets whenever
text is needed (
Representation: Grid/2D/bold nth line,
Grid/2D/bold nth spline,
Markers/Labels, Markers/Labels3D,
WindBarb, etc.).
It is used for some function representations, too
(Grid/2D/bold nth line, Grid/2D/bold nth spline).
- Center X Y
- specifies the center of one of the picked graphs.
If you change Center X,Y by dragging the block
on the screen or by changing the X,Y values, all of the picked
graph objects will be moved by the same relative amount.
- Size
- The + and -
buttons to the right of Size let you
increase or decrease the size of the graph. They work by
changing the X, Y, and Z Axis Size values.
When you use the Size buttons or X/Y/Z Axis Size,
only the size of the graph changes -- the parts of the graph
(for example, the Graph : Title 1 : Height and
Graph : Dataset : 1 : Size (marker)
don't change size. If you want the size of the parts of the graph
to change too, use Graph : Move and set the X and Y Scale
factors to something other than 1.
- X Axis Size
- specifies the length of the X axis
in Drawing Coordinate units.
- Y Axis Size
- specifies the length of the Y axis
in Drawing Coordinate units.
- Z Axis Size
- specifies the length of the Z axis
in Drawing Coordinate units.
- Angle
- specifies the angle of rotation for the entire graph
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
- 3D Spin Angle
- specifies the angle that the 3D graph is spun around the Z axis.
With the Left and Right buttons, it helps to
think of the graph as a 3D object -- you can spin the graph by
pushing the front of the object to the left or right.
- 3D Spin Angle Animation
- These buttons (left, stop, and right) let you control
3D Spin Angle animation. Pressing the left (<)
or right (>) buttons starts
the graph spinning in that direction. Pressing the stop button ([])
stops the spinning.
- Frames Per Second
- specifies the maximum speed of the animation. The animation
won't go any faster than this speed, but if the frames take a long
time to draw, the animation will go slower.
- 3D Attitude Angle
- specifies the angle of tilt for the XY plane of a 3D graph.
With the Up and Down buttons, it helps to
think of the graph as a 3D object -- you can change the attitude of
the graph by pushing the front of the object up or down.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Title
The Edit : Graph
: Graph : Title dialog
lets you specify the attributes of Title 1 (the primary title),
Title 2 (the secondary title), or both simultaneously.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Part
- specifies whether you want to edit Title 1 (the primary title),
Title 2 (the secondary title), or both simultaneously.
- Text
- specifies the text to be written.
If you just enter a '.', the default title will be used.
For Title 1, the default is the name of Datafile : 1
or the graph file's name.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- X Y Position
- specifies the X Y position
(in Drawing Coordinates)
for the text.
You can also drag the little block
that appears near the title.
- Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Font Style
- specifies the initial font style for the text:
Plain, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic.
- Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Angle
- specifies the angle for the text
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the text, relative
to the text's X Y Position. (The text's vertical alignment is
always Center.)
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Drawing Order
The order of graph parts on the list in this dialog box indicates the order in
which the graph parts will be drawn (top=first, bottom=last). To change the
position of a graph part on the list, press the up (or down) arrow to the left
of the part of the graph that you want to be drawn sooner (or later).
Graph parts which are drawn later
may partially hide parts which are drawn earlier.
This dialog box is needed because no single drawing order
is appropriate for all graphs.
A common simple use of this dialog box is to move
Dataset 1 and
Dataset 2 above Function 1 and
Function 2, so that the datasets
are drawn before the functions.
Dataset 1 is separate from Dataset 2...
so that you can
manipulate Dataset 1 differently from the other datasets.
This is commonly done when Dataset 1 is plotting a colored surface
(thereby hiding all parts of the graph already drawn)
and thus needs to be drawn before anything else.
Function 1 is separate from
Function 2... for the same reason.
Map 1-6 is separate from
Map 7... for the same reason.
The drawing order does not affect the order of items in
the legend.
There are unusual situations in which even the flexibility
of Graph : Drawing Order is insufficient. In these
cases, you may want to make two graphs
(use Edit : Graph : Copy). The original graph can
have the parts of the graph that need to be drawn first,
while the new graph has parts that need to be drawn later.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Get
The Edit : Graph
: Graph : Get
dialog box lets you get various types of information from a graph. For example,
you can click on a data point
to get its numerical value and to find out what
row it is on in the data file.
- This only gets information from the picked graph which was created last.
- All timers and counters are reset when you choose a different
Get What option.
To reset the timers and counters but keep the same Get What
option, change Get What to something else then change it back.
- The points you click on the graph are marked and remain marked
until the graph is redrawn. This is useful because it lets you see
all of the points you have marked.
You can avoid the initial point being
erased by clicking just above the drawing area (to the right
of the icon toolbar), so the focus is
on the main CoPlot window, not the dialog box.
- All of the results are printed in a table in
CoText.
If you remove the header information, the results can be imported
into a data file in CoStat via the clipboard or
as a ASCII (Columnar) file.
Get What specifies what type of information
you want to get from the graph.
The options on the dialog box vary according to which Get What
option is selected.
The Get What options are:
-
Data Area
- After you choose one of the Datasets,
this calculates the area under the dataset.
- This works by summing the areas defined by the trapezoids of
all adjacent data points ((y1+y2)/2*(x2-x1)).
- Note that if the X's increase, the area will be positive;
if the X's decrease, the area will be negative.
- If Drawing : Other : Missing values make gaps
is not checked,
this procedure will treat rows with X=missingValue or
Y=missingValue as if they had been removed from the data file;
otherwise the dataset is considered to have separate sections.
-
Data Point
- After you choose one of the Datasets and click on a point,
this finds the closest plotted data point and
moves the cross to that point. It displays the dataset number,
the row number in the data file, and the X, Y, and Z values.
-
Data Interpolate X
- After you choose one of the Datasets
and enter an X value,
this searches for the first segment of the dataset containing X
and then linear interpolates to find the related Y value.
-
Data Interpolate Y
- After you choose one of the Datasets
and enter a Y value,
this searches for the first segment of the dataset containing Y
and then linear interpolates to find the related X.
-
Drawing Coordinates
- gets the
Drawing Coordinates
of the point you click on. It also prints a point count, the time it was
clicked on (relative to your choice of Get What), the distance from
the last point, and the total distance.
-
Function Equals Y
- Given a Function, a Y value,
and a point on the graph, this
finds X where the function equals Y.
- When y=0, x is a "root" of the equation.
- Ideally, the initial point will be close to the answer.
- This method fails if the equation is not continuous or
if the algorithm is unable to "bracket" the root (find a point
on either side of the desired Y value).
Bracketing may fail if an even number of roots are close together or
if a Y value is a local maxima or minima.
-
Function Evaluate
- Given a Function and a graph X value,
this evaluates the function
to find the corresponding Y value.
-
Function Integrate
- Given a Function and an X axis range, this numerically
integrates the function. This uses the Romberg Rule for integration.
A series of passes are made, each taking twice as long as the previous,
in an attempt to converge on the answer.
See Miller, 1981.
-
Function Maxima
- is like Function Minima, but finds a local maxima.
-
Function Minima
- Given a Function and a point on the graph, this
finds a nearby local minima.
- It is best if the initial point that you provide is
close to the local minima.
- This method fails if the equation is not continuous or
if the algorithm is unable to "bracket" the local minima (find a point
on either side of the minima).
Bracketing may fail if an even number of minima are close together.
-
Functions Close
- Given two Functions and a point on the graph, this
finds the point nearby where they are closest (or where they intersect).
- It is best if the initial point that you provide is
close to the point where the functions are closest.
- Internally, this finds a local minima for
abs(function1-function2).
-
Graph Coordinates
- gets the graph coordinates of the point you click on.
It includes the same count, time, and distance data as the
Drawing Coordinates
option above.
This doesn't (can't) work for 3D graphs.
See
Digitizing Data From An Image File With A Graph for an example
of using this.
Digitizing Data From An Image File With A Graph
-
Graph Get : Get What : Graph Coordinates
can be used to digitize data from an image file with a graph.
For example, you may have an image of a graph from a web site
or you may have a printed copy of a graph (perhaps from a journal
or from your pre-computer days)
and you may wish that you had the original data file
which was used to make that graph.
The method below describes how to recreate that original data file.
Unfortunately, the data won't be exactly the same as the
original because of the imprecise nature of scanning and digitizing.
- Use a scanner to scan the printed version of the graph
and make an image file (for example, .gif, .jpg, or .pcx).
Don't make a high-resolution scan. A low resolution like
200 or 300 dpi is all that you need for working on screen,
and it will save memory and disk space.
- In CoPlot, use Create : Image to display the image file.
- Press the Edit button on the
Create : Image dialog box.
- Increase the image's Size
so that it fills (but isn't bigger than)
the main CoPlot window.
- If the graph isn't perfectly upright,
change the image's Angle to make the graph perfectly upright.
- Use Create : Graph to create a graph.
- Using the procedures on the Edit : Graph dialog box:
- Modify the graph so that it exactly overlays and mimics the
graph in the image file.
- Graph : Overview controls the graph's size and shape.
- X Axis : Overview has
Type, Low, and High.
- Y Axis : Overview has
Type, Low, and High.
- Use Graph : Get.
- Set Get What to Graph Coordinates.
- Click on the data points for one of the datasets in the
graph in the image.
- They should appear in a copy of
CoText that pops up.
- Go to CoText and modify that file:
- Change X and Y to more descriptive column names for that
dataset.
- In preparation for the next dataset that you are going to
digitize:
- Copy the column names row to the bottom row of the file.
- Change the X,Y names for the next dataset.
- The repeatedly:
- Click on the data points for the next dataset.
- Go to CoText and modify the file:
- Copy the column names row to the bottom row of the file.
- Change the X,Y names for the next dataset you are going to
digitize.
- When you are done, edit the text file to remove the columns other
than the X and Y column (which now has lots of better column names
interspersed with the data).
- Use CoText's File : Save As to save the file.
Write down that file directory and name so you don't forget it.
- Use CoPlot's Datafile : 1 to get to CoStat.
- Use CoStat's Screen : Show CoText to open the
text file you created.
Repeatedly,
- Mark a block of text in CoText with the information for one line
and copy the block of text to the clipboard (Ctrl C).
- Use CoStat's File : Open : Clipboard and import that text
(use Replace the old data the first time,
then use Append new data to the right for subsequent times).
- Use CoStat's File : Save As
to save that data file as a CoStat .dt file.
- Use CoPlot to plot the data on the graph.
- Use the Edit : Graph icon button on the left side of the
screen and pick the graph.
- Use Dataset : New Dataset.
- Specify the X and Y columns.
- Since both the image of the graph and the new graph object are visible
on the screen, you can easily verify that the data was
digitized correctly.
- Eventually, you can hide the image of the graph by
putting the image object in another Group
and using Drawing : Groups to make that group
not visible.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Make Map
CoPlot has three Graph : Types for making
maps with different projections: Orthographic, Mercator, and (Alber's)
Conic. You can also use XY graphs to make maps.
World Maps - CoPlot comes with several
world map data files
with specially encoded data for drawing nations, states, cities (major
world cities and U.S. cities with >1000 people), oceans, rivers,
and lakes for the entire world. These maps data files are small
enough (about 3 MB) to be searched and plotted quickly, yet
detailed enough to be useful for maps of areas as small as roughly
2°x2° or 100x100 miles.
These files are on the CoPlot CD-ROM and are also available
from the CoHort Software web site
(www.cohort.com).
Detailed maps - CoPlot comes with a second set of
detailed map data files
with additional, highly detailed information (from the
United States Geological Survey) for a small area of the United States
(usually one or two states). These files include data for nations,
states, counties, oceans, rivers, lakes, parks, and roads (major and
minor highways, but not local roads or streets).
These files are on the CoPlot CD-ROM and are also available
from the CoHort Software web site
(www.cohort.com).
Control of what is visible on the map -
Edit : Graph : Map
let you control what
geographic information appears on the map.
Each layer controls the display of one type of information (for example,
the boundaries of nations). The layers are analogous to
Datasets 1... in that they have a series
of attributes that you can set. When the map is drawn, layer 1 is
drawn first, then layer 2,.... A typical map might have 5 layers:
Ocean, Lake, River, Nation, and State. Each layer has separate
controls for background color, line color, line width, text color, text
height, etc.
Maps are just like other graphs -
You can use standard
CoPlot commands to create the map you want. Maps have grid lines
(latitude and longitude lines) and axis ranges (in degrees). You can
specify the size and shape of a map as with other graphs. Data
and functions can be plotted on maps just as you would plot them on
XY graphs.
Ellipsoid -
The earth is not
spherical; it is elliptical.
The Conic and Mercator maps in CoPlot use ellipsoid formulas to plot
the maps. The Orthographic map uses spherical formulas to plot the
maps. Over the years there have been several
measurements of the equatorial radius, r, and the flattening value, f.
In the past, all U.S. Geological Survey sectional maps used
the Clarke 1866 ellipsoid. In the last few years, map makers have
been switching to GRS 1980, the new international standard. CoPlot
always uses GRS 1980. See
Snyder, 1983.
The Edit : Graph
: Graph : Make Map
dialog box has several options which simplify setting up a graph that
displays map data. For example,
you can enter a place name (for example, France)
and have CoPlot make a map featuring that place.
This dialog box also has a few options related to the specifics of
how the map is to be created (for example, you can specify
the two standard parallels for a conic projection).
The options on this dialog box are:
- Search For
- If you type a place
name (for example, California) and press the
Go button, CoPlot will search all
available map files and compile a list of geographic names that match
the text that you typed.
When you then pick your choice (see Pick below),
CoPlot will make a map featuring that place. This procedure resets
the X and Y axis ranges, divisions, and labels to appropriate
values.
It doesn't matter if you enter upper or lower case characters. It
doesn't matter if you type a portion of the name. For example, typing
fran would find San Francisco. Diacritics
(for example, ~ and `) are ignored in the search text
and the place names,
so you need not bother to enter them. The data files often store
alternate spellings (for example, Peking and Beijing), so CoPlot should be
able to find what you want.
CoPlot only compiles a list of the first 100 matches that it finds.
So asking for South will only generate the first 100
items that have "South" in their name.
For some geographic names (notably continents, countries, and
states), CoPlot has the suggested X and Y axes ranges encoded with
the name. (You may see something like [12N 10E 20N 20E]
which is the latitude and longitude (y,x) location for the lower left
and upper right corners of a map.)
For other places, CoPlot will make a graph
with the X and Y axis ranges set to 20 degrees and centered at the
place you requested.
A common problem is that no
matching names are found for any place name you enter. This occurs when
the world map data files (for example, ocean.mpx, nation.mpx,
city.mpx, etc.) have not been installed. They should be in the
cohort directory.
Several abbreviations are used in the data files: f.=formerly, I.=
Island, Is.=Islands, R.=River, and L.=Lake.
- Pick
- After you have used Search for, this option lets you
pick a place name from the list of matching names.
- Center X, Y
- This lets you enter the longitude (X) and latitude (Y) for the center
of the graph. The X and Y axis ranges are not changed.
- Range X, Y
- This lets you enter the extent
of the graph along the X (longitude) and Y (latitude) axes. The
center point of the graph is not changed. Thus you can quickly zoom
in or zoom out by decreasing or increasing these values.
For example, if the X and Y axis ranges are
originally 20°, you could change them both to 5° to zoom in.
This is much
preferred to using Drawing : Zoom Box,
which hides the axis labels and doesn't draw finer
details.
- Conic Parallel 1, 2
- For the Conic projection, this lets you set the
two standard parallels. Along these
parallels, the scale is exactly correct. Some map makers suggest
using parallels that are 1/6 of the way inward from the southern and
northern edges of the graph. The U.S. Geological Survey uses
29.5° and 45.5° for the two standard parallels for all of maps of the
contiguous 48 states. You can enter '.' to get the
defaults (the 1/6th system), or enter actual values. For the northern
hemisphere, enter the low value first, then the high value. For the
southern hemisphere: enter the high value, then the low value. In
other words, always enter the parallel close to equator first, then
the parallel close to pole. (If you do the reverse, or set the two
parallels on different sides of the equator, the graph becomes a point!)
- Line Detail
- In order to speed up the drawing of lines and
filled areas on a map, CoPlot plots only the points that make a
visible difference on the map. The points in the map files that
define boundaries are coded to identify the most important points
(1's) and the least important points (9's), and points in between.
If you set Line Detail to 0) automatic,
the program will use the detail
level that it feels is appropriate based on the axes ranges.
Or, you can get a specific level of
detail by setting Line Detail to a number,
1) coarse through 9) fine.
- Make XY Graph Isotropic
- This
option lets you force XY graphs with linear (or linear-like) axes
to be isotropic.
On isotropic graphs, the X and Y axes have the same scale
(length per unit). For example, if the range on the X axis is 8,
and the range on the Y axis is 4, the graph's axes will be
resized so that the X Axis Size is twice the
Y Axis Size.
The procedure works by shortening the
length of the axis which is (relatively) too long.
The resulting graph is centered relative
to the old position. Due to the decrease in size, you may
to increase the size of the graph
with Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Size +.
This procedure is useful in many situations other than making
maps (for example, for graphs for mathematics).
This procedure is also done
automatically when you use some of the options on the
Make Map dialog box (for example, Pick, Center X Y, and
Range X Y).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
Edit : Graph
: Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
is a procedure that most people will never need to use.
It lets you save all of the parts of
the currently picked graph(s) as drawing objects
(mostly Path and Text Objects).
Then, you can edit the drawing objects
in unusual ways that the Graph dialogs don't allow. This procedure
also sets Edit : Graph : Visible to unchecked so
that you will see the new drawing objects instead of the original
graph.
For example, you might make a graph with some Map layers, and
you might want to further edit the appearance of the map layers
by hand. For example, city names often overlap, so you could
remove some of the city names using Edit : Objects : Delete.
Details -
- Datasets represented by a line and markers and which are broken into
more that one object (because of clipping or missing values),
will be converted to two path objects:
one for the line and one for the markers. Unfortunately, this means
that the line will be drawn through the markers.
Only Representation: Variable Markers won't be
affected by this.
- Some text parts of the graph will move slightly (1 pixel on the screen)
when converted to Text objects.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Map
The Edit : Graph
: Map dialog box
lets you create and edit map layers.
Each map layer has attributes which specify which type of
map data will be drawn on the graph and how it will be drawn.
When you create a graph, it initially has no map layers.
To create a new layer, you must drop down the Map list
on the Edit : Graph dialog box and click on New Layer.
Then, Layer 1 will be created and added to the list.
The first time you call up this dialog box (within each CoPlot session),
it may take a few seconds for CoPlot to search the
cohort directory
to find the available map data files.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Map Layer
- lets you specify which layer to edit (All, or 1 - n).
To create a new layer, you must drop down the current list of layers
and click on
New Layer. Another number (n+1) will be added to the list.
- Up
- moves the currently selected layer up one slot.
The order of layers in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier layers may be partially or completely hidden by later layers.
- Down
- moves the currently selected layer down one slot.
The order of layers in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier layers may be partially or completely hidden by later layers.
- Copy
- makes a new layer which is a copy of the currently selected layer.
The new layer is inserted in the list right after the currently selected
layer, and it becomes the currently selected layer.
- Delete
- deletes the currently selected layer.
- Map File
- specifies which map data file will provide the information
for this map layer.
See Map Data Files for the details
of what information is in each map file.
- Object Detail
- specifies which types of items from the map file will be
drawn.
Enter a comma separated value list of types (for example, "1, 3, 5")
or "." for the default.
The list can include ranges of numbers (for example, "1-3,5").
Use the Help button or
see Map Data Files for the details
of what information is in each map file.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of filled map objects (if any).
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
If this is set to mapDefault, the colors specified in the
map data file will be used.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line objects in the map data file.
If this is set to notDrawn, the lines (if any) won't be drawn.
If this is set to mapDefault, the colors specified in the
map data file will be used.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when
line objects are drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the lines
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Marker Color
- specifies the color
for the marker objects in the map data file.
If this is set to notDrawn, the markers won't be drawn.
If this is set to mapDefault, the colors specified in the
map data file will be used.
Currently, none of the map data files created by
CoHort Software contain markers.
- Marker Size
- specifies the basic marker size (the height
in Drawing Coordinates
of a full-sized marker).
- Text Detail
- specifies which types of text items from the map file will be
drawn.
Enter a comma separated value list of types (for example, "1, 3, 5")
or "." for the default.
The list can include ranges of numbers (for example, "1-3,5").
Use the Help button or
see Map Data Files for the details
of what information is in each map file.
- Text Color
- specifies the color
for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
If this is set to mapDefault, the colors specified in the
map data file will be used.
- Text Height
- specifies the height for capital letters
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Map :: Data Files
CoPlot comes with several map data files with specially
encoded geographic feature data. There are two categories of
map data files.
To make a map of a large area, for example, the world or the
western U.S., use the
world map data files
(the ones without a two digit
number at the end of the file name, for example, OCEAN, NATION, STATE,
RIVER, LAKE, CITY).
These data files have data for drawing ocean boundaries,
national boundaries, state
boundaries, cities, rivers, lakes, and cities for the entire world.
These data files are small enough to be searched and plotted quickly, yet
detailed enough to be useful for maps of areas down to roughly
2°x2° or 100x100 miles.
To make a very detailed map of a small
area of the United States, for example one state or a smaller area,
use the
detailed map data files
(the ones with two digit numbers at the end of
the file name, for example, NATION01 and STATE_01).
These map data files have highly detailed information for a small
area of the United States (usually one or two states). Usually, when
you buy CoPlot, you will be sent the world map files and the detailed
map files for your state. Detailed maps of other areas in the United
States are available from
CoHort Software.
Currently, there are no detailed
CoHort map data files available for places outside the United States.
This system of putting the information in
world map data files vs. detailed map data files gets you the
desired detail level while
reducing the amount of data the program must scan each time it redraws
the data (for example, 0.5 MB of data files instead of 20 or 200MB
for the entire world in detailed form). It is assumed that most
people will make coarse maps of different parts of the world or the U.S.,
or detailed maps of their part of the U.S. But the option is open to
load all of the detailed maps.
DISCLAIMER - When we created these map data files,
we made an effort to ensure
the accuracy of the original data sources and our modifications to
the data. However, there are likely to be some small and large
errors in the map files. Geographic locations don't change,
but political boundaries do. Now, the map data is now somewhat out-of-date
(for example, the USSR is still intact on our maps!).
SUITABILITY - CoPlot's map making facilities are suitable
for:
- Making maps for educational purposes.
- Making background maps for plotting data.
CoPlot's map making facilities are not suitable for:
- Navigational purposes.
- Other purposes where the accuracy of the maps is critical to
human safety.
- Legal purposes.
In any case, it is up to you to determine the suitability of the
map data for your purposes. In all cases, the data were generated by
digitizing maps. As with all map data, the vertices are not exact
locations, but are approximations.
Map file names - The main file name indicates the type
of information in the map file, for example, ocean, lake.
If the name ends
in a two digit number it is a detailed map of a portion of the U.S.
(for example, NATION01); otherwise it is a world map (for example,
NATION).
All map file names have an extension indicating the part of the
world for which they have data:
North America:
| .MP1 has items visible when x<-30° y>15°
|
Europe:
| .MP2 has items visible when x>-30° y>15°
|
South America:
| .MP3 has items visible when x<-30° y<15°
|
Africa/Australia:
| .MP4 has items visible when x>-30° y<15°
|
This system lets CoPlot quickly determine which files have the data
necessary for the current graph. This dramatically speeds up the
drawing of most maps.
Map file directory - The map files need to be in the
cohort directory.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Map :: World Map Data Files
CoPlot comes with a set of map data files which contain information
about the entire world. This data is meant to be used for maps of
large areas, from the entire world down to areas as small as
2°x2° or roughly 100x100 miles. The main part of the file name for these
files does not end in a two digit number (for example, OCEAN
is a world map data file).
Source of the Data - The source of some of this data is the
Micro World Data Bank II, 1989. Original coordinate data was created
by the Central Intelligence Agency. Minor points were removed from
the data files and then the data was placed in the public domain by
Fred Pospeschil and Antonio Riveria. There were numerous little
problems in the MWDB files (crossed line segments, gaps, missing
boundaries, etc.). We have corrected many of these problems as best
we could. Also, the dataset does not contain many small islands.
The data for the City map files comes from the 1989 UN Demographic
Yearbook (U.N., 1991), the USGS National Geographic Names Database,
and the 1980 Census. Capital cities are in all capital letters. The
cities are ranked by the population of the city, proper. Or if that
data was unavailable, by the population of the metropolitan region.
In general, the name which will be used on a map is the name which has
been traditionally used on maps in the United States. Alternative
names and spellings were added when possible; they can be searched
for with Edit : Graph : Graph : Make Map : Search For,
but will not appear on the
map. For the spellings of the names, we used Webster's New
Geographical Dictionary (1988) as the final arbiter. For the U.S.,
places with greater than 1000 people are included. For the rest of
the world, only major cities are included.
We apologize to CoPlot users in other countries for putting the
American versions of place names on maps; the choice of which names
will be used on a map is not an easy one. They can be changed by using
Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
and then editing the text objects for the place names.
The standard world maps are
(where x denotes 1, 2, 3, or 4):
OCEAN.MPx
| oceans, seas, great lakes
| lines in layer 1; ocean names in layers 1,2; land names in 5,6
|
LAKE.MPx
| major lakes
| lines and fills in layer 1; names in layers 1,2
|
RIVER.MPx
| major rivers
| lines and fills in layer 1; names in layers 1,2
|
NATION.MPx
| all nations
| lines and fills in layer 1; names in layers 1,2
|
STATE.MP1
| U.S.A. states
| lines and fills in layer 1; names in layers 1
|
CITY.MPx
| major cities
| no lines or fills; names in layers 1..9
|
Layers in CITY.MPx files:
Layer
| Population
|
1
| Major Capitals (large geographically or "important");
| large circle marker (filled if capital city)
|
2
| >=1,000,000 (and all other Capitals)
| large circle marker (filled if capital city)
|
3
| >=500,000
| small circle marker
|
4
| >=200,000
| small circle marker
|
5
| >=100,000
| small circle marker
|
6
| >=50,000
| dot marker
|
7
| >=20,000
| dot marker
|
8
| >=10,000
| dot marker
|
9
| <10000 or unknown
| dot marker
|
Different layers can be selected with the Object Detail
and Text Detail options on the
Edit : Graph : Map : x
dialog boxes.
Ocean, states, and nations have names which are centered.
Lakes, rivers, and cities have names which are left justified.
The City markers are part of the text which is left
justified and so are very close, but not perfectly centered on
the city's true center.
City names may overlap -
No effort has been made to modify the angles or justification of
the text for city
names to avoid overlapping. It is a difficult problem,
since the map data may be used to make maps of widely different
scales and with different Text Detail settings.
The best simple solution is to work with the
Text Detail setting to get an appropriate number of city names
for your map's scale. If you really need to move or delete some of the
city names, use Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
and edit the resulting text objects with the city names.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Map :: Detailed Map Data Files
The main file name indicates the type of information in the map
file, for example, ocean, lake. If the name ends in a two digit
number it is a detailed map data file of a portion of the U.S.
(for example, NATION01);
otherwise it is a world map data file
(for example, NATION).
What is the source of the data? The data was extracted by
CoHort Software from the "1:2,000,000-Scale Digital Line Graph (DLG)
Data" on CD-ROM from the U.S. Geological Survey (Earth Science
Information Center, 1986). "The data files are derived from the
sectional maps of the 1970 National Atlas of the United States of
America." To reduce file sizes and make the data easier to manage,
the USGS divided the U.S. into 21 areas (1 - 21); CoHort Software
maintained this system when converting the files to our format. To
reduce the file sizes further, CoHort Software removed points that
caused deviations of less than 0.001°
from the lines. This process removed roughly 60% of the original
data, without removing much information.
Do CoPlot .MP? files have all of the USGS data? CoHort
software tried to incorporate most of the types of information from
the USGS files. The only major types not utilized were airfields,
the Alaska pipeline, railroad information, and city/metropolitan area
information. The City.MP1 world data file has U.S. city locations and
names from non-USGS sources.
Do the files have names of the objects? The USGS DLG data
does not include names. Currently, none of the detailed map
files have text objects.
Alterations to USGS files - The USGS files do not
differentiate between lake boundaries and island boundaries. This
looked odd, so CoHort Software moved all of the island boundaries
from the LAKE_xx.MP1 files to the OCEAN_xx.MP1
files by hand.
Which data is in which layer of the detailed map files?
Below is a description of how the data from the USGS files has been
organized into the layers in each of the CoPlot .MP1 files. The USGS
organized the data by major codes
(for example, 290=political boundaries) and
minor codes (for example, 6002=National Water Boundaries). The xx in the
file names below denotes a number from 01 through 21, corresponding
to a section of the U.S.
The detailed map data files are divided into sections 1 - 21:
OCEAN_xx.MP1 - lines
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,4000
| U.S. Coastline including Great Lakes; also ocean and lake islands
of all sizes;
|
LAKE__xx.MP1
- lakes
(color=6) and islands (color=2) stored as filled areas
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,4014
| Perennial lakes, reservoirs; >80 km.
|
2
| 290,4011-4013
| Perennial lakes, reservoirs; 40-80 km.
|
3
| 290,4008-4010
| Perennial lakes, reservoirs; 20-40 km.
|
4
| 290,4005-4007
| Perennial lakes, reservoirs; 8-20 km.
|
5
| 290,4001-4004
| Perennial lakes, reservoirs; 0-8 km.
|
6
| 290,4034
| Intermittent lakes, reservoirs; >80 km.
|
7
| 290,4031-4033
| Interm. lakes, reservoirs; 40-80 km.
|
8
| 290,4028-4030
| Interm. lakes, reservoirs; 20-40 km.
|
9
| 290,4025-4027
| Interm. lakes, reservoirs; 8-20 km.
|
10
| 290,4021-4024
| Interm. lakes, reservoirs; 0-8 km.
|
11
| 290,4040-4045
| Marsh/swamp and salt marsh; all sizes
|
12
| 290,4050-4053
| Dry lake and alkali flat; all sizes
|
13
| 290,4060-4066
| Glacier; all sizes
|
RIVER_xx.MP1
- lines
and filled areas
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,3001
| River/stream ("double line" -> fills)
|
| 290,3016
| River/stream (single line); >350 km.
|
2
| 290,3013-3015
| River/stream (single line); 200-350 km.
|
3
| 290,3010-3012
| River/stream (single line); 100-200 km.
|
4
| 290,3007-3009
| River/stream (single line); 40-100 km.
|
5
| 290,3003-3006
| River/stream (single line); <40 km.
|
| 290,3060-3063
| Braided stream; all sizes
|
6
| 290,3030
| Intermittent river/stream; >350 km.
|
7
| 290,3027-3029
| Intermittent river/stream; 200-350 km.
|
8
| 290,3024-3026
| Intermittent river/stream; 100-200 km.
|
9
| 290,3021-3023
| Intermittent river/stream; 40-100 km.
|
10
| 290,3007-3020
| Intermittent river/stream; <40 km.
|
11
| 290,3070-3086
| Canal and ditch; all sizes
|
12
| 290,3095
| Intercoastal waterway
|
NATIONxx.MP1
- lines
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,6001-6002
| National, land and water boundaries
|
STATE_xx.MP1
- lines
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,6005-6006
| State, land and water boundaries
|
COUNTYxx.MP1
- lines
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,6009-6010
| County, parish, AK borough
|
ROAD__xx.MP1
- lines
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,5001-5002
| Interstate; Major U.S.; limited access
|
2
| 290,5003-5004
| Major State and other; limited access
|
| 290,5009
| Interstate, under construction
|
3
| 290,5013-5014
| Other U.S.; >500km.
|
4
| 290,5015-5020
| Other U.S.; <500km.
|
5
| 290,5021-5024
| Parallel roads
|
6
| 290,5028 5031
| State secondary, light duty; all weather
|
7
| 290,5041
| Unimproved (fair or dry weather)
|
8
| 290,5061-5062
| Tunnel; Ferry
|
PARK__xx.MP1
- filled areas
Layer
| Major,Minor
| Description
|
1
| 290,6021-6025
| National park; all sizes
|
2
| 290,6026-6030
| National monument; all sizes
|
3
| 290,6031-6035
| National seashore/lakeshore; all sizes
|
4
| 290,6036-6040
| National recreation area; all sizes
|
5
| 290,6041-6045
| National wilderness area; all sizes
|
6
| 290,6051-6055
| National forest; all sizes
|
7
| 290,6056-6060
| National grassland; all sizes
|
8
| 290,6061-6065
| National wildlife refuge; all sizes
|
9
| 290,6066-6070
| Federal Indian reservation; all sizes
|
10
| 290,6081-6082
| Federal Military reservation; all sizes
|
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Dataset
The Edit : Graph
: Dataset dialog box
lets you create and edit datasets.
Each dataset has attributes which specify which columns
of data from which datafile will be used
and how they will be plotted on the graph.
See also the separate list of
Dataset Representations.
When you create a graph, it initially has no datasets.
To create a new dataset, you must drop down the Dataset list
on the Edit : Graph dialog box and click on New Dataset.
Then, Dataset 1 will be created and added to the list.
Related Settings - Usually, all attributes related to a
part of a graph can be found on the dialog box for that part of the
graph (for example, Edit : Graph : Dataset : 1).
Sometimes there are related settings in other dialog boxes.
- The
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
dialog box has several "wizards" (Color, Division 1, Division 2,
and Visible). When you change one of these settings,
CoPlot actually makes several changes to several individual
parts of the graph.
- The
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
dialog box has some settings that apply to all datasets
(Dataset Labels Font, and Dataset Labels Font Style)
and to all datasets and functions
(Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light).
- The Drawing : Other
dialog box has several settings which apply to all Graph objects,
including:
- Minimum Line Width
- Draw bold markers
- Draw lines through markers
- Draw error bars through markers
- Draw caps on error bars
- Missing values make gaps
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Dataset
- lets you specify which dataset to edit (All, or 1 - n).
To create a new dataset, you can drop down the current list of datasets
and click on
New Dataset. Another number (n+1) will be added to the list.
Or, you can create a new dataset which is a copy of the
currently selected dataset by using Copy (below).
- Regression...
- opens up a small dialog box which lets you perform a regression
on the current dataset. This will create or modify a
Graph : Function
and plot the resulting equation.
See
Graph : Dataset : Regression
for a complete list and description of
the options.
- Up
- moves the currently selected dataset up one slot.
The order of datasets in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier datasets may be partially or completely hidden by later datasets.
- Down
- moves the currently selected dataset down one slot.
The order of datasets in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier datasets may be partially or completely hidden by later datasets.
- Copy
- makes a new dataset which is a copy of the currently selected dataset.
The new dataset is inserted in the list right after the currently selected
dataset, and it becomes the currently selected dataset.
- Delete
- deletes the currently selected dataset.
- Representation
- specifies how the data for this dataset will be drawn
(for example, as lines, as markers, or as a filled area).
See
Graph : Dataset : Representations
for a complete list and description of
the options.
- Datafile
- specifies which datafile will be the source of data for this
dataset.
See Datafile for information on loading
data into the datafile slots.
All of the data for one dataset
must be from one datafile
(for example, you can't plot X from datafile 1 and Y from datafile 2).
If the data you need is in different datafiles, you must merge the
data files (see CoStat's
File : Open : Mode : Append to the right).
- X, Y, Low Error, High Error, Left Error, Right Error, etc.
- specify which columns in the datafile have which types of information.
For example, the X data may be in column 4 and
the X data may be in column 6.
The options vary, depending on the Representation selected.
Options with names that end in "(Opt.)" are optional (for example,
error bar columns). If not all of the non-optional columns have a column selected,
the dataset won't be plotted.
- Y Animation
- This animates the graph by repeatedly increasing (or decreasing)
the Y column number. This is useful if you have a data file with
X, Y1, Y2, Y3, etc. columns and are plotting the dataset on a 2D graph.
- Z Animation
- This animates the graph by repeatedly increasing (or decreasing)
the Z column number. This is useful if you have a data file with
X, Y, Z1, Z2, Z3, etc. columns and are plotting the dataset on a 3D graph,
or a 2D graph with a Representation that uses a Z column.
- Frames Per Second
- specifies the maximum speed of the animation. The animation
won't go any faster than this speed, but if the frames take a long
time to draw, the animation will go slower.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the
Dataset Representation
(if appropriate).
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Color
- specifies the color
for the marker, fill and/or line parts of the representation.
If this is set to notDrawn, nothing will be drawn (and it is
therefore a quick way to temporarily not draw this dataset, without losing
the attributes).
- Marker Type
- specifies which character in which font
(see Drawing : Load Fonts)
will be used for the markers.
- Size (Marker) or Size (Fill)
- specifies the basic marker size or the unit size of the fill pattern
(in Drawing Coordinates),
depending on the current Representation.
- Fill Type
- specifies a hatch pattern (a combination of horizontal,
vertical, and diagonal lines) or a bit-mapped pattern.
The bit-mapped patterns are only scaled to a limited number of
sizes (integer multiples of the original pattern), so don't be surprised
if a small change to Size (Fill) has no effect.
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the lines
(in Drawing Coordinates).
If the line width is 0, the lines will not be drawn.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when
representations with lines are drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Error Width
- specifies the width of the error bar lines
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Z Division 1, 2 (.list)
- This is used by most of the Grid
Dataset Representations
to indicate where to divide the Z axis into different levels
(for example, where contour lines are drawn).
The Z Division 1 values are used for primary divisions
(for example, bolder and labelled contour lines).
The Z Division 2 values are used for secondary divisions.
You can enter different things in these fields:
- "." - A period tells the program to use the default values, based
on the Z Axis Type and Range. The defaults match the values
of the default locations for Z Axis : Ticks 1 or
Ticks 2, respectively.
