Fish 'n' More 2

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ Fish 'n' More 2 / fishmore-publicdomainlibraryvol.ii1991xetec.iso / dirs / multiplot_467.lzh / Multiplot / Docs / Multiplot.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1991-03-10 | 67KB | 1,376 lines

MULTIPLOT XLNd These programs are available for free* distribution. All rights to the source code, programs and text belong to, and copyrights are held by, Alan Baxter and Tim Mooney. DISTRIBUTION CONDITIONS SPECIFICALLY EXCLUDE REDISTRIBUTION FOR PROFIT. March 3, 1991 Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, c/o Post Office, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville 3053. VICTORIA This is the 4th release of Multiplot XLN. It is expected to receive distribution via the Fred Fish Freely Distributable Software Library. If you notice any repeatable bugs or have any suggestions for improvement of enhancement, please send them to me at the address below. HISTORY Multiplot was originally written by Tim Mooney as a plotting utility for use with mCAD, his freeware CAD program. It supported a flexible input textfile format, many plotting options, and HPGL plotter output. It was not an intuitive program, and its full power was difficult to realize. It was also very limited in output formats and had no support for printers. Some of these problems were addressed in PLOT, an intuition interface which created an environment from which Multiplot and a collection of conversion files could be called. However the major problem of a non-intuitive way of selecting plotting options remained (the "How to Plot" window), and it was not possible to print output from within the program. Multiplot XLN resolves these problems. DISTRIBUTION CONDITIONS Multiplot is not in the public domain. It is neither freeware, shareware nor commercial. It may be freely distributed, but not included in a commercial package, compilation collection, or sold, traded, leased or hired in any form or on any media without express consent of both authors. It is periodically released to Mr Fred Fish, who is licensed to distribute it in any form he sees fit providing the distribution package contains documentation, source and examples. This package may then be compressed and posted on any non-profit electronic distribution service. Specifically, inclusion of Multiplot on commercial electronic information services or in software compilation collections which are sold for profit is forbidden and breeches will be pursued with a tenacity rarely seen. These programs are in no way designed or intended for professional use. Any damages or losses resulting from inappropriate application of any or all of this distribution whether accidental or intentional, are not the responsibility of the authors, their agents, their mothers or their labradors; and should not, under any circumstances, be compounded by attempting long and fruitless legal action. All rights to the source code and programs are reserved. Modifications may be made to the source code for personal use to suit local requirements, but should not be widely distributed. We would very much like to see such modifications to consider inclusion in the generally distributed version. The inclusion of the PLT: device with Multiplot in no way implies any change in, or affects the distribution conditions of that package. Please read the documentation provided with PLT: for further information. SUMMARY Multiplot XLN is a fully intuitive data plotting program. It plots data points as (x,y) coordinates with or without error bars. It can plot an unlimited number of sets of any number of data points using colour, line type, point shape and point size to represent the different sets. A set may be joined by a line or plotted as discrete points. Data may be scatter plotted, or shown as a step graph. Additions to the data may be made in the form of lines of best fit (logarithmic, exponential, linear and polynomial) and data smoothing utilising modified open b-splines or averaging filtration. The input file for multiplot is a simple textfile and my be created in the NotePad or saved from any spreadsheet. Multiplot fully supports the clipboard, and data input may be achieved solely through it. Output may be in any of the following formats: IntroCAD, Draw, mCAD, IFF, HPGL/2 EPSF or Postscript. The graph can be printed to any workbench printer by transparent use of the PLT: device. Multiplot directly supports Postscript laser printers such as the Apple Laser printer; and the HP LaserJet III. REQUIREMENTS * Workbench 1.3 (or higher) containing: Maths libraries The C: directory must contain the files c:run, c:failat c:mount and c:type. * The