- One value - tells the program to divide
the Z Axis Range (for example, 0 to 100)
at levels that are
that distance apart (for example, 25).
- A comma-separated-value list - A list of values separated
by commas tells CoPlot exactly where you want the divisions to be
(for example, 0, 25, 50, 75, 100).
- Legend
- specifies the text that will be used to identify this dataset
in the Legend.
If this is ".", the default will be used (usually,
the Y or Z variable). If this is "" or if the text is just one
big HTML comment (starting with "<!--" and ending with
"-->"), there will be no entry in the
legend for this dataset.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
Because this legend entry will become part of the complete legend,
it is important that all attribute starting tags
(for example, '<b>')
have matching attribute ending tags
(for example, '</b>')
so that the attributes don't apply
to all subsequent entries in the legend.
Dataset: Legend handles most tags correctly,
even tags that make the text more than one line
(for example, <BR> and <P>).
- Keep If
- specifies a boolean equation which is applied to each row of the data
file and which determines which rows will be used when plotting the data.
The result of the
equation should be true or false;
numeric values will be interpreted
as 0 is false, everything else is true. The equation can
refer to the numbers in the various columns (for example,
col(2)>=20 & col(4)*2<col(5).
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
For Grid/2D and Grid/3D dataset representations,
when Keep If is false for a given row,
it is as if the z value for that row is a missing value.
Keep If does not act as if that row of data
were removed, since that would destroy the integrity of the grid.
- A
- This leads to a list of characters (#32 to #255,
as defined by the ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding).
If you click on a character,
it will be inserted into the textfield
at the current insertion point.
- f()
- has a list of functions (and other things)
that you can put in the equation.
If you click on a function, it will be inserted
into the equation at the current insertion point.
The list includes:
- Data file column numbers and names (for example,
"col(3) Height") -
so you can reference values in
various columns in the data file.
Note that equations shouldn't reference the column name
(for example, "col(3)" is inserted,
not "col(3) Height").
- Functions (for example, "sin(x)") -
The parameters
for the functions are described tersely, but basically:
b=any boolean expression,
d=any numeric (double) expression,
i=any integer expression,
s=any string expression,
and v=void (no return value).
- Constants (for example, "pi").
- Operators (for example, "*").
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Dataset : Representations
Datasets can be represented (drawn) in many ways on a graph
(for example, as lines, as markers, or as a filled area).
Most representations are only available on some types of graphs
(for example, Bars/3D is not available on 2D graphs).
Representations are specified with the Representation attribute on the
Edit : Graph : Dataset
dialog box.
Speed
-
There is considerable variation in the time
required to draw the data with different representations.
If you are working with a large
datafile, you may want to choose a faster representation
while setting up a graph and switch to a preferred but slower
representation when printing the graph.
- Solid lines are drawn faster than dashed lines.
- Markers drawn with straight lines and/or rectangles
(like '+', square, and filled square)
are drawn faster than rounded markers (like circles and filled circles).
- Some "Grid" representations are drawn much faster than others.
For example, you might use
Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point (which is fast)
and switch to your favorite (but slower) representation
(for example, Grid/2D/bold nth line)
right before printing the graph.
Related Settings - Usually, all attributes related to a
part of a graph can be found on the dialog box for that part of the
graph (for example, Edit : Graph : Dataset : 1).
Sometimes there are related settings in other dialog boxes.
- The
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
dialog box has several "wizards" (Color, Division 1, Division 2,
and Visible). When you change one of these settings,
CoPlot actually makes several changes to several individual
parts of the graph.
- The
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
dialog box has some settings that apply to all datasets
(Dataset Labels Font, and Dataset Labels Font Style)
and to all datasets and functions
(Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light).
- The Drawing : Other
dialog box has several settings which apply to all Graph objects,
including:
- Minimum Line Width
- Draw bold markers
- Draw lines through markers
- Draw error bars through markers
- Draw caps on error bars
- Missing values make gaps
Labels?
Many representations (for example, most of the Bar
representations, Markers/labels and Wind barb)
support an optional Label column
which provides numbers or text strings to be used as
labels for the data points.
For all of these representations, the text strings can include
HTML-like
embedded text tags
(like '<b>' for bold) and
character entities
(like "α" for the Greek letter alpha).
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
3D Graphs
-
Many representations can be used on 2D and/or
3D graphs.
- If a 2D-only representation is drawn on a 3D graph,
- it will be drawn on the XY plane.
For example, Bars/2D works this way.
- If a 2D/3D representation is drawn on a 2D graph,
- the Z column data (if any) is ignored.
For example, Line works this way.
- If a 2D/3D representation is drawn on a 3D graph,
- if a Z column is specified, the 3D form of the representation
will be used; otherwise, the 2D form is drawn on the XY plane.
For example, Line works this way.
Data For Grid Representations (for contour graphs)
-
All of the representations that start with "Grid" require gridded
data.
These are the representations that are used to make contour graphs
and other, related graphs.
Gridded data has at least three columns
(representing X, Y, and Z values) with a data point for each X,Y point
on a rectangular grid. If the data isn't properly gridded,
CoPlot will show you an error message telling you so.
Here are some graphs which plot gridded data.
- Gridding
-
Given a set of values along the X axis
and a set of values along the Y axis,
the gridded data must contain a
data point for every combination of the X and Y values.
If you have scattered data (data that isn't already gridded),
you can use CoStat's
Transformations : Grid
to grid it.
If your data is already gridded (from the original source of the data),
you don't need to re-grid it in CoStat,
but make sure that all the necessary points are present and that
the data is properly sorted.
- Sort order
- The grid data must be sorted by the X and Y values, in ascending order.
The data may be sorted with X varying the fastest or Y varying
the fastest. You may use CoStat's
Edit : Sort
procedure to sort the data.
- Missing values
- There must be no missing values in the X and Y columns
for the X,Y points on the grid.
If the data file has additional rows beyond what are needed for
the grid, the X and Y columns must have missing values for those rows.
The Z column can have missing values anywhere. Missing Z values
cause holes when the data representation is drawn. This can be a good
thing, for example, to identify areas for which there was no
data collected or to identify areas where you don't want anything
plotted.
Here is a tiny example of gridded data:
X Y Z
10 10 12.3
10 20 13.4
10 30 14.3
20 10 10.2
20 20 12.5
20 30 15.7
Colors For Grid Representations
-
Many of the Grid representations use a series of
colors for the different contour levels on the Z axis.
- The Background Color is the Basis Color
- The Graph : Dataset : Background Color that you specify
is used as the basis for the series of colors.
For example:
- Medium Colors
- If you choose a medium color, like Red4,
the colors in the series will range from
Red9 (dark red, almost black, at the low end of the Z axis) to
Red0 (light red, almost white, at the high end of the Z axis),
centered at Red4.
- Light Colors
- If you choose a lighter color, like Red2,
the colors in the series will still range from Red9 to Red0,
but will be centered at Red2, giving you a lighter series of colors.
- Dark Colors
- If you choose a darker color, like Red7,
the colors in the series will still range from Red9 to Red0,
but will be centered at Red7, giving you a darker series of colors.
- White
- If white is the basis color, you will get a rainbow of colors
in the progression of violet (at the low end of the Z axis),
blue, green, yellow, orange, and red (at the high end of the Z axis).
- Black
- If black is the basis color, you will get a rainbow of colors
in the progression of red (at the low end of the Z axis),
orange, yellow, green, blue, violet (at the high end of the Z axis).
- The Order of Colors
- If Edit : Graph : Overview : Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light
is checked, the colors will range from dark (for example, Red9 at the
low end of the Z axis range) to light (for example, Red0 at the
high end of the Z axis range).
If it is not checked, the color order will be reversed.
- The Number Of Colors
- CoPlot
will use a separate color for each unique value generated by
Z Division 1 and 2.
In creating the colors, CoPlot is not constrained to choose
just colors in the standard CoPlot
color palette; it will interpolate.
- In The Legend
- You can choose how many colors in the color series
appear in the
Legend
with Graph : Legend : Grid Colors.
You can choose from:
- Display Main Color - just displays the one basis color
that you specified.
- Display Bold Colors - displays just the
Graph : Dataset (or Function) : Z Division 1 colors.
- Display All Colors - displays all of the
Graph : Dataset (or Function) : Z Division 1
and Z Division 2 colors.
Here is a description of all of the dataset representations:
- Bars/2D
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
if none of the optional data columns are used,
this draws a bar centered along the line from X,0 to X,Y
for each row of data with a valid X,Y value.
The width of the bar is specified by the Size (Bar Width)
attribute.
You can specify the optional Base X and/or
Base Y columns, so the
bar can be drawn from BaseX,BaseY to X,Y.
You can specify the optional Low Y Error
and/or High Y Error columns,
so the bar can have
error bars.
You can specify an optional Label column,
which provides a number or a text string for
labels
which are drawn at the top of the bars.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also the Histogram representation,
which is vaguely similar, but requires that the data be sorted by X,
and which draws the bars left-justified at Xi.
- Bars/3D
- On 3D graphs,
for each row of data with a valid X,Y,Z point,
CoPlot draws a 3D bar centered along the line from X,Y,0 to X,Y,Z.
You can specify an optional Base Z column, so the
bar can be drawn from X,Y,BaseZ to X,Y,Z.
You can specify an optional High Z Error column,
so the bar can have an
error bar.
You can specify an optional Label column,
which provides a number or a text string for
labels
which are drawn at the top of the bars.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
Bars/3D usually looks best when Fill Type is
set to 0) (Empty).
Because Bars/3D, Bars/3D pyramids, and
Bars/3D simple can plot
scattered XYZ data, they are a useful alternative to all of the
Grid representations (which require gridded data) in situations
where you don't want to grid the data.
(If your data is gridded, you may want to use
one of the Grid representations,
notably the Grid/3D histogram representation which is
very similar to Bars/3D.)
Because the data can have scattered XY values, CoPlot is careful
to z-sort the data internally when drawing the bars
so that the bars in the back appear to be behind
the bars in front, no matter what
Graph : Overview : 3D Spin Angle
is set to.
- Bars/3D pyramids
- This is just like Bars/3D except that
it draws pyramids instead of boxes.
- Bars/3D simple
- This is just like Bars/3D except that
it draws simpler, 2D-style bars instead of 3D-style bars.
- BarGraph/100%
- On XY graphs,
CoPlot counts how many datasets are using this representation.
It then draws a stack of bars, centered at x=1, for the data on the
first row of the data file. In the stack, there is one bar
per dataset with this representation.
The stack of bars is stretched or contracted to force the
stack height to be 100.
Additional clusters of bars are drawn at x=2,3,4,... for the data
on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ... rows of the data file.
When this representation is in use, the default Y axis low value is 0.
- BarGraph/Grouped
- On XY graphs,
CoPlot counts how many datasets are using this representation.
CoPlot then draws a group of bars, clustered at x=1, for the data on the
first row of the data file. In the cluster, there is one bar
for each dataset with this representation.
Additional clusters of bars are drawn at x=2,3,4,... for the data
on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ... rows of the data file.
When this representation is in use, the default Y axis low value is 0.
Optionally, you can specify
a column with numbers or text strings to be used as
Labels
(which appear just above the
bars), or a column with data for
Error Bars.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
- BarGraph/Stacked
- On XY graphs,
CoPlot counts how many datasets are using this representation.
It then draws a stack of bars, centered at x=1, for the data on the
first row of the data file. In the stack, there is one bar
for each dataset with this representation.
Additional stacks of bars are drawn at x=2,3,4,... for the data
on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, ... rows of the data file.
When this representation is in use, the default Y axis low value is 0.
- Box & whisker
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 6 columns of data (X, Minimum, 1st Quartile, Median,
3rd Quartile, Maximum), CoPlot draws a box with whiskers
(which look like error bars) for each row of data.
Line Width sets the width of the lines between boxes (0=none).
Error Width sets the width of the lines used to draw
the box and whiskers
(0 represents Drawing : Other : Minimum Line Width).
- Fill above
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points and fills the area above this line (to the top of
the graph).
- Fill below
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points and fills the area below this line (to the bottom
of the graph).
- Fill between 2 Y
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 3 columns of data (X,Y1,Y2), this draws a line through
the X,Y1 points and continues the line by drawing backwards
through the X,Y2 points. The area defined by the line is then filled.
- Fill inward
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points and fills the area bounded by the line.
- Fill outward
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points and fills the area not bounded by the line.
- Fill zero
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points and fills the area below this line (to y=0).
- Grid/2D/bold nth line
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this draws a series of contour lines.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled and are 2 times as wide as the
Z Division 2
lines.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/bold nth spline
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this draws a series of smoothed contour lines (splines).
The spline algorithm is simply based on the points in a given line
and does not guarantee that adjacent contour lines won't cross,
so it isn't appropriate for all datasets.
If it isn't right for your dataset, switch to
Grid/2D/bold nth line or consider re-gridding the
data with a grid that has more points.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled and are 2 times as wide as the
Z Division 2
lines.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the Z value at the Xminimum,Yminimum
point in the rectangle.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the average of the Z values at the four corners of the rectangle.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/colored surface
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this colors the areas between contour lines. The
colors
indicate the contour levels.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/line color
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this draws a series of colored contour lines. The
colors
indicate the contour level.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/line dashsize
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this draws a series of dashed contour lines. The dash size
indicates the contour level.
If there are n
Z Division 1 and 2
levels, the first contour line gets a minimal dashsize and
the nth contour line gets the dashsize specified by the
Line Dashsize attribute.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/2D/line width
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this draws a series of wide contour lines. The line width
indicates the contour level.
If there are n
Z Division 1 and 2
levels, the first contour line gets a minimal line width and
the nth contour line gets the line width specified by the
Line Width attribute.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/1 point
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the Z value at the Xminimum,Yminimum
point in the rectangle.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the average of the Z values at the four corners of the rectangle.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/colored surface
- On 3D graphs, given 3 columns of data (X,Y,Z)
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this colors the areas between contour lines. The
colors
indicate the contour levels.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/histogram
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a 3D block for each data point.
The base of a block extends from Xi to Xi+1,
and Yj to Yj+1
Thus, there is no space between the blocks in the X or Y direction.
The height of each block is based on the Z value at the
Xi,Yj point of the block.
This representation is useful for plotting data from CoStat's
Statistics : Frequency Analysis : Cross Tabulation
when you have cross tabulated two columns of data.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
See also the Bars/3D representation,
which is very similar, but doesn't require the data to be gridded.
- Grid/3D/one color
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface.
Each rectangle on the surface is drawn with the same color.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/one color with sides
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a surface with sides
(extending from the surface to the XY plane).
Each rectangle on the surface and on the sides
is drawn with the same color.
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Grid/3D/pyramids
- This is just like Grid/3D/histogram except that
it draws pyramids instead of boxes.
- Grid/3D/transparent
- On 3D graphs,
given
gridded X,Y,Z data,
this plots a wireframe (rectangles with no background color).
See also
Data For Grid Representations.
- Histogram
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given two columns of data (X,Y),
this plots a series of rectangles, each with a
base from Xi to Xi+1
and a height from 0 to Yi.
Thus, there is no space between the rectangles horizontally.
This representation is useful for plotting data from CoStat's
Statistics : Frequency Analysis : Cross Tabulation
when you have cross tabulated one column of data.
The data must be sorted by the X values, in ascending order.
Usually, the X values are evenly spaced, but they don't have to be.
Whenever there is a gap in the X values, or at the end of the file,
CoPlot guesses how wide the rectangle should be, based on the width
of the last rectangle.
See also the Bars/2D representation,
which is very similar, but doesn't require the data to be sorted by X,
and which draws the bars centered at Xi.
- Line
- On 2D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a line connecting
the data points.
You can specify the optional Low X Error, High X Error,
Low Y Error, High Y Error columns,
and/or Low Z Error, High Z Error columns
to plot
error bars.
On 3D graphs, if the Z variable is valid, this draws a 3D line
connecting the data points. If the Z variable is Not Used,
a 2D line is drawn on the XY plane.
- Line/staircase
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a horizontal line
and then a vertical line between each point.
- Markers
- On 2D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws markers at the X,Y points
and (if Line Width >0) a line connecting
the markers.
You can specify the optional Low X Error, High X Error,
Low Y Error, High Y Error columns,
and/or Low Z Error, High Z Error columns
to plot
error bars.
On 3D graphs, if the Z variable is valid, this draws markers
(and lines, if Line Width > 0) in 3D space.
If the Z variable is Not Used,
the markers (and lines) are drawn on the XY plane.
- Markers/labels
- On 2D graphs,
given 3 columns of data (X,Y,Labels), this draws markers with
labels
at each data point.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
If Line Width is greater than 0,
a line is drawn connecting them.
On 3D graphs,
given 4 columns of data (X,Y,Z,Labels), this draws markers with
labels
at each data point. If Line Width is greater than 0,
a line is drawn connecting them. If Z is Not Used, the
markers and line are plotted on the XY plane.
If you just want to label a few X,Y points and don't already
have the labels in a datafile, consider using
Graph : Comment
instead.
If you click on the graph, it will find the nearest data point,
and let you create a label at that X,Y location on the graph.
- Markers/nth point
- This is very similar to Markers, but only draws
markers at every nth point. If Line Width>0,
a line is drawn connecting all of the points (not just the nth points).
This is useful if the data points are so close together that
all of the markers would overlap if you used the Markers
representation.
On 2D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws markers at the X,Y points
and (if Line Width >0) a line connecting
the markers.
You can specify the optional Low X Error, High X Error,
Low Y Error, High Y Error columns,
and/or Low Z Error, High Z Error columns
to plot
error bars.
On 3D graphs, if the Z variable is valid, this draws markers
(and lines) in 3D space. If the Z variable is Not Used,
the markers (and lines) are drawn on the XY plane.
- Markers/variable
- On 2D graphs,
given 4 columns of data (X,Y, and optionally
Type and Size),
this draws a marker of varying type and size at each data point.
This is useful when you want each marker to convey
additional information.
If Type is set to unused, all of the markers will
be drawn with the same Marker Type, as specified below.
If Size is set to unused, all of the markers will
be drawn with the same Size (Marker), as specified below.
Type lets you specify a column of the datafile with
the marker character numbers (32 to 127) to be used for each point
to be plotted. For example, a filled square is #66.
You can see the markers in the Marker font and their character numbers
by choosing Edit : Graph : Dataset : x : Marker Type.
Or, you may want to use CoPlot's File : Open : GIF to view
and print the chart of the characters in the Marker font
which is in the fsmarker.gif file
in the cohort directory.
For fonts other than the Marker font, the character numbers correspond
to the standard ASCII character numbers (see helvet.gif
in the cohort directory).
Hint: In order to set up the data for this column, you might
use CoStat's Transformations : If Then Else (Numeric)
several times, to assign values to the Type column
based on different If and Then equations
(with the Else
equation leaving the value in the Type column unchanged).
Size - The values in the Size column determine
the relative size of the markers.
To do this, CoPlot determines the maximum value in the Size column.
It then associates that value with the maximum physical marker size
as specified by Size (marker), below. Values less than the
maximum in the Size column result in proportionally smaller markers.
On 3D graphs, if a Z column is also specified,
this draws the markers in 3D space. If the Z column is Not Used,
the markers are drawn on the XY plane.
- Markers/variable/color
- This is like Markers/variable, but with an additional, required
Color variable.
Color is required because the color array will be displayed
in the legend.
This representation is a good substitute for the colored Grid/2D
representations when the data isn't gridded and you don't want to grid it.
[Added in version 6.100.]
Color -
CoPlot looks at the data and chooses a "nice" range for the
virtual axis. (The virtual axis type is always linear.)
Dataset : x : Z Divisions 1,2 then determine
the color boundaries (as for other color array representations)
and which colors appear in the legend (Legend : Grid Colors).
- Spline
- On 2D graphs,
given 2 columns of data (X,Y), this draws a marker at each
data point and (if Line Width>0)
a smoothed line (a spline) connecting the data points.
You can specify the optional Low X Error, High X Error,
Low Y Error, High Y Error columns,
and/or Low Z Error, High Z Error columns
to plot
error bars.
On 3D graphs, if a Z column is also specified,
this draws the markers and spline in 3D space.
If the Z column is Not Used,
the markers and spline are drawn on the XY plane.
- Vector
- On most 2D graphs,
given 4 columns of data (X,Y, Size, Angle
in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees),
this draws vectors (arrows) based at the points defined by x,y.
On 3D graphs, if Z and Attitude
(the angle in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees
relative to the XY plane) columns
are specified, the vectors are drawn in 3D space;
otherwise, the vectors are drawn on the XY plane.
- The length of each vector is determined by the Size column --
the lengths are scaled so that the vector with the biggest
absolute value in that column has the length as defined by
Size (Maximum).
Smaller values in the column lead
to proportionally shorter vectors. When the value is 0, the vector has
length 0. When the value is less than 0, the vector extends in the
opposite direction.
- The direction of the vector is determined by
the Angle column. It assumes the angles are
in degrees,
where 0 degrees is drawn at 3 o'clock and the angles progress
counterclockwise.
If your angle data is based at 0 degrees at 12
o'clock and or counter clockwise use Transformations : Transform
in the datafile editor.
- Line Width sets the width of the lines between vectors (0=none).
Error Width sets the width of the lines used to draw
the vector (0=Drawing : Other : Minimum Line Width).
- Wind barb
- On most 2D graphs,
given 4 columns of data (X,Y, Speed, Angle,
and optional Labels),
this draws wind barbs with the bases at the points defined by X,Y.
On 3D graphs, if Z and Attitude
(the angle in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees
relative to the XY plane) columns
are specified, the windbarbs are drawn in 3D space;
otherwise, the windbarbs are drawn on the XY plane.
Wind barbs are used on weather maps to indicate the direction
and magnitude of the wind.
- All the wind barbs are the same length.
The length of the wind barbs is determined
by Size (Maximum).
- The Speed data determines which
barbs are visible -- the triangle is worth 50 units; each full barb is
worth 10; each 1/2 barb is worth 5. Positive speeds are drawn with
clockwise barbs. Negative speeds are drawn with
counter clockwise barbs. A negative speed does not reverse the
direction of the barb. Speed values from -130 to 130 can be plotted.
The speed is rounded to the nearest 1/2 barb; thus, 1/2 barb indicates
a speed of 2.5 to 7.4999 units.
- The angle
of the barb is determined by the Angle data, in degrees
with 0 degrees at 3 o'clock and the angles progressing
counter clockwise. If your angle data is based at 0 degrees at 12
o'clock and or counter clockwise use Transformations : Transform
in the datafile editor.
- If the Label column is specified, the
label
is written beyond the end of the barb; this can be used
to indicate some other value (for example, barometric pressure).
The text is always automatically drawn right side up.
The font used for the labels is controlled by
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Dataset Labels Font
and Dataset Labels Font Style.
- Line width sets the width of the lines between boxes (0=none).
Error width sets the width of the lines used to draw
the box and whiskers (0=Drawing : Other : Minimum line width).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Dataset : Regression
There is a "Regression" button on the
Edit : Graph : Dataset
dialogs which lets you quickly do a regression for the current dataset.
The regression takes into account the X and Y
variables and
the Keep If equation for the current dataset.
This dialog box allows you to easily:
- Generate one equation and store it as a
Graph : Function.
- Generate several equations each successively stored in the same
Graph : Function
slot.
For example, you could generate
Polynomials of Degree 1,
then Degree 2, then Degree 3, and see
how each looks by itself.
- Generate several equations each stored separately in
different Graph : Function slots.
For example, you could generate
Polynomials of Degree 1,
then Degree 2, then Degree 3, with
each one stored as a different Graph : Function.
This allows
you to visually compare the different regressions.
After using this procedure, you may wish to use
Edit : Graph : Function
to edit the attributes of the function(s) you have created.
For example, you might want to change the color or line type
of the function. Or, you may wish to delete the function.
The options on the dialog box are:
- 1) Save result as Graph : Function #
- lets you specify in which Graph : Function slot the resulting
equation will be stored. If you choose New Function, a
new function will be created to hold the result.
- 2a) Select a standard function
- as soon as you select one of the standard functions, CoPlot
will perform the regression and plot the resulting equation.
The standard functions are all linear or linearizable equations, and
therefore can be solved very quickly by CoPlot.
- 2b) Or, enter an equation: y =
- as soon as you enter an equation
(type it, then press Enter),
CoPlot will perform the regression and plot the resulting equation.
Equations should refer to one or more unknown values, named
u1, u2, u3, ... u9.
For example, e^(u1+u2*x).
Equations can use other functions, too (the f()
option will automatically insert functions into the equation at the
current insertion point).
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
CoPlot will try to find the best values for these unknowns.
If you use the 2b option, the regression is solved
as a nonlinear regression, whether the equation is nonlinear or not.
Nonlinear regressions are solved iteratively,
and thus may take longer for CoPlot to solve. You can click on the
status line in CoPlot to cancel the regression.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Function
The Edit : Graph
: Function dialog
lets you create and edit functions.
Each function has attributes which specify what the
function is and how it will be plotted on the graph.
See also the separate list of
Function Representations.
When you create a graph, it initially has no functions.
To create a new function, you must drop down the Function list
on the Edit : Graph dialog box and click on New Function.
Then, Function 1 will be created and added to the list.
Related Settings - Usually, all attributes related to a
part of a graph can be found on the dialog box for that part of the
graph (for example, Edit : Graph : X Axis : Title 1).
Sometimes there are related settings in other dialog boxes.
- The
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
dialog box has several "wizards" (Color, Division 1, Division 2,
and Visible). When you change one of these settings,
CoPlot actually makes several changes to several individual
parts of the graph.
- The
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
dialog box has some settings that apply to all datasets
(Dataset Labels Font, and Dataset Labels Font Style)
and to all datasets and functions
(Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light).
- The Drawing : Other
dialog box has several settings which apply to all Graph objects,
including:
- Minimum Line Width
- Draw bold markers
- Draw lines through markers
- Draw error bars through markers
- Draw caps on error bars
- Missing values make gaps
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Function
- lets you specify which function to edit (All, or 1 - n).
To create a new function,
you must drop down the current list of functions
and click on
New Function. Another number (n+1) will be added to the list.
- Up
- moves the currently selected function up one slot.
The order of functions in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier functions may be partially or completely hidden by later functions.
- Down
- moves the currently selected function down one slot.
The order of functions in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the drawing is redrawn.
Earlier functions may be partially or completely hidden by later functions.
- Copy
- makes a new function which is a copy of the currently selected function.
The new function is inserted in the list right after the currently selected
function, and it becomes the currently selected function.
- Delete
- deletes the currently selected function.
- Equation
- specifies the equation to be plotted. On 2D graphs, the equation can
refer to 'x' (for example, 24 + 10*x + 4*x^2.
If you refer to 'y', y will be treated as 0.
On 3D graphs, the equation can
refer to 'x' and 'y'
(for example, 24 + 10*x + 4*y + 2*x*y.
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- A
- has a list of characters (#32 to #255, as defined by the
ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding). If you click on a character,
it will be inserted into the textfield
at the current insertion point.
- f()
- has a list of functions (and other things) that you can put in the equation.
If you click on a function, it will be inserted
into the equation at the current insertion point.
The list includes:
- Functions (for example, "sin(x)") -
The parameters
for the functions are described tersely, but basically:
b=any boolean expression,
d=any numeric (double) expression,
i=any integer expression,
s=any string expression,
and v=void (no return value).
- Constants (for example, "pi").
- Operators (for example, "*").
See Using Equations
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Legend
- specifies the text that will be used to identify this function
in the legend.
If this is ".", the default will be used (the equation itself).
If this is "" or if the text is just one
big HTML comment (starting with "<!--" and ending with
"-->"), there will be no entry in the
legend for this function.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
Because this legend entry will become part of the complete legend,
it is important that all attribute starting tags
(for example, '<b>')
have matching attribute ending tags
(for example, '</b>')
so that the attributes don't apply
to all subsequent entries in the legend.
Function: Legend handles most tags correctly,
even tags that make the text more than one line
(for example, <BR> and <P>).
- Representation
- specifies how the data for this function will be represented.
See
Graph : Function : Representations
for a complete list and description of
the options.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the function representation (if appropriate).
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Color
- specifies the color
for the fill and/or line parts of the representation.
If this is set to notDrawn, nothing will be drawn (and it is
therefore a quick way to temporarily not draw this function, without losing
the attributes).
- Fill Type
- specifies a hatch pattern (a combination of horizontal,
vertical, and diagonal lines) or a bit-mapped pattern.
The bit-mapped patterns are only scaled to a limited number of
sizes (integer multiples of the original pattern), so don't be surprised
if a small change to Size (Fill) has no effect.
- Fill Size
- specifies the unit size of the fill pattern
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when
line objects are drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the lines
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- X Evaluate
- specifies the number of times the equation is evaluated while spanning
the equation's range along the X axis (usually, the X axis range, but
see From and To below). For 2D functions, 100 is
the default and is usually sufficient. For 3D functions, a smaller
number (25?) is more suitable.
- Y Evaluate
- (for 3D graphs) specifies the number of times the equation
is evaluated while spanning
the equation's range along the Y axis.
25 is the default.
- Z Division 1, 2 (.list)
- This is used by most of the Grid function representations to
indicate where to divide the Z axis into different levels
(for example, where contour lines are drawn).
The Z Division 1 values are used for primary divisions
(for example, bolder and labelled contour lines).
The Z Division 2 values are used for secondary divisions.
You can enter different things in these fields:
- "." - A period tells the program to use the default values, based
on the Z axis type and range. The defaults match the values
of the default locations for Z Axis : Ticks 1 or
Ticks 2.
- One value - tells the program to divide
the Z axis range (for example, 0 to 100) at levels that are
that distance apart (for example, 25).
- A comma-separated-value list - A list of values separated
by commas tells CoPlot exactly where you want the divisions to be
(for example, 0, 25, 50, 75, 100).
- From
- (for 2D graphs) specifies the low end of the range for the function to be
evaluated. Enter "." for the default (which is the low end of the X axis
range). Using From and/or To lets you plot the equation
over less than that full range of the X axis.
- To
- (for 2D graphs) specifies the high end of the range for the function to be
evaluated. Enter "." for the default (which is the high end of the X axis
range). Using From and/or To lets you plot the equation
over less than that full range of the X axis.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Function : Representations
Functions can be represented (drawn) in many ways on a graph.
- Representations are specified on the
Edit : Graph : Function
dialogs.
- Most representations are only available on some types of graphs
(for example, all of the Grid/3D representations are
not available on 2D graphs).
- If you plot a 2D representation on a 3D graph, the
function will be plotted on the XY plane.
- If the equation you specify for a 2D representation refers to
'y', y will be treated as 0.
Speed - There is considerable variation in the time
required to draw the functions with different representations, especially
for the Grid representations. If you are working with a Grid
representation, you way want to choose a faster representation
while setting up a graph (for example,
Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point) and switch to your favorite
(but slower) representation
(for example, Grid/2D/bold nth line)
right before printing the graph.
Colors For Grid Representations
-
Many of the Grid representations use a series of
colors for the different contour levels on the Z axis.
- The Background Color is the Basis Color
- The Graph : Function : Background Color that you specify
is used as the basis for the series of colors. For example:
- Medium Colors
- If you choose a medium color, like Red4,
the colors in the series will range from
Red9 (dark red, almost black, at the low end of the Z axis) to
Red0 (light red, almost white, at the high end of the Z axis),
centered at Red4.
- Light Colors
- If you choose a lighter color, like Red2,
the colors in the series will still range from Red9 to Red0,
but will be centered at Red2, giving you a lighter series of colors.
- Dark Colors
- If you choose a darker color, like Red7,
the colors in the series will still range from Red9 to Red0,
but will be centered at Red7, giving you a darker series of colors.
- White
- If white is the basis color, you will get a rainbow of colors
in the progression of violet (at the low end of the Z axis),
blue, green, yellow, orange, and red (at the high end of the Z axis).
- Black
- If black is the basis color, you will get a rainbow of colors
in the progression of red (at the low end of the Z axis),
orange, yellow, green, blue, violet (at the high end of the Z axis).
- The Order of Colors
- If Edit : Graph : Overview : Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light
is checked, the colors will range from dark (for example, Red9 at the
low end of the Z axis range) to light (for example, Red0 at the
high end of the Z axis range).
If it is not checked, the color order will be reversed.
- The Number Of Colors
- CoPlot
will use a separate color for each unique value generated by
Z Division 1 and 2.
In creating the colors, CoPlot is not constrained to choose
just colors in the standard CoPlot
color palette; it will interpolate.
- In The Legend
- You can choose how many colors in the color series
appear in the
Legend
with Graph : Legend : Grid Colors.
You can choose from:
- Display Main Color - just displays the one basis color
that you specified.
- Display Bold Colors - displays just the
Graph : Function (or Dataset) : Z Division 1 colors.
- Display All Colors - displays all of the
Graph : Function (or Dataset) : Z Division 1
and Z Division 2 colors.
Here is a description of all of the function representations:
- Fill above
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x,
this fills the area above the equation (to the top of the graph).
- Fill below
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x,
this fills the area below the equation (to the bottom of the graph).
- Fill zero
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x,
this fills the area below the equation (to y=0).
- Grid/2D/bold nth line
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this draws a series of contour lines.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled and are 2 times as wide as the
Z Division 2
lines.
- Grid/2D/bold nth spline
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this draws a series of smoothed contour lines (splines).
The spline algorithm is simply based on the points in a given line
and does not guarantee that adjacent contour lines won't cross,
so it isn't appropriate for all functions.
If it isn't right for your function, switch to
Grid/2D/bold nth line and consider increasing
the X Evaluate and Y Evaluate values so
that the grid has more points.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled and are 2 times as wide as the
Z Division 2
lines.
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the Z value at the Xminimum,Yminimum
point in the rectangle.
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the average of the Z values at the four corners of the rectangle.
- Grid/2D/colored surface
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this colors the areas between contour lines. The
colors
indicate the contour levels.
- Grid/2D/line color
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this draws a series of colored contour lines. The
colors
indicates the contour level.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
- Grid/2D/line dashsize
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this draws a series of dashed contour lines.
The size of the dashes indicates the contour level.
If there are n
Z Division 1 and 2
levels, the first contour line gets a minimal dashsize and
the nth contour line gets the dashsize specified by the
Line Dashsize attribute.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
- Grid/2D/line width
- On most 2D graphs and on the XY plane of a 3D graph,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this draws a series of wide contour lines. The line width
indicates the contour level.
If there are n
Z Division 1 and 2
levels, the first contour line gets a minimal line width and
the nth contour line gets the line width specified by the
Line Width attribute.
The contour lines associated with
Z Division 1
levels are labelled. The others are not.
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/1 point
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the Z value at the Xminimum,Yminimum
point in the rectangle.
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface. Each rectangle on the surface is
colored
based on the average of the Z values at the four corners of the rectangle.
- Grid/3D/colored surface
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this colors the areas between contour lines. The
colors
indicate the contour levels.
- Grid/3D/one color
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface.
Each rectangle on the surface is drawn with the same color.
- Grid/3D/one color with sides
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a surface with sides
(extending from the surface to the XY plane).
Each rectangle on the surface and on the sides
is drawn with the same color.
- Grid/3D/transparent
- On 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x and y,
this plots a wireframe (rectangles with no background color).
- Line
- On 2D and on the XY plane of 3D graphs,
given an equation referring to x,
this draws the line described by the equation.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
The Edit : Graph
: Axis : Overview dialog
lets you specify the Axis Type and range for an axis on a graph.
Collectively, the axis ranges define the graph coordinate system, which
determines where data points and functions are plotted on the graph.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Axis
- lets you specify which axis to edit (All, X, Y, Z, or T).
-
Type
- specifies the type of axis. The axis type partially determines
where tick marks and labels are drawn.
When you change the axis type, CoPlot automatically changes
the axis label's format to an appropriate format, but you
can change it manually (see
Edit : Graph : Axis : Labels).
For hints on working with date, time, degree, and pi
values, see
Entering Numeric Values
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
The options are:
-
Linear Scale
- is the standard, Cartesian coordinate axis.
It is available for all graph types.
-
Julian -> Date
- converts Julian dates (following the Lotus 1-2-3 convention of Jan 1,
1900=day 2) into the Year-Month-Date format.
There are some "magic" numbers for special circumstances: For
Labels, Ticks 1, Ticks 2, Grid 1,
and Grid 2, if you set Divisions to 30 (or
a multiple of 30, commonly: 30, 60, 90, 180, 360, 720, ...),
the program will put items at monthly (or
multi-monthly) intervals, properly accounting for the different
numbers of days in different months. Also, setting
Divisions to 360
will put items at yearly intervals.
Similar to the multiples-of-30 system, you can also use
multiples of 30 plus 1 (commonly: 31, 61, 91, 181, 361, 721, ...)
to get the beginnings of months as if the year started Nov. 1.
This is useful for hydrologists.
hydrologists.
-
Seconds -> Time
- converts a time (in seconds since midnight on the 0th day) into "Day
x Hours:Minutes:Seconds.Decimal" format.
If the value of day is 0, it is not displayed.
-
Degrees -> Deg°Min'Sec"
- converts decimal degrees into Degrees°Minutes'Seconds" format.
This is the default axis type for Conic, Mercator, and Orthographic
graphs.
-
Pi
- is similar to
the linear axis, but the labels and ticks appear at multiples of pi.
-
Log Base 10
- performs the log transformation of data and functions
as they are plotted. The labels indicate the corresponding
untransformed values. Values on this axis must be greater than 0.
See Notes on Log Axes.
-
Double Log Base 10
- is similar to the Log Base 10 Axis, but performs the log
of the log transformation. Values on this axis must be greater than 1.
See Notes on Log Axes.
-
Natural Log
- is similar to the Log Base 10 Axis, but performs the
natural log transformation. Values on this axis must be greater than
0.
-
Square Root
- is similar to the Log Base 10 Axis, but performs the
square root transformation. Values on this axis must be at least 0.
-
Normal Probability
- plots data and functions on a normal
probability scale. The data for this axis are often cumulative data
divided by the maximum cumulative value,
and therefore range from greater than 0
to less than 1.
See Notes on Normal Probability Axes.
-
Standard Deviation
- also plots on a normal probability scale, but
the labels and ticks indicate the number of standard deviations from
the mean. The data for this axis are often cumulative data divided by
the maximum cumulative value
and therefore range from greater than 0 to less
than 1. The range for this axis type is usually about -4 to 4.
See Notes on Normal Probability Axes.
-
Probit
- also
plots on a normal probability scale, but the labels and ticks indicate
the number of probits
(a contraction of 'prob'ability un'its' --
standard deviations from the mean, plus 5). The data for
this axis are often cumulative data divided by the maximum cumulative
value, and therefore range from greater than 0 to less than 1.
The range for
this axis type is usually about 1 to 9, corresponding to -4 to 4 on
the standard deviation axis.
See Notes on Normal Probability Axes.
Here are examples of the different axis types:
- Low
- specifies the numeric value associated with
what is normally the low end of this axis.
Actually, the Low value can be greater than the High
value in order to flip the order of the axis.
If you enter ".", the default (based on the range of any
valid datasets and functions) will be used.
- High
- specifies the numeric value associated with
what is normally the high end of this axis.
Actually, the Low value can be greater than the High
value in order to flip the order of the axis.
If you enter ".", the default (based on the range of any
valid datasets and functions) will be used.
- Center
- specifies the center value for this axis. You may want
to change this if you
want to shift the range of values displayed on the axis a little
higher or lower.
This value is not stored with the graph -- it is a reflection
of the current Low and High values.
If you change this value, CoPlot implements the change by changing the
Low and High values
One common use for this is when the graph is a map:
this lets you center the axis on a specific latitude or longitude.
Another common use for this is when data values on the
X axis span a large range (for example, a time series) and the
graph only displays a small portion of the X axis range.
Center (particularly the Center
'+' and '-' buttons and
particularly with Center Shift % = 100%)
lets you change the portion of the data which is visible.
- Center Animation
- This animates the graph by repeatedly increasing (or decreasing)
the Center. This is useful if you have a data file with
a large range of values on the X axis -- you can plot a small portion
of the data's X axis range and then use the animation feature
to scan the rest of the X axis range.
- Frames Per Second
- specifies the maximum speed of the animation. The animation
won't go any faster than this speed, but if the frames take a long
time to draw, the animation will go slower.
- Center Shift %
- specifies the percentage of the axis range (0 - 100%) which
is shifted when you press the Center
'+' or '-' button.
Usually, it is useful to shift the axis a small amount
(for example, 2%), but you can make the
'+' and '-' buttons
shift the axis by the entire range by setting this to 100%.
- Range
- specifies the range of the axis. If you change the range,
the center of the axis stays at the same value, but the Low
and High values are adjusted to account for the new
axis range.
This value is not stored with the graph -- it is a reflection
of the current Low and High values.
If you change this value, CoPlot implements the change by changing the
Low and High values
- Offset
- specifies the distance
(in Drawing Coordinates)
that the axis line, ticks, labels, and titles
are drawn outward from their normal position (Offset=0).
Many people like the appearance of graphs with an offset of .25 inches
or 1 cm.
- Color
- specifies the color
to be used for that the axis line, ticks, labels, and titles.
This is a "wizard" that goes into (and changes)
all of the separate places
(X Axis : Axis Line : Color, X Axis : Ticks 1 : Color, etc.)
where
the colors are stored for the axis line, ticks, labels, and titles.
Only parts of the axis where the color is not notDrawn will
be affected.
- Division 1
- specifies the distance between
the Ticks 1 and Grid 1 lines
and the Labels.
This is a "wizard" that goes into (and changes)
all of the separate places
(X Axis : Ticks 1 : Division, X Axis : Grid 1 : Division, etc.)
where these values are stored, and so
is a quick way to make several changes to the graph.
- Division 2
- specifies the distance between
the Ticks 2 lines and between the Grid 2 lines.
This is a "wizard" that goes into (and changes)
all of the separate places
(X Axis : Ticks 2 : Division, X Axis : Ticks 2 : Division)
where these values are stored, and so
is a quick way to make several changes to the graph.
- Visible
- specifies where the Axis Line, Ticks 1, Ticks 2, Labels
and Title are visible (on the Main Axis,
the Opposite Axis,
or Both Axes).
This is a "wizard" that goes into (and changes)
all of the separate places
(X Axis : Axis Line : Visible, X Axis : Ticks 1 : Visible, etc.)
where these values are stored, and so
is a quick way to make several changes to the graph.
Menu Tree /
Index
Notes on Log Base 10 Axis and
Double Log Base 10 Type:
If an axis type is Log Base 10 or Double Log Base
10, the number of Divisions for
Labels, Ticks 1, Ticks 2, Grid 1, and Grid 2 lines
indicates the number per decade (a span of 1
order of magnitude) instead of the number over the whole range. For
example, if the number of Divisions for Labels is
3 and the range is 1
to 1000, there will be labels at 1, 2, 3, 10, 20, 30, 100, 200, 300,
and 1000. If you set the number of Divisions for Labels
to 1, the
labels will be printed as powers of 10, for example, 100,
101, 102, and 103. If you use
negative numbers, you can get labels every -nth decade, for example, for a
setting of -2,
the labels will be printed only at 100 and
102.
If the range on a log axis is relatively small (i.e., if the
High divided by the Low is less than 5), a different
system is used. CoPlot will automatically set the number of
Divisions for Labels and Ticks 1 to 10.
With these settings,
CoPlot will print between 2 and 10 labels, total, depending on the
range. If the number of labels actually printed is less than 4 then
CoPlot will automatically set Divisions for
Ticks 2 to 10. This will cause 9 Ticks 2 to be
printed between each of the Ticks 1.
If Divisions is set to a number in the range 11 to 99,
CoPlot will print 9 ticks between each power of 10 (for example, if the
low end of the range is 1.0: 1, 2, 3, 4, ... 9) and also
print ticks at 1.1, 1.2,
... Divisions/10.
Remember that the low end of the range of a Log base 10 axis must
be greater than zero.
Menu Tree /
Index
Notes on Normal Probability, Standard Deviation, and
Probit Axis Types:
These axis types can be used on any axis of most types of graphs.
All of them print on a normal probability scale, but with different
labelling. If Axis: Type is set to Normal Probability
and the data has of range of 0.05 to 0.95, then the same data
plotted with Axis: Type: Standard deviation will appear to
have a range of roughly -2 to 2 standard deviations, and the
same data plotted on Axis: Type: Probit
will appear to have a range of roughly 3 to 7 probit units
(standard deviations + 5). (See the graphs below.)
These axes are often used on the Y axis of both XY graphs and
Histograms as a graphic check of the normality of a set of data.
Cumulative data with a normal distribution will appear as a straight
line on these axis. Any deviation from normality appears as a
deviation from the straight line.
The Normal Probability Axis
The default range on a Normal Probability axis is
0.001 to 0.999 which is
expressed as 0.1% to 99.9%. The widest range allowed is 0.00001 to
0.99999. (The tails of the normal probability distribution extend to
infinity; so a range of 0 to 1 is not possible.)
Because the labels and tick marks on a Normal Probability
axis do not
occur at regular intervals, CoPlot has a special system for
specifying the number of labels and tick marks. The number of
Divisions is used to indicate the number of
pairs of an item (a label or a type of tick mark).
Divisions
| Additional items appear at
|
1
| 50%
|
2,3
| 99.9%
| and
| 0.1%
|
4,5
| 90%
| and
| 10%
|
6,7
| 99%
| and
| 1%
|
8,9
| 70%
| and
| 30%
|
10,11
| 99.99%
| and
| 0.01%
|
12,13
| 99.999%
| and
| 0.001%
|
14,15
| 95%
| and
| 5%
|
16,17
| 80%
| and
| 20%
|
18,19
| 99.5%
| and
| .5%
|
20,21
| 60%
| and
| 40%
|
22,23
| 98%
| and
| 2%
|
24,25
| 99.8%
| and
| .2%
|
26,27
| 99.98%
| and
| .02%
|
28,29
| 99.998%
| and
| .002%
|
30,31
| 99.95%
| and
| .05%
|
32,33
| 99.995%
| and
| .005%
|
If the number of Divisions is 1,
a label (for example) will appear
at 50%. If the number of Divisions is 3,
labels will also appear at 0.1 and 99.9%. Etc.
XY Graphs - The only difference between the four HEIGHT
graphs shown below is the Y Axis: Type.
(Each of the Y axes is labelled appropriately.)
Here is a comparison of Linear Scale, Normal Probability, Standard
Deviation, and Probit Axes on an XY graph:
The X data for the graphs is the sorted Height values.
The Y data is the cumulative
Height values divided by 4720.5 (the sum of all of the Height values).
Here is the data in the HEIGHT.DT sample data file, used in the
sample graph.
Height Cum/4720.5
61.5 0.0130282809
62.75 0.02632136426
63.25 0.03972036861
63.5 0.05317233344
67.5 0.06747166614
68.75 0.08203580129
72.5 0.09739434382
73.75 0.1130176888
74 0.12869399428
78.25 0.14527062811
78.25 0.16184726194
80 0.17879461921
80 0.19574197649
80 0.21268933376
82.5 0.23016629594
83.75 0.24790806059
90.5 0.2670797585
90.5 0.28625145641
90.5 0.30542315433
91.5 0.32480669421
91.75 0.34424319458
91.75 0.36367969495
92.75 0.38332803728
93 0.40302934011
94 0.42294248491
95 0.44306747167
96 0.46340430039
96.25 0.48379408961
96.5 0.50423683932
97.75 0.52494439148
98.5 0.54581082512
103 0.56763054761
106.5 0.59019171698
110 0.61349433323
110.75 0.63695583095
110.75 0.66041732867
116.5 0.6850969177
116.75 0.70982946722
120.25 0.73530346362
120.25 0.76077746001
127.5 0.78778731067
127.75 0.81485012181
131.75 0.84276030082
132.5 0.8708293613
146.5 0.9018642093
150.75 0.93379938566
154.75 0.96658192988
157.75 1
Using CoStat (the datafile editor) to prepare data for
XY graphs with Normal Probability, Standard deviation,
or Probit axes:
- Start with a data file with 1 column of raw data (for example, Height).
- Use Edit : Sort to sort based on that column, in ascending order.
- Use Edit : Copy Columns to make a copy of column #1
at the end.
- Use Transformations : Accumulate to accumulate values in
column #2.
- Use CtrlEnd to go to the last row in the file
and look at the last
value in column #2 (the total).
- Use Transformations : Transform to transform the
values in column #2 by dividing by the total
(for example, col(1)/4720.5).
- Use File : Save As to save the data with a different file name
(so the original data isn't overwritten).
This results in data ranging from 0 to 1, which is what the
Normal Probability axis, Standard Deviation axis,
and Probit axis take as
input.
Histograms - The data for Histograms is not raw data, as for
XY graphs, but data that has been grouped into classes. For the sample
data file, HEIGHT1.DT, the Height data (from above) was tabulated into
classes with a width of 10 (60 - 69.9, 70 - 79.9, 80 - 89.9, etc.)
with CoStat's Statistics : Frequency Analysis : Crosstabulation.
For the four HEIGHT1 graphs (shown below), the X variable for data
set #1 is Height (the lower limit of each group: 60, 70, 80, etc.)
and the Y variable is Cumulative Frequency divided by 48 (the number
of data points).
Here is a comparison of Linear Scale, Normal Probability, Standard
Deviation, and Probit Axes on a histogram:
The only difference between the four HEIGHT1 graphs is the
Y Axis : Type. (Each of the Y axes is labelled
appropriately.) Here is the HEIGHT1.DT sample data file, which is
used for the HEIGHT1 series of sample graphs:
PRINT DATA
Using: C:\COHORT6\HEIGHT1.DT
Height Frequency Cumulative Cum(Freq)/48
-------- --------- ---------- -------------
60 6 6 0.125
70 5 11 0.22916666667
80 5 16 0.33333333333
90 15 31 0.64583333333
100 2 33 0.6875
110 5 38 0.79166666667
120 4 42 0.875
130 2 44 0.91666666667
140 1 45 0.9375
150 3 48 1
Useful Functions -
There are two related functions which can be used in equations that
you type in:
- norm
- When you are
plotting frequency data on a histogram with an ordinary linear Y
axis (for example, X=Height and Y=Frequency
in the Height1 datafile)
and want to also plot the normal distribution, you can use the
normal distribution function, norm, which gives the bell-shaped curve
of the normal distribution. The expected normal distribution for
HEIGHT1 data is given by:
Function 1 = w*n/s*norm((x-m)/s)
where:
- w = the class width = 10
- n = the number of values = 48
- s = the standard deviation = 25.01
- m = the mean of the values = 98.34
So the actual function is:
Function 1 = 10*48/25.01*norm((x-98.34)/25.01)
- cumNorm
- Both the HEIGHT XY graphs and the HEIGHT1 Histograms make use of
the cumulative normal function, cumNorm. Since the mean, 98.34, and
standard deviation, 25.01, of the Height values are known from
Statistics : Descriptive in CoStat (or can be determined with
a calculator), you can plot the expected cumulative normal
distribution with cumNorm((x-mean)/standard deviation)
(in this case, Function 1 = cumNorm((x-98.34)/25.01).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Axis : Titles
The Edit : Graph
: Axis : Titles dialog
lets you specify the text for Title 1 (the primary title),
and Title 2 (the secondary title), and their attributes,
for each of the axes.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Axis
- specifies whether you want to edit the titles on the
X, Y, Z, or T axes, or All axes simultaneously.
- Which Part
- specifies whether you want to edit Title 1 (the primary title),
Title 2 (the secondary title), or both simultaneously.
- Text
- specifies the characters to be written.
For Title 1, if you just enter a '.',
the default title (the name of the X or Y
variable from the first dataset, if it exists) will be used.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- X Y Position
- specifies the X Y position
(in Drawing Coordinates)
for the text.
You can also drag the little block
that appears near the title.
- Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Font Style
- specifies the initial font style for the text:
Plain, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic.
- Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Angle
- specifies the angle for the text
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the text, relative
to the text's X Y Position. (The text's vertical alignment is
always Center.)
- Visible
- specifies if the titles will be visible on the Main Axis,
Opposite Axis, or Both Axes. The opposite axis is the
axis opposite the main axis
(for example, the top axis is the opposite
axis for the X axis).
On 3D graphs, the axes which are designated 'main' and 'opposite'
change when you change the
Graph : Overview : 3D Spin Angle.
The 'main' X axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
Similarly, the 'main' Y axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
The 'main' Z axis is the one based at the leftmost
corner of the XY plane.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Axis : Labels
The Edit : Graph
: Axis : Labels dialog
lets you specify the attributes of the Axis : Labels on each axis.
When a dataset or function is represented by a series of colors,
many of the attributes on this dialog box (when it is used for
the Z axis) are also used to
format the numbers written beside the colors in the legend.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Axis
- specifies whether you want to edit the labels on the
X, Y, Z, or T axes, or All axes simultaneously.
- Text
- lets you specify a comma separated value list of labels.
Or, you can just enter a '.' to get the default labels.
Warning: if you supply your own labels, you should also supply
the list of Divisions (see below) to ensure that each label
is correctly positioned, even if the axis range changes.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- Get axis labels from a datafile
- lets you create a comma-separated list of labels for Text,
by specifying a column in one of the datafiles that contains
the labels.
- X Y Position
- specifies the X Y position
(in Drawing Coordinates)
for the labels (they are all moved simultaneously).
You can also drag the little block
that appears near the center of the labels.
- Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Font Style
- specifies the initial font style for the text:
Plain, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic.
- Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Angle
- specifies the angle for the text
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the text, relative
to the text's X Y Position. (The text's vertical alignment is
always Center.)
- Division
- specifies the numeric values that determine where the labels get placed.
You can specify:
- A '.', in order to place labels at the default positions.
If you do this, the program will indicate the default single value
(for example, ".=0.1").
- A single value. For example, 0.1
axis units between divisions on an axis ranging from 1 to 1.3 will
generate labels at 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3.
- A comma separated value list of values
where the labels should be created (for example,
1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3).
If you want to use commas in the labels, put each label in double
quotes (for example, "1,0", "1,1", "1,2", "1,3").
If you want to put a double quote inside a quoted label, put
a backslash before that double quote
(for example, "1.0", "Say \"Hi\"", "1.2").
- Format 1
- The numeric values for the labels may be formatted in many different
ways.
See the detailed description of the
format options
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Format 2
- For each type of Format 1, there are several subtypes. Often,
these just indicate how many decimal places will be shown.
See the detailed description of the
format options
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Decimal Point
- The decimal point can be displayed as a period or a comma.
- Prefix
- You can specify a text string to be added to the beginning of each
value. A typical use is to append '$' for dollar values.
- Suffix
- You can specify a text string to be added to the end of each
value. A typical use is to append the units
(for example, 'cm' or 'g/l').
- Visible
- specifies if the labels will be visible on the Main Axis,
Opposite Axis, or Both Axes.
The opposite axis is the
axis opposite the main axis
(for example, the top axis is the opposite
axis for the X axis).
On 3D graphs, the axes which are designated
main and opposite
change when you change the
Graph : Overview : 3D Spin Angle.
The main X axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
Similarly, the main Y axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
The main Z axis is the one based at the leftmost
corner of the XY plane.
- Draw First Label
- This checkbox lets you specify if you want the first label
to be drawn or not.
This can be useful for Z Axis : Labels.
- Draw Last Label
- This checkbox lets you specify if you want the last label
to be drawn or not.
This can be useful for Y Axis : Labels on a 3D graph.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines
The Edit : Graph
: Axis : Lines dialog
lets you specify the attributes of a graph's axis lines: the
Axis Line, Ticks 1 (the primary ticks),
Ticks 2 (the secondary ticks),
Grid 1 (the primary grid lines),
Grid 2 (the secondary grid lines),
and Zero Line.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Axis
- specifies whether you want to edit the lines on the
X, Y, Z, or T axes, or All axes simultaneously.
- Which Part
- specifies which types of lines you want to edit:
Axis Line, Ticks 1 (the primary ticks),
Ticks 2 (the secondary ticks),
Grid 1 (the primary grid lines),
Grid 2 (the secondary grid lines),
Zero Line, or
All types simultaneously.
- Color
- specifies the color
for the lines.
If this is set to notDrawn, the lines won't be drawn.
Suggestion: Gray grid lines often look better than black grid lines.
- Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when
the lines are drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
- Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Width
- specifies the width of the lines
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Division
- specifies the numeric values that determine where the lines get placed.
It applies to Ticks 1, Ticks 2, Grid 1, and Grid 2;
it is irrelevant for Axis Line and Zero Line.
You can specify:
- A '.', in order to place lines at the default positions.
If you do this, the program will indicate the default single value
(for example, ".=0.1").
- A single numeric value (for example, 0.1
axis units between divisions on an axis ranging from 1.0 to 1.3 will
generate lines at 1, 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3).
- A comma separated value list of values
where the lines should be created (for example,
1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3).
If you want to use commas in the values (European decimal points),
put each label in double
quotes (for example, "1,0", "1,1", "1,2", "1,3").
- In
- specifies the distance that ticks are drawn into the graph
(in Drawing Coordinates).
This only applies to Ticks 1 and Ticks 2;
it is irrelevant for Axis Line, Grid Lines,
and Zero Lines.
- Out
- specifies the distance that ticks are drawn away from the graph
(in Drawing Coordinates).
This only applies to Ticks 1 and Ticks 2;
it is irrelevant for Axis Line, Grid Lines,
and Zero Lines.
- Arrow Head Visible
- specifies the where the arrow head will be visible
if the Arrow Headsize>0:
the Low End, the High End (the default),
or Both Ends.
The 'Low' and 'High' ends are the nominal low and high
ends, paralleling the X Axis : Overview : Low and High
designations.
- Arrow Headsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the arrowhead on the Axis Line or Zero Line.
If you don't want the arrowhead to be drawn, use a headsize of 0.
The arrow type is always Fancy.
The arrow angle is always 30°.
This only applies to the main axis line
(not the opposite axis line)
and the zero line; it is irrelevant for
Grid Lines, Ticks 1, and Ticks 2.
- Visible
- specifies if the lines will be visible on the Main Axis,
Opposite Axis, or Both Axes. The opposite axis is the
axis opposite the main axis (for example, the top axis is the opposite
axis for the X axis). This only applies to the
Axis Line and Ticks;
it is irrelevant for Grid Lines and
Zero Lines. If you want to make any part of the axis not visible,
use Color: notDrawn.
On 3D graphs, the axes which are designated main and
opposite change when you change the
Graph : Overview : 3D Spin Angle.
The main X axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
Similarly, the main Y axis is the one which is currently at
the front of the graph.
The main Z axis is the one based at the leftmost
corner of the XY plane.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Legend
Each graph can automatically display a legend.
In the legend, labels are printed beside the marker, line, or filled
area used to represent each function and dataset. The default labels
are the actual function (for Functions)
or the Y (or Z) variable's name (for Datasets). If you select
Function : x : Legend or
Data : x : Legend,
you can type in a different label for the legend. A typical use of this
feature would be to replace an actual equation (for example,
0.03211345345-1.961234563*x+3.2486410967*x^2)
with the same equation but formatted nicely
(for example,
0.0321 - 1.961x + 3.248x<sup>2</sup> will appear as
0.0321 - 1.961x + 3.248x2).
If you change the label to nothing or if the label is one
big comment (for example, '<!-- a comment -->'),
the legend will not include an entry for that function or dataset.
You can turn off the entire legend by changing the Text Color
to Color2.notDrawn.
When a dataset or function is represented by a series of colors,
the format of the numbers written beside the colors in the legend
is determined by the attributes of the Z Axis : Labels.
Legend Not Visible? If you think the legend should be visible, but
it isn't, here are some things to check:
- Make sure the legend's Text Color is not
Color2.notDrawn and is not the same color
as the Drawing : Background Color.
- Make sure the legend's X Y Position is located
where you think it is.
- Make sure that Dataset : x : Legend and
Function : x : Legend are not "".
The Edit : Graph
: Legend dialog
lets you specify the attributes of the Graph : Legend.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Title
- specifies the text for the legend's title.
If you enter nothing, no title will be drawn.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
Because the Legend Title will become the first
part of the complete legend,
it is important that all attribute starting tags
(for example, '<b>')
have matching attribute ending tags
(for example, '</b>')
so that the attributes don't apply
to all subsequent entries in the legend.
(Unless that is what you want.)
Legend: Title handles most tags correctly,
even tags that make the text more than one line
(for example, <BR> and <P>).
- Order
- lets you rearrange the order of datasets and functions in the legend.
- X Y Position
- specifies the X Y position
(in Drawing Coordinates)
for the text.
You can also drag the little block
that appears near the title.
If you change the
Graph : Overview : X Y Position,
the legend will automatically
be moved relative to the graph's box (for a 2D graph) or the
graph's center (for a 3D graph).
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for all of the text in the legend.
If this is set to notDrawn, the legend won't be drawn.
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for all of
the text in the legend
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Font Style
- specifies the initial font style for the all of text in the legend:
Plain, Bold, Italic, or Bold Italic.
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Type
- specifies the format of the legend: Horizontal, Vertical,
or Interlaced.
- Interline
- specifies the distance between entries in the legend, relative to
1 (the standard distance).
- Example Size
- specifies the size of line and fill examples in the legend,
relative to 1 (the standard size).
- Angle
- specifies the angle of rotation for the entire legend
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- Grid Colors
- For Dataset and Function Representations that start with "Grid",
this specifies how many colors will be displayed in the legend:
- Display Main Color - just displays the one color
that you specified.
- Display Bold Colors - displays just the
Graph : Dataset (or Function) : Z Division 1 colors.
- Display All Colors - displays all of the
Graph : Dataset (or Function) : Z Division 1
and Z Division 2 colors.
- Background Color
- specifies which color
will be used as the solid-fill background color of the legend.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Line Color
- specifies which color
will be used to draw a line around the legend.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn.
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line around the legend
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Shape Type
- specifies the type of shape which is drawn around the text.
The default is Rectangle. The shape is only visible if the
Background Color or Line Color is not notDrawn.
Most of the shapes have a rectangular area inside them
in which the text is drawn. For a few shapes,
the rectangular area is constrained to be
a square (for example, Shape Type: Square).
For some shapes, the shape is drawn above the
text rectangle (for example,
Shape Type: Fax, Person, Printer).
- Shape V Align
- specifies the vertical alignment of the shape, relative
to the legend's X Y Position. There are Shape V Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Shape Center.
The Above 1 and Below 1
options are useful
with the Shape Type: Rectangle, point xxx options.
The Below 3 option is useful
with the Shape Type: Cloud, point down and
Cloud 2, point down options.
- Shape H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the shape, relative
to the legend's X Y Position. There are Shape H Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Center.
The Farther Left and Farther Right options are useful
when the Shape Type points left or right.
- Shape Border
- specifies the relative size of the border around the text,
within the shape. The default is 1. [Added in 6.100.]
- Shape Shadow
- specifies the shadow type for the shape.
Shadows are always colored gray.
The offset of the shadow is determined by the Text Height.
There are options for single shadows and triple shadows.
The default is (none).
- Use Custom Legend
- (for advanced users) indicates if the custom legend should be used.
Normally, when CoPlot draws a legend, it strings together the
Legend Title,
HTML-like tags
to display line, fill, and marker samples,
and the Function (and Dataset): Legend text
into one long text string and then draws that string.
If you want to, you can supply the text string that is used
to draw the legend. Usually, you will use Reset To Default
(below) to use the standard string as the starting point for
your modifications (done by using Edit).
- Edit
- Opens a
text editor
so you can edit the text
for the custom legend.
- Reset To Default
- This resets the text for the custom legend to the default
(the text which would be used generate the standard legend).
Suggestion for making 1 legend for 2 graphs: Normally, each
graph has its own legend. If you have 2 (or more) graphs and want
to make one legend with all of the datasets and functions in it,
there is no built-in way to do it. But you could:
- Use Create : Big Text to create a Big Text object.
- Use Edit : Graph : Legend : Edit to get the
text from one of the graph's legends and put it on the clipboard
(Ctrl A to mark all text, Ctrl C
to copy all text).
- Set the legend's Text Color to notDrawn
so suppress the drawing of that legend.
- Use Edit : Big Text : Edit the text and use
Ctrl V to paste the text from the legend into that
Big Text object.
- Repeat steps 2, 3, and 4 for each of the other graphs.
In the end, you have one Big Text object with all of the information
from all of the legends. You can then manipulate it in any
way you want.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph : Comment
Graph Comments are actually text drawn within shapes, although
you can draw the shapes alone, or the text alone. The size of the
shape is (usually) automatically adjusted to accommodate the text.
Unlike CoPlot's Text objects, the location of a Graph : Comment
is specified in graph coordinates, not
Drawing Coordinates.
(Use
Create : Text
to create text objects where the locations
are specified in drawing coordinates.)
The Edit : Graph :
Comment dialog box
lets you create and edit the attributes of comments.
When you create a graph, it initially has no comments.
To create a new comment, you must drop down the Comment list
on the Edit : Graph dialog box and click on New.
Then, Comment 1 will be created and added to the list.
A common use of graph comments is to mark several data points.
You can do
this by setting Click Equals to Get nearest data point
and then repeatedly: 1) clicking on a data point and
2) clicking on Copy. Note that when you do this, it will
appear as if the last comment you made is erased when you click on
the next data point; in reality, it is just erased on screen when
the new copy of the old comment is moved. You can press the
Redraw button if you need to see the completely redrawn graph.
An alternative to Graph : Comment is to make a datafile
with columns for X, Y, and Labels and then use
Graph : Dataset : 1 : Representation : Markers/labels
to plot that data on the graph. Using this approach is preferable
if you already have a datafile with X, Y, and Labels
data. One difference is that Representation: Markers/labels
just draws the text of the label, with no shape drawn around the
text.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Which Comment
- lets you specify which comment to edit (All, or 1 - n).
To create a new comment, you must drop down the current list of datasets
and click on
New. Another number (n+1) will be added to the list.
- Up
- moves the currently selected comment up one slot.
The order of comments in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the graph is redrawn.
- Down
- moves the currently selected comment down one slot.
The order of comments in the list determines the order in which they
are drawn whenever the graph is redrawn.
- Copy
- makes a new comment which is a copy of the currently selected comment.
The new comment is inserted in the list right after the currently selected
comment, and it becomes the currently selected comment.
- Delete
- deletes the currently selected comment.
- Click Equals
- There are two ways to specify where the comment will be drawn.
1) Click on the graph. Depending on the Click Equals setting,
CoPlot will use the graph coordinates of the position you click on, or
it will look for and use the nearest data point.
2) Enter the Graph X, Y, and Z
values in the appropriate fields in the dialog box.
- Graph X
- specifies the X coordinate for positioning the comment
(in Graph Coordinates).
When X is out of the X axis range, the comment won't be drawn.
- Graph Y
- specifies the Y coordinate for positioning the comment
(in Graph Coordinates).
When Y is out of the Y axis range, the comment won't be drawn.
- Graph Z
- specifies the Z coordinate for positioning the comment
(in Graph Coordinates).
When Z is out of the Z axis range (on 3D graphs),
the comment won't be drawn.
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Text
- specifies the characters to be written.
If you enter nothing, no comment will be drawn.
If you enter just a period ("."), CoPlot will display the text
from the Graph Y coordinate (or Z, if the graph has three axes).
The text is only visible if the
Text Color is not notDrawn.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Text Position
- specifies the position for the text within the shape (if the
shape is larger than necessary for the text).
The horizontal component also specifies whether the text is initially
left justified, centered, or right justified.
The default is Center center.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Shape Type
- specifies the type of shape which is drawn around the text.
The default is Rectangle. The shape is only visible if the
Background Color or Line Color is not notDrawn.
Most of the shapes have a rectangular area inside them
in which the text is drawn. For a few shapes,
the rectangular area is constrained to be
a square (for example, Shape Type: Square).
For some shapes, the shape is drawn above the
text rectangle (for example,
Shape Type: Fax, Person, Printer).
- Shape V Align
- specifies the vertical alignment of the shape, relative
to the comment's X Y Position. There are Shape V Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Shape Center.
The Above 1 and Below 1
options are useful
with the Shape Type: Rectangle, point xxx options.
The Below 3 option is useful
with the Shape Type: Cloud, point down and
Cloud 2, point down options.
- Shape H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the shape, relative
to the comment's X Y Position. There are Shape H Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Center.
The Farther Left and Farther Right options are useful
when the Shape Type points left or right.
- Shape Width
- specifies the width of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Width will be the actual width if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text has to be wider than the Shape Width setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as wide as necessary to accommodate the text.
If Shape Width is set to ".", the shape
will be slightly wider than the text (auto-sizing,
with no automatic word-wrap).
The default is "." (default value),
but it may be any value greater than or equal to 0.
- Shape Height
- specifies the height of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Height will be the actual height if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text has to be taller than the Shape Height setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as tall as necessary to accommodate the text.
If Shape Height is set to ".", the shape
will be slightly taller than the text (auto-sizing).
The default is "." (indicating auto-sizing),
but it may be any value greater than or equal to 0.
- Shape Border
- specifies the relative size of the border around the text,
within the shape. The default is 1. [Added in 6.100.]
- Shape Angle
- specifies the angle for the shape
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- Shape Shadow
- specifies the shadow type for the shape.
Shadows are always colored gray.
The offset of the shadow is determined by the Text Height.
There are options for single shadows and triple shadows (implying
several instances). The default is (none).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Graph Array
The Edit : Graph Array dialog box helps
you change the size, shape, and position of the graphs in the
graph array (a 2D array of graph objects).
The button on the left edge of the screen
with the black graph array symbol and the light blue 'E'
is a shortcut to Edit : Graph Array.
The Graph Array isn't a separate object, but rather
a convenient way of working with a 2D array of graph objects.
There is only one Graph Array per drawing.
This dialog box does not let you change the datafile or
the datafile columns assigned to the rows and columns of the array.
If you want to make changes like these, use
Create : Graph Array
again.
The Red Graph Outlines - as you make changes to the attributes
on this dialog box, CoPlot draws (in red)
the outlines of the graphs that will
result if you press Apply.
The options on Edit : Graph Array are
a subset of the options on the Create : Graph Array dialog box.
The settings on this dialog box are stored in the drawing's .draw file.
The options are:
- Center X, Y
- specifies the center for the entire graph array.
You can use the left mouse button to drag the block that appears
on the screen at the center of the graph array. Or, you can enter
the X, Y values (in
Drawing Coordinates).
- X, Y Axis Size
- specifies the length of the graph's X and Y axes (in
Drawing Coordinates).
All graphs in the array will be the same size.
This works by setting each graph's
Graph : Overview : X Axis Size and Y Axis Size.
- Between Columns, Rows
- specifies the distance (in
Drawing Coordinates)
between the centers of the columns and
the centers of the rows.
- Apply
- creates the graph array as described by the settings above.
- Edit the Graphs
- takes you to the Edit : Graph
dialog box, with all of the graphs in the graph array picked (so
you can edit them simultaneously).
- Undo All
- resets all of the settings and changes all of the graph array's
graphs to be as they were when you opened this dialog box.
- Close
- closes this dialog box. The current settings are remembered
by the program (until another drawing is opened)
and in this drawing's .draw file for
the next time this dialog box is opened for this drawing.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Image
The Edit : Image dialog box
lists the attributes of image objects so that you can
modify the appearance of the images.
Does the .draw file store the image? No. CoPlot's drawing
files just remember the name of the image file,
they don't store the image data.
So if you want to email a .draw file which references an image, you
need to email the .draw file and the image file.
A list of files used by the current drawing can be found at
Drawing : List Of Files.
When CoPlot loads
a drawing, it looks in the specified directory for the image file.
If the file is not found, CoPlot also automatically looks in the same
directory as the .draw file.
Smaller Sizes - When images are drawn smaller than their
original size, CoPlot uses an area averaging algorithm to
minimize the loss of information and make the result look better.
Problem: Big Vector Files -
When you use File : Save As to save
a drawing in some other type of file, images will
be saved in the file along with the rest of the drawing objects.
Unfortunately, if the
file type is a vector type (for example, .eps, .pdf, .wmf, .wpg, .cgm,
.svg, .hpgl), the image will be stored as a series of
lines in a verbose format. Thus,
the resulting files will have the image data and will be able to
display it nicely, but they will be very large files.
Editing Image Attributes -
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of an image:
- Click the Edit button on the Create : Image
dialog box right after you create the image.
- When no dialog boxes are visible
right click on or near the top edge of an existing image.
- Choose Edit : Pick One and click on the center of any existing
image.
- Choose Edit : Image.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black camera symbol and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Image and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
Icons -
An image object can refer to an image in an
image file somewhere on your hard drive (for example, a .gif file),
or it can refer to an icon. Icons are small images that are
stored in groups in files
called Icons*.gif in the same directory as other CoHort program
files.
- All icons are 32x32 pixels and most have a transparent
background.
- Icons are useful for adding small
"clipart"
to drawings,
especially for drawings which will be just viewed
on a computer screen (via a .gif, .jpg, or .png file).
Traditional clipart usually doesn't look good at small sizes.
- Icons look best at Size: 0.32, 0.64 and 0.96 inches.
They look okay at Size: 0.3, 0.35, 0.65, and 1 inch.
They don't look very good at larger sizes or when printed.
- If
you need larger clipart, use separate vector (preferably not image)
clipart files (for example, Corel Gallery).
- When you use Browse: Icons to pick an icon, the name
of the icon (for example, Icons:Science:21) is put in the
File Name field in the Edit : Image dialog box.
CoPlot recognizes the special format of these names and draws
the icon (retrieved internally) instead of looking for a
separate image file (for example, MyImage.gif).
- Each time you
start CoPlot, CoPlot looks in the
cohort directory
for all of the files
that match Icons*.gif.
- If you downloaded and installed CoPlot from the
CoHort Software web site, the standard installation includes about
200 icons in 5 icon groups.
If you want all 2552 icons in 70 groups,
you can download them for free from
www.cohort.com/javadownload2.html#icons.
If you installed CoPlot from a CD, you have the full set of icons.
- Most of the icons were originally public domain icons from
www.MediaBuilder.com, www.matrixvault.com, and
ftp1.rad.kumc.edu/icons/icons/htm, but we have revised
many of them and created some original icons.
- If you know that one of the icons is not public domain
and can't be redistributed, please let us know and we will remove
it from the collection.
- Copyright - We made lots of changes to the original icons,
created some original icons, and
created the special format for storing and displaying them.
Thus, the icons that we created and the Icons*.gif files
are copyright (c)
CoHort Software, 2000.
We grant licensed users of our software permission to use
the individual icons for any purpose when accessed via CoPlot,
but we do not grant anyone the right to modify or redistribute
the Icons*.gif files.
If you need icons
for some purpose other than use in CoPlot, please go to those
original icon collections.
The options on the dialog box are:
- File Name
- specifies the name of the file with the image.
Currently, CoPlot can display images from
.gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .pcx, .png, and .ppm files, and icons
from CoPlot's icon collection
(referred to by name, for example, Icons:Science:21).
- Browse
- The browse button lets you browse through lists
of specific types of image files: Icons, *.gif, *.jpg, *.jpeg, *.pcx,
*.png, and *.ppm files.
The Icons option brings up a visual
system for picking icons. If you pick one of the icons, it puts the
icon's name (for example, Icons:Science:21) in the
File Name field in the Edit : Image dialog box, so
that the icon will be displayed (not an image from a separate
image file).
- Center X,Y
- specifies the center of one of the picked
images. If you change Center X,Y by dragging the block
on the screen or by changing the x,y values, all of the picked
image objects will be moved by the same relative amount.