PLT: device is necessary for printing. It consists of: - Plt-handler in the l: directory - The mountlist entry for plt added to the devs:mountlist - Assignment of the PLTDATA: directory containing PLT fonts. * At least 1/2 Mb RAM. * The files Multiplot, txt_2_icad, plot2draw and HPGL2PS must be kept together in the same directory. * The font Topaz.11 is used for all screen text. Topaz.11 should be placed in the WB1.3 Fonts: directory. Note that this is unnecessary with WB2.0 because it is in ROM. * Plot text currently uses Courier font sizes 14 and 24 point. If these fonts are absent, Topaz.11 or failing that, the default font will be used. INPUT FILE FORMAT Multiplot accepts a simple ASCII file for input of data. This file may be written on any text editor, including the NotePad, or may be generated as a textfile from a spreadsheet. Multiplot does not choke on the linefeed/carriage-return of IBM style spreadsheets. The data must consist of columns of numbers and need not contain text. Text heading the file will be ignored and may be used for an explanatory note. Lines beginning with the text below are of special significance: *TITLE* Text will be used for a title (optional). *XLABEL* Text will be used for a label on X axis (optional). *YLABEL* Text will be used for a label on Y axis (optional). *LEGEND* The text will be used as a label for the following data set (optional). *SCALFACT* The key word should be followed by the same number of values as there are columns of data in the file. The numbers in each column will be multiplied by the *SCALFACT* value in the respective column. (optional). *AUTOSCRIPT*, *XAXISDATA* and *YAXISDATA* are reserved keywords that indicate the file has been written by Multiplot. They should not be used in import files. (*AUTOSCRIPT* is a trademark of BioSoft Pty Ltd.) *EXTRATEXT* is a reserved keyword that indicates that arbitrary text and its placement has been written by Multiplot. It should not be used in import files. Note that *LEGEND* and *SCALFACT* can be used repeatedly through the data file. Blank lines or lines of text interrupting the columns of numbers are interpreted as separating sets of data, and each set will be plotted individually in, for example, a different colour or point size. See "plotme.dat" or "eric.dat" for examples of input file format. STARTING OUT From the CLI: multiplot [-[O][B#]] [filename] Type 'multiplot' with or without the filename of the input data file. If a '?' is used as an argument, a simple description of usage is given. The '-O' option will prevent an overscan screen being opened. This option will have no effect if you are not using an overdimensional workbench. The B option will set the number of bitplanes for the screen. The # value must immediately follow the B and may be one of 1->4. The number of bitplanes affects the number of on-screen colours as follows: 1 bitplane ---> 2 colours 2 bitplanes ---> 4 colours 3 bitplanes ---> 8 colours 4 bitplanes ---> 16 colours For example, the following are valid invocations of Multiplot: Multiplot -OB1 plotme.dat (Autoloads named file into a 2 colour screen with no overscan) Multiplot -B2 plotme.dat (Autoloads named file into a 4 colour screen with overscan if Workbench is overscanned ) Multiplot -B3O plotme.dat (Autoloads named file into a 8 colour screen with no overscan) Multiplot -B4 (Starts Multiplot with file requester and a 16 colour screen with overscan if Workbench is overscanned) Multiplot (Starts Multiplot with file requester and a 16 colour screen with overscan if Workbench is overscanned) Multiplot must be started either from within its own directory, or by including the file path from the current directory. It cannot be invoked by adding it to a default command path like the C: directory. This limitation may be overcome by the use of the alias command. eg: alias Multiplot "dh0:<path>/Multiplot -O" From the Workbench: Double click on the Multiplot icon OR Edit your input file in a simple editor (NotePad will do fine), and save with an icon. You can then change the file's default tool (INFO from the left hand Workbench menu) to Multiplot:Multiplot or whatever the file path is. Multiplot will then be automatically invoked when the file is double clicked. An alternative to this is to not change the file's default tool, but to click on the file to highlight it, hold the shift key down, and then double click on the Multiplot icon. OVERSCAN SCREENS If you are using an overscan WorkBench (via MoreRows or some other trickery) Multiplot will attempt to open a screen the same size as your workbench screen. This enables you to make the most of the resolution of your monitor. It is not usually possible