- Size
- specifies the size (width) of the image
(in Drawing Coordinates).
The size can be less than or greater than 0.
A size of 0 is useful when you want to keep an
image object but not draw the image (just like setting a Text object's
Color to notDrawn).
A negative size causes the image to be drawn
flipped in the x direction. A negative size,
possibly combined with Angle: 180,
is useful for flipping the image in all possible ways.
The height of the image will vary, depending on the ratio of
the image's height (in pixels) and the image's width (in pixels).
It is assumed that each pixel is square (in rare cases, this isn't true).
- Angle
- specifies the angle of rotation for the image
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees). The default is 0 degrees.
- Crop Margins - Left, Right, Top, Bottom
- specify the margins to be removed from the original image
(in pixels) in order to crop the image. This lets you show
any rectangular portion of the image.
For example, if you want to remove the top 10 pixels from the image,
set Top to 10.
- NotDrawn Color
- specifies a color in the image
which you want CoPlot to not draw. This is useful
if you have an image with a single background color, and you want
CoPlot not to draw that color, thereby making the image partially
transparent. If the NotDrawn Color
is the color called notDrawn,
no color will be not drawn.
- Negative Colors
- This changes all of the colors in the image to their opposite, as
if this were a photographic negative.
For example, white becomes black, light gray becomes dark gray,
red becomes cyan, green becomes magenta, blue becomes yellow,
and vice versa.
Mostly, this is useful for gray
scale images where you want to reverse the gray scale.
- Palette Colors Only
- changes colors in the image to the nearest palette colors.
This is very useful when you are saving a drawing in a
.gif file (which is limited to 256 colors).
- Contrast
- lets you increase or decrease the contrast in the image.
Decreasing the contrast works by pulling each of the red, green,
and blue color
components of each pixel toward an intermediate value.
Increasing the contrast does the opposite.
- Brightness
- lets you increase or decrease the brightness of the image.
Increasing the brightness works by increasing each of the red, green,
and blue color components of each pixel.
Decreasing the brightness does the opposite.
- Background Color
- specifies the color
for the background of the image.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
The background color will only be visible if part of the image
is transparent.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the image.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn.
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line around the image
(in Drawing Coordinates).
If the Line Width is 0, the line won't be drawn.
- Image
- specifies the group
number for the picked image objects.
The various attributes which affect the colors of the image
are applied to the image in the order that the attributes are
listed in the dialog box. For example, Contrast is done
before Brightness.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional image objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Path
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of a path:
- Click the Edit button on the Create : Path
dialog box right after you create the path.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on or near an existing
path object .
- Choose Edit : Pick One and click on the perimeter of any existing
path.
- Choose Edit : Path.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black path symbol and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Path and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
A path is basically a series of points and a set of attributes
describing how the path should be drawn.
The attributes allow
paths to be drawn many ways (for example, as lines,
curved lines, curved lines with arrows, a series of markers,
filled areas).
There are three types of attributes on the dialog box:
- 1) Path Type
- determines how the perimeter
of the path is drawn (for example,
with straight line segments connecting the points,
with curved lines called "splines" connecting the points,
or treating the points as Bezier control and end points).
- 2) The various Color attributes
- determine if a given component of the path
(the Background, Fill, Line, or Marker)
is to be drawn. For example, if Line Color is black,
a black line will be drawn along the path. But if Line Color
is set to notDrawn, no line will be drawn.
- 3) The component's attributes
- specify the details of how that component is to be drawn (provided
the color for that component is not notDrawn). For example,
Line Type, Line Dashsize and Line Width determine how the
line will be drawn, if Line Color is not notDrawn).
Important:
If a component color (for example, Line Color)
is notDrawn, none of the component's
other attributes (for example, Line Width)
will be stored.
Conclusion: first set the component color
to something other than notDrawn, then set the other attributes.
For example, first set Line Color to red4,
then set Line Width to 0.1, not vice versa.
The options on the Edit : Path dialog box are:
- Path Type
- determines how the perimeter of the path is drawn:
- Line - draws straight lines between the points.
- Spline - draws curved lines between the points.
- Bezier - interprets the points as Bezier control and
end points. This is very different from the
Line or Spline options. Most CoPlot users will never
need to use this option. See
Bezier Paths below.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the object.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Fill Color
- specifies the color
for the fill pattern (a hatch pattern or bit-mapped
pattern).
If this is set to notDrawn, the fill pattern won't be drawn
and none of the other Fill attributes will be stored.
- Fill Type
- specifies a hatch pattern (a combination of horizontal,
vertical, and diagonal lines) or a bit-mapped pattern.
The bit-mapped patterns are only scaled to a limited number of
sizes (integer multiples of the original pattern), so don't be surprised
if a small change to Fill Size has no effect.
- Fill Size
- specifies the distance
(in Drawing Coordinates)
between lines in the hatch patterns or the
unit size of bit-mapped patterns.
- Fill Linewidth
- specifies the linewidth
(in Drawing Coordinates)
used to draw the hatch patterns.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the path.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn
and none of the other Line attributes will be stored.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Arrow Type Start, Finish
- specifies the type of arrowhead (notDrawn, Fancy, Filled or
Line) for the start and the finish of the path.
The color of the arrow heads is the line color. So if Line Color
is set to notDrawn, the arrowheads won't be drawn.
- Arrow Headsize
- specifies the length
(in Drawing Coordinates)
along one edge of the arrowhead.
- Arrow Angle
- specifies the angle (in degrees, 0 - 360) of the arrow head.
- Marker Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the path.
If this is set to notDrawn, the markers won't be drawn
and none of the other Marker attributes will be stored.
The menu option called
Drawing : Other : Draw lines through markers
determines whether lines are drawn through markers or if there is a gap.
- Marker Background
- specifies the background color for the markers. For the Marker font,
the hollow parts of hollow markers are filled with this color.
For all other fonts, a small square is drawn behind each marker
with this color.
[Added in version 6.100.]
- Marker Type
- specifies which character in which font
(see Drawing : Load Fonts)
will be used for the markers.
- Marker Size
- specifies the basic marker size (the height
in Drawing Coordinates
of a full-sized marker).
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked path objects.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional path objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
insert or delete points,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
When the Path Type for a path object is set to Bezier,
the points are interpreted as a series of Bezier segments.
(Most CoPlot users will never need to use this option.)
For each segment,
there is a beginning point, 2 control points, and an endpoint. The
endpoint of one segment is the beginning point of the next segment.
When CoPlot draws a segment, it starts at the beginning point,
travelling in the direction of the 1st control point. As it gets
closer to the 1st control point, it starts veering off toward the second
control point. As it gets closer to the 2nd control point, it veers
off toward the endpoint. Finally, the segment ends at the endpoint.
You can think of the control points as pulling the line segment in
their direction.
Here is a diagram of Bezier end points and control points:
To draw a straight line segment in the middle of a
Bezier Path object, just put the 2 control points in line with the
beginning and end points.
Editing Bezier Path Objects - While it is hard to create
the exact curve that you want when you first draw a Bezier
object, it is very easy to edit afterwards. Use
Edit : Points Move
or Edit : Path : Move One Point to move (by dragging)
the control points and endpoints. As mentioned above, it helps to
think of the control points as pulling the line segment in their
direction.
Inserting And Removing Points From Bezier Path Objects -
You can use Edit : Points : Insert and Delete
to let you insert and remove points
from a Bezier Path object. Because of the unique meanings (as
control points or endpoints) of the points that define a
Bezier Path object, you should generally insert (or remove) 3 points (2
control points and 1 endpoint) into (or from) Bezier Path objects at a
time.
Relation to splines - Bezier Path objects can be rotated
arbitrarily with no effect on the shape of the object. Because of
this desirable property, CoPlot uses Bezier lines and filled areas
internally to draw spline lines and spline filled areas. To draw
a spline Path object, CoPlot calculates where the Bezier control points
should be; then draws the Bezier curve. Splines are easier for you to
create, but Bezier Path objects give you absolute control over the
shape of the object.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Text
There are several ways to get to the dialog box that lets you edit the
attributes of a text object:
- Click the Edit button on the Create : Text
dialog box right after you create the text object.
- When no dialog boxes are visible,
right click on or near the creation point for an existing text object.
- Choose Edit : Pick One and click on the
pickable point of any existing text object.
- Choose Edit : Text.
- Click on the button on the left edge of the screen
with the black 't' and the light blue 'E'.
It works as if you had selected Edit : Text and
then pressed the Pick One button once the dialog box was visible.
Text objects are actually text drawn within shapes (for example,
rectangles, triangles, circles), although
you can draw the text alone (the default), or the shape alone.
The size of the
shape is (usually) automatically adjusted to accommodate the text.
The size of the shape's features (for example, the size of the arcs at the
corners of a rounded rectangle) is determined by the Text Height,
even if
no text is displayed. A shape's minimum height and width are determined
by the Text Height and the Shape Border,
even if no text is displayed.
Text objects have many attributes which you can change
in order to make the text objects look like you want them to look.
The text can include
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc)
(see the '<>' button)
and character entities
(HTML-like names for accented characters, Greek characters,
and mathematical symbols)
(see the '&' button).
What is the difference between Text and Big Text?
Text objects are intended to be for one line (or maybe a few short lines)
of text.
When you edit a text object, all editing is done in a
small, one-line, text field.
Big Text is intended to be for large blocks of text.
When you edit a Big Text object, a text editor screen appears.
Otherwise, they are identical.
The options on the dialog box are:
- Text Color
- specifies which color
will be used initially for the text.
If this is set to notDrawn, the text won't be drawn.
- Text
- specifies the characters to be written.
The text is only visible if the
Text Color is not notDrawn.
The '&' button lets you pick
and insert
character entities
(HTML-like names for non-ASCII characters) into the text.
The '<>' button lets you insert
embedded text tags
(which control bold, italics, underlining, font changes, size changes, etc).
- Text Font
- specifies which font slot will be used initially for the text
(see Drawing : Load Fonts).
- Text Height
- specifies the initial height of a capital letter
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Text Position
- specifies the position for the text within the shape (if the
shape is larger than necessary for the text).
The horizontal component also specifies whether the text is initially
left justified, centered, or right justified.
The default is Center center.
- Background Color
- specifies the solid color
to be used in the background of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the background won't be drawn.
- Line Color
- specifies the color
for the line around the perimeter of the shape.
If this is set to notDrawn, the line won't be drawn
and none of the other Line attributes will be stored.
- Line Type
- specifies the dash-space pattern which is used repeatedly when the
line is drawn.
At the end of the line type list are line types that are not dash-space
patterns (for example, Parallel, Railroad, Disjoint).
Disjoint is unusual in that it draws a line between points 1 and 2,
3 and 4, 5 and 6, etc., but not between points
2 and 3, 4 and 5, 6 and 7, etc.
- Line Dashsize
- specifies the size
(in Drawing Coordinates)
of the dashes and spaces that make up the line types. For non dash-space
line types, it specifies the size of the dominant feature (for example,
the distance between the parallel lines).
- Line Width
- specifies the width of the line
(in Drawing Coordinates).
- Shape Type
- specifies the type of shape which is drawn around the text.
The default is Rectangle. The shape is only visible if the
Background Color or Line Color is not notDrawn.
Most of the shapes have a rectangular area inside them
in which the text is drawn. For a few shapes,
the rectangular area is constrained to be
a square (for example, Shape Type: Square).
For some shapes, the shape is drawn above the
text rectangle (for example,
Shape Type: Fax, Person, Printer).
- Shape V Align
- specifies the vertical alignment of the shape, relative
to the object's location point. There are Shape V Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Shape Center.
The Above 1 and Below 1
options are useful
with the Shape Type: Rectangle, point xxx options.
The Below 3 option is useful
with the Shape Type: Cloud, point down and
Cloud 2, point down options.
- Shape H Align
- specifies the horizontal alignment of the shape, relative
to the object's location point. There are Shape H Align
options related to the
shape and options related to the text.
The options related to the shape are exact for
Shape Type: Rectangle, but are approximate for other shapes.
The default is Center.
The Farther Left and Farther Right options are useful
when the Shape Type points left or right.
- Shape Width
- specifies the width of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Width will be the actual width if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text has to be wider than the Shape Width setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as wide as necessary to accommodate the text.
If Shape Width is set to ".", the shape
will be slightly wider than the text (auto-sizing,
with no automatic word-wrap).
The default is ".",
but it may be any value greater than or equal to 0.
- Shape Height
- specifies the height of the shape
(in Drawing Coordinates).
Shape Height will be the actual height if Shape Type is
Rectangle, but many other shapes are somewhat larger.
If the text has to be taller than the Shape Height setting specifies,
the shape will be drawn as tall as necessary to accommodate the text.
If Shape Height is set to ".", the shape
will be slightly taller than the text (auto-sizing).
The default is "." (indicating auto-sizing),
but it may be any value greater than or equal to 0.
- Shape Border
- specifies the relative size of the border around the text,
within the shape. The default is 1. [Added in 6.100.]
- Shape Angle
- specifies the angle for the shape
(in floating-point, counter-clockwise degrees).
This is usually 0, but may be any value.
- Shape Shadow
- specifies the shadow type for the shape.
Shadows are always colored gray.
The offset of the shadow is determined by the Text Height.
There are options for single shadows and triple shadows.
The default is (none).
- Group
- specifies the group
number for the picked text objects.
Buttons -
There are several buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
which let you pick additional text objects,
move, copy or delete the picked objects,
and hide and show the picked objects.
See Edit : Any Type.
Uses of Shapes Around Text - In addition to their use
as simple comments, drawing shapes around text is
the basic tool of many types of charts, maps, and diagrams, including:
block diagrams,
flow charts,
organization charts,
quality control charts,
and
UML diagrams.
Hints for Drawing Charts:
- Set the
Drawing : Coordinates : Grid Size
to a coarse size (for example, 0.1 inches or 0.1 cm).
- Specify the Shape Width and Shape Height
so that all of the shapes of the same type are the same size.
- Specify the Shape Width and Shape Height
to be a multiple of 2 times the grid size.
For example, if the grid size is 0.1, good widths and heights
include 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2, 1.4, ... .
Since the shapes are centered by default,
this ensures that the shape will
extend up, down, right and left by a multiple of the grid size.
That ensures that it will be easy to attach lines to the
exact edges of the shapes.
- When you are editing the chart and need to move one or
more shapes (and their attached lines),
Edit : Points Boxed Move is usually the best way.
Block Diagrams -
Block diagrams are used to visually describe processes in many different
fields.
See Hints for Drawing Charts.
Flow Charts -
Flow charts are used to visually describe the flow of information
or materials in many different
fields.
See Hints for Drawing Charts.
CoPlot includes all of the shape types defined in
ANSI/ISO 5807-1985, the United States and international standard
for "Documentation Symbols and Conventions for Data,
Program and System Flowcharts,
Program Network Charts and System Resources Charts"
(www.ansi.org).
Here are the data symbols defined in the standard and their
text shape counterparts in CoPlot:
- Data symbols (basic):
- Data - Parallelogram, right
- Stored data - Rectangle, sides out it
- Data symbols (specific):
- Internal storage - Rectangle, lines top left
- Sequential access storage - Circle, with line
- Direct access storage - Cylinder, horizontal
- Document - Rectangle, wavy bottom
- Manual input - Rectangle, slant top
- Card (computer punchcard) - Rectangle, cut upper left
- Paper tape - Rectangle, wavy top bottom
- Display - Bullet
- Process symbols (basic):
- Process symbols (specific):
- Predefined process - Rectangle, lines left right
- Manual operation - Trapezoid, down
- Preparation - 6 sides, horizontal
- Decision - Diamond, horizontal
- Parallel mode - use a Path object, "Line Type = 35) Parallel"
- Loop begin - Rectangle, cuts top
- Loop end - Rectangle, cuts bottom
- Line symbols (basic):
- Line - use a Path object, "Line Type = 0) (-)"
- Line symbols (specific):
- Control transfer - Triangle - right
- Communication link - use a Path object,
"Line Type = 0) (-)", with
a zig-zag in it.
- Dashed line - use a Path object, "Line Type = 7) (-- )"
- Special symbols:
- Connector - Circle
- Terminator - Rectangle, rounded sides
- Annotation - Bracket, left
- Ellipsis - use a Path object,
"Line Type = 12) (--- - - - )".
Many people move beyond the standard shapes and use additional shapes
to more clearly describe different objects in flow charts.
Here is a sample flow chart:
Organization Charts -
indicates an organization's structure, specifically the relationships
between all of the positions in the organization.
See Hints for Drawing Charts.
Here is a sample organization chart:
Quality Control Charts -
many types of charts are use for quality control purposes, including
Cause and Effect Diagrams,
Goal/QPC Research,
Hoshin Planning,
and charts used for
Total Quality Management.
UML Diagrams -
Unified Modeling Language diagrams indicate the
relationships of classes (data and procedures)
in an object-oriented computer program.
See Hints for Drawing Charts.
UML was created by Rational Software
(www.rational.com).
CoPlot includes all of the shape types used in UML diagrams.
Here are the data symbols defined by Rational and their
text shape counterparts in CoPlot:
- Shapes:
- Package - Rectangle, tab
- Actor - Person
- Use case - Ellipse, 2 wide
- Note (comment) - Rectangle, folded corner
- Class - Rectangle
(use '<hrls>' for horizontal lines)
- State - Rectangle, rounded
- Runtime processing elements (nodes) - Cube, right
- Connecting lines:
- Dependency - use a Path object, "Line Type = 1) (- )"
- Association - use a Path object, "Line Type = 0) (-)"
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Objects
Edit : Objects
lets you quickly move, copy, or delete individual objects.
The options are:
-
Move
- lets you drag an object (with the left mouse button)
to its new location.
This doesn't support scaling or rotating the object as it is moved
(see the Move option in
Edit : Any Type).
Or, if you click on an object with the right mouse button, you
can edit its attributes
(like Edit : Pick One).
Hint for Aligning Objects -
Use the 'Grid +' toolbar button to get a fairly coarse grid
(for example, 0.1 inches or 0.5 cm).
Then use Edit : Objects : Move
(or any of the other 'Move' options elsewhere in the program)
to move the objects into alignment.
With a coarse grid,
you can get objects in perfect alignment
even if you just do it visually
(without looking at the coordinates).
-
Copy
- lets you copy an object by dragging the object (with the
left mouse button) to the new location.
This doesn't support scaling or rotating the object as it is copied
(see the Copy option in
Edit : Any Type).
-
Delete
- lets you delete an object by clicking on it.
When you pick objects to be deleted with this dialog box, the objects
are temporarily erased. When you close this dialog box, the objects
are actually deleted. The Redraw button in the dialog
redraws all of the objects in the drawing, except the ones you intend
to delete. The Redraw button in the main window redraws
all of the objects (even the ones you intend to delete).
-
Hide
- lets you pick an object and put it at the beginning of the list
of objects. Whenever the screen is redrawn,
that object will be drawn first and perhaps be partially
hidden when subsequent objects are drawn.
-
Show
- lets you pick an object and put it at the end of the list
of objects. Whenever the screen is redrawn,
that object will be drawn last so that it will not be even
partially hidden.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Points Move
Edit : Points Move
lets you move individual points (the points you specified
when you created the objects) by dragging them to their new location.
After dragging a point, you can move it more by typing
a newer X,Y position or by using the + and - buttons.
Or, you can move another point.
There is an Undo button to undo the changes, one by one. One
unusual feature is that each time you move a different point,
two undo events (not just one) are generated.
This is useful, because if you then press Undo once, the point
is returned to its original position so you can use
the + and - buttons to move it.
Hint for Aligning Objects -
Use the 'Grid +' toolbar button to get a fairly coarse grid
(for example, 0.1 inches or 0.5 cm).
Then use Edit : Points Move
(or any of the other 'Move' options elsewhere in the program)
to move the objects into alignment.
With a coarse grid,
you can get objects in perfect alignment
even if you just do it visually
(without looking at the coordinates).
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Points Boxed Move
Edit : Points Boxed Move
lets you mark a box (by dragging the corners)
and an arrow (by dragging the base and the tip)
and move all of the points in the box by the amount specified
by the arrow.
This is particularly useful for moving sections of a drawing.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Change Color
This lets you specify an Old Color
and a New Color. When you
press OK, the procedure changes all
objects with the old color so that they use the new color. For example,
you could change all red4 objects into orange4 objects.
This is not
an on-the-fly change; it actually changes all of the relevant color
attributes in all of the relevant objects.
Menu Tree /
Index
Edit : Exchange Black And White
This lets you change everything that is black into white, and
vice versa (including the background color). This can be useful
when right before making slides, since it is common to
use a black (or other dark color) background and a white foreground;
whereas most people use a white background and black (and other colors)
for the foreground on the screen and when printing.
This is not
an on-the-fly change; it actually changes all of the relevant color
attributes in all of the relevant objects.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing
The options on the Drawing menu apply to all of the objects
in the current drawing.
All of these settings are saved
when you save the drawing in a .draw file.
These are
preferences
which apply to the current drawing, as opposed to
the preferences on the
Screen menu
(which apply to the program and all drawings).
The options on the Drawing menu are:
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Background Color
This sets the background color (a specific color, or notDrawn)
for the drawing. See Colors.
This setting is saved in the
.draw drawing file.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Coordinates
This lets you set up the drawing coordinate system
(the minimum and maximum values of the units you
work with on your drawing).
It also connects the drawing coordinates to
physical coordinates (for the screen and the printer) via
a Scale factor
(drawing coordinate units per inch, or per cm).
Overview -
The drawing area is a rectangular box. You can specify
any coordinate system you want for the drawing area; the default
is inches.
The coordinate system is always based at the lower left of the drawing,
with x,y values increasing to the right and up.
The coordinate system is always isotropic (a unit along the X axis
is as long as a unit along the Y axis).
The coordinate information is saved in the
.draw drawing file.
On the screen and when printing or saving to a graphics file,
the Scale setting converts the drawing's user-defined
coordinates into the actual physical size. For example, you might set up a
drawing with X Bounds coordinates of 0 to 10 miles and
set the Scale
so that "2 miles" on the drawing becomes 1 physical inch
on the screen or printer.
When you print a drawing or save it to some types of vector graphics
files (for example, PostScript eps, Acrobat pdf, and HPGL/2 B&W and Color),
the drawing area is positioned on the page based on the
Page Width, Page Height, Left Margin, and
Bottom Margin settings.
Little Boxes - When this dialog box is open, CoPlot draws little
boxes at the sides of the drawing area (see
X,Y Min,Max Bounds)
and at the lower left of the drawing area
(see
Left, Bottom Margin).
You can drag the boxes to change the corresponding values in the dialog box.
Landscape Printing - If the Page Width value is
greater than
the Page Height value, the drawing will be printed
in landscape orientation.
Zoom - Before using the options on this dialog box,
it is often useful to click on the 'Zoom -' toolbar button
a few times so that you get an overview of the page and the
drawing area.
The options in the dialog box are:
-
Units Name
- is the name of the units that you want to work with:
inches, feet, miles, cm, km, pixels -- whatever.
The default is the generic name: "drawing units".
-
Common Names
- lets you pick a Units Name from a list of
common, standard unit names.
-
X Min,Max Bounds (units)
- specifies the minimum and maximum X values that you want to
work with.
These are used to set up the scroll bars and to clip the drawing
when it is printed
(portions of objects outside this range will not be drawn).
The defaults are X Min=0 and X Max=8 units.
These can be changed on an existing drawing (to expand or
contract the range you want to work with) without affecting
the size and position of existing objects.
Alternatively, you can drag the tiny boxes on the edges
of the drawing area to resize the drawing area.
This is a graphical way of changing
the X,Y Min,Max values.
-
Y Min,Max Bounds (units)
- specifies the minimum and maximum Y values that you want to
work with.
These are used to set up the scrollbars and to clip the drawing
(portions of objects outside this range will not be drawn).
The defaults are Y Min=0 and Y Max=10.5 units.
These can be changed on an existing drawing (to expand or
contract the range you want to work with) without affecting
the size and position of existing objects.
Alternatively, you can drag the tiny boxes on the edges
of the drawing area to resize the drawing area.
This is a graphical way of changing
the X,Y Min,Max values.
-
Scale (units per inch)
- sets the scale for the drawing so that
scale units in drawing coordinates (for example, 10 feet)
is scaled to 1 inch on the screen or a printer.
In other words, this is the connection between the
drawing coordinates
you want to work with (inches, sixteenths of an inch,
feet, miles, cm, km, pixels -- whatever)
and the physical size on the screen and when printed.
The default is 1 drawing unit per inch, but you can change it.
An alternative to Scale is Scale (per cm),
and changes here are mirrored there.
Examples of common uses are:
- Scale: 1, Units Name: inches
- This makes a drawing where "1 inch" in drawing coordinates
is scaled to 1 physical inch on the screen or when printed.
Hence the drawing coordinates of objects matches
the physical size of the objects.
- Scale: 10, Units Name: feet
- This makes a drawing where "10 feet" in drawing coordinates
is scaled to 1 physical inch on the screen or when printed.
Hence the drawing scale is 10 feet per inch.
- Scale: 100, Units Name: pixels
- This makes a drawing where "100 pixels" in drawing
coordinates are scaled to 1 physical inch on the screen
or when printed. 100 pixels per inch is useful
because that is the number of pixels per inch for CoPlot's screen
driver and when you use
(see File : Save As : GIF or JPG.
Screen sizes vary and resolutions vary.
CoPlot makes an assumption that there are 100 pixels per inch on your
screen. This is pretty close for a 17 inch monitor with a resolution
of 1024x768. At 1024x768, one default unit will appear slightly
shorter than an inch on 14 and 15 inch monitors,
and slightly longer on 21 inch monitors. Of course, on printers,
an inch is an inch. The assumption of 100 pixels per inch
has a secondary benefit: line widths and other
sizes are very easy to specify
(0.01 inches generates a one pixel wide line,
0.02 inches generates a two pixel wide line, etc).
Changing the Scale does not affect the
drawing coordinates of objects.
For example, if you drew a square that was 1 unit by 1 unit in size,
changing the Scale does not change the
coordinates of the square --
it is still 1 unit by 1 unit. But it does change the physical size of the
square on the screen and when printed, since 1 unit is now scaled to a
different number of inches on the screen or printer.
Zoom - The effect of the scale value is
modified on-the-fly by the
Drawing : Zoom factor.
Whenever you print a drawing or use File : Save As,
CoPlot temporarily sets the Zoom Factor to 1.
-
Scale (per cm)
- sets the scale for the drawing so that
scale units in drawing coordinates (for example, 10 meters)
is scaled to 1 cm on the screen or printer.
In other words, this is the connection between the
drawing coordinates
you want to work with (inches, feet, miles, cm, km -- whatever)
and the physical size on the screen and when printed.
The default is 0.3937007 drawing units per cm, but you can change it.
For example, you could specify
Scale: 10 and Units Name: meters
to make a drawing where
10 meters in drawing coordinates is scaled to 1 cm on the
screen or printer.
This is an alternative to Scale (per inch) and changes here
are mirrored there.
-
Display
- when you are moving the cursor over the drawing, and the
drawing coordinates are being displayed, this setting determines
how the X,Y coordinates will be displayed: in User's Units
(for example, "5.3 feet"), in
inches (when printed), or in cm (when printed).
-
Resulting Size
- Given the X Y Bounds and the drawing Scale,
CoPlot can calculate
the size of the drawing (in inches and cm) when printed.
-
Grid Size (units)
- You can specify the size of the grid used to position objects when you
create or move them.
The coordinates for the grid size are in
whatever units you are working in (see Unit's Name).
You can make the grid visible with Draw Grid below.
As you move the cursor to specify a position (for example,
in Create : Path),
you will see a '+' following the cursor. The cursor can be moved
to any pixel on the screen, but the
'+' will only move to points on the
grid. When you mark a point when creating or moving an object,
the point will be placed wherever the '+' is,
not where the cursor is.
When you see the '+' cursor, you can move it with
your mouse or the arrow keys on your keyboard. You can also press
Home (like the left mouse button)
or Esc (like the right mouse button).
If you use the arrow keys and then move the mouse (even a tiny bit),
the '+' will jump back to near the mouse's cursor.
In situations where the grid
system is not active (for example when picking an object),
the '+' isn't drawn.
Hint: We find that a fairly coarse
Grid Size
is useful (for example,
0.1 inches or 0.5 cm). This is small enough
to give you flexibility in positioning objects, but big enough
to easily align objects.
Hint: If you want the '+' cursor to move smoothly, not from grid
point to grid point, change the
Grid Size
to a smaller number (for example, 0.001, or smaller, depending
on your coordinate system). The resulting grid
size will be so small the size
of pixels on the screen will be the limiting factor in positioning
objects.
Hint: You can quickly increase or decrease the
Grid Size
without
opening up the Drawing : Coordinates dialog by using the
Grid + and Grid - buttons on the toolbar.
Because these buttons don't open a dialog box, they can be used at
any time (for example, while using Create : Path).
-
Draw Grid
- This checkbox determines if the grid
(an array of dots with the spacing determined by the
Grid Size
)
should be drawn on the screen.
Seeing the grid can help you line things up.
The grid dots are drawn with what computer programmers call
'xor' drawing mode, which essentially reverses the current
colors on the screen wherever the dots are drawn.
Thus, the dots are drawn with different colors
depending on the color of the drawing underneath
each dot.
If the Grid Size is so small that the dots are right next
to each other, CoPlot will just draw lines.
If the Grid Size is even smaller, so small that the lines
would touch or almost touch each other, CoPlot will just draw lines
at a multiple of the grid size.
In either case, if CoPlot draws the grid with lines,
you know the grid size is less
than the pixel size.
Regardless of the setting here, the grid is never drawn when you
print the image or when you use File : Save As to save
the drawing in some other type of file.
It is just intended to be a useful
tool when you are working with the drawing on the screen.
The Drawing : Draw Grid
menu checkbox is another way to set this setting.
Since the menu checkbox doesn't
require opening a dialog box, it is useful when you want to
turn the grid on or off while another dialog box is open.
-
Page Width, Height (inches)
- For printing and some File : Save As file types,
this sets the page size, in inches.
The default is 8.5 x 11 inches.
Changes here are mirrored by Page Width, Height (cm).
To print in landscape orientation, specify a
Page Size where the Width is greater than
the Height.
Print Preview -
CoPlot doesn't have a File : Print Preview option.
Instead, if you zoom out, the page is represented on the screen
as a light gray area. Thus you can see what the drawing
will look like when printed. One important difference: objects
(or parts of objects) which are outside of the drawing area
will be drawn on the screen
but they won't be drawn when the drawing is printed. This is
useful because it allows you to create objects entirely
off of the drawing (for example, comments related to the
history of the drawing).
-
Page Width, Height (cm)
- For printing and some File : Save As file types,
this sets the page size, in cm.
This is an alternative to Page Width, Height (inches),
and changes here are mirrored there.
-
Common Sizes
- lets you pick and set Page Width and Page Height
from a list of common, standard page sizes.
-
Left, Bottom Margins (inches)
- This sets the position of the drawing area on the printed page
by setting
the left and bottom margins (the distance
from the lower left corner of the paper to the
lower left corner of the drawing, in inches).
Most printers have an small border where they can't print (usually,
about 0.25 inches all around the page);
so you generally shouldn't set this to 0, or the
edge of your drawing won't be printed.
The default is 0.25 inches and 0.25 inches.
Changes here are mirrored by Left, Bottom Margin (cm).
Alternatively, you can drag the tiny box at the bottom left
corner of the drawing area to reposition the drawing area
on the paper. This is a graphical way of changing
the Left, Bottom Margins.
-
Left, Bottom Margins (cm)
- This sets the left and bottom margins (in cm).
This is an alternative to Left, Bottom Margins (inches),
and changes here are mirrored there.
-
Center The Drawing
- This tells the program to adjust the Left, Bottom Margins
so that the drawing area is centered on the page.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Groups
Each object belongs to a group. Groups are numbered 0..65535.
Drawing : Groups lets you choose which groups of
objects are visible by specifying a list of visible groups
(for example 0-3, 5 or All).
You can use groups as if they were separate drawings (that is, layers) within
one .draw file. Or, you can use groups as a way for CoPlot
to 'remember' a group of picked objects (for example, for a
component that is drawn with several objects that is part of
a drawing) since it is easy to
pick objects by their group number
(see Pick Group on the Edit : Xxx dialog boxes).
Drawing : Groups also has buttons that let you use
groups for animation (see Animation below).
Animation is possible because CoPlot can show a series of groups
very quickly.
Related information:
- Change the group number - You can change the group number of picked objects like any other
attribute on the Edit : Xxx dialogs
(see the Group attribute).
- Pick by group number -
Edit : Xxx : Pick Group
lets you pick objects based on their
group number.
The picked groups are automatically added to the visible groups list.
- Pick from visible groups only -
The other Pick options (Pick One, Pick Box, Pick Color,
etc.) on the
Edit : Xxx dialogs
will only pick objects that are in visible groups --
non-visible objects are not pickable.
- Edit : Xxx : Visible Groups -
lets you specify which groups are visible,
but it works a little differently than
Drawing : Groups : Visible Groups.
If objects have already been picked, their group numbers will
automatically be added to the list of visible groups. Thus,
CoPlot ensures that picked objects will remain visible.
- .draw files - The group number for each object is stored in
.draw files
like other attributes (setGroup(int)).
The options on the Drawing : Groups dialog box are:
- Groups Visible
- lets you choose which groups of
objects are visible by specifying a
comma-separated-value list of visible groups
(for example 0-3, 5 or All).
This lists can contain individual group numbers
(for example, 5), and
ranges of groups (two group numbers, separated by a dash, for example,
0-3). You can specify all groups by entering
All.
- Animation
- Animation is possible because CoPlot can show a series of groups
very quickly (groups 0 and 1,
then groups 0 and 2,
then groups 0 and 3, ... then groups 0 and the last active group).
Group 0 is always shown so that you can use it for background objects
(for example, the map of a farm) and then use the other groups
(1, 2, 3,...) for the information which changes (for example,
what was planted in the various fields each year). If you don't want
any objects to be used as a background, just don't put any objects
in group 0.
The buttons allow you to control the animation:
- Rewind ( |< ), which makes groups 0 and 1 visible.
- Play backwards one step ( - ).
- Play backwards ( < ).
- Stop ( [] ).
- Play forwards ( > ).
- Play forwards one step ( + ).
- Fast forward ( >| ), which makes group 0 and
the last group with objects visible.
Saving the Animation - Currently, CoPlot does not have a way
to save the animation in an MPEG-2 or Animated GIF file. MPEG-2
would probably not be a great solution, because it is a lossy
format and would add imperfections to the images. Animated GIF
files are a much better match because they are lossless (the images
will be perfect copies of the originals). Also, animated GIFs
can be viewed in any browser without a plug-in. If you want
to make an animated GIF file now, save each image in a separate gif
file (use File : Save As : GIF) then use an image-editing
program to combine the separate gif files into one animated gif.
We use and recommend "GIF Construction Set Professional",
a $20 shareware program from
Alchemy Mindworks Inc. (http://www.mindworkshop.com).
- Frames Per Second
- specifies the maximum speed of the animation. The animation
won't go any faster than this speed, but if the frames take a long
time to draw, the animation will go slower.
- Group For New Objects
- lets you specify the group number for new objects
(on Create : Xxx dialogs). You can also set this on any
of the Create : Xxx dialogs.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : List Of Files
Drawing (.draw) files just store the names of data and image
files used in the drawing.
This dialog box shows a list of data and image files
used by the current drawing.
Since the names of datafiles may change when the drawing is saved, you must
save the drawing with the Save The Drawing button.
Then, this dialog box shows
you a list of the data files, image files, and the .draw file which are used
by this drawing.
If you press the Create Zip File button, CoPlot will compress
and save these files in a .zip file. The zip file is a handy way to transmit
the drawing and its associated files to your coworkers.
The zip file includes the directory names for the files. If you don't utilize
the directory names when you unzip the file, CoPlot will still be able to find
the data and image files because they will be in the same directory as the
.draw file.
The Put On Clipboard button puts the list
on the clipboard.
This is especially useful if you want to put the list
in a Text or Big Text object,
so that the list of required files is printed on the drawing
(or just beyond the printed part of the drawing).
This is also useful if you want to transfer
the list to a word processor, a text editor, or some other program.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Load Fonts
CoPlot has 15 slots to hold font families (each family can draw
light, regular, bold, light italic, regular italic, and bold italic
fonts).
This dialog box lets you load different font families into the font slots.
Any font can be loaded
into any slot.
It is recommended (but not essential) that you leave the
first five (standard) fonts alone.
The five standard fonts are
0:Helvet, 1:TmsRmn, 2:Cour, 3:Marker, 4:Greek.
The font selections are saved in the
.draw drawing file.
All drawing objects that
refer to fonts actually refer to a font slot number. Loading a different
font into a font slot, will cause all objects which refer to that font
slot to be drawn with the new font. For example, you can change all
Helvet references into TmsRmn references!
If an object refers to an empty font slot,
the font in slot 0 is used.
Custom fonts from DOS CoDraw - The DOS version of CoDraw
allowed users to create and edit fonts. The Java version of CoPlot uses
the same file format for fonts, so you can still use any custom fonts that
you created for the DOS CoDraw. To use the custom fonts, copy them to the
cohort directory.
Use Drawing : Load Fonts to load the fonts and make them
available in the current drawing.
Ideally, for each font family, you should have three
.fnt files:
name.fnt (the standard version, for example, helvet.fnt),
name-l.fnt (a light-weight version, for example, helvet-l.fnt),
and name-b.fnt (a bold version, for example, helvet-b.fnt).
The name-l.fnt is usually drawn with just lines,
since it is often substituted for the
regular and bold fonts
when they are drawn at small sizes on the screen.
In CoPlot,
Font
Sizes
Are
Specified in Drawing Coordinates, Not Points.
In most programs, you specify the Font Size, in points (1/72").
In CoPlot, you specify the Text Height, in
Drawing Coordinates.
Here is why:
In CoPlot, the Drawing Coordinates
may match the physical size (inches
or centimeters) or they may not.
Specifying the Text Height in points makes some sense for drawings
where the Drawing Coordinates match the physical size,
but not for other coordinate systems. For
example, when people (in the U.S.) make field maps, they probably use
feet as the basic unit (since that is how fields are usually measured) and make
drawings with coordinates that range, for example, 0 - 5000 feet. In
that case, a suitable Text Height might be 50 "feet".
The program could
always tie Text Height to the physical size. But then if you changed
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale, it is unclear whether the
Text Height should change proportionally or not.
It would be trouble. When the Text Height is measured in
Drawing Coordinates, it is obvious that the
numerical value of Text Height should not change with changes to
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale (just as other size values don't
change).
Another problem arises with the use of symbols which are
stored in fonts (like electrical symbols stored in the elec font).
In this case, it is far more appropriate to specify the
exact height of the symbol in drawing coordinates, not points.
Personally, we have also found points to be awkward to use.
For a given point size, different font families produce characters
of different heights -- a 12 point Times Roman character is significantly
taller than a 12 point Courier character.
And the height of a capital letter has nothing
to do with a font's point size (as measured in 1/72") --
a capital letter in a 72 point font is not 1" high; it is much smaller.
But in CoPlot,
the height of a capital letter in any font will be exactly the size
that you specify (in Drawing Coordinates).
Conversion Rule-of-Thumb -
For most fonts, a capital letter in an n point
font will be roughly n/100ths of an inch high. Thus, if your Drawing
Coordinates are inches (the default), you can get a roughly 10 point
font by specifying Text Height = 0.10.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Draw Grid
When Drawing : Draw Grid is checked, the grid
(an array of dots with the spacing determined by the
Grid Size
) is drawn on the screen. When it is
not checked, the grid is not drawn.
Since this checkbox doesn't
require opening a dialog box, it is useful when you want to
turn the grid on or off while another dialog box is open.
This setting is an alias for
Draw Grid
on the
Drawing : Coordinates
dialog box.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Other
The Drawing : Other dialog box has several options
related to the current drawing.
The settings are saved in the
.draw drawing file.
These settings do not apply to other drawing files, and will
be changed when you load another .drawing file.
The options on the Drawing : Other dialog
box are:
-
Author
- is a text string which identifies the author of the current drawing.
This is used by some File : Save As options (notably eps, pdf,
svg, and cgm),
to identify the author of the drawing.
Traditionally, people just enter
their name or company name here, but we recommend adding an email
address or web site URL (for example,
"John Smith jSmith@myCompany.com" or
"My Company (www.myCompany.com)").
Because some programs display this information in a small text field,
you should keep this entry pretty short.
-
Minimum Line Width
- sets the minimum line width (in
Drawing Coordinates)
for all of the lines in the
drawing. Any object
which has a Line Width or
Fill Linewidth
specified to be less
than the width here will be drawn with the width here.
The object's line width value is not changed, just temporarily
over-ridden. The default is 0.006, which is a thin line.
This is useful when printing
to high-resolution printers (for example, laser printers) or when using
File : Save As to save to vector file types which are capable of
drawing very narrow lines.
It allows you to quickly ensure that all lines are at least
the minimum width.
-
Draw Other Colors As
- This lets you choose to draw colors
that are neither black nor white as:
Colors, Grays, or Black.
This change is made on-the-fly, so the
color attributes of the drawing objects are not changed. Images
are not affected.
-
Try to use system fonts *
- is a checkbox that instructs CoPlot to use the
system fonts whenever possible. Currently, on the screen,
when saving a drawing as an image file
(for example, .ppm, .gif, .png, and .jpg),
and when printing,
CoPlot can use system fonts for standard characters (characters 32-127)
if the font is
Helvet, TmsRmn, or Courier.
Currently, when saving as a PostScript-related file
(for example, PostScript .eps and Adobe Acrobat .pdf),
CoPlot can use
PostScript fonts for standard characters (characters 32-127)
if the font is
Helvet, TmsRmn, Century or Courier.
In any other situation,
CoPlot always uses CoHort fonts.
The '*' indicates that the default is "checked".
System fonts look slightly nicer than CoHort fonts on the screen
and they take less time to transmit to files and printers.
-
Draw bold markers
- When "checked", this draws markers with a bold font.
The default is "not-checked".
-
Draw lines through markers
- When "checked", lines connecting markers are drawn through
the markers.
When "not checked", lines connecting markers
stop at the edges of the markers.
When the lines are drawn through the markers,
they can be drawn a little bit faster, but we don't think it
looks as nice. Obviously, if the markers are solid-filled,
this setting doesn't matter. The default is "not-checked".
-
Draw error bars through markers
- When "checked", the error bar lines are drawn through
the markers in graph objects.
When "not checked", lines connecting markers
stop at the edges of the markers.
When the error bar lines are drawn through the markers,
they can be drawn a little bit faster, but we don't think it
looks as nice. Obviously, if the markers are solid-filled,
this setting doesn't matter. The default is "not-checked".
-
Draw caps on error bars *
- When "checked", little horizontal lines are drawn at
the ends of error bars in graph objects.
When the lines are not drawn,
error bars are drawn a little bit faster, but (except for stock charts)
it isn't the standard way to draw error bars.
The '*' indicates that the default is "checked".
-
Missing values make gaps *
- When "checked", the program makes gaps in lines when
plotting datasets on a graph
whenever there is a missing value.
If this is not checked, there will not be any gaps.
The '*' indicates that the default is "checked".
-
Enable Undo All *
- When "checked", the program enables the Undo All button
on many dialogs.
There are a few dialogs that use a different and faster
system to prepare for Undo All. These dialogs (and
dialogs that have Undo # buttons) are unaffected
by this setting.
For large files (for example,
files with more than 5000 objects),
it may take a noticeable amount of time for CoPlot to set up
the Undo All system when a dialog box is shown. For these files, you
may wish to disable the Undo All system.
The '*' indicates that the default is "checked".
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Zoom Box
Zooming controls how much of the drawing you see on the screen.
This dialog box controls all aspects of zooming.
It also lets you specify a box on the drawing so you can zoom in on that
box.
Zooming does not affect printing or File : Save As.
It is as if
the zoom factor were temporarily set to 1
during those operations.
Remember that
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale
is the setting that relates drawing coordinates
to the physical size of the drawing.
Zooming can be thought of as a way of modifying
Drawing : Coordinates : Scale
in a temporary way while you are working with the drawing on screen.
The zoom information is not stored in the .draw file. Thus,
drawings always load with the zoom factor set to 1.
Windows95/98/ME does a poor and erratic job of clipping
when you are
zoomed way in (for example, a Zoom Factor greater than 50).
For this
reason, you may see some odd things in these situations.
The Drawing : Zoom Box has these options:
- X1, Y1, X2, Y2
- You can zoom in on a specific section of the drawing by dragging
the corners of the box (or by specifying X1, Y1, X2, Y2) and then
clicking on OK.
- OK
- Zooms in on the specific section of the drawing specified by the box
(or X1, Y1, X2, Y2).
- Undo
- Will undo the effects of the last time you pressed OK.
- Zoom Factor
- This lets you set the Zoom Factor directly.
It affects how much
of the drawing is visible on the screen.
The zoom factor is a double value in the range of 0.015625 to 128.
The default is 1.
- Zoom In
-
- This multiplies the zoom factor by 2.
Only 1/4 as much of the
drawing will be visible on the
screen (1/2 in the X direction and 1/2 in the Y direction).
The 'Zoom +'
toolbar button is a shortcut for this.
- Zoom Out
- This divides the zoom factor by 2.
4 times as much of the
drawing will be visible on the
screen (2x in the X direction and 2x in the Y direction).
The 'Zoom -' toolbar button is a shortcut for this.
- Zoom 1
- This sets the Zoom Factor to 1.
Menu Tree /
Index
Drawing : Zoom 1
Drawing : Zoom 1 sets the zoom factor to 1.
See Drawing : Zoom Box
for more information.
It may seem redundant to have Zoom 1
on the Zoom Box dialog box and on the Drawing menu, but
there is an important difference. The options on the Drawing menu
can be accessed without opening the Zoom Box dialog box. Since
CoPlot allows only one dialog box to be open at once, the options
on the Drawing menu can be accessed while another dialog box
is showing, whereas the options on the Zoom Box dialog box can't.
Menu Tree /
Index
Screen
The Screen menu has many options related to the screen and
to CoPlot preferences in general (not just the current drawing).
These settings are saved in the
CoPlot.pref preference file
(see the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)).
These settings apply to the program (not just the current drawing)
and are not changed if you load a different drawing.
These are
preferences
which apply to the program and all drawings, as opposed to
the preferences on the
Drawing menu
(which apply only to the current drawing).
The options on the Screen menu are:
-
Redraw
- redraws the drawing on the screen. When editing individual objects,
CoPlot just redraws the objects you are working on. This may damage
the on-screen appearance of other objects if they overlap. Using
Screen : Redraw will redraw the entire drawing.
A note about all screen redraws -
All screen redraws occur in a background thread
(a computer process separate from the event-handling thread),
so that control of the program always returns immediately
to you while the redraw thread works in the background.
If you then make another change that leads to another
screen redraw, the previous redraw is cancelled
(although the change to the drawing specification is always completed)
and the new redraw begins.
Users can cancel the current redraw by left clicking on the status line.
This will not affect the changes being made to the drawing specification.
If a screen redraw takes a long time,
you can peek at the screen redraw in progress by right clicking on
the status line.
-
Automatic Redraw
- When checked, CoPlot redraws part or all of the drawing every time
you make a change to the drawing. When not checked, changes to the drawing
specification are still made, but the changes do not cause the
screen image to be redrawn. The default is "checked".
It is useful to turn this off when you
are working with a drawing that takes a long time to redraw.
You can then use Screen : Redraw or the Redraw button
to manually redraw the screen whenever you desire.
-
Dialogs Inside Main Window
-
By default, Dialogs Inside Main Window is not checked
and most dialog boxes will
pop up to the right of the program's window,
so that the dialog boxes don't obscure your drawing.
If you prefer to have the dialog boxes pop up on top of your drawing
(just to the left of the vertical scrollbar),
put a check by Dialogs Inside Main Window.
CoHort Software encourages people not to make CoPlot's main window
full screen. When it is less than full screen, there is space to its
right for the dialog boxes to appear and not obscure the drawing.
-
Fix MenuBar
- Sometimes the text of the items on the menu bar is garbled when
you run the program.
This is a known bug that we have been unable to completely fix.
Choosing Screen : Fix MenuBar will un-garble the text.
It may be hard to find Screen : Fix MenuBar when the menu bar
text is garbled. But if you poke around, you will find it.
In unusual cases, you may need to use it two or three times.
-
Font Size
- This lets you change the size of the system fonts used for menus,
dialog boxes, the help line. This does not affect the size of
any of the text used in the drawing.
-
Language
- This lets you choose the language used for most of the
one-line help messages displayed on the main window's status line
and for the text of the lessons on the Help menu.
We know that many of the translations are far from perfect.
We will continue to work on improving the translations.
We will also work toward translating all of the text in the program.
-
Path Aliases
- Because CoPlot stores the names of datafiles and image files
in .draw files and not the actual data or images,
if you move a .draw file to another computer, the references
to the data and image files can become invalid.
The Path Aliases system is an optional system
which can solve this problem by giving names
(called "Path Aliases", for example "2000Data::")
to commonly used directories
(called "Real Paths",
for example "c:\users\bob\data\" on one computer,
but "d:\mydata\" on another computer).
When a .draw file is saved, data and image file names that start
with a Real Path name (for example "c:\users\bob\data\")
will be saved with a Path Alias (for example "2000Data::")
instead.
When the .draw file is opened on another computer,
the data and image file names that
start with a Path Alias (for example "2000Data::")
will be changed so that they start with
the new Real Path name (for example, "d:\mydata\").
The Suggest Real Paths button looks through the
current drawing file and makes sure that all of the
directories used by data and image files are listed
in the Real Path column.
Details:
- When loading data and image files within CoPlot, use
the regular real path names, not the Path Aliases. The
Path Alias system
is just used by CoPlot when .draw files are saved or opened.
- The Real Path names and the Path Aliases that you enter
on this dialog box are stored in the CoPlot.pref file.
When you run the program next time, the
Real Path names and the Path Aliases will be reloaded.
- The .draw file also stores the Real Path names and the Path Aliases.
But these instances are only used if CoPlot tries to
load a .draw file, but doesn't recognize the
Path Aliases that are referenced in the .draw file.
- This system works best if you store data and
image files in just one or only a few directories and if you routinely
transfer files to another computer which has corresponding
directories.
Alternative - When CoPlot loads a drawing which refers
to a .dt or image file which should be in some other directory
(but isn't), CoPlot also looks in the same directory as the
.draw file. Thus, if you keep related .draw, .dt, and image files
in the same directory, CoPlot will find them
if you move them all to a different directory
(even a different computer).
-
Show CoText
- This creates an instance of
CoText,
the text editor
that is built into CoPlot, and displays it.
Sometimes it is useful to have a text editor easily
available.
See CoText's Help menu for information on how to use CoText.
This is a different instance of CoText than the one used by CoStat
to capture statistical results,
so you can edit
one text file in CoPlot's copy of CoText and edit another
text file in CoStat's copy of CoText.
-
Text-Only Buttons
- When this is checked, the buttons right below the
main menu will show text only, not images and text.
When the buttons show text only,
the font size will be slightly smaller that the font
size specified with
Screen : Font Size.
When the buttons show images and text, the font
size is fixed.
If CoPlot is not installed quite right (notably,
if the XxxButton.gif files aren't present in the
cohort directory),
the buttons will appear text-only regardless of whether
Screen : Text-Only Buttons is checked.
See the download page at
www.cohort.com.
Menu Tree /
Index
Macro
This menu has options related to recording, playing, and editing
macros.
Since macros work the same way in different CoHort programs, they
are described in one place: see
Using Macros and
The Macro Language
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
The Macro and Help menu
options behave slightly differently than other menu options:
- Usually, only one dialog box can be visible.
- For non-Macro and non-Help
menu options, CoPlot allows
only one dialog box (and its children) to be open at once.
Thus, if you make a menu selection which opens a dialog box,
CoPlot will automatically close a currently open dialog box.
Similarly, only one Help dialog box can be open
at once.
But the Macro and Help
dialog boxes are exempt from this and do not
close other dialogs nor allow themselves to be closed.
- Usually, user actions are recorded in macros.
- For non-Macro and non-Help menu options,
CoPlot records all user activity
when recording a macro.
But Macro and Help menu
related activities are not recorded.
Menu Tree /
Index
Help
This menu has various help options:
-
Lesson 1,2,3,4,5,6
-
The lessons are dialog boxes with information about how to
use CoPlot.
-
Switching from DOS CoPlot to Java CoPlot
-
shows a dialog box with a lot of detailed information
useful to people switching from the DOS programs.
This manual has an even more useful version
(because it has lots of hyperlinks):
see Switching From DOS CoStat, CoPlot, and CoDraw
-
Quick: Plot your data on a graph
Quick: Plot your data on a map
-
These options show a dialog box with a brief description of how to
plot your data on a graph or map.
-
Online
-
shows a dialog box that says that the online help
is in coplot.htm (this document).
-
Register
-
shows a dialog box that lets you register your copy of
the program by entering
Your Name (first and last, for example, "John Smith")
and your Registration Number (a large integer number).
When you press the Am I registered? button,
CoPlot will check if the information is valid.
You can buy a license and get a registration number from
CoHort Software.
You can evaluate the program for a few weeks without
registering. But if you don't register within a few weeks,
the program will shut down when you close this dialog box.
-
View Error Log
- CoStat writes low level diagnostic messages and error messages
to an ASCII text file called "error.log" in the
cohort directory.
If you select Help : View Error Log, you can view the file.
These messages probably won't mean much to you, but they are useful to
us at CoHort Software when debugging the programs and when
trying to solve problems that you encounter.
If the program freezes or crashes, the error log is often
particularly valuable.
We may ask you to email this file to us.
Note that viewing the file with Help : View Error Log
clears the file.
-
About
-
displays information about:
- The Program - the version number, the copyright information, and
how to contact CoHort Software.
- The Java Virtual Machine - the company name and version number.
- The Java Just-In-Time Compiler - if one is being used.
Note that even when HotSpot is active, it reports 'none'.
- Memory - "Currently Using" indicates how much memory CoPlot
is currently using for its data structures.
"max" indicates the maximum amount of memory Java
has allocated for CoPlot's data structures in this session.
When you select Help : About, CoPlot runs
the Java garbage collector (which reclaims data structures
which are no longer in use), so these numbers
are accurate, but don't indicate how memory was
allocated before garbage collection was done.
These numbers say nothing about how much memory the
Java Virtual Machine is using (a lot!) or is
allowed to allocate (the "-Xmx" amount on the command line),
since those numbers are not accessible from a Java program.
See Memory
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- Your Name and Registration Number from
Help : Register.
- The Expiration Date - the date when this program will
stop working if it isn't registered in Help : Register.
The Macro and Help menu
options behave slightly differently than other menu options:
- Usually, only one dialog box can be visible.
- For non-Macro and non-Help
menu options, CoPlot allows
only one dialog box (and its children) to be open at once.
Thus, if you make a menu selection which opens a dialog box,
CoPlot will automatically close a currently open dialog box.
Similarly, only one Help dialog box can be open
at once.
But the Macro dialog boxes are exempt from this and do not
close other dialogs nor allow themselves to be closed.
- Usually, user actions are recorded in macros.
- For non-Macro and non-Help menu options,
CoPlot records all user activity
when recording a macro. But Macro and Help menu
related activities are not recorded.
Menu Tree /
Index
Speed
Normal Behavior
- On a 200 MHz or faster computer with 64 MB or more of memory,
CoPlot should run reasonably quickly, even with complex drawings
and large datafiles.
The program may pause for a second unexpectedly every few minutes.
That is normal.
- If you are also running another program and you return to the
CoPlot window, CoPlot may be sluggish for a few seconds.
- On a computer that is slower than 200 MHz, performance should
degrade proportionally to the speed of the computer.
- On a computer with 32 MB of memory, the program
will become unreasonably slow with medium-sized drawings
or medium-sized data files. Please consider getting more memory.
- Very complex drawings or large datafiles will make the program sluggish.
Roughly speaking,
this includes drawings with more than 10,000 of any kind of
object, or more than 1000 ellipses, or more than 500 text
objects, or more than 20 graphs, or many images, or large images.
Datafiles with >100,000 numbers or >50,000 Strings
will also make the program sluggish, but it varies greatly
in different procedures.
If you go over these levels, you will want
to be using a computer that is as fast as possible (certainly faster
than 200 MHz) and which perhaps has more memory.
Abnormal Behavior
- Excessive pausing and disk activity -
If the program normally runs quickly, but suddenly (perhaps after
opening a huge datafile or huge image) you notice that the program is
pausing frequently and the disk drive is frequently active
when you are not loading or saving a file,
you are probably low on memory.
Check your memory usage with
Help : About : Memory.
If the max memory usage is more than the
amount of memory in your computer minus 32 MB,
this is almost certainly the problem.
Read about Memory
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
If you
are working with large datafiles, or drawings with a huge number
of objects, or have just 32 MB of memory,
please consider getting more memory for your computer.
If you run the program from a batch file or shell script,
it may indicate that the program is not configured properly.
Did you modify the batch file which runs the program? If so,
make sure that -Xincgc is still on the command line which
runs the program.
See the download page at
www.cohort.com for
information about installing and running CoPlot.
- If the program seems slower than is reasonable
considering the size of your drawing and datafile,
the Help : About max memory
usage, and the amount of physical memory in your computer, contact
CoHort Software and ask for advice.
Things You Can Do To Speed Up CoPlot
- Drawing : Coordinates : Draw Grid
- Currently, drawing the grid is very slow.
Make sure this setting is not checked.
- Edit : Path : Type
- Edit : Path : Type: Line draws much faster than Spline
or Bezier.
- Ellipse
- Ellipse objects are drawn faster
when Ellipse nSides is set to a
smaller number. For small ellipses, you can often reduce
Ellipse nSides without affecting the appearance of the ellipse.
But remember that a larger value of
Ellipse nSides is needed to make
an ellipse look nice on a printer compared to on a screen.
- Marker Type
- Marker Types drawn with a few straight lines
(for example, plus, square, triangle) draw much faster than
Marker Types drawn with curved lines
(for example, circles) or filled areas (for example, filled squares).
- Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Simple Graph : Dataset : Representations (for example, Line)
are drawn much faster than more complex representations
(for example, Spline or Marker).
The comments about Marker Type (above) apply to
Marker representations.
Markers that are letters in standard fonts
(like Helvet or TmsRmn) are
drawn faster than markers in the Marker font.
- Graph : Map
- If your drawing has a graph has map layers, consider
changing their Line, Background and Text Color
to notDrawn temporarily. Map layers take a long time
to draw.
- Graph : Legend
- Large legends are drawn very slowly. When animating graphs,
consider setting the Edit : Graph : Legend : Color to
notDrawn.
- Datafiles with String data
- Some procedures (notably, Edit : Sort)
work much more slowly on datafiles with String data than datafiles with
just numeric data. And any operations that access the String data
are many times slower than operations with the numeric data.
Never store numeric data as Strings (use
CoStat's Edit : Format Columns : Simplify to store the data
in a more efficient way).
- Pick
- When a drawing has a huge number of objects (>10,000?),
Pick One will be somewhat slower
than the other Pick options.
- Screen : Automatic Redraw
- If you are working with a drawing that takes a long time to redraw,
set Screen : Automatic Redraw to 'not checked'. Then you can
use the program quickly, since there won't be any redraws unless you
specifically request them (via Screen : Redraw or the
Redraw button).
- Printing
- Use the recommended cable - Recent computers and printers
often recommend an IEEE-1284 compliant parallel cable,
which looks just like a cheap parallel cable, but performs
much better.
- Printer Properties - Often, changes to your
computer's printer driver can make a huge difference in printing speed
(in Windows, see My Computer :
Control Panel : Printers, right click on your printer,
and choose Properties).
On our HP LaserJet, for example, selecting
Graphics : Use raster graphics prints much faster
than Graphics : Use vector graphics.
The type of dithering the printer driver uses also can
make a huge difference.
- Get more memory
- Java Virtual Machines
(the programs that run Java programs like CoStat)
perform better when there is more physical memory in the computer.
This is particularly true of Sun's "HotSpot" JVMs.
- Get a better graphics card
- The color depth of the graphics card in your computer can
affect the speed of CoPlot.
Usually, Java should run somewhat faster with graphics cards that run in a
24 or 32 bits per pixel mode (16.7 million colors) rather than
an 8 or 16 bits per pixel mode (255 or 65536 colors).
- Use a faster computer
- We understand that buying a faster computer usually isn't an option.
Maybe you can use someone else's faster computer when
working with big files. This is facilitated by the fact that
Java programs such as CoPlot can be run
on many different kinds of computers and since all of CoPlot's files
are platform independent.
- Report the problem to
CoHort Software
- If some part of the program seems unreasonably slow, report it
to CoHort Software. We may be able to rewrite the procedure to make
it faster.
Menu Tree /
Index
Colors
Most objects in CoPlot let you set a color attribute by picking
a color from a dialog box. The color dialog box has:
- 142 colors
- white, black and 10 shades
each for gray, red, orange, yellow, lawn, green, spring, cyan,
sky, blue, purple, magenta, maroon, and brown.
The shaded colors are named with the base color name
(for example, blue)
plus a digit 0 (almost white) - 9 (almost black).
Shade 4 is always the pure
color. For example, blue4 is pure blue.
These color names appear in
other dialog boxes. The current color name and number (in
0xRRGGBB hexadecimal notation) are always displayed below the color samples.
-
notDrawn (ND)
- which means "Not Drawn". Choose this is you don't want the object
(or this part of the object) to be drawn.
-
mapDefault (MD)
- which means "Map Default". This is useful only for the Map
parts of a Graph object. Since the map data files have default
colors for the objects,
choosing mapDefault lets you use those defaults.
For any other situation, mapDefault is inappropriate and acts like
notDrawn
-
Custom Color
- You can specify a custom color (a color not in the palette) by
specifying the Red, Green, and Blue
components (each is an integer, 0 - 255) of the
color and then pressing the Apply button.
This allows you to
specify any one of about 16.7 million colors.
In some place in the
program, these colors will be described by their hexadecimal name
which uses the format 0xRRGGBB (2 hexadecimal digits each for the red,
green, and blue components).
Double Click - In the color dialog box, if you double click on a
color, the color will be selected and the dialog box will be closed.
Color2.colorNames - Whenever you are entering a number,
referring to a color in a <color=>
embedded text command,
or referring to a color in a
.draw file,
you can refer to a color name (preceded by "Color2.")
instead of an integer. For example, <color=Color2.red4>
is equivalent to <color=0xFF0000>
(the format is 0xRRGGBB, where 2 hexadecimal digits each for the red,
green, and blue components).
Internally, color names are specified in a Java class called
Color2.
Other methods related to colors:
-
Drawing : Background Color
- lets you choose the background color for the
drawing area for this drawing.
The information is stored in the .draw file when you save the drawing.
White or "notDrawn" are recommended,
since you will often be printing
to a white piece of paper. If you choose a color other than white
and print to a color printer, it will use a lot of ink.
-
Drawing : Other : Draw Colors As
- lets you choose how non-white and non-black colors will be
drawn temporarily: as colors, as grays, or as black.
This may be
useful when printing a drawing with colors other than black and white
on a black and
white printer, although most printers convert the
color information to gray-scale.
This setting works on-the-fly; it affects the appearance of a drawing
on the screen and when printing;
it does not affect the color information that is
associated with each drawing object.
- Edit : Change Color
- can change all references to a specific color to some other color.
For example, you might change everything that uses
red4 to red2.
-
Edit : Exchange Black and White
- changes all references to white into references to black, and
vice versa. This is useful when switching between a drawing
prepared for printing (usually with a white background) and
a drawing prepared for a slide maker (usually with a black or dark
background).
On color printers the program tries to print colors on the
printer that mimic the colors on the screen. Thus if you are
printing onto a white piece of paper and you want some of the
foreground objects to be drawn with black ink, you need to use those
colors on the screen. If necessary, use
Edit : Exchange Black and White.
Some printer drivers change non-black line or text colors into black. This
is out of our control. If this causes a problem for you, try to get an
alternative driver for your printer.
Color Perception Problems
-
Human perception of colors is not straightforward.
- A given color will look different depending on the surrounding colors.
- A given color will look different if it is used for a small vs.
a large area.
- A given color will look different in different ambient light.
Color Production Problems -
Different devices render the same color differently.
- The
colors you see on the screen won't exactly match
what is printed because screens and printers create colors
in very different ways (phosphors vs. inks).
- Because they use very different technologies to produce colors,
screens and printers have a different range of available colors.
- A given color will look different on different models of monitors
because of different monitor technologies.
- A given color may look different on different monitors of
the same model because of different monitor settings.
- A given color will look different on different models of printers
because of different printer technologies (for example,
inkjet vs. laser vs. dye sublimation).
- A given color may look different on different printers of
the same model because of ink cartridge differences or
different settings.
- A given color may look different on the same printer
at different times because of changes to the ink cartridge
or different paper.
Color Matching -
Because of color perception and color production problems,
it may difficult to get exactly the color that you want.
One thing you can do is use
File : Open : GIF (.gif) to load the
file called palette.gif
in the cohort directory.
Then use File : Print to print the resulting
drawing. You can use the printout to try to adjust your
monitor so that the screen and
printer colors match as closely as possible.
Also, you can use the printout as a reference for picking
colors, so that you know ahead of time exactly how
a given color will look when printed.
Internally, CoPlot stores the colors as 32 bit integers
(256 levels each for the red, green, and blue components), which allows
for about 16.7 million different colors.
You can use any of these colors by specifying the
Red, Green, and Blue components on the color dialog box.
But there are advantages
to sticking to the standard 122 colors:
- It makes it harder to accidentally assign two similar colors for
two objects when you meant to assign the same color.
- It makes it easy to use
Edit : Change Color
to change all references to a specific color to some other color.
Problems On 256 Color Graphics Cards -
Many graphics cards (for example, using a screen resolution of 1024x768 on
a 1MB video card) support only 256 colors.
In this case, there is often an imperfect match between
the colors specified by the program and the colors available on the screen.
The operating system
will display the closest available color. This leads to close but
imperfect color samples on the screen.
(On one of our computers,
sky3 looks just like cyan3 and neither looks appropriate.)
The color rendering will
improve if you take the drawing to a computer which supports more than 256
colors, or print the drawing to a color printer which supports more than
256 colors.
Menu Tree /
Index
Embedded Text Tags
Whenever you are entering text that is part of a drawing object,
you can insert HTML-like embedded text tags which control
underlining, boldness,
italics, different font sizes, etc.
If you press the '<>' button to the right of a
textfield, you can see a list of tags and pick one.
It will be inserted in the text at the current insertion point.
Or you can just type the tag.
For some tags (for example, Color), you need to modify the tag
slightly (for example, by specifying the name of the color that
you want).
Details -
- Most of the tags that CoPlot supports are standard HTML tags.
- All of the tags use the basic HTML tag syntax: they
start with '<' and end with '>'.
- Many of the tags should be
used in pairs. For example,
'This is <B>bold</B>.' (which
also demonstrates that the 'off' tag is the same as the 'on' tag,
except that it has a '/' right after the '<'.
- The tags are not case sensitive
('<B>' equals '<b>').
Non-standard tags
or non-standard uses of tags in CoPlot are marked "[non-standard]" below.
In general, CoHort has added two types of non-standard tags:
- Low level physical tags
- These let you specify low-level features. Standard HTML avoids this
type of tag
but it seems important to make them available since they are sometimes
to only way to get some things done.
Examples are <MARK>, <OV>, <RT>,
and <UP>.
- Mathematical tags
- These are for formatting mathematical equations.
Examples are
<ATOP>, <EXPAND>, <OVER>, <INT>,
<SQRT>, <SUBSUP>, and <UNDEROVER>.
After we created these, the W3 organization proposed
MathML,
a math extension to HTML.
It seems to be very complete, but quite complex, and more geared toward
computer processing of the information than to the initial
creation of equations by humans.
Not supported tags - Some commonly used HTML tags are
not supported: <H1> - <H6>, <PRE>,
and the standard
<FONT> tag attributes for text color, face, and size
(which are replaced by
the <COLOR=>, <FONT=>, and
<SIZE=> tags since
we use different parameters).
Embedding Tags Within Tags -
In almost all cases, it is okay to embed tags within tags (for example,
<tt><b>This is TT and Bold.</b></tt>).
In fact, it is allowed to a greater extend that standard HTML.
The exceptions center around the use of <atop> and similar
tags that draw text on two lines
because CoPlot currently does not adjust for the
extended vertical boundary. For example,
<sqrt><atop1>over<atop2>under<atop3></sqrt>
currently does not work properly.
Non-ASCII Characters -
You can get non-ASCII characters by using
character entities
(HTML-like names for unusual characters).
For example, 'Á' is drawn as 'Á'.
There are character entities for accented characters, Greek characters,
mathematical symbols, and other symbols.
There is often an '&' button to the right of the
textfield which will show you lists of character entities.
Common Error Messages -
If CoPlot doesn't recognize an embedded text tag
or if the syntax of the tag is nor correct,
it may do one of two things:
- Ignore the problem and just print the characters as if they
were ordinary text.
- Show you a 'Bad News' dialog box indicating the problem.
Common problems include:
- Using < to mean "less than" when you should have
used <, the
character entity
for "less than". CoPlot will think it is the beginning of a tag
and will not recognize the tag. CoPlot will display an error message:
Unknown <tag>: <something.
- Misspelling a tag. Again, CoPlot will display an error message:
Unknown <tag>: <something>.
Why HTML? HTML is a very widely used, cross-platform,
standard method for formatting text.
We considered other embedded text systems, but
rejected them:
- RTF - seems too tied to Microsoft products.
It is not an open standard.
Far fewer people are familiar with RTF than HTML.
Lately, even Microsoft has moved away from RTF and toward HTML.
- TeX - is very powerful but quite complex for novices.
Far fewer people are familiar with TeX than HTML.
- The CoHort for DOS system - was too restricted by being limited to
one character commands.
Here are the supported tags and examples:
- <ARCDIMENSION units format>
- (in ellipse objects only) inserts the angle defined by the ellipse.
'units' may be:
- 'd'=degrees,
- 'r'=radians,
- 'p'=multiples of pi radians.
- anything else = treat as 'd'egrees.
'format' may be:
- 'g'=general format,
- 'f'=a fraction,
- '0'..'9'=
a fixed number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
- anything else = treat as 'g'eneral.
Examples:
<ARCDIMENSION d g> (degrees general),
<ARCDIMENSION r 4> (radians 4 decimal places),
<ARCDIMENSION p f> (pi fraction).
- <ATOP1> <ATOP2> <ATOP3>
- let you put some text over other text. [non-standard]
- For example, <ATOP1>over<ATOP2>under<ATOP3>.
- CoPlot is smart enough to know which text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- <B>
- increases the current font weight setting.
'</B>' decreases it.
- All fonts are available in light, normal, and bold weights.
- The closest available weight is displayed.
- '</B>' can be used before '<B>' to
lighten the initial font. [non-standard]
- For example, This is <B>bold</B>.
- <BAR>
- turns on the printing of a line over subsequent lower case letters.
</BAR> turns it off. [non-standard]
- This is useful for putting a bar over a lower case letter.
- The weight of the line is determined by the bold level in effect when
<BAR> is started.
- For example, The mean is <BAR>x</BAR>.
- See also <OVERLINE>
- <BIG>
- really means bigger.
</BIG> really means smaller
(by an amount inverse to <BIG>).
- 1 BIG = 1.2247x bigger; 2 BIGs = 1.5*bigger; etc.
- <BIG>, </BIG>, <SMALL>, </SMALL>
can be used in any order. [non-standard]
- For example,
This is <BIG>big and <BIG>bigger</BIG></BIG>.
- <BR>
- causes a break (starts a new paragraph) with no gap between
paragraphs. There is no </BR>.
- For example, line 1 <BR>line2.
An alternate form of this tag is <BR=double>,
where double specifies the line spacing for this line break
(as a number to be multiplied by the normal single spacing).
For example, <BR=1.5> will generate a line spacing
halfway between single and double spacing.
[non-standard]
- <CENTER>
- causes subsequent lines of text to be centered. It also acts like
<BR> if there is any text on the current line.
This tag only works when the text object's hAlign is left and
when <LINELENGTH=double> has been defined.
There is a </CENTER> tag.
But unlike in HTML, it is not required.
The intended use of this tag is with CoPlot's Text and Big Text
objects. For these objects, CoPlot internally uses
H Align: Left and
automatically defines the LineLength.
For text in other situations (for example, a graph's title), use
the H Align setting instead.
- For example, Original <left> Left!
<center> Center! <right> Right!
- <CITE>
- turns on italics. </CITE> turns italics off.
- For example, This is a <CITE>citation</CITE>.
- <CODE>
- turns on Monospaced font.
</CODE> returns to the previous font.
- For example, This is <CODE>code</CODE>.
- <COLOR=int>
- lets you change the current text color. [non-standard]
- </COLOR> returns you to the previous color.
- The number values can be in integer or 24 bit hexadecimal form
with the red, green, and blue components.
For example, <COLOR=0xFF0000>This is red!</COLOR>.
- The number value can also be a
Color2.colorName.
For example, <COLOR=Color2.red4>This is red!</COLOR>.
- Because color definitions may change slightly, it is better to
use the color names than color numbers.
- <!-- Comment -->
- Comments are not printed. There may be other tags within comments.
- For example, <!-- This is a comment. -->.
- Comments can't be embedded in other comments.
- <DATE>
- inserts the current date. [non-standard]
- For example, The date is <DATE>.
- <DIMENSION format>
- (in Dimension objects only) inserts the distance between the
two points
in Drawing Coordinates.
'format' may be:
- 'g'=general (String2.gen(d,9,0)),
- 'f'=fraction,
- '0'..'9'=
a fixed number of digits to the right of the decimal point.
- (nothing)=nothing or any invalid format is treated as
'g'eneral.
For example, <DIMENSION g>.
- <DRAWINGNAME>
- inserts the current drawing name (no directory or extension).
[non-standard]
- For example, The drawing is <DrawingName>.
- <EM>
- (emphasize) turns on italics. </EM> turns italics off.
- For example, This is <EM>emphasized</EM>.
- <EXPAND=double value>
- changes the current height of the characters relative
to the current height but leaves them with the same centerY. [non-standard]
- The value can be a positive decimal amount.
- This is used internally by
- For example, <EXPAND=2>doubled<EXPAND=0.5> normal.
- <FLIP>
- rotates the character 180 degrees about its center.
</FLIP> turns it off.
[non-standard]
- For example, <FLIP>?</FLIP>
gives you an inverted question mark,
although it is better to use ¿ for that symbol, since
it should also be lowered below the base line.
- <FONT=fontname>
- lets you change the current font.
</FONT> returns you to the previously loaded font.
[non-standard]
- If the font has not been loaded, it will be loaded automatically.
- If the font can't be found or loaded, the current font won't change.
- For example, <FONT=GREEK>a</FONT>.
- <FRAC1> <FRAC2> <FRAC3>
- lets you create a fraction: some text over some other text with a
line in between (like OVER, but compressed in size).
[non-standard]
- For example, <FRAC1>numerator<FRAC2>denominator<FRAC3>.
- It is smart enough to know which text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- <FULLDRAWINGNAME>
- inserts the current drawing name (with the directory and extension).
[non-standard]
- For example, The drawing is <FullDrawingName>.