to open a 16 colour interlace high resolution screen with overscan unless you have 1Mb chip ram. The maximum overscan available is 705 x 562 on a PAL machine or 705 x 450 on an NTSC machine. If the WorkBench overscan exceeds these values a default size screen is opened. It is important to note that on PAL machines, some saved preferences result in a screen that requires too much bandwidth to be supported by a standard Amiga. In this event a shorter NTSC sized screen is opened by Amiga DOS, but Multiplot will continue to access the screen in the belief it has a PAL sized screen. Providing the dimensions of the workbench screen are less that those above and the machine has 1 Mb chip ram, this may be corrected by quitting the program, and shifting the screen to the left in the screen location setter in the preferences program. The default to overscan can be prevented in three ways: 1) Use a standard Workbench. 2) If starting from the CLI, use the -O option as the first argument. 3) If starting from the workbench, set the TOOLTYPES string in the info requester for the Multiplot icon to "OVERSCAN=OFF" (without the quotes). If the system has little chip ram or it is greatly fragmented, Multiplot may be unable to open a screen at all. In this case, you will see an "Insufficient Memory" warning and the program will quit. Close extra windows, quit unneeded programs, and try again. If chip ram is badly fragmented, you will need to reboot. MEMORY CONSERVATION Multiplot can be used successfully on Amigas with 1/2 Mb RAM or 1/2 Mb chip ram if care is taken to conserve memory. The following measures should be used either separately or together, depending on requirements: 1) Assign T: to a disk, not RAM. Multiplot uses the T: directory to write temporary files. 2) Assign CLIPS: to a disk, not RAM. Multiplot uses the CLIPS: directory to store data pasted to the clipboard. 3) Do not have the fonts Courier.14 and Courier.24 in the FONTS: directory. If they are absent, Multiplot will use the default font. If using WB1.3, do not have Topaz.11 in the FONTS: directory. 4) If starting from the CLI, use the -O option as the first argument. This will prevent Multiplot opening an overscanned screen. 5) If starting from the workbench, set the TOOLTYPES string in the info requester for the Multiplot icon to "OVERSCAN=OFF" (without the quotes). This will prevent Multiplot opening an overscanned screen. 6) If starting from the CLI, use the -B option to reduce the number of bitplanes used for Multiplot's screen. This is important for machines with 1/2 Mb Chip RAM. 7) If starting from the workbench, set the TOOLTYPES string in the info requester for the Multiplot icon to "BITPLANES=#" (without the quotes). If # is less than 4, Multiplot will open a screen with fewer colours. This is important for machines with 1/2 Mb Chip RAM. If Multiplot is run on a PAL Amiga with no overscan and a 1 bitplane (2 colour) screen, it uses 208 Kb before loading data, and 226 Kb after loading a moderately large data file. PHILOSOPHY OF THE USER INTERFACE Multiplot fully supports the Amiga's graphical user interface. Below are listed a few of the important features of this interface that relate to the use of Multiplot. 1) An item is a pictorial representation of something on the screen. 2) An item to be worked on is first selected, and then the desired action is performed. 3) An item may be selected by moving the mouse pointer over it and clicking the left mouse button. This action will highlight, change or place a box around the item to indicate that it has been selected. If the item is a button ("gadget"), selecting it may invoke some specific action. If this is the case, the picture on the item should give some idea of what the action is. Multiplot makes extensive use of buttons that indicate the status of a selection. For example, the line type button has as its picture the type of line currently in use. Selecting this button will change the picture and the line type to another choice. Note that the points of a data set are items, but the joining lines are not; thus a data set can only be selected by clicking on one of its points. Multiple items can be selected together by selecting one, pressing and holding down the shift key, and selecting the rest. This is called "group selection". 4) Special activity relating to an item may be started by placing the pointer over it and clicking the left mouse button twice in rapid succession ("double clicking"). In Multiplot, this action will usually open a special window allowing you to edit characteristics of the selected item(s). 