- <HR>
- starts a new paragraph and puts a horizontal rule (a line)
between the paragraphs. There is no </HR>.
- For example, Before <HR> After.
- <HR2>
- starts a new paragraph and puts a double horizontal rule (two lines)
between the paragraphs. There is no </HR2>.
[non-standard]
- For example, Before <HR2> After.
- <HRLS>
- starts a new paragraph and puts a horizontal rule (a line)
between paragraphs, with very little space (hence "LS") above
and below the line. There is no </HRLS>.
[non-standard]
- For example, Before <HRLS> After.
- <HRLS2>
- starts a new paragraph and puts a double horizontal rule (two lines)
between paragraphs, with very little space (hence "LS") above
and below the lines. There is no </HRLS2>.
[non-standard]
- For example, Before <HRLS2> After.
- <I>
- turns on italics. </I> turns italics off.
- For example, This is <I>italics</I>.
- <INT1> <INT2> <INT3>
- let you define an integral. [non-standard]
- For example, <INT1>sub<INT2>sup<INT3>.
- It is smart enough to know whether the sub or sup text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- <KBD>
- (keyboard-style font) turns on Monospaced font.
</KBD> returns to the previous font.
- For example, This is <KBD>keyboard-style</KBD>.
- <LEFT>
- causes subsequent lines of text to be left justified.
It also acts like
<BR> if there is any text on the current line.
There is a </LEFT> tag, but it is not required.
[non-standard]
The intended use of this tag is with CoPlot's text and Big Text
objects. For these objects, CoPlot internally uses
H Align: Left and
automatically defines the LineLength.
For text in other situations (for example, a graph's title), use
the H Align setting instead.
- For example, Original <left> Left!
<center> Center! <right> Right!
- <LeftMargin=double>
- moves the left margin to the right by double*textHeight.
Any text on the current line is printed.
'double' may be positive or negative, but there will be problems
if the net change moves the left margin to the left of the
original left margin.
[non-standard]
- <LegendBackground exampleSize=1 bColor=Color2.blue1 up=0>
- LegendBackground draws a filled rectangle with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry.
'up' shifts the sample upwards
but intentionally doesn't influence the line's y bounds.
[non-standard]
- <LegendFill exampleSize=1 lColor=Color2.blue4 lType=0 lDashsize=.02
lWidth=.003 bColor=Color2.blue1 fColor=Color2.blue4 fType=1 fSize=.1
fLinewidth=.003 up=0>
- LegendFill draws a filled rectangle with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
'up' shifts the sample upwards
but intentionally doesn't influence the line's y bounds.
[non-standard]
- <LegendLine exampleSize=1 lColor=Color2.blue4 lType=0
lDashsize=.02 lWidth=.003>
- LegendLine draws a centered line with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
[non-standard]
- <LegendMarker exampleSize=1 lColor=Color2.blue4 lType=0
lDashsize=.02 lWidth=.003 mColor=Color2.blue4 mFont=3 mType=52 mSize=.1
mBackground=Color2.notDrawn up=0>
- LegendMarker draws 1 (or 2 markers with a connecting line if
lColor!=Color2.notDrawn) with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
[non-standard]
[mBackground and up,
optional but strongly recommended, were added in version 6.100.]
- <LegendVector exampleSize=1 lColor=Color2.blue4 lWidth=0.003>
- LegendVector draws a vector with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
[non-standard]
- <LegendWhiskers exampleSize=1 width=0.1 bColor=Color2.notDrawn
lColor=Color2.blue4 lWidth=.003 caps=1>
- LegendWhiskers draws a box and whiskers symbol with the specified
attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
[non-standard]
[bColor, optional but strongly recommended,
was added in version 6.100.]
- <LegendWindbarb exampleSize=1 lColor=Color2.blue4 lWidth=0.003>
- LegendWindbarb draws a windbarb with the specified attributes.
All of the parameters must be present and must
use the format specified above.
This is useful for creating a legend entry in a
custom legend.
[non-standard]
- <LINELENGTH=double>
- specifies the linelength (in drawing units) used to determine
when a line is so long that it needs to be broken.
The initial value is infinity, so lines won't be broken unless
you use this tag.
The value can be a positive decimal amount. [non-standard]
- <LI>
- identifies the start of the next item in the current list.
Use this after <OL> or <UL>.
- <MARK>
- marks the current point.
</MARK> makes the last MARKed point the current point.
[non-standard]
- Most users won't ever need to use this.
- This is used internally to control
<OVER>, <SUBSUP>, etc.
- For example, <MARK>1st pass</MARK>2nd pass.
- <OL>
- starts an ordered list. Lists can be embedded in other lists.
</OL> ends the current list.
- The 1st list uses A,B,C,D,...
- The 2nd list (embedded in the 1st) uses a,b,c,d,...
- Subsequent lists use 1,2,3,4,...
- <LI> identifies each of the list items.
- For example: <OL> <LI> text1
<LI> text2 </OL>.
- <OV>
- turns on Overstriking of subsequent characters.
</OV> turns it off.
[non-standard]
- The widest character determines the width of the overstruck unit.
- Overstruck characters can be in different fonts, but all get the
weight based on weight when /OV is processed.
- Most users won't ever need to use this.
Use the
&names (Character Entities)
instead.
- This is used internally to implement many &names.
- For example, <OV>a`</OV> for à.
- <OVER1> <OVER2> <OVER3>
- lets you put some text over other text with a line in between.
The size of the text is the current text size. [non-standard]
- For example, <OVER1>over<OVER2>under<OVER3>.
- It is smart enough to know which text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- <OVERLINE>
- turns on the printing of a line over subsequent text.
</OVERLINE> turns it off. [non-standard]
- The line height is fixed. But you can trick it, for example:
<SIZE=1.36> <OVERLINE> <SIZE=0.735>
text </OVERLINE>.
- Most users won't ever need to use this.
- The weight of the line is determined by the bold level in effect when
<OVERLINE> is started.
- For example, <OVERLINE>This is overlined.</OVERLINE>.
- See also <HIGHLINE>
- <P>
- starts a new paragraph and puts a blank line between paragraphs.
</P> is allowed but ignored.
- For example, Paragraph 1... <P>Paragraph 2.
- <RT=double value>
- moves the current position some distance to the right
along the baseline.
There is no LT (left) tag; use the RT tag
with a negative value.
[non-standard]
- The baseline may be at an angle, see setShapeAngle().
- The value can be a positive or negative decimal amount.
- The units are multiples of the current text height (setTextHeight()
but perhaps modified by
<BIG> <SMALL> and <SIZE> tags).
- This is useful for kerning and is used a lot internally.
- For example, <RT=-0.5>
moves the current position back 1/2 the current
text height. Thus, this can be used for manual kerning.
- <RIGHT>
- causes subsequent lines of text to be right justified.
It also acts like
<BR> if there is any text on the current line.
There is a </RIGHT> tag, but it is not required.
[non-standard]
The intended use of this tag is with CoPlot's text and Big Text
objects. For these objects, CoPlot internally uses
H Align: Left and
automatically defines the LineLength.
For text in other situations (for example, a graph's title), use
the H Align setting instead.
- For example, Original <left> Left!
<center> Center! <right> Right!
- <SCALE>
- inserts the current drawing scale (based on inches)
(for example, "1 inch = 10 miles".
See Drawing : Coordinates.
[non-standard]
- For example, Scale: <SCALE>.
- <SCALECM>
- inserts the current drawing scale (based on cm)
(for example, "1 cm = 10 km".
See Drawing : Coordinates.
[non-standard]
- For example, Scale: <SCALECM>.
- <SIZE=double value>
- changes the current height of the characters relative
to the current height. [non-standard]
- The value can be a positive decimal amount.
- The units are multiples of the current text height (setTextHeight()
but perhaps modified by <BIG>, <SMALL>,
and <SIZE> tags).
- This is used a lot internally for
<SUP>, <SUB>, etc.
- For example, normal <SIZE=0.5>half
size<SIZE=2> normal.
- <SMALL>
- really means smaller.
</SMALL>
really means bigger (by an amount inverse to <SMALL>).
- 1 SMALL = .8165x bigger (1.2247x smaller);
2 SMALL's = .6666x bigger (1.5*smaller); etc.
- <BIG>, </BIG>, <SMALL>, </SMALL>
can be used in any order. [non-standard]
- For example, This is
<SMALL>small and <SMALL>smaller</SMALL></SMALL>.
- <SQRT>
- is like <OVERLINE>,
but adds the square root symbol at the beginning.
- For example, <SQRT>formula</SQRT>.
- <STRIKE>
- turns on the strikingout of subsequent text (a centered
horizontal line). </STRIKE> turns it off.
- The line width is set based on Height and Boldness in effect
when <STRIKE> starts.
- For example, This is <STRIKE>struckout</STRIKE>.
- <STRONG>
- increases the current font weight setting.
</STRONG> decreases it.
- All fonts are available in light, normal, and bold weights.
- The closest available weight is displayed.
- </STRONG> can be used before
<STRONG> to
lighten the initial font [non-standard].
- For example, This is <STRONG>strong.</STRONG>.
- <SUB>
- means subscript (smaller and lower).
Use </SUB> to undo it
(not <SUP>, since <SUP>
will give you a superscript on the subscripted text).
<SUB>, </SUB>, <SUP>, </SUP>
should be used in matched pairs, but can
be embedded. (Undo them in reverse order or there's trouble!)
- A simple example: A<SUB>sub</SUB>.
- A complex example: A<SUP>super<SUB>sub on
super</SUB></SUP> normal.
- An incorrect example: A<SUP>super<SUB>sub on
super</SUP></SUB> not normal.
- <SUBSUP1> <SUBSUP2> <SUBSUP3>
- let you append a subscript and a superscript simultaneously.
[non-standard]
- For example, X<SUBSUP1>sub<SUBSUP2>
sup<SUBSUP3>.
- It is smart enough to know whether the sub or sup text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- <SUP>
- means superscript (higher and smaller).
Use </SUP> to undo it
(not <SUB>, since <SUB>
will give you a subscript on the superscripted text).
<SUB>, </SUB>, <SUP>, </SUP>
should be used in matched pairs, but can
be embedded. (Undo them in reverse order or there's trouble!)
- A simple example: A<SUP>sup</SUP>.
- A complex example: A<SUP>super<SUB>sub on
super</SUB></SUP> normal.
- An incorrect example: A<SUP>super<SUB>sub on
super</SUP></SUB> not normal.
- <TIME>
- inserts the current time. [non-standard]
- For example, The time is <TIME>.
- <TT>
- (teletype-style font) turns on Monospaced font.
</TT> returns to the previous font.
- For example, This is <TT>teletype-style</TT>.
- <U>
- turns on underlining. </U> turns it off.
- Linewidth is determined by Height and Boldness when
<U> starts.
- For example, This is <U>underlined</U>.
- <UL>
- starts an unordered list. Lists can be embedded in other lists.
</UL> ends the current list.
- The 1st list uses small filled circles.
- The 2nd list (embedded in the 1st) uses small circles.
- The 3rd list (embedded in the 2nd) uses small filled squares.
- Subsequent lists use small squares.
- <LI> identifies each of the list items.
- For example: <UL> <LI> text1
<LI> text2 </UL>.
- <UNDEROVER1> <UNDEROVER2> <UNDEROVER3>
<UNDEROVER4>
- lets put small text above and below the enlarged main text.
For example, when used with Σ, this is useful
for making the mathematical notation for a sum of a series of terms.
[non-standard]
- For example, <UNDEROVER1>Σ<UNDEROVER2>
i=1<UNDEROVER3>n<UNDEROVER4>.
- It is smart enough to know whether the sub or sup text is longer and
to append subsequent text appropriately.
- You can make some temporary size changes after underover2 and
underover3, if desired.
But don't make changes between underover1 and underover2.
- <UP=double value>
- moves the current position some distance upward from the baseline.
There is no Down tag; use a negative value with the
Up tag.
[non-standard]
- The baseline may be at an angle, see setShapeAngle().
- The value can be a positive or negative decimal amount.
- The units are multiples of the current text height (setTextHeight()
but perhaps modified by
<BIG> <SMALL> and <SIZE> tags).
- Most users won't ever need to use this.
- This is used a lot internally for
<SUP>, <SUB>, <OVER>, etc.
- For example, Normal <UP=0.7>higher<UP=-0.7> normal.
Menu Tree /
Index
Character Entities
Whenever you are entering a text that is part of a drawing object,
you can insert a non-ASCII character or character entity
by using the
& button (which brings up a special character insertion
dialog box) or by just typing a character entity.
A character entity is just an ASCII name for the character.
Character entities always begin with an '&' and end with
';'
to distinguish them from the surrounding regular text.
For example, the entity named 'Á'
is drawn as 'Á'.
The character insertion dialog box lets you pick from
among several groups of characters
(accented characters in Latin 1, Greek characters, mathematical symbols,
etc.)
When you click on one of the characters or its name,
the character's name is inserted in the text at
the current insertion point. If you double click,
the character's name is inserted and
the character insertion dialog box is closed.
Details -
- The character entities use the same syntax as HTML character entities:
all entities start with '&' and end with ';'.
- Since '&' signifies the start of a character entity and
'<' signifies the start of an embedded text tag,
you need to use
& to get the actual '&' character
and < to get '<'.
- Since HTML supports only a small number of character entities, CoPlot
also supports SGML character entities
(as defined in SGML, An Author's Guide by
Martin Bryan, 1988, Addison-Wesley), including most Greek
and mathematical characters.
- CoPlot also supports a large number of non-standard
character entities, so
you can refer to characters in the ELEC, LANDSC, MARKER, WEATH,
and other fonts.
- Entity names are case sensitive. For example,
β is the lower case Greek beta, while
Β is the upper case Greek Beta.
Accented Characters - Many languages use accented characters.
All of the standard accented characters (the ones in Unicode),
can be picked from the screens that are shown when you press on
the '&' button.
But you can also create any accented character (even ones
not in Unicode) by typing
the entity's name in the form: '&' + letter + accentName + ';'.
For example, 'Á' is drawn as 'Á'. Here are
the accent names you can use:
- acute ( ´ ),
- breve (something like a 'u'),
- caron (something like a 'v'),
- cedil (for cedilla, ¸ ),
- circ (circumflex, often called hat, ^ ),
- dot (·),
- dyad (left-right arrow),
- grave ( ` ),
- huml (long, Hungarian umlaut)
- macr (for macron, ¯ ),
- ogon (ogonek, sort of a reversed cedilla)
- ring (a circle above the character, ° ),
- slash (slash through, / ),
- tilde ( ~ ),
- uml (for umlaut, ¨ ).
- vec (vector, right arrow),
This system works for any character+accent combination.
The accents which are over letters are smart enough to raise
themselves for capital letters versus short letters.
For accents on top of i and j, this system is smart enough
to remove the dots. If you want the dotless i or j alone,
use 'ı' and '&jnodot;'.
Details for Character Entity Categories -
- ASCII symbols
- These are the most common characters.
These correspond to characters #32 to #127 as defined by
ASCII and the ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding.
Usually, you will just type these characters,
but some characters have special names.
Notably, you should use the character entity names
'&' (because '&'
signifies the start of a character entity)
and '<' (because '<'
signifies the start of an embedded text tag).
These are HTML and SGML standard names.
- Greek
-
The SGML-standard entity names for most Greek characters are
the names of the characters, for example 'α'.
In cases where the letter is not different in appearance
from the Latin letter, the SGML standard is in the form
'&Agr;'
(which can be pronounced as "A Greek"). In these cases, CoHort
has also named aliases which use the Greek name
(for example, 'Α') for consistency
(if there is an 'α' there should be
an 'Α') and to match the TeX names.
- Electric
- These are CoHort-only entities for electrical symbols.
You can make many electrical symbols
by creating two text objects at the same position:
one with '&enclosure;' (from the Elec font) and
one with a smaller (1/2 the height) standard letter.
This makes an encircled letter.
For example, an encircled 'A' is the symbol for an ammeter.
Other commonly encircled letters are 'M' (motor), 'V' (voltmeter, and
'G' (generator).
- Interiors
- These are CoHort-only entities for interior design symbols.
The numbers that are part of
many entity names are sizes in inches of the longest dimension.
Common abbreviations are: 'rec'=rectangular,
'rnd'=round,
'sqr'=square, 'ovl'=oval.
- Landscape
- These are CoHort-only entities for landscape design symbols.
- Latin 1
- These are the most commonly used accented characters and
some other common characters.
These correspond to characters #160 to #255 as defined by the
ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding.
The names are standard HTML and SGML names.
- Latin A
- These are infrequently used accented characters.
The names are from SGML.
- Latin B
- These are infrequently used accented characters.
The names are from SGML.
- Map symbols
- These are CoHort-only entities for characters commonly found on maps.
- Markers
- The names of the markers
are mostly SGML standard names (which are difficult to read),
but some are CoHort names in the same style.
Common abbreviations are:
- 'tri'=triangle,
'rec'=rectangle, 'vrec'=vertical rectangle, 'squ'=square,
'circ'=circle, 'loz'=lozenge, 'dia'=diamond,
'dot'=with a dot in the middle,
- 'n'=north, 's'=south, 'e'=east, 'w'=west,
- 'ne'=northeast, 'nw'=northwest, 'se'=southeast, 'sw'=southwest,
- 'f'=solid filled, 'h'=horizontal hatch, 'v'=vertical hatch,
'l'=left hatch, 'r'=right hatch,
- 'u'=up pointing, 'd'=downpointing, 'l'=left pointing,
'r'=right pointing.
For example '▸' is a triangle ('tri'),
pointing right ('r'), and filled ('f').
- Mathematical symbols
- These SGML standard names often match the TeX names.
- Punctuation
- These are SGML standard names for punctuation symbols.
- Weather symbols
- These are CoHort-only entities for standard weather map symbols.
Common abbreviations are: 's'=slight, 'm'=moderate, 'h'=heavy,
'i'=intermediate, 'c'=continuous, 'f'=freezing, 'v'=violent,
'GB'=getting better in last hour,
'GW'=getting worse in last hour, 'Sh'=Shower, 'Th'=Thunder,
'NTO'=Not at Time of Observation,
'Sky'=Sky visible, 'NoSky'=sky not visible.
Menu Tree /
Index
The Drawing (.draw) File Format
CoPlot stores drawings in ASCII text files (with the extension
.draw) using a simple graphics language.
The graphics language has
procedures for creating objects and specifying their attributes.
Like drawings, drawing files are device independent.
CoPlot has facilities to
create and edit drawing files and to print the drawings to
screens, printers, and graphics files.
Because they are ASCII files, drawing files can also be created or
edited with any text editor or word processor.
Because they are ASCII files, you can also easily write programs
(using BASIC, C, C++, Java, Pascal, Perl, Python, Rexx, Tcl, etc.)
that create drawing files.
You can then use CoPlot
for interactive editing and printing of the drawings.
This is an extremely powerful feature:
Let's say you have a program that generates data that you would
like to plot on a special type of graph. Modify the program so that
it generates a drawing file that describes how to plot the data. Once
you have the drawing file, you can use CoPlot to edit it, annotate it,
and print it. This is an easy way to get access to the power of
CoPlot with minimal changes to existing programs.
We don't expect that very many people will sit down and write
.draw files by hand (by reading the specification below) or even write
computer programs (by hand) to write .draw files, although
you can. Instead,
we encourage you to use CoPlot to generate a .draw file and
then use that .draw file as a basis for your program.
Looking at .draw files
generated by CoPlot is also a good way to figure out the details of the
.draw specification if you don't understand some part of it.
Relation to Java Programs, Batch Files, Shell Scripts, Pipes, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl -
By bypassing the graphical front end of CoPlot,
you can convert graphics files from one type to another;
you can print graphics files; or
you can use any of the commands in .draw files in your own Java programs,
batch files, shell scripts,
Perl programs, Python programs, Rexx programs, and Tcl programs.
See
Java Programs, Batch Files, Shell Scripts, Pipes, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl.
Knowing the commands in the .draw files
(as described below) is essential to this type of work.
CoPlot's graphics system vs. PostScript, Java2D, and SVG
PostScript, Java2D, and SVG are related standards for computer graphics.
They are great.
Unfortunately, they lack many important features for scientific
graphs and technical drawings (sub and superscripts and other
embedded text commands, markers,
lines between markers, splines, arrows, etc.).
So we built our own graphics system
(NPS, which is not PostScript, but similar to it)
to make the additional features an integral part of the graphics system.
Also, when we created CoPlot's graphics system (mid-1996),
Java2D and SVG were not available or even announced.
CoPlot now uses Java2D for low level graphics services. Currently,
you can create SVG files from CoPlot with 'File : Save As : SVG'.
It is unclear if CoPlot
will be able to import SVG files in the future.
Since part of CoPlot's job is to maintain a list of graphics objects
(and their attributes),
the procedures used in .draw files are an interface
to a Java class called Drawing, not an interface to NPS.
The Drawing class maintains the list of graphics objects
and has procedures
to redraw the image and save it in a .draw file or some other type of
graphics file.
Relation to attributes in CoPlot and the methods in our Java code
The attribute names and data types which are used in drawing
files are almost identical to the attribute names and data types used in
CoPlot and in the underlying Java code.
In fact, the syntax of drawing files was chosen specifically
so that drawing files could be easily converted to/from Java code.
Design goals
The names of the procedures in a drawing file and their syntax,
were designed with the following goals in mind:
- The files should be entirely ASCII. Other characters should be
encoded with
character entities
(ASCII names for non-ASCII characters).
ASCII files have numerous
advantages:
- The files can be created with any programming language.
- The files can be read and written by computer and any
operating system.
- The files don't need to be changed if they are moved
to a different type of computer or operating system.
- The files can be transmitted on 7-bit electronic mail systems.
- The files can be read and written by humans.
- The files can be created and edited with any text editor or
word processor.
Since there don't seem to be any 7-bit email systems anymore,
we have subsequently loosened this goal. The drawing files
now also allow characters (#128..#255) from the ISO 8859-1
character set. This makes it possible to support for European languages
without resorting to character entities.
- The files should be reasonably compact.
- The files should be easy to parse (i.e., easy for a computer to
read).
- The procedure names should be logical and easy for a human
to read and remember.
- The procedure names should match the names
known to users of CoPlot.
- The procedure names and syntax should match the names and syntax
in the underlying Java code, so that drawing files can be
converted to/from Java code with few or no changes.
- Backward compatible -
It should be easy to add new object types and new attributes in
the future without disrupting the current system.
- Forward compatible -
Old versions of CoPlot should do a pretty good job of reading
files from subsequent versions of CoPlot
(which will probably have a few new procedures).
Format of commands
Our system balances these various goals. The system borrows from
several existing systems in the world of computers.
- Syntax - The syntax is very much like that of a C, C++, or Java program.
Procedure
names are followed by parameters which are surrounded by parentheses
and separated by commas. A semicolon
immediately follows each procedure.
For example, create("path", "2,1,2,2");.
Spaces and carriage returns
between parts of a command (except between the command name and the opening
parenthesis) are ignored.
- Separate procedures -
Instead of a few big procedures to specify all of the attributes
of an object (for example, specifying all of the attributes of a line), the
various attributes are specified by a series of separate procedures
(lineColor, lineWidth, etc.). This makes it easy to add new
attributes in the future. It also makes the files more compact,
since only the attributes that change need to be in the file.
- Character entities -
let you put all types of
accented characters and Greek characters in text strings using only
ASCII characters.
CoPlot also allows ISO 8859-1 characters #128..#255.
If you use them, the files will have 8 bit characters and
may have problems with some 7-bit email systems. But,
there don't seem to be any 7-bit email systems any more.
Data Types
Each of the procedures in the drawing files requires a series of
parameters. The parameters must be of an appropriate type (integer,
double, string, etc.) to convey the desired information. Drawing
files use common types of values.
-
boolean
- Booleans values are either true or false.
- int
- An integer value ranging from -2 billion to 2 billion.
In practice, most
integer values have a narrower range of acceptable values.
If the drawing file has a floating point number when an integer is
called for, CoPlot will automatically round the number and won't
generate an error message.
- color
- A color may be a standard Color2.name
(for example, Color2.green4)
(see Colors) or a color number.
A color name which is not recognized is treated as Color2.black.
A color number is a 24 bit rgb value in hexadecimal
(for example, 0x00FF00)
or base 10 (for example, 12596) notation.
Actually, colors are the same as
int's, since you can use Color names in place of int's in many
places in CoHort programs (see
Entering Numeric Values
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm)),
but it is easier to understand the descriptions below if we label
color parameters separately from int parameters.
- double
- A double precision floating point number
(i.e., a number with an optional decimal point and optional exponent).
The numbers may be in the common computer form of scientific
notation, for example, 0.0012 can be represented as 1.2E-3.
(The 'E' need not
be capitalized.) A missing value can be represented by a period.
- string
-
Text strings are specified according to the C, C++, and Java conventions.
Strings are a series of characters with double
quotation marks at the beginning and end. (The quotation marks are
removed when the drawing file is read.)
Strings can have any number of characters.
Special characters (double quotation marks and backslash) within
a string must be preceded
by a backslash. Here is an example with double quotes:
"He said, \"No\".". Here is an example with backslashes:
"In Windows, the file name is C:\\cohort6\\CoPlot.class.". This
is awkward to read, but necessary.
If you want to write a long string on more
than one line, you can use a double quote mark (to temporarily close the
string), a plus sign, and then a double quotation mark on the next line
(to reopen the string), for example,
"Pretend this is "+
"a long line."
- booleanList
- This indicates a series of boolean values stored as
comma-separated-values in a string. For example,
"false, false, true, false".
If two or more successive values
are the same, you can replace them with
int*value, for
example "2*false, true, false".
- intList
- This indicates a series of int's stored as comma-separated-values
in a string. For example, "0, 0, 2, 200".
If two or more successive values
are the same, you can replace them with
int*value, for
example "2*0, 2, 200".
- colorList
- This indicates a series of colors stored as comma-separated-values
in a string. For example, "Color2.green4, Color2.green4,
Color2.white, Color2.black, 0xFFEA02".
If two or more successive values
are the same, you can replace them with
int*value, for
example "2*Color2.green4, Color2.white, Color2.black, 0xFFEA02".
- doubleList
- This indicates a series of doubles stored as comma-separated-values
in a string. A common use of a doubleList is to store a series of points:
one or more x,y pairs.
For example, 3 points could be specified as
"0, 0, 1.7, 1.3, 0, 2.1" (the order is x1, y1, x2, y2, x3, y3).
Points are always specified in
Drawing : Coordinates.
If two or more successive values
are the same, you can replace them with
int*value, for
example "2*0, 1.7, 1.3, 0, 2.1".
- stringList
- This indicates a series of strings stored as comma-separated-values
in a string. Each individual string is stored with double quotes around it.
For example, 4 axis titles could be stored as
"\"X\", \"Y\", \"Z\", \"T\"".
If two or more successive values
are the same, you can replace them with
int*value, for
example "2*\"My Title\", \"Z\", \"T\"".
Although .draw files generated by the program always have
double quotes around each individual string, you really only
need to have double quotes if the string has leading or trailing spaces
(that you want to keep), a comma, or a double quote.
Coordinate Systems and Units
As in CoPlot, all coordinates and sizes in drawing files are
specified in Drawing : Coordinates.
Error Checking
CoPlot tries to check for all possible errors. For most errors,
CoPlot abandons the current procedure and jumps forward to the next
procedure in the drawing file. Errors include unrecognized procedure
names, invalid parameter types, invalid syntax (i.e., improper use of
parenthesis, commas, semicolons) and invalid numbers of parameters.
CoPlot saves and displays the message for the first error
that it finds.
Overview of a drawing file
Files contain procedures (which define the coordinate system and
describe the objects and their attributes). Optionally, files may
also contain comments.
The procedures can be broken down into these groups:
- 'CoPlot.drawVersion(versionNumber);'
This must be the first procedure in the file. It identifies the
file as a CoPlot drawing file and identifies the file type version
number (which changes to match the CoPlot version whenever
the drawing file definition changes). The number for the
drawing file version is currently 6.100.
If a file with a previous version number is encountered,
CoPlot will properly interpret the information.
- Optional Drawing Menu Procedures -
correspond to options on CoPlot's
Drawing
menu and apply to the whole drawing (for example,
set the coordinate system, grid size,
fonts, minimum line width, etc.).
If any or all of these procedures are missing, CoPlot
uses the relevant default values.
- Datafile Procedures -
correspond to options on CoPlot's
Datafile
menu and let you load data.
- Attribute and Object Procedures -
describe the attributes and create the objects
that make up the drawing. These procedures make up the bulk of the file.
- 'endOfFile();'
This must be the last procedure in the file. It identifies the end
of the file.
Files can contain comments. You can store comments in text objects, using
the embedded text
command for comments within the character string
(for example,
setCharacters("Main text.<!-- This is a comment -->");.
These comments will be visible in the relevant textfields in dialog boxes,
but they will not be visible on the drawing,
and will not be lost when you load and then save the file.
Files can't contain comments in the C/C++/Java
backslash-star style (for example, \*a comment*\)
or the slash-slash style (for example, //a comment).
"Deprecated" -
Note that some methods below are marked "Deprecated".
This means that they were once valid commands but
their use is now strongly discouraged. In most cases,
a newer version of the method is suggested.
Optional Drawing Menu Procedures
After the CoPlot.drawVersion() command, drawing files
may have any of several procedures which apply to the whole drawing
(for example, to set the coordinate system, grid size, fonts, etc.).
These procedures correspond to the options on the
Drawing menu in CoPlot.
If any or all of these procedures are missing, CoPlot
uses the relevant default values.
- setDrawingBackgroundColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.white.
See
Drawing : Background Color.
- setFont(int slot, string name);
-
The default fonts are
0:Helvet, 1:TmsRmn, 2:Cour, 3:Marker, 4:Greek.
See
Drawing : Load Fonts.
- setUnitsName(string);
- The default is "inches".
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setXBounds(double, double);
- The default is xMin=0, xMax=8
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setYBounds(double, double);
- The default is yMin=0, yMax=10.5
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setScale(double);
- The default is 1 unit per inch.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setScaleCM(double);
- The default is 2.54 units per inch.
(Internally, this calls setScale(double/2.54).)
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setDisplayUnits(int);
- The default is 0 (use the user's units name).
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setGridSize(double);
- The default is 0.01
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setPageWidth(double);
- The default is 8.5 inches.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setPageWidthCM(double);
- This is an alternative to setPageWidth()
which uses centimeters.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setPageHeight(double);
- The default is 11 inches.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setPageHeightCM(double);
- This is an alternative to setPageHeight()
which uses centimeters.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setLeftMargin(double);
- The default is 0.25 inches.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setLeftMarginCM(double);
- This is an alternative to setLeftMargin()
which uses centimeters.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setBottomMargin(double);
- The default is 0.25 inches.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setBottomMarginCM(double);
- This is an alternative to setBottomMargin()
which uses centimeters.
See Drawing : Coordinates.
- setVisibleGroups(String);
- See Drawing : Groups.
- setGroupForNewObjects(int);
- See Drawing : Groups.
- setGroupsFramesPerSecond(double);
- See Drawing : Groups.
- setGraphSpinFramesPerSecond(double);
- See Edit : Graph : Overview.
- setGraphAxisFramesPerSecond(double);
- See Edit : Graph : Axis : Center.
- setDatasetFramesPerSecond(double);
- See Edit : Graph : Dataset.
- setAuthor(String);
- This identifies the author of the drawing. The default is "".
See Drawing : Other.
- setMinimumLineWidth(double);
- The default is 0.006 inches
(not Drawing Coordinates).
See Drawing : Other.
- setDrawColorsAs(int);
- The default is 0.
Valid values are: 0=as colors, 1=as grays, 2=as black.
See Drawing : Other.
- setUseSystemFonts(boolean);
- The default is true.
See Drawing : Other.
- setDrawBoldMarkers(boolean);
- The default is false.
See Drawing : Other.
- setDrawLinesThroughMarkers(boolean);
- The default is false (put a gap in the line where the markers are).
See Drawing : Other.
- setDrawErrorBarsThroughMarkers(boolean);
- The default is false.
See Drawing : Other.
- setDrawCapsOnErrorBars(boolean);
- The default is true.
See Drawing : Other.
- setIgnoreMissingValues(boolean); [deprecated]
- The default is false.
See Drawing : Other.
[As of version 5.920, this is deprecated.
Use setMissingValuesMakeGaps() instead.]
- setMissingValuesMakeGaps(boolean);
- The default is true.
See Drawing : Other.
[Added in version 5.920.]
Datafile Procedures
- Loading data into a Datafile slot
- The
openDatafile
command corresponds to using Datafile : x : File : Open
in CoPlot. For details, see Datafile.
When CoPlot saves a drawing in a .draw file, this is the
command it uses to record which datafiles are in use.
[Added in version 5.913.]
CoPlot automatically converts \'s in datafile names
to /'s when the .draw file is saved.
When .draw files are opened, /'s are converted to \'s if appropriate
for the current operating system.
[Added in version 5.918.]
- openDatafile(int slot, int fileType, int mode,
String fileDirectory,
String fileName, int simplify, int headerLength,
String fileStructure);
- where:
- slot
- is the datafile slot number (1-15).
- fileType
- is the type of file: 0=columnar, 1=comma, 2=tab, 3=space,
4=binary, 5=dt, 6=dbase, 7=excel, 8=lotus1, 9=lotus3,
10=microstat, 11=mstat, 12=quattro.
- mode
- is 0=replace current data,
1=append to the right, 2=append below.
Usually, you will use mode 0.
- fileDirectory
- is the file directory.
- fileName
- is the file name.
- simplify
- specifies how much to simplify the column data types:
0=don't, 1=aggressive.
- headerLength
- For binary files, this specifies the number of
bytes to ignore at the beginning of the file.
For ASCII files, this specifies the number
of lines to ignore at the beginning of the file.
- fileStructure
- For binary file types, this specifies what information
is in each record.
-
datafile.xxx
commands
- If you are writing your own .draw files
and want to store the data directly in the .draw files, you
can use the following datafile commands. They are an alternative
to the standard way to read data into a drawing
(see openDatafile above to
read data from an existing data file).
When CoPlot saves a drawing
in a .draw file, it never stores the data in this manner.
Also, unless you use
Datafile : x : File : Save As,
the data loaded with these commands will not be
saved in a data file. So this approach to loading data is useful only
for a one time use of the data (for example, when creating a graph
with a batch file or shell script).
Here are the datafile.xxx commands (presented in the order
they should be used). Rows and columns are numbered 1..n.
[All of these commands were introduced in 5.913.]
- createDatafile(int slot);
- This creates an empty datafile (0 columns and 0 rows)
in the specified slot (1-15).
You should call this before using any of the
datafile.xxx() commands.
- datafile.insertRows(int where, int howMany);
- You should call this just once per datafile. For example, use
datafile.insertRows(1, 100); to make 100 rows.
- datafile.insertColumn(int where, String type, String name);
- You must call this once per column, starting with column 1 and
proceeding to the last column.
- where is the column number (1..).
- type is: 'b'=boolean, 'B'=Byte, 's'=short, 'i'=int,
'l'=long, 'f'=float, 'd'=double, 'c'=char, 'S'=String.
- name is the name for the column
(usually 9 or fewer characters, but may be any length).
- datafile.setRow(int row, stringList csvData);
- sets all of the data for one row, given comma-separated-values
stored in a string. Call this once for every row of data.
The data will be automatically converted from a string to the
appropriate data type.
This is an alternative to setString() and setCol().
- datafile.setCol(int col, stringList csvData);
- sets all of the data for one column, given comma-separated-values
stored in a string. Call this once for every column of data.
The data will be automatically converted from a string to the
appropriate data type.
This is an alternative to setString() and setRow(),
but is faster.
- datafile.setString(int col, int row, string value);
- sets one data value in the current datafile.
Call this once for each cell in the data table.
The data will be automatically converted from a string to the
appropriate data type.
This is an alternative to setRow() and setCol(),
but is slower.
Attribute and Object Procedures
The bulk of a drawing file consists of the procedures related to
setting attributes and creating objects.
The attributes exactly match the attributes on the
Edit : xxx menus;
see Edit : Big Text,
Edit : Dimension,
Edit : Ellipse,
Edit : Graph,
Edit : Image,
Edit : Path, and
Edit : Text.
When creating an object in a drawing file, the order of
procedures is backwards from the order you use in CoPlot.
In a drawing file, you specify the attributes first, then create the
object.
For subsequent objects of the same type, you need not specify every
attribute; just specify the attributes that have changed. For
example, you might:
- Set all of the line attributes (width, color, type, and dash
size).
- Create 5 lines with those attributes.
- Change the line color.
- Create 2 more lines.
This is not true for graph attributes, which don't carry over from
one graph to the next.
Different types of objects use different groups of attributes.
- Big Text Objects
- use Shape, Background, Line, Text, and Characters
drawing attribute procedures.
- Dimension Objects
- use Line, Arrow, Text, and Characters
drawing attribute procedures.
- Ellipse Objects
- use Fill, Line, Arrow, Ellipse, Text, and Characters
drawing attribute procedures.
- Graph Objects
- use the Characters
procedure to specify the optional graph name.
- Image Objects
- use the Characters
procedures to specify the file name.
- Path Objects
- use Fill, Line, Arrow, Marker, and PathType
drawing attribute procedures.
- Text Objects
- use Shape, Background, Line, Text, and Characters
drawing attribute procedures.
For the Fill, Line, Marker, and Text
groups of attributes,
if the related color attribute is Color2.notDrawn,
the other attributes in that group are ignored and not stored.
Similarly, for the Arrow groups of attributes,
if the arrowTypeStart is notDrawn and
the arrowTypeFinish is notDrawn,
the other attributes in that group are ignored and not stored.
For example, if lineColor is Color2.notDrawn,
the lineWidth setting will not be saved. This saves a tremendous
amount of space in the drawing list.
Attributes for Primitive Drawing Objects
- The Group Attribute
-
- setGroup(int);
- This is used for all drawing objects (not just primitives).
- Background Attributes
-
- setBackgroundColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.notDrawn.
- Fill Attributes
-
- setFillColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.notDrawn.
- setFillType(int);
- The default fill type
is 1 (horizontal lines).
- setFillSize(double);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setFillLinewidth(double);
- The default is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- Line Attributes
-
- setLineColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.black.
- setLineType(int);
- The default line type
is 0 (a solid line).
- setLineDashsize(double);
- The default is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setLineWidth(double);
- The default is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- Arrow Attributes
-
- setArrowTypeStart(int);
setArrowTypeFinish(int);
- Valid values are:
0=(notDrawn),
1=Fancy,
2=Filled,
3=Line.
The default for both is 0 (notDrawn).
[Added in version 5.913.]
- setArrowHeadsize(double);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setArrowAngle(int);
- The default is 30 degrees.
- setArrowColor(color); [deprecated]
- The default color is
Color2.black.
[As of version 5.913, this is deprecated.
Use setLineColor() and/or
setArrowTypeStart(0) and setArrowTypeFinish(0)
instead.]
- setArrowType(int); [deprecated]
- Valid values are:
0=Fancy at initial point,
1=Fancy at final point,
2=Fancy at both points,
3=Filled at initial point,
4=Filled at final point,
5=Filled at both points,
6=Line at initial point,
7=Line at final point,
8=Line at both points.
The default for both is 1 (Fancy at final point).
[As of version 5.913, this is deprecated.
Use setArrowTypeStart() and setArrowTypeFinish()
instead.]
- Marker Attributes
-
- setMarkerColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.notDrawn.
- setMarkerBackgroundColor(color);
- The default is Color2.notDrawn. [Added in version 6.100.]
- setMarkerFont(int);
- The default is 3 (which by default is the marker font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- setMarkerType(int);
- The default is 52 (which is a plus sign in the Marker font).
- setMarkerSize(double);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- Shape Attributes
-
- setShapeType(int);
- Valid values are:
0=Arrow, both,
1=Arrow, left,
2=Arrow, right,
3=Bracket, left,
4=Bracket, right,
5=Bullet,
6=Burst 1,
7=Burst 2,
8=Circle,
9=Circle, with line,
10=Cloud,
11=Cloud, point down,
12=Cloud 2,
13=Cloud 2, point down,
14=Computer, PC,
15=Computer, Server,
16=Cube, right,
17=Cylinder, horizontal,
18=Cylinder, vertical,
19=Diamond, horizontal,
20=Ellipse, 2 wide,
21=Ellipse, flexible,
22=Fax,
23=Hexagon,
24=Home plate, down,
25=Home plate, left,
26=Home plate, right,
27=Home plate, up,
28=Octagon,
29=Parallelogram, left,
30=Parallelogram, right,
31=Pentagon,
32=Person,
33=Printer,
34=Rectangle,
35=Rectangle, cut upper left,
36=Rectangle, cuts bottom,
37=Rectangle, cuts top,
38=Rectangle, folded corner,
39=Rectangle, jagged bottom,
40=Rectangle, lines left right,
41=Rectangle, lines top left,
42=Rectangle, point down,
43=Rectangle, point left center,
44=Rectangle, point lower left,
45=Rectangle, point lower right,
46=Rectangle, point right center,
47=Rectangle, point up,
48=Rectangle, point upper left,
49=Rectangle, point upper right,
50=Rectangle, rounded,
51=Rectangle, rounded sides,
52=Rectangle, sides in out,
53=Rectangle, sides out in,
54=Rectangle, slant top,
55=Rectangle, tab,
56=Rectangle, wavy bottom,
57=Rectangle, wavy top bottom,
58=Square,
59=Square, round right,
60=Trapezoid, down,
61=Trapezoid, up,
62=Triangle, down,
63=Triangle, left,
64=Triangle, right,
65=Triangle, up,
66=6 sides, horizontal,
67=6 sides, vertical,
68=Phone,
69=Burst 3,
70=Burst 4,
71=Rectangle, point left,
72=Rectangle, point right.
The default is 34 (Rectangle).
Note that the order on the Choice widget is alphabetical, which
is different from the numerical order.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeHAlign(int);
- Valid values are:
FartherLeft3=0,
FartherLeft1=1,
ShapeLeftEdge=2,
TextLeftEdge=3,
Center=4,
TextRightEdge=5,
ShapeRightEdge=6,
FartherRight1=7,
FartherRight3=8.
The default is 4 (Center).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeVAlign(int);
- Valid values are:
Above3=0,
Above1=1,
ShapeTop=2,
Line1Top=3,
Line1Upper=4,
Line1Center=5,
Line1Lower=6,
Line1Bottom=7,
TextCenter=8,
LineNLower=9,
ShapeCenter=10,
ShapeBottom=11,
Below1=12,
Below3=13.
The default is 10 (ShapeCenter).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeWidth(double);
- The default is "." (default value).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeHeight(double);
- The default is "." (default value).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeBorder(double);
- The default is 1. [Added in version 6.100.]
- setShapeAngle(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- setShapeShadow(int);
- Valid values are:
0=(none),
1=LowerLeft,
2=LowerRight,
3=UpperLeft,
4=UpperRight,
5=LowerLeft*3,
6=LowerRight*3,
7=UpperLeft*3,
8=UpperRight*3.
The default is 0 (none).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- Text Attributes
-
- setTextColor(color);
- The default color is
Color2.black.
- setTextFont(int);
- The default is 0 (which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- setTextHeight(double);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setTextPosition(int);
- The default is 4. Valid values are:
0=UpperLeft, 1=UpperCenter, 2=UpperRight,
3=CenterLeft, 4=CenterCenter, 5=CenterRight,
6=LowerLeft, 7=LowerCenter, 8=LowerRight.
- setTextHAlign(int); [deprecated]
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, 2=Right.
The default is 0 (Left). [As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use setShapeHAlign(oldValue+3) instead.]
- setTextVAlign(int); [deprecated]
- Valid values are:
0=Top, 1=Upper, 2=Center, 3=Lower, 4=Bottom.
The default is 3 (Lower).
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use setShapeVAlign(oldValue+3) instead.]
- setTextAngle(double); [deprecated]
- The default is 0 degrees.
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use setShapeAngle(double) instead.]
- Path Attributes
-
- setPathType(int);
- Valid values are 0=line, 1=spline, 2=bezier.
The default is 0 (line).
- Ellipse Attributes
-
- setEllipseSize(double);
- The default is 0.5 inch.
- setEllipseInnersize(double);
- The default is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
- setEllipseWidth(double);
- The default width/height ratio is 1.
- setEllipseStart(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
- setEllipseFinish(double);
- The default is 360 degrees.
- setEllipseNSides(int);
- The default is 90.
- setEllipseTextPosition(int);
- 0=HorizontalOut, 1=RadialIn, 2=RadialOut.
The default is 0.
[Added in version 5.913.]
- setEllipseAngle(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
- setEllipseSkew(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
- Characters
-
- setCharacters(string);
- The default is "".
- Image attributes
- There are several image attributes. See the list below.
- Graph attributes
- There are many graph attributes. See the list below.
Create an Object - After the attributes for an object have been
set, use create(string, doubleList); to
actually create the object (for example,
'create("path", "2,1,2,2");'). string has the type of
object (bigText, dimension, ellipse, image, graph, path,
and text).
doubleList has the x,y points.
Image Attributes
Unlike the drawing attributes listed above,
image attributes must be set separately
for each image. For example, if one image has a non-default
Top Margin,
the non-default value doesn't automatically carry over to the next image.
For each image,
- Use setCharacters to specify the image file name.
CoPlot automatically converts \'s in image file names
to /'s when the .draw file is saved.
When .draw files are opened, /'s are converted to \'s if appropriate
for the current operating system.
[Added in version 5.918.]
- Call newImage(); to create
the local image object.
- Call the various image.xxx(); commands
for settings that are different from the defaults.
- Call create("image", "x, y");,
where x, y is the center of where the image will be drawn.
(Prior to 5.917, you had to specify x1,y1,x2,y2 - the upper left
and upper right corners of the image's location.)
The image.xxx attributes correspond to options on the
Edit : Image
dialog box:
- image.setSize(double);
- The default is 0.32
Drawing Coordinate units.
[The command was added in 5.917.]
- image.setAngle(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
[This command added was in 5.917.]
- image.setLeftMargin(int);
- The default is 0 pixels.
- image.setRightMargin(int);
- The default is 0 pixels.
- image.setTopMargin(int);
- The default is 0 pixels.
- image.setBottomMargin(int);
- The default is 0 pixels.
- image.setNotDrawnColor(color);
- The default notDrawn color
is Color2.notDrawn.
- image.setNegativeColors(boolean);
- The default is false.
- image.setPaletteColorsOnly(boolean);
- The default is false.
- image.setBrightness(String);
- The default is "Regular".
- image.setContrast(String);
- The default is "Regular".
- image.setBackgroundColor(int);
- The default color is
Color2.notDrawn.
- image.setLineColor(int);
- The default color is
Color2.notDrawn.
- image.setLineWidth(double);
- The default is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
Graph Attributes
Unlike the drawing attributes listed above,
graph attributes must be set separately
for each graph.
For example, if one graph has a non-default graph title,
the non-default value doesn't automatically carry over to the next graph.
For each graph,
- You must first call newGraph(); to create
the local graph object.
- Call the various graph.xxx(); commands
for settings that are different from the defaults.
- Finally, call create("graph", "x,y");.
The graph attributes are in groups which correspond to the buttons
on the Edit : Graph
dialog box:
-
Graph : Overview Commands
- most of this settings correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
dialog box.
-
- graph.setVisible(boolean);
- The default value is true.
See Edit : Graph.
[Added in version 5.920.]
- graph.setBackgroundColor(color);
- The default background color
is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.setType(int);
- Valid types are: 0=XY, 1=3D, 2=Conic, 3=Mercator, 4=Orthographic,
5=Polar, 6=Triangle. The default is 0.
- graph.setZ3DSpin(double);
- The default is 30 degrees.
- graph.setZ3DAttitude(double);
- The default is 20 degrees.
- graph.setXAxisSize(double);
- The length of the X axis
in Drawing Coordinates.
The default is 2.4.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setYAxisSize(double);
- The length of the Y axis
in Drawing Coordinates.
The default is 2.4.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setZAxisSize(double);
- The length of the z axis
in Drawing Coordinates.
The default is 2.4.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setAngle(double);
- This sets the rotation angle for the entire graph.
The default is 0 degrees.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setDatasetLabelsFont(int);
- The number of the font to be used for datasets whenever
text is needed (
Representation=Markers/Labels, Markers/Labels3D,
WindBarb, etc.).
Valid values are 0 - 14. The default is 0.
[Added in version 5.914.]
- graph.setDatasetLabelsFontStyle(int);
- The number of the font style to be used for datasets whenever
text is needed (0=Plain, 1=Bold, 2=Italics, 3=BoldItalics).
[Added in version 5.920.]
- graph.setDrawXYGraphAsOriginGraph(boolean);
- The default is false.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setDrawPolarGraphAsCompassGraph(boolean);
- The default is false.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setDrawTriangleGraphReversed(boolean);
- The default is false.
[Added in version 5.915.]
- graph.setDrawColorArraysDarkToLight(boolean);
- The default is true.
[Added in version 5.920.]
- graph.setY2DX1(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- the graph's center is now specified
by the graph object's x,y location.
Old information: The default is 3
(see Drawing Coordinates).
The center of the graph (as defined by the setY2D values) should
match the center of the graph when you use
create("graph", x,y);. If it doesn't, the setY2D values
will be shifted so that graph is the same size and shape, but
moved to the new center point.
- graph.setY2DY1(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- the graph's center is now specified
by the graph object's x,y location.
Old information: The default is 3
(see Drawing Coordinates).
- graph.setY2DX2(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- the graph's center is now specified
by the graph object's x,y location.
Old information: The default is 5.4
(see Drawing Coordinates).
- graph.setY2DY2(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- the graph's center is now specified
by the graph object's x,y location.
Old information: The default is 5.4
(see Drawing Coordinates).
- graph.setZ3DSize(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- see graph.setZAxisSize.
Old information: The default is 2.4
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.setZ3DXSize(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- see graph.setZAxisSize.
Old information: The default is 100.0 percent.
- graph.setZ3DYSize(double);
- Deprecated as of 5.915 -- see graph.setZAxisSize.
Old information: The default is 100.0 percent.
- graph.setDrawingOrder(String);
- The default is "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11".
See Drawing Order.
[Added in version 5.920.] The numbers, 1 - 11, represent parts of the
graph:
1=map layers 1-6, 2=map layers 7..., 3=axis grid and zero lines, 4=axis
lines, ticks, labels, titles, 5=function 1, 6=functions 2..., 7=dataset 1,
8=datasets 2..., 9=legend, 10=graph title, 11=comments.
-
Graph : Title Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Graph : Title
dialog box.
All of the procedures take a list that should have two values
(corresponding to title1 and title2).
-
- graph.title.text(stringList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is ".".
- graph.title.radius(doubleList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is 0.5
Drawing Coordinate units.
Note that a graph title's position is
stored internally as r,theta polar coordinates relative straight
outward from the center of the axis. Stored in this way, the position
doesn't have to be adjusted when the graph size and shape is changed.
- graph.title.theta(doubleList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is 0 degrees.
- graph.title.color(colorList);
- The default color
for title1 and title2 is Color2.black.
- graph.title.font(intList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is 0
(which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.title.fontStyle(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Plain, 1=Bold, 2=Italic, 3=Bold Italic.
The default for title1 and title2 is 0.
- graph.title.height(doubleList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.title.angle(doubleList);
- The default for title1 and title2 is 0 degrees.
- graph.title.hAlign(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, and 2=Right.
The default for title1 and title2 is 1.
-
Graph : Map Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Map dialog box.
Other than setNLayers, all of the procedures takes
a list that should have nLayers values.
-
- graph.map.setLineDetail(int);
- The default is 0 (automatic).
Other valid values are the integers 1 (coarse)
to 9 (fine).
- graph.map.setNLayers(int);
- The default is 0. You must use this before assigning other
map attributes.
- graph.map.mapFile(stringList);
- The default for each map layer is "".
- graph.map.objectDetail(stringList);
- The default for each map layer is "1-2".
- graph.map.backgroundColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each map layer is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.map.lineColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each map layer is Color2.mapDefault.
- graph.map.lineType(intList);
- The default line type
for each map layer is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.map.lineDashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each map layer is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.map.lineWidth(doubleList);
- The default for each map layer is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.map.markerColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each map layer is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.map.markerSize(doubleList);
- The default for each map layer is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.map.textDetail(stringList);
- The default for each map layer is "".
- graph.map.textColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each map layer is Color2.mapDefault.
- graph.map.textHeight(doubleList);
- The default for each map layer is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.openDataFile.
- There was a command to let you load data
into graph.data, but graph.data is gone and the command
is now deprecated (as of 5.913): graph.openDataFile(int fileType, int mode, String fileDirectory,
String fileName, int simplify, int headerLength,
String fileStructure);
Use
openDatafile
instead.
- graph.data
- There were commands to let you load data
directly in graph.data, but graph.data is gone and the commands
are now all deprecated (as of 5.913).
Use the
datafile.xxx commands
instead.
- graph.data.insertRows(int where, int howMany);
- Deprecated in 5.913.
Use
datafile.insertRows
instead.
- graph.data.insertColumn(int where, String type, String name);
- Deprecated in 5.913.
Use
datafile.insertColumn
instead.
- graph.data.setString(int col, int row, string value);
- Deprecated in 5.913.
Use
datafile.setString
instead.
- graph.data.setRow(int row, stringList csvData);
- Deprecated in 5.913.
Use
datafile.setRow
instead.
- graph.data.setCol(int col, stringList csvData);
- Deprecated in 5.913.
Use
datafile.setCol
instead.
-
Graph : Dataset Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Dataset dialog box.
Other than setNDatasets, all of the procedures takes
a list that should have nDatasets values.
-
- graph.dataset.setNDatasets(int);
- The default is 0. You must use this before assigning other
dataset attributes.
- graph.dataset.datafile(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 1.
- graph.dataset.representation(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 1. The representations are:
0=Bars/2D, 1=Bars/3D, 2=Bars/3D simple, 3=Box & whisker, 4=Fill above, 5=Fill
below, 6=Fill between 2 Y, 7=Fill inward, 8=Fill outward, 9=Fill zero, 10=,
11=Line, 12=Line/staircase, 13=Markers, 14=Markers/labels, 15=Markers/nth
point, 16=Markers/variable, 17=Spline, 18=Grid/2D/colored blocks/1
point,19=Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points, 20=Grid/3D/colored blocks/1
point,21=Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points, 22=Grid/3D/colored surface,
23=Grid/3D/one color, 24=Grid/3D/transparent, 25=Vector, 26=Wind barb,
27=Grid/2D/bold nth line, 28=Grid/2D/bold nth spline, 29=Grid/2D/colored
surface, 30=Grid/2D/line color, 31=Grid/2D/line dashsize, 32=Grid/2D/line
width, 33=Markers/variable/color, 34=, 35=Grid/3D/histogram, 36=Grid/3D/one color with sides,
37=Grid/3D/pyramids, 38=, 39=, 40=, 41=Bars/3D pyramids, 42=Histogram,
43=BarGraph/Grouped, 44=BarGraph/Stacked, 45=BarGraph/100%.
- graph.dataset.variable1(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 1.
- graph.dataset.variable2(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 2.
- graph.dataset.variable3(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 3.
- graph.dataset.variable4(intList);
- The default for each dataset is -1 (blank).
- graph.dataset.variable5(intList);
- The default for each dataset is -1 (blank).
- graph.dataset.variable6(intList);
- The default for each dataset is -1 (blank).
- graph.dataset.variable7(intList);
- The default for each dataset is -1 (blank).
- graph.dataset.extra1(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 4.
- graph.dataset.extra2(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.
- graph.dataset.backgroundColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each dataset is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.dataset.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each dataset is Color2.black.
- graph.dataset.markerFont(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 3
(which by default is the Marker font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.dataset.markerType(intList);
- The default for each dataset is 52
(which is a plus sign in the Marker font).
- graph.dataset.size(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.dataset.fillType(intList);
- The default fill type
for each dataset is 1 (horizontal lines).
- graph.dataset.fillSize(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
[Added in version 5.918.]
- graph.dataset.lineWidth(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.dataset.lineType(intList);
- The default line type
for each dataset is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.dataset.lineDashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.dataset.errorWidth(doubleList);
- The default for each dataset is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.dataset.legend(stringList);
- The default for each dataset is ".".
- graph.dataset.keepIf(stringList);
- The default for each dataset is "".
-
Graph : Function Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Function dialog box.
Other than setNFunctions, all of the procedures takes
a list that should have nFunctions values.
-
- graph.function.setNFunctions(int);
- The default is 0. You must use this before assigning other
function attributes.
- graph.function.equation(stringList);
- The default for each function is "".
- graph.function.legend(stringList);
- The default for each function is ".".
- graph.function.representation(intList);
- The default for each function is 3. The representations are:
0=Fill above, 1=Fill below, 2=Fill zero, 3=Line, 4=Grid/2D/bold nth line,
5=Grid/2D/bold nth spline, 6=Grid/2D/colored surface, 7=Grid/2D/line color,
8=Grid/2D/line dashsize, 9=Grid/2D/line width, 10=Grid/2D/colored blocks/1
point, 11=Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points, 12=Grid/3D/colored blocks/1 point,
13=Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points, 14=Grid/3D/colored surface, 15=Grid/3D/one
color, 16=Grid/3D/transparent, 17=Grid/3D/one color with sides.
- graph.function.backgroundColor(colorList);
- The default backgroundColor
for each function is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.function.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each function is Color2.black.
- graph.function.fillType(intList);
- The default fill type
for each function is 1 (horizontal lines).
- graph.function.fillSize(doubleList);
- The default for each function is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.function.lineType(intList);
- The default line type
for each function is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.function.lineDashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each function is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.function.lineWidth(doubleList);
- The default for each function is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.function.xEvaluate(intList);
- The default for each function is 100.
- graph.function.yEvaluate(intList);
- The default for each function is 25.
- graph.function.zSpacing(stringList);
- The default for each function is ".".
- graph.function.from(doubleList);
- The default for each function is a missing value
(represented by a dot).
- graph.function.to(doubleList);
- The default for each function is a missing value
(represented by a dot).
-
Graph : Axis : Overview Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview dialog box.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.type(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0. The valid types are:
0=Linear
Scale, 1=Log Base 10, 2=Degrees, 3=Normal Probability, 4=Standard Deviation,
5=Double Log base 10, 6=Natural Log, 7=Date, 8=Seconds, 9=Pi, 10=Probit,
11=Square Root.
- graph.axis.low(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is a missing value
(represented by a dot).
- graph.axis.high(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is a missing value
(represented by a dot).
- graph.axis.offset(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.setConicParallel1(double);
- The default is "." (automatic).
Other valid values are doubles between -89 and 89.
- graph.axis.setConicParallel2(double);
- The default is "." (automatic).
Other valid values are doubles between -89 and 89.
-
Graph : Axis : Title 1 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Graph : Title dialog
when Which Part is set to Title1.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.title1.text(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.title1.radius(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.5
Drawing Coordinate units.
Note that an axis title's position is
stored internally as r,theta polar coordinates relative straight
outward from the center of the axis. Stored in this way, the position
doesn't have to be adjusted when the graph size and shape is changed.
- graph.axis.title1.theta(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is a missing value (automatic)
(represented by a dot).
- graph.axis.title1.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.title1.font(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0
(which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.axis.title1.fontStyle(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Plain, 1=Bold, 2=Italic, 3=Bold Italic.
The default for each axis is 0.
- graph.axis.title1.height(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.title1.angle(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is a missing value
(represented by a dot).
If you enter a specific value, it is in degrees.
- graph.axis.title1.hAlign(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, 2=Right.
The default for each axis is 1 (Center).
- graph.axis.title1.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 0.
-
Graph : Axis : Title 2 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Graph : Title dialog
when Which Part is set to Title2.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.title2.text(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.title2.radius(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.7
Drawing Coordinate units.
Note that an axis title's position is
stored internally as r,theta polar coordinates relative straight
outward from the center of the axis. Stored in this way, the position
doesn't have to be adjusted when the graph size and shape is changed.
- graph.axis.title2.theta(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is a missing value (automatic)
(represented by a dot)
- graph.axis.title2.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.title2.font(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0
(which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.axis.title2.fontStyle(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Plain, 1=Bold, 2=Italic, 3=Bold Italic.
The default for each axis is 0.
- graph.axis.title2.height(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.title2.angle(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0 degrees.
- graph.axis.title2.hAlign(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, 2=Right.
The default for each axis is 1 (Center).
- graph.axis.title2.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 0.
-
Graph : Axis : Labels Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Labels dialog box.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.labels.text(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.labels.radius(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
Note that an axis label's position is
stored internally in polar coordinates (r,theta) relative to straight
outward from the center of the axis. Stored in this way, the position
doesn't have to be adjusted when the graph size and shape is changed.
- graph.axis.labels.theta(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0 degrees.
- graph.axis.labels.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.labels.font(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0
(which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.axis.labels.fontStyle(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Plain, 1=Bold, 2=Italic, 3=Bold Italic.
The default for each axis is 0.
- graph.axis.labels.height(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.labels.angle(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0 degrees.
- graph.axis.labels.hAlign(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, 2=Right, 3=Auto.
The default for each axis is 3 (Auto).
- graph.axis.labels.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 0.
- graph.axis.labels.division(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.labels.format1(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0 (general format).
See format options
in the CoStat Manual (costat.htm).
- graph.axis.labels.format2(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0
(if format1 is 0, 0 here specifies a 9 digit field).
- graph.axis.labels.decimalPoint(intList);
- The default for each axis is 0 (a period).
- graph.axis.labels.prefix(stringList);
- The default for each axis is "".
- graph.axis.labels.suffix(stringList);
- The default for each axis is "".
- graph.axis.labels.drawFirstLabel(booleanList);
- The default for each axis is true.
(This was added in 5.923.)
- graph.axis.labels.drawLastLabel(booleanList);
- The default for each axis is true.
(This was added in 5.917.)
-
Graph : Axis : Axis Line Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Axis Line.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.axisLine.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.axisLine.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.axisLine.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.axisLine.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.axisLine.arrowHeadVisible(intList);
- For each axis, 0=Low End, 1=High End (the default), and
2=Both Ends.
- graph.axis.axisLine.arrowHeadsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.axisLine.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 2.
-
Graph : Axis : Ticks 1 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Ticks 1.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.ticks1.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.ticks1.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks1.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks1.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.ticks1.division(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.ticks1.in(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.06
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks1.out(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks1.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 0.
-
Graph : Axis : Ticks 2 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Ticks2.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.ticks2.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.ticks2.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks2.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks2.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.black.
- graph.axis.ticks2.division(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
- graph.axis.ticks2.in(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.03
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks2.out(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.ticks2.visible(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=on main axis,
1=on opposite axis, 2=on main and opposite axes.
The default for each axis is 0.
-
Graph : Axis : Grid 1 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Grid 1.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.grid1.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.grid1.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.grid1.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.grid1.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.axis.grid1.division(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
-
Graph : Axis : Grid 2 Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Grid 2.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.grid2.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.grid2.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.grid2.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.grid2.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.axis.grid2.division(stringList);
- The default for each axis is ".".
-
Graph : Axis : Zero Line Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines dialog
when Which Part is set to Zero Line.
All of the procedures take a list that should have 4 values
(corresponding to the X, Y, Z, and T axes).
-
- graph.axis.zeroLine.type(intList);
- The default line type
for each axis is 0 (a solid line).
- graph.axis.zeroLine.dashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.zeroLine.width(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.axis.zeroLine.color(colorList);
- The default color
for each axis is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.axis.axisLine.arrowHeadVisible(intList);
- For each axis, 0=Low End, 1=High End (the default), and
2=Both Ends.
- graph.axis.zeroLine.arrowHeadsize(doubleList);
- The default for each axis is 0
Drawing Coordinate units.
-
Graph : Legend Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Legend dialog box.
-
- graph.legend.setText(string);
- The default is "".
- graph.legend.setOrder(intList);
- The integers 1 through 20 in a comma-separated
list specify the order of datasets and functions
in the legend.
1 - 9 represent functions #1 - #9.
10 represents functions #10 and higher.
11 - 19 represent datasets #1 - #9.
20 represents datasets #10 and higher.
The default is
"1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20".
[Added in version 6.100.]
- graph.legend.setEncodedX(double x);
- This specifies the x part of the legend's location in
an encoded way. The encoding is: pretend the
Graph Angle is 0 degrees,
encodedX = (drawingX-graph.x)/ (graph.xAxisSize/2).
Thus, it is the x distance relative to the graph's center point
and relative to the X axis size.
[Added in version 5.916]
- graph.legend.setEncodedY(double y);
- This specifies the y part of the legend's location in
an encoded way. The encoding is: pretend the
Graph Angle is 0 degrees,
encodedY = (drawingY-graph.y)/ (graph.yAxisSize/2).
Thus, it is the y distance relative to the graph's center point
and relative to the Y axis size.
[Added in version 5.916]
- graph.legend.setX(double); [deprecated]
- [As of version 5.915, this is deprecated.
Use graph.legend.setEncodedX instead.]
- graph.legend.setY(double); [deprecated]
- [As of version 5.915, this is deprecated.
Use graph.legend.setEncodedY instead.]
- graph.legend.setTextColor(color);
- The default color
is Color2.black.
- graph.legend.setFont(int);
- The default is 0
(which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
- graph.legend.setFontStyle(int);
- The default is 0=plain. Other valid values are
1=bold, 2=italics, and 3=bold italics.
- graph.legend.setHeight(double);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.legend.setAngle(double);
- The default is 0 degrees.
- graph.legend.setType(int);
- The default legend type is 1=Vertical.
Valid values are: 0=Horizontal, 1=Vertical,
or 2=Interlaced.
- graph.legend.setInterline(double);
- The default is 1, which
represents the standard interline spacing
- graph.legend.setExampleSize(double);
- The default is 1, which represents the standard size
(which is scaled relative to the legend height value).
- graph.legend.setBackgroundColor(color);
- The default color
is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.legend.setLineColor(color);
- The default color
is Color2.notDrawn.
- graph.legend.setLineWidth(double);
- The default is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
- graph.legend.setShapeType(int);
- See the list of valid shape types.
The default is 34 (Rectangle).
- graph.legend.setShapeHAlign(int);
- See the list of valid shapeHAlign types.
The default is 4.
- graph.legend.setShapeVAlign(int);
- See the list of valid shapeVAlign types.
The default is 10 (ShapeCenter).
- graph.legend.setShapeShadow(int);
- See the list of valid shapeShadow types.
The default is 0 (none).
- graph.legend.setShapeBorder(double);
- The default is 1. [Added in version 6.100.]
- graph.legend.setUseCustomLegend(boolean);
- The default is false.
- graph.legend.setCustomLegendText(String);
- The default is "".
-
Graph : Comment Commands
- correspond to options on the
Edit : Graph : Comment dialog box.
-
- graph.comment.setNComments(int);
- The default is 0. You must use this before assigning other
comment attributes.
- graph.comment.graphX(doubleList);
- The default is 0 (in the graph's coordinate system).
- graph.comment.graphY(doubleList);
- The default is 0 (in the graph's coordinate system).
- graph.comment.graphZ(doubleList);
- The default is 0 (in the graph's coordinate system).
- graph.comment.shapeType(intList);
- See the list of valid shape types.
The default is 34 (Rectangle).
Note that the order on the Choice widget is alphabetical, which
is different from the numerical order.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeHAlign(intList);
- See the list of valid shapeHAlign types.
The default is 4 (Center).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeVAlign(int);
- See the list of valid shapeVAlign types.
The default is 10 (ShapeCenter).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeWidth(doubleList);
- The default is "." (default value).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeHeight(doubleList);
- The default is "." (default value).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeBorder(doubleList);
- The default is 1. [Added in version 6.100.]
- graph.comment.shapeAngle(doubleList);
- The default is 0 degrees.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.shapeShadow(intList);
- See the list of valid shapeShadow types.
The default is 0 (none).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.backgroundColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each comment is Color2.notDrawn.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.lineColor(colorList);
- The default color
for each comment is Color2.mapDefault.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.lineType(intList);
- The default line type
for each comment is 0 (a solid line).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.lineDashsize(doubleList);
- The default for each comment is 0.02
Drawing Coordinate units.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.lineWidth(doubleList);
- The default for each comment is 0.003
Drawing Coordinate units.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.textColor(colorList);
- The default color is
Color2.black.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.textFont(intList);
- The default is 0 (which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.textHeight(doubleList);
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.textPosition(intList);
- Valid values are: 0=Upper left, 1=Upper center, 2=Upper right,
3=Center left, 4=Center center, 5=Center right,
6=Lower left, 7=Lower center, and 8=Lower right.
The default is 4 (Center center).
[Added in version 5.912.]
- graph.comment.color(colorList); [deprecated]
- The default color is
Color2.black.
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use graph.comment.textColor(colorList) instead.]
- graph.comment.font(intList); [deprecated]
- The default is 0 (which by default is the Helvet font).
See Drawing : Load Fonts.
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use graph.comment.textFont(intList) instead.]
- graph.comment.height(doubleList); [deprecated]
- The default is 0.1
Drawing Coordinate units.
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use graph.comment.textHeight(doubleList) instead.]
- graph.comment.angle(doubleList); [deprecated]
- The default is 0 degrees.
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use graph.comment.shapeAngle(doubleList) instead.]
- graph.comment.hAlign(intList); [deprecated]
- Valid values are: 0=Left, 1=Center, 2=Right.
The default is 0 (Left).
[As of version 5.912, this is deprecated.
Use graph.comment.textPosition(intList: oldValue+3) instead.]
Menu Tree /
Index
A Sample Drawing File
Here is an example of a drawing file with data embedded in it
and the drawing that can be created with it.
In general it is good practice to look at drawing files that CoPlot
has created. As with any ASCII file, you can view/edit drawing files
in CoText (see Screen : Show CoText)
or any other text editor. This file is sample.draw
in the cohort directory.
CoPlot.drawVersion(6.100);
createDatafile(1);
datafile.insertRows(1,3);
datafile.insertColumn(1, "d", "X");
datafile.insertColumn(2, "d", "Y");
datafile.setRow(1, "1.5, 0.5");
datafile.setRow(2, "3, 4");
datafile.setRow(3, "8.5, 9.5");
setCharacters("");
newGraph();
graph.title.text("\"Sample Drawing\","+
"\".\"");
graph.dataset.setNDatasets(1);
graph.dataset.representation("13");
create("graph", "2.09, 8.04");
setLineColor(Color2.green4);
setLineType(0);
setLineDashsize(0.02);
setLineWidth(0.01);
setPathType(0);
create("path", "0.97, 5.08, 2.23, 6.14, "+
"3.76, 5.64");
setCharacters("");
setBackgroundColor(Color2.yellow4);
setFillColor(Color2.blue4);
setFillType(1);
setFillSize(0.1);
setFillLinewidth(0.01);
setLineColor(Color2.orange4);
setLineWidth(0.02);
setEllipseSize(0.5);
setEllipseInnerSize(0);
setEllipseWidth(1);
setEllipseStart(0);
setEllipseFinish(360);
setEllipseNSides(90);
setEllipseAngle(0);
setEllipseSkew(0);
create("ellipse", "2.04, 5.71");
endOfFile();
Here is the drawing from the sample.draw drawing file:
Menu Tree /
Index
Java Programs, Batch Files, Shell Scripts, Pipes, Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl
You can bypass the graphical front end of CoPlot
in order to convert
drawings in various types of graphics files (notably .draw files)
into other types of graphics files (notably .gif files,
or printed on the default printer)
via Java programs, batch files, shell scripts, pipes,
Perl, Python, Rexx, and Tcl.
When you run CoPlot, you are really running a graphical front end to
a Java class called Drawing (which comes with CoPlot).
It is Drawing that actually maintains
the list of drawing objects, draws them to an Image (which CoPlot draws
on the screen), opens and saves various types of graphics files, etc.
One way to use the Drawing class is by using the Drawing program,
a program that you can run from a command line by typing "drawing"
when you are in the cohort directory.
The Drawing program is a text mode, command line program that reads in
some type of graphics file (for example, .draw, .dra, .gra, .grg, .wmf, .cgm,
.gif, .jpg)
(or reads system.in)
and writes out to an image file (for example, .gif, .jpg),
a vector graphics file (for example, .cgm, .wmf, .eps),
or the default printer.
You can direct the output to system.out
instead of to an actual file.
As soon as you run drawing,
it asks you four questions:
- Input file name (""=System.in)?
- This can be a .draw file name (for example, test.draw)
or nothing. If you enter nothing, it will look
for drawing information from System.in (the Java equivalent of C's stdin,
which in practice is the command line window).
See
Drawing (.draw) File Format
- Input type (""=0=.draw, 1=.dra, 2=.gra, ...)?
- This identifies the type of graphics file coming in.
The options are 0=.draw, 1=.dra, 2=.gra,
3=.cgm, 4=.dxf, 5=.wmf, 6=.eps,
7=.gif, 8=.jpg, 9=.pcx, 10=.png, 11=.ppm, 12=.grg.
- Output file name (""=System.out)?
- This is the name for the image file (for example, test.gif)
or nothing (""). If you enter nothing, it will send the resulting
information to System.out (the Java equivalent of C's stdout,
which in practice is the command line window).
For 'Output type=12=defaultPrinter' set this to "".
- Output type (0=.draw, 1=.ppm, ""=2=.gif, ...)?
- This is the type of image file you want to create. The options are
0=.draw, 1=.ppm, 2=.gif89a, 3=.eps, 4=.pdf,
5=.wpg, 6=.cgm, 7=.wmf, 8=hpgl2bw, 9=hpgl2color,
10=jpgHighQuality, 11=jpgSmallFile,
12=defaultPrinter,
13=pcxBW, 14=pcxColor, 15=.svg, 16=.png,
17=wmfText, 18=cgmText, 19=svgText.
The default is 2.
The program then reads the information from the graphics file (or
System.in), creates the image, then saves it to the output file
(or System.out).
'Drawing' Command Line Parameters -
Instead of answering the questions that the program asks,
you can use any or all of the following command line parameters
in any order:
- in-inputFileName
- The default is for the input file to come from System.in.
- it-inputType
- The default is 0 (a .draw file).
- on-outputFileName
- The default is for the output file to go to System.out.
- ot-outputType
- The default is 2 (a .gif file).
- d-
- This suppresses the diagnostic messages that are usually sent
to System.err.
For example, drawing in-wheat.draw on-wheat.gif will take
the input file wheat.draw and create an output file called wheat.gif.
Since the input type and output type were not specified, the defaults
(0=.draw and 2=.gif) will be used.
Running Command Line Programs -
To run CoHort's command line programs like Drawing, you need to go
to the cohort directory
(in Windows, for example: cd \progra~1\cohort6),
and then run the batch file
(for example: drawing).
To run CoHort's command line graphical programs in Unix, you
also need to install xvfb (a virtual frame buffer) and run it in back-end mode.
Otherwise, you will get an error message saying the X Window
session wasn't found.
(This may become unnecessary with Java 1.4, where you can use the
Java command line switch "-Djava.awt.headless=true".)
Coordinates - If the incoming file is a .draw file, the
setXBounds, setYBounds, and setScale
commands specify the size of the drawing (ultimately, in inches).
(See Drawing : Coordinates.)
.dra, .gra, and .grg files also specify the size of the drawing.
If the output file is an image file,
the Drawing program creates an image that is the exact size
necessary (converting 1 inch to 100 pixels, and adding 1 so the
border is visible).
In the example below, a drawing that is
1.2 x 0.4 inches will generate an image that is 121 x 41 pixels.
Errors - If a syntax error is found while reading the
graphics file or creating the image,
the error is printed to System.err (on the screen), but processing
continues. If you use the "d-" command line flag, these errors are
suppressed. If an error occurs while creating the output file,
the error is printed to System.err and the program stops
with a System.exit(1) command (error level=1). All error messages
start with the word "Error" at the beginning of a line.
Pipes - Note that you can pipe all of the information into
Drawing and have the results come out a pipe. For example, let's
say we have a program called drawGenerator
which generates the following text (note that the lines marked
[blank] should be truly blank lines):
[blank]
0
[blank]
2
CoPlot.drawVersion(6.100);
setXBounds(0, 1.2);
setYBounds(0, 0.4);
setTextColor(Color2.red4);
setTextFont(0);
setTextHeight(0.1);
setShapeAngle(0);
setCharacters("Hello, World!");
create("text", "0.6, 0.2");
endOfFile();
(Note that the text answers the four questions posed by Drawing, then
has information that would be in a .draw file.)
And let's say we have another program called gifProcessor,
which reads in .gif files and
processes them. Then you can use the following command line to
generate the .draw information, pass it to Drawing (which in turn converts
the .draw information to a .gif file),
and pass the .gif file to gifProcessor (although there isn't room here,
this command must be on one long line):
drawGenerator | java.exe -Xmx512m -Xincgc -Dcohort=%cohort% -cp %cohort%cohort.jar com.cohort.Drawing | gifProcessor
Unfortunately, you can't put all of Drawing's command line settings
(-Xmx, -X, -D, -cp) in a batch file (if you do, the pipes don't work).
The image coming out of this example is:
Batch Files and Shell Scripts -
Since Drawing is a text mode, command line program,
it can process graphics files
in an automated way in batch files (Windows) and shell scripts (UNIX).
One common use would be to use Drawing to automatically process
data from some other program, generate a graph or drawing,
and save it in a .gif file for later viewing.
Another use would be on a web server, as part of a script which
generates and serves a custom graph or drawing (in .gif form),
based on a request by a remote client.
Programming with
Java,
Perl,
Python,
Rexx, or
Tcl
-
A different approach to getting the services of the Drawing class
is to use the Drawing class directly from a Java program or from a program
in a different language that can access Java objects.
Basically, you must create an instance of the Drawing class
and then you can call any of the procedures used in a
.draw program just by putting "drawing." at the beginning
of the method call.
For example, "setXBounds(0, 1.2);" in a .draw file becomes
"drawing.setXBounds(0, 1.2);" in a Java program.
See the
Drawing (.draw) File Format
for a full list of commands and their parameters.
Guidelines -
Here are some guidelines for converting .draw files into
Java programs that call methods of the Drawing class:
- Change the extension of the file to ".java".
- All
of
the classes in the cohort.jar file are defined to be part of a Java
package called "com.cohort". Therefore, you need to put
"import" statements at the top of the .java files to
identify each of the cohort.com classes that you want to use
(most commonly, "import com.cohort.Drawing;" and
"import com.cohort.Color2;").
Or, you can always refer to the classes by their full names (for example,
com.cohort.Drawing drawing = new com.cohort.Drawing();).
- You must create an instance of the Drawing class and
then call its methods: Drawing drawing=new Drawing();.
- Unlike the first line of .draw files, you shouldn't include the command
"CoPlot.drawVersion(6.100);".
- Unlike the last line of .draw files, you shouldn't include the command
"endOfFile();".
- For missing numeric values that aren't in Strings,
use Drawing.NaN instead
of '.' (which is only allowed in .draw files).
- Some useful Drawing procedures that aren't used in .draw files are:
- String drawing.convertDrawing(String inName, int inType,
String outName, int outType, boolean printDiagnostics);.
With just one line, you can read in a graphics file
and write out a different type of graphics file.
The parameters are the same as the command line parameters
for the standalone Drawing program described above.
It returns an error string ("" if there is no error).
- String drawing.fileOpen(int inType, String inName);
which opens a some kind of graphics file and
returns an error String ("" if no error).
The parameters are the same as the command line parameters
for the standalone Drawing program described above.
- String drawing.fileSaveAs(int outType, String outName);
which saves the drawing as some kind of file and
returns an error String ("" if no error).
The parameters are the same as the command line parameters
for the standalone Drawing program described above.
- String drawing.fileSaveAsImage();
This creates an image of the drawing. It
returns an error string ("" if there is no error). Minor (non-fatal) errors
are also reported.
- java.awt.Image drawing.getCurrentImage();
This actually gets the image created by fileSaveAsImage().
If there was serious trouble while creating it, it will be null.
- void drawing.reset();, which resets the drawing file
(to 0 objects and all default attributes).
- You should call System.exit(0); when you want
the program to stop (because of a bug in Java related
to using the System toolkit).
Here is a minimal example which just opens
a .draw file and saves it as a .jpg file.
(See the minimal.* files in the
cohort directory.)
import com.cohort.Drawing;
public class Minimal {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.err.println("Creating wheat.jpg...");
Drawing drawing=new Drawing();
String error=drawing.convertDrawing(
"wheat.draw", 0,
"wheat.jpg", 10, false);
System.err.println(error);
System.exit(0);
}
}
ClassPath
-
The javac compiler and the java program,
which runs Java .class
files, need to know where to look for existing .class files. You need to
specify this information with the -cp switch on the javac and java command
lines; otherwise, you will get an error message saying something like
Class not found: 'x.class'.
If you put your .class file (for example, minimal.class)
in the same directory as the cohort.jar file, your -cp switch can be quite
simple (in Windows and OS/2:
"-cp .;cohort.jar"; for Unix and Macintosh, just
change the separator from ";" to ":").
If the files are in different directories, you need
to specify complete names, for example,
"-cp c:\myClasses;c:\progra~1\cohort.jar".
(Note the use of the Windows short form
"progra~1" of the directory name
"Program Files", which avoids problems with
the space in the directory name).
[Before version 6.100, CoHort command line programs required
that you set the cohort environment variable (set cohort=...).
This is no longer recommended.]
HelloWorld - Here is an example which shows how to convert the
sample HelloWorld.draw file from above
into a Java program which makes a .jpg file.
This example also shows how to create a java.awt.Image
and how to reset the drawing if you want to work with
another drawing.
(See all of the HelloWorld files in the
cohort directory.)
import com.cohort.Drawing;
import com.cohort.Color2;
public class HelloWorld {
public static void main(String args[]) {
System.err.println("Creating HelloWorld.jpg...");
Drawing drawing=new Drawing();
//CoPlot.drawVersion(6.100);
drawing.setXBounds(0, 1.2);
drawing.setYBounds(0, 0.4);
drawing.setTextColor(Color2.red4);
drawing.setTextFont(0);
drawing.setTextHeight(0.1);
drawing.setShapeAngle(0);
drawing.setCharacters("Hello, World!");
drawing.create("text", "0.6, 0.2");
//save the drawing as a .jpg file
String error=drawing.fileSaveAs(10, "HelloWorld.jpg"); //10=.jpgHighQuality
if (error.length()>0) System.err.println(error);
//Save the drawing as a java.awt.image.
error=drawing.fileSaveAsImage();
if (error.length()>0) System.err.println(error);
//Get the Image you just made.
java.awt.Image image=drawing.getCurrentImage();
//If this were a graphical program, you could display the image:
//if (image!=null) panel.getGraphics().drawImage(image, 0, 0, null);
//If you were going to create a new drawing, you would reset the drawing:
drawing.reset();
//You could then start over here, with a description of another drawing.
//drawing.setXBounds(0, 8);
//...
System.err.println("Done.");
System.exit(0);
}
}
Of course, you will probably have a more
complex program which does lots of other things and periodically
creates a drawing and saves it as some type of graphics file
(or uses type=12 to print it) or displays it as an image on the screen.
Advice - The easiest way to get started using the
methods in the Drawing class is look at .draw files.
For example, you might make a drawing in CoPlot which is
the basic type of drawing that you want your program to create.
Then, you can use the .draw file as a starting point for
creating your program.
Perl -
If you are a Perl programmer and wish to access Drawing,
from a Perl script, you can do so with
Java/Perl Lingo (JPL), which is freely available.
JPL also makes it possible to run Perl scripts from within Java program.
JPL, including its source code, is available for download as part of
Perl version 5.005_54 (and later versions) from the
Perl Web site (www.perl.com).
Support -
We will help you use your CoHort software programs, but we can't extend
that support to issues related to connections with other languages.
Continuous Processing -
"Drawings" is a slightly different version of the Drawing program
that is designed to process a series of .draw files. Because
this setup doesn't have to restart the Java Virtual Machine and the
Drawings program for each drawing, it saves lots of time.
All diagnostic and error messages are printed to System.err.
Normally, the program accepts input from System.in. However,
if you use the command line options host-hostName
and port-portNumber, you can use a socket to
supply information to Drawings.
After initializing itself, the program repeatedly:
- Reads the information from a .draw file which has been
fed into the program via System.in or a socket.
The endOfFile() command
in the .draw file signifies the end of the .draw file.
- The program then processes drawings.xxx commands.
The options are:
- drawings.saveAs(int outType, String fileName); -
This saves the current drawing in a file with
the specified output type
(0=.draw, 1=.ppm, ..., the same as for the Drawing program)
and fileName (use "" for System.out).
When completed, this command flushes and closes the output file,
prints any error message ("Error: ..."),
and prints "Save as done ...".
There can be more than one drawings.saveAs command
for each .draw file that is read in.
- drawings.exit(); - This terminates the program.
- drawings.readDrawing(); - This goes back to step one
and reads another drawing file.
Copyright -
Remember that CoHort Software programs are licensed for one
user at a time. If you need to license our software for distribution
or for additional installations (for example, for use on a web server),
please contact
CoHort Software.
Menu Tree /
Index
References
Allen, S.G. 1981. Agronomic and Genetic Characterization
of Winter Wheat Plant Height Isolines. Montana State
University. Bozeman, Montana.
Cleveland, William S. 1994. The Elements of Graphing Data, 2nd Ed.
Chapman & Hall.
Kosslyn, Stephen M. 1994. Elements of Graph Design.
W.H. Freeman. New York, New York.
Miller, A.R. 1981. BASIC Programs for Scientists and
Engineers. Sybex. Berkeley, California.
Snyder, J.P. 1983. Map Projections Used by the U.S. Geological
Survey, 2nd Ed.. Geological Survey Bulletin 1532. Available
from the U.S. Government Printing Office or the USGS.
Sokal,
R.R. and F.J. Rohlf. 1969. Biometry. 1st Edition.
W.H. Freeman and Co. San Francisco, California.
Sokal, R.R. and F.J. Rohlf. 1981. Biometry. 2nd Edition.
W.H. Freeman and Co. San Francisco, California.
Sokal, R.R. and F.J. Rohlf. 1995. Biometry. 3rd Edition.
W.H. Freeman and Co. San Francisco, California.
Tufte, E.R. 1983. The Visual Display of Quantitative
Information. Graphics Press, Box 430, Cheshire, CT 06410.
Tufte, E.R. 1990. Envisioning Information. Graphics
Press, Box 430, Cheshire, CT 06410.
Tufte, E.R. Visual Explanations. Graphics
Press, Box 430, Cheshire, CT 06410.
__. 1988. Webster's New Geographical Dictionary.
Merriam-Webster, Inc. Publishers, Springfield, MA.
Menu Tree
| Index
Index
Remember, if you can't find something in the index, you can
use Ctrl F in your browser to search through the
text of the entire manual.
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
- &, Special Character
- < > Button
- <, Special Character
- + Button
- + Cursor
- +, Near Cursor
- - Button
- . Button
- .cgm Files, Creating
- .cgm Files, Importing
- .dra Files, Importing
- .draw File Format
- .dxf Files, Importing
- .eps Files, Creating
- .eps Files, Importing
- .gif Files, Creating
- .gif Files, Importing
- .gra Files, Importing
- .grg Files, Importing
- .jpg Files, Creating
- .jpg Files, Importing
- .pcx Files, Creating
- .pcx Files, Importing
- .pdf Files, Creating
- .png Files, Creating
- .png Files, Importing
- .ppm Files, Creating
- .ppm Files, Importing
- .svg Files, Creating
- .wmf Files, Creating
- .wmf Files, Importing
- .wpg Files, Creating
- 1-9, File
- 2 Y Axes
- 2 Y Axes, on DOS CoPlot Graphs
- 3D Attitude Angle
- 3D Graphs
- 3D Graphs, Graph : Dataset : Representations
- 3D Spin Angle
- 3D Surface, Volume
- A Button
- A4 Paper
- About, Help
- Academic Price
- Accented Characters
- Acknowledgments
- Acrobat .pdf Files, Creating
- Add File, Edit Any Type
- Adobe Illustrator .eps Files, Importing
- Aliases, Path
- Aligning Objects
- AmiPro, Exporting To
- Animated GIF
- Animated GIFs, Making
- Animation, 3D Spin Angle
- Animation, Dataset Y
- Animation, Dataset Z
- Animation, Drawing : Groups
- Animation, Graph : Axis : Center
- Any Type, Edit
- Append Other Graphics Files
- Arc, How to Draw
- Arcdimension, Embedded Text Tag
- Area, Data, Graph : Get
- Arrow Keys
- ASCII Character Encoding
- Attitude Angle
- Attribute and Object Procedures, Drawing File
- Author, Drawing : Other
- AutoCad .dxf Files, Importing
- Automatic Redraw, Screen
- Axes, 2 Y
- Axes, 2 Y, on DOS CoPlot Graphs
- Axes, Broken
- Axis : Labels, Edit
- Axis : Lines, Edit : Graph
- Axis : Overview, Edit : Graph
- Axis : Titles, Edit : Graph
- Axis Lines, Edit : Graph : Axis
- Axis Types
- Axis, Right Y
- Background Color, Drawing
- Bad News, Error Messages
- Bar Graph, Create
- Bar Graphs
- Bar Over a Character, Embedded Text Tag
- BarGraph/100%, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- BarGraph/Grouped, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- BarGraph/Stacked, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Bars/2D, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Bars/3D Pyramids, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Bars/3D Simple, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Bars/3D, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- BASIC, Creating .draw Files
- Bezier Paths
- Big Text, Create
- Big Text, Edit
- Big, Embedded Text Tag
- Block Diagrams
- Block Diagrams, Help
- Bold, Embedded Text Tag
- Books About Graph Style
- Bounds, Drawing : Coordinates
- Box & Whisker, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Boxed Move, Edit : Points
- BR, Line Break, Embedded Text Tag
- Break Path, Edit Any Type
- Broken Axes
- Built-in Functions, List of
- Buttons Stopped Working
- Buttons, Text-Only
- C/C++, Creating .draw Files
- Calculator
- Cartesian Coordinate Axis
- Cause and Effect Diagrams
- Center Animation, Graph : Axis
- Center The Drawing, Drawing : Coordinates
- Center X, Y, Make Map
- Center, Embedded Text Tag
- CGM .cgm Files, Importing
- CGM Files, Creating
- cgm Files, Importing
- Change Color, Edit
- Change Image Type
- Character Entities
- Character Height (Size), Embedded Text Tag
- Chartjunk
- Chemical Structures
- Circle vs. Ellipse
- Citations in Papers
- CITY.MPx
- Class not found
- Cleveland, William S.
- Clip Art
- Clipart
- Clipart, Vector
- Clipping Bounds
- CoCalc
- CoDraw for DOS's .dra Files, Importing
- CoDraw, CoPlot and CoStat for DOS, Switching From
- cohort Directory
- Color Matching
- Color Perception
- Color, Custom
- Color, Embedded Text Tag
- Colored Line Printing Problem
- Colors
- Colors For Grid Representations, Dataset
- Colors For Grid Representations, Function
- Colors, When Printed
- com.cohort Package
- Combine
- Combine Other Graphics Files
- Command Line Options
- Commands Not On The Menus
- Comment, Embedded Text Tag
- Common Names, Drawing : Coordinates
- Common Sizes, Drawing : Coordinates
- Concatenate Other Graphics Files
- Conic Graphs
- Conic Parallel 1, 2, Make Map
- Contacting CoHort Software
- Contour Graphs
- Coordinate Systems and Units, Drawing File
- Coordinates, Drawing
- Coordinates, Drawing, Graph : Get
- Coordinates, Graph, Graph : Get
- CoPlot
- CoPlot for DOS's .gra Files, Importing
- CoPlot for DOS's Group .grg Files, Importing
- CoPlot, Installing and Running
- Copy Text, In Textfields
- Copy, Edit : Objects
- Copy, Edit Any Type
- Copyrights
- CoStat
- CoText
- CoText, Show
- COUNTYxx.MP1
- Create
- Create : Bar Graph
- Create : Big Text
- Create : Dimension
- Create : Ellipse
- Create : Graph
- Create : Graph Array
- Create : Image
- Create : Path
- Create : Pie Chart
- Create : Rectangle
- Create : Text
- cumNorm Function
- Cursor '+'
- Cursor, +
- Custom Color
- Custom Legend
- Custom Legend, HTML Tags
- Cut Text, In Textfields
- Data Area, Graph : Get
- Data For Grid Representations
- Data Interpolate, Graph : Get
- Data Point, Graph : Get
- Data Types, Drawing File
- Data, Digitizing from a Scanned Graph
- Data, Digitizing From An Image File With A Graph
- Data, Quick: Plot your data
- Data, Scattered vs. Gridded
- Datafile
- Datafile Procedures, Drawing File
- datafile.xxx Commands, in .draw Files
- Datapoint Labels
- Dataset : Regression, Graph
- Dataset : Representations, Graph
- Dataset Labels Font
- Dataset Labels Font Style
- Dataset, Graph
- Date Axis
- Date Stamp, Embedded Text Tag
- Default, Directory
- Defaults, Change Drawing Object
- Defaults, Change Graph
- Degrees Minutes Seconds Axis
- Delete Point, Edit Any Type
- Delete, Edit : Objects
- Delete, Edit Any Type
- Deprecated
- Design Goals, Drawing File
- Detail, Line, Make Map
- Detailed Map Data Files
- Diacritics
- Dialog Boxes, Keyboard Shortcuts
- Dialogs Inside Main Window, Screen
- Different Operating Systems, Differences
- Digitizing Data from a Scanned Graph
- Digitizing Data From An Image File With A Graph
- Digitizing Drawings
- Dimension, Create
- Dimension, Edit
- Dimension, Embedded Text Tag
- Directory, Default
- Disclaimer
- Disk-Related Problems
- Distance,Angle Data
- DOS CoDraw
- DOS CoDraw's .dra Files, Importing
- DOS CoDraw, .dra Files
- DOS CoDraw, Circle and Pie Objects
- DOS CoDraw, Colors
- DOS CoDraw, Edit
- DOS CoDraw, Embedded Text Commands
- DOS CoDraw, Global : File
- DOS CoDraw, Individual Edit
- DOS CoDraw, Just Edit
- DOS CoDraw, Line, Arrow, Fill Objects
- DOS CoDraw, Macros
- DOS CoDraw, Menus
- DOS CoDraw, Update Screen
- DOS CoDraw, Update Screen : Coordinates
- DOS CoDraw, Variety Edit
- DOS CoHort Programs, Switching From
- DOS CoPlot
- DOS CoPlot Group, .grg Files
- DOS CoPlot's .gra Files, Importing
- DOS CoPlot's Group .grg Files, Importing
- DOS CoPlot, .gra Files
- DOS CoPlot, Bar Graphs
- DOS CoPlot, Colors
- DOS CoPlot, Data Indicates
- DOS CoPlot, Embedded Text Commands
- DOS CoPlot, Equations
- DOS CoPlot, Graph : File
- DOS CoPlot, Graph : File : Group
- DOS CoPlot, Graph : File : Save As Draw
- DOS CoPlot, Histogram
- DOS CoPlot, Macros
- DOS CoPlot, Menus
- DOS CoPlot, N-Channel, Matrix, Multivariate Bar Braphs
- DOS CoPlot, Origin Graph
- DOS CoPlot, Quick Switch
- DOS CoPlot, Right Y Axis
- DOS CoPlot, Top X Axis
- DOS CoPlot, Update Screen
- DOS CoPlot, Update Screen : Coordinates
- DOS CoStat
- DOS CoStat, .dt Files
- DOS CoStat, Equations
- DOS CoStat, Macros
- DOS CoText
- Double Log Base 10 Axis
- Doughnut Shape, How to Draw
- Down, Embedded Text Tag
- dra Files, Importing
- Draw bold markers, Drawing : Other
- Draw caps on error bars, Drawing : Other
- Draw Colors As, Drawing : Other
- Draw error bars through markers, Drawing : Other
- Draw Grid, Drawing
- Draw Grid, Drawing : Coordinates
- Draw lines through markers, Drawing : Other
- Draw Polar Graph As Compass Graph
- Draw Triangle Graph Reversed
- Draw XY Graph As Origin Graph
- Drawing
- Drawing (.draw) File Format
- Drawing : Background Color
- Drawing : Coordinates
- Drawing : Draw Grid
- Drawing : Groups
- Drawing : List Of Files
- Drawing : Load Fonts
- Drawing : Other
- Drawing : Other : Author
- Drawing : Zoom 1
- Drawing : Zoom Box
- Drawing Coordinates, Graph : Get
- Drawing File, Attribute and Object Procedures
- Drawing File, Coordinate Systems and Units
- Drawing File, Data Types
- Drawing File, Datafile Procedures
- Drawing File, Design Goals
- Drawing File, Error Checking
- Drawing File, Format of Commands
- Drawing File, Overview
- Drawing File, Sample Drawing File
- Drawing Name (Full), Embedded Text Tag
- Drawing Name Stamp, Embedded Text Tag
- Drawing Objects, Order In Which They Are Drawn
- Drawing Order, Edit : Graph
- Drawing Program
- Drawing Settings in .draw Files
- Drawing, Zoom In
- Drawing, Zoom Out
- Drawings Program
- dxf Files, Importing
- Edit
- Edit : Any Type
- Edit : Any Type : Add File
- Edit : Big Text
- Edit : Change Color
- Edit : Dimension
- Edit : Ellipse
- Edit : Exchange Black And White
- Edit : Graph
- Edit : Graph : Axis : Labels
- Edit : Graph : Axis : Lines
- Edit : Graph : Axis : Overview
- Edit : Graph : Axis : Titles
- Edit : Graph : Comment
- Edit : Graph : Dataset
- Edit : Graph : Dataset : Regression
- Edit : Graph : Function
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Drawing Order
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Get
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Make Map
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects
- Edit : Graph : Graph : Title
- Edit : Graph : Legend
- Edit : Graph : Map
- Edit : Graph Array
- Edit : Image
- Edit : Objects
- Edit : Objects : Copy
- Edit : Objects : Delete
- Edit : Objects : Hide
- Edit : Objects : Move
- Edit : Objects : Show
- Edit : Path
- Edit : Pick One
- Edit : Points Boxed Move
- Edit : Points Move
- Edit : Text
- Electrical Schematics
- Electrical Symbols
- Ellipse vs. Circle
- Ellipse, Create
- Ellipse, Edit
- Ellipsoid, Earth
- EMail
- Embedded Text Tags
- Emphisized Text, Embedded Text Tag
- Enable Undo All, Drawing : Other
- Entering, Numeric Values
- Entities, Character
- EPS Files, Creating
- eps Files, Importing
- Equations, Parametric
- Equations, Using
- Error Bars, How Drawn
- Error Checking, Drawing File
- Error Messages
- error.log File
- Error: Class not found
- Error: File Not Found
- Escape
- Evaluate, Function, Graph : Get
- Exchange Black And White, Edit
- Exit, File
- f() Button
- False 3D
- Fat Bits
- File
- File : 1-9
- File : Exit
- File : New
- File : New Window
- File : Open
- File : Page Setup
- File : Print
- File : Save
- File : Save As
- File Format, Drawing (.draw)
- File Name Stamp, Embedded Text Tag
- File Not Found
- File, Add Another Graphics File
- File, Find a Specific Drawing
- File-Related Problems
- Files, Importing Various Types
- Files, List of
- Fill above, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill above, Graph : Function : Representation
- Fill below, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill below, Graph : Function : Representation
- Fill between 2 Y, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill inward, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill outward, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill zero, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Fill zero, Graph : Function : Representation
- Find Specific Drawing File
- Fix MenuBar, Screen
- Flip Character, Embedded Text Tag
- Flow Charts
- Font Size, in Drawing Coordinates (not Points)
- Font Size, Screen
- Font, Embedded Text Tag
- Fonts, Load
- Format of Commands, Drawing File
- Format, Drawing (.draw) File
- Fraction, Embedded Text Tag
- Frames Per Second, 3D Spin Angle
- Frames Per Second, Dataset Z
- Frames Per Second, Drawing : Groups
- Frames Per Second, Graph : Axis : Center
- Freehand Drawing
- Freeze
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Frequently Asked Questions Related To Graphs
- Function Equals Y, Graph : Get
- Function Evaluate, Graph : Get
- Function Integrate, Graph : Get
- Function Maxima, Graph : Get
- Function Minima, Graph : Get
- Function Root, Graph : Get
- Function, Edit : Graph
- Function: Representations, Graph
- Functions Close, Graph : Get
- Functions, Built-in
- Functions, Plot Over a Limited X Range
- Garbled Menu Bar Words
- Genetic Maps
- Get axis labels from a datafile
- Get, Edit : Graph : Graph
- Getting Started
- Getting Started, Help
- GhostScript, Exporting To
- GhostView, Exporting To
- GIF Files, Animated
- GIF Files, Creating
- GIF Files, Importing
- GIF, Animated
- Goal/QPC Research
- Government price
- gra Files, Importing
- Graph : Axis : Axis Line Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Axis Line, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Grid 1 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Grid 2 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Grid, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Labels Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Labels, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Lines, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Overview Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Overview, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Ticks 1 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Ticks 2 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Ticks, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Title 1 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Title 2 Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Titles, Edit
- Graph : Axis : Zero Line Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Axis : Zero Line, Edit
- Graph : Comment Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Comment, Edit
- Graph : Dataset : Regression
- Graph : Dataset : Representations
- Graph : Dataset Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Dataset, Edit
- Graph : Function : Representations
- Graph : Function Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Function, Edit
- Graph : Get, Edit : Graph
- Graph : Legend Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Legend, Edit
- Graph : Map Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Map, Edit
- Graph : Overview Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Overview, Edit
- Graph : Title Commands, in .draw Files
- Graph : Title, Edit : Graph
- Graph Array, Create
- Graph Array, Edit
- Graph Coordinates
- Graph Coordinates, Graph : Get
- Graph Size and Shape
- Graph, Background Color
- Graph, Change Drawing Order
- Graph, Create
- Graph, Draw Color Arrays Dark To Light
- Graph, Drawing Order
- Graph, Edit
- Graph, Height vs. Width
- Graph, Make Map
- Graph, Quick, Plot Your Data
- Graph, Save As Drawing Objects
- Graph, Type
- Graphs, Sideways or Upside-down
- Greek Characters
- Grep
- grg Files, Importing
- Grid Dataset Representations, Data For
- Grid Representations, Colors
- Grid Size, Drawing : Coordinates
- Grid, Edit : Graph : Axis
- Grid/2D/bold nth line, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/bold nth line, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/bold nth spline, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/bold nth spline, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/1 point, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored blocks/4 points, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored surface, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/colored surface, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/line color, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/line color, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/line dashsize, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/line dashsize, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/2D/line width, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/2D/line width, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/1 point, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/1 point, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored blocks/4 points, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored surface, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/colored surface, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/histogram, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/one color with sides, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/one color with sides, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/one color, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/one color, Graph : Function : Representation
- Grid/3D/pyramids, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/transparent, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Grid/3D/transparent, Graph : Function : Representation
- Gridded Data
- Group For New Objects
- Groups, Drawing
- Height (Size) of Characters, Embedded Text Tag
- Height vs. Width of a graph
- Help
- Help : About
- Help : Lesson 1,2,3,4,5,6
- Help : Online
- Help : Quick: Plot your data on a graph
- Help : Quick: Plot your data on a map
- Help : Register
- Help : Switching from DOS CoPlot to Java CoPlot
- Help : View Error Log
- Hide, Edit : Objects
- Hide, Edit Any Type
- Hints for Drawing Charts
- Histogram, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Horizontal Rule, Embedded Text Tag
- Hoshin Planning
- HPGL/2 Files, Creating
- HR, Horizontal Rule, Embedded Text Tag
- HTML Tags for Custom Legend
- HTML-like Embedded Text Tags
- Hydrologists
- Icons, Create : Image
- Icons, Edit : Image
- Image Files, Creating
- Image, Change Type
- Image, Create
- Image, Edit
- Importing Adobe Illustrator .eps Files
- Importing AutoCad .dxf Files
- Importing CGM .cgm Files
- Importing DOS CoDraw's .dra Files
- Importing DOS CoPlot's .gra Files
- Importing DOS CoPlot's Group .grg Files
- Importing Windows MetaFile .wmf Files
- Insert a Character Entity
- Insert A Tag
- Insert Point, Edit Any Type
- Installing CoPlot
- Integral, Embedded Text Tag
- Integrate, Function, Graph : Get
- Interior Design Symbols
- Internet
- Interpolate, Data, Graph : Get
- Invert (Flip) Character, Embedded Text Tag
- ISO 8859-1 Character Encoding
- Isotropic, Make Map
- Italics, Embedded Text Tag
- Labels for Dataset Representations
- Labels, Overlapping
- Labels, Point
- LAKE.MPx
- LAKE__xx.MP1
- Landscape Design Symbols
- Language, Screen
- Latin 1 Character Set
- Latitude
- Left (Movement) (RT), Embedded Text Tag
- Left Justify, Embedded Text Tag
- Left Margin, Embedded Text Tag
- Legend, Custom
- Legend, Edit : Graph
- Legend, Unusual
- LegendXxx, Embedded Text Tag
- Lesson 1,2,3,4,5,6
- License
- Line Break, Embedded Text Tag
- Line Detail, Make Map
- Line Length, Embedded Text Tag
- Line Width, Minimum
- Line, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Line, Graph : Function : Representation
- Line/staircase, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Linear Scale Axis
- List (Ordered), Embedded Text Tag
- List (Unordered), Embedded Text Tag
- List Item, LI, Embedded Text Tag
- List Of Files, Drawing
- Load Fonts, Drawing
- Log Base 10 Axis
- Longitude
- Lotus AmiPro and WordPro, Exporting To
- Macro
- Macro, Language
- Macros, Using
- Make Map, Edit : Graph
- Make Visible, Edit Any Type
- Make XY Graph Isotropic, Make Map
- Map Axis
- Map Data Files
- Map Data Files, Combining
- Map Data Files, Edit/Make Your Own
- Map Graphs
- Map Symbols
- Map, Edit : Graph
- Map, Edit : Graph : Graph : Make
- Map, Quick, Plot Your Data
- MapDefault, Color
- Margin (Left), Embedded Text Tag
- Margins, Drawing : Coordinates
- Markers, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Markers, In Text
- Markers/labels, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Markers/nth point, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Markers/variable, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Markers/variable/color, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Mathematical Symbols
- Maxima, Function, Graph : Get
- MD, Color
- Memory, Java Allocation
- Menu Bar Words, Garbled
- Menu Tree
- Mercator Graphs
- Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Exporting To
- Minima, Function, Graph : Get
- Minimum Line Width, Drawing : Other
- Mirror image
- Missing values make gaps, Drawing : Other
- Move All, Edit Any Type
- Move One Point, Edit Any Type
- Move One, Edit Any Type
- Move, Edit : Boxed Points
- Move, Edit : Objects
- Move, Edit : Points
- Move, Edit Any Type
- Movies, MPEG
- MPEG movies
- MPEG-2, Making
- Objects : Hide
- Objects : Show
- Objects, Copy
- Objects, Delete
- Objects, Edit
- Objects, Move
- Objects, Not Drawn
- OCEAN.MPx
- OCEAN_xx.MP1
- Online Documentation
- Online, Help
- Open, File
- openDatafile, in .draw Files
- Opening DOS CoDraw's .dra Files
- Opening DOS CoPlot's .gra Files
- Opening DOS CoPlot's Group .grg Files
- Operating Systems, Differences
- Ordered List, Embedded Text Tag
- Organization Charts
- Orthographic Graphs
- Other Topics
- Other, Drawing
- Over, Embedded Text Tag
- Overline, Embedded Text Tag
- Overstrike, Embedded Text Tag
- Overview, Drawing File
- Overview, Edit : Graph
- Package, Java
- Page Setup, File
- Page Width, Height, Drawing : Coordinates
- Paper, A4
- Paragraph, Embedded Text Tag
- Parallel 1 2, Conic
- Parametric Equations
- PARK__xx.MP1
- Pascal, Creating .draw Files
- Paste Text, In Textfields
- Path Aliases, Screen
- Path, Create
- Path, Edit
- PCTeX, Exporting To
- PCX Files, Creating
- PCX Files, Importing
- PDF Files, Creating
- Perl, Creating .draw Files
- Perl, Programming With
- Perspective
- Pi Axis
- Pick All, Edit Any Type
- Pick Box, Edit Any Type
- Pick Color, Edit Any Type
- Pick Groups, Edit Any Type
- Pick List, Edit Any Type
- Pick One, Edit
- Pick One, Edit Any Type
- Pick, Make Map
- Picking Objects
- Pie Chart, Create
- Pie Charts
- Pie slice, How to Draw
- Pie, How to Draw
- Pipes, Use With
- Plasmid Map
- Plasmid Maps
- PNG Files, Creating
- PNG Files, Importing
- Points Boxed Move, Edit
- Points Move, Edit
- Points, Font Sizes
- Polar Graphs
- Polygon, How to Draw
- Posters
- PostScript .eps Files, Creating
- PowerPoint, Exporting To
- PPM Files, Creating
- PPM Files, Importing
- Preference File
- Preferences, Drawing
- Preferences, Screen/CoPlot
- Price
- Print Preview, Drawing : Coordinates
- Print, File
- Printer, Light Gray Objects
- Probability Axis
- Probit Axis
- Problem-Solving Suggestions
- Punctuation Symbols
- Python, Creating .draw Files
- Python, Programming With
- Range X, Y, Make Map
- Rectangle, Create
- Redraw, Screen
- References
- Register, Help
- Regression, Graph : Dataset
- Representations of Data
- Rexx, Creating .draw Files
- Rexx, Programming With
- Right Justification, Embedded Text Tag
- Right Y Axis
- Right Y Axis, on DOS CoPlot Graphs
- Right, RT, Embedded Text Tag
- RIVER.MPx
- RIVER_xx.MP1
- ROAD__xx.MP1
- Root, Function, Graph : Get
- Running CoPlot
- Save As Drawing Objects, Graph
- Save As, File
- Save In File, Edit Any Type
- Save Text As Graphics
- Save Text As Text
- Save, File
- Scale of Drawing, Embedded Text Tag
- Scale, Drawing : Coordinates
- Scattered Data
- Screen
- Screen : Automatic Redraw
- Screen : Dialogs Inside Main Window
- Screen : Fix MenuBar
- Screen : Font Size
- Screen : Language
- Screen : Path Aliases
- Screen : Redraw
- Screen : Show CoText
- Screen : Text-Only Buttons
- Scroll Bars
- Scrolling
- Search For, Make Map
- Seconds Axis
- Select Text, In Textfields
- Shape of graphs
- Shell Scripts, Use With
- Shortcuts
- Show CoText, Screen
- Show, Edit : Objects
- Show, Edit Any Type
- Sideways Graphs
- Size and Shape, Graph
- Size of Drawing
- Size of Font, Embedded Text Tag
- Size, Graph
- Slides
- Slides, From a Laser Printer
- Slides, From screen
- Small, Embedded Text Tag
- Sokal and Rohlf
- Space (Extra) (RT), Embedded Text Tag
- Special Characters
- Speed
- Speed, Graph : Dataset : Representations
- Spin Angle
- Spline, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Square Root Axis
- Square Root, Embedded Text Tag
- Stand-alone
- Standard Deviation Axis
- STATE.MP1
- STATE_xx.MP1
- Streaming Mode
- Strike Through, Embedded Text Tag
- Strong, Embedded Text Tag
- Style
- Sub and SuperScript, Embedded Text Tag
- Subscript, Embedded Text Tag
- Suggestions
- Suggestions, Problem-Solving
- Sum (notation), Embedded Text Tag
- Superscript, Embedded Text Tag
- Support
- SVG Files, Creating
- Switching From DOS CoStat, CoPlot, and CoDraw
- System Requirements
- Tables, Instead of Graphs
- Tags, Embedded Text
- Tcl, Creating .draw Files
- Tcl, Programming With
- Technical Support
- TeleType Font, Embedded Text Tag
- Text Attributes
- Text Height, in Drawing Coordinates (not Points)
- Text, Create
- Text, Edit
- Text, Not Drawn
- Text, Special Characters
- Text-Only Buttons, Screen
- Ticks, Edit : Graph : Axis
- Time Axis
- Time Stamp, Embedded Text Tag
- Torus, How to Draw
- Total Quality Management
- Tracing
- Triangle Graphs
- Try to use system fonts, Drawing : Other
- Tufte, Edward R.
- Two Y Axes
- Two Y Axes, on DOS CoPlot Graphs
- Type of Graph
- Types of Axes
- Typing an Attribute, Press Enter
- Weather Symbols
- Web Site
- Wind barb, Graph : Dataset : Representation
- Windows MetaFile .wmf Files, Importing
- Windows MetaFiles, Creating
- WMF Files, Creating
- wmf Files, Importing
- Word, Exporting To
- WordPerfect .wpg Files, Creating
- WordPro, Exporting To
- World Map Data Files
- World Wide Web, Creating Files For
- WPG Files, Creating
- WWW, Creating Files For
- www.cohort.com
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