5) Some other actions which may be performed on the selected item(s) may be found in the menu bar. These may be selected by placing the pointer over the title bar at the top of the screen and pressing and holding down the right mouse button while moving the over the selections that drop down from the title bar. A selection is made by releasing the right mouse button over a selection, or by clicking the left mouse button. Multiple selections can be made by clicking the left mouse button over each of the desired options before releasing the right mouse button. 6) Some items are movable. An item may be moved by placing the pointer over it and pressing and holding down the left mouse button while moving the pointer to the new location. This is called select-dragging. Only text and data points may be moved in Multiplot. Multiple items can be select-dragged by group selecting them first. 7) The delete key will remove item(s) that have been selected. The item(s) may be retrieved by selecting Undelete from the EDIT menu. Only text, data points and whole data sets may be deleted from Multiplot. 7) The escape key will quit the program, or if a special window is open, will quit the window without changes. 8) The return key will allow continuation of work, will proceed to the next selection, or will accept changes and implement them. THE DATA SELECTION WINDOW After being started, Multiplot tries to work out whether it is on a PAL or NTSC machine, and opens a screen of the appropriate size. If an overscan workbench is used, a screen as large as possible up to the size of the workbench screen will be opened. The screen's palette is read from the file "MPlot.def" which should be in either the same directory as Multiplot or the s: directory. If it is not found, you will be informed and a screen the colour of vomit will be opened. This should encourage you to save a new default palette! The next thing you may see is the DATA SELECTION WINDOW. If you started Multiplot by telling it what file you wanted to plot, the file's name will be in a little box. If Multiplot is invoked without telling it what file you want, the default file name will appear in the box. The PATH button will call up a file requester to help with browsing directory trees looking for wanted data files. The NONE button will clear the file name. If you continue plotting without a file name, a blank plot window will be opened into which clipboard data may be pasted. Beneath the file selection box are four other boxes to indicate what column the X, Y and Error values are in. A '0' indicates values are absent. For example if the Error box has a '0', no error bars will be plotted. If the X box has a '0', the X values will be assumed to start at 0 and increase by 1 with each data point. If the Low Error box has a '0' but the Error box does not, the error bars will be assumed to be symmetrical about the data point. If however, the Low Error column is defined, asymmetrical error bars may be plotted. When satisfied with the file and column specification, hit the return key or click on the Continue=> arrow. The selected data file will be checked to ensure it has the number of columns required, and loaded if suitable. If the file you identified when invoking Multiplot has previously been written by Multiplot, it will autoload without presenting you with the DATA SELECTION WINDOW. THE PLOT WINDOW The PLOT window fills the entire high resolution screen and contains a hand crafted menu for your computing pleasure. Visible on the window will be a default plot of your data. This plot will show lines and points with a different colour and point type for each data set. The PLOT window contains 5 regions. The central area is where the data is represented. The left margin contains the Y values and Y axis label. The right margin contains the legend. The lower margin contains the X values and the X axis label and the top margin contains the title. On starting Multiplot, the pointer action is set to SELECT. In this mode it is possible to select objects to alter their characteristics. A data set may be selected by clicking the left mouse button near one of its points. A legend may be selected by clicking the left mouse button on it. In this mode, double clicking on an object will call up window to change some feature of the object. Double clicking on a point in a data set will call up the CUSTOM PLOT window, and allow you to change line type, colour, point type and point size of the data set. It will even allow you to skip rendering that set or delete it completely. Double clicking on a legend will call the EDIT TEXT window, to allow you to edit the text in the legend. Double clicking in the top margin will call up the EDIT TEXT window to allow you to edit or add a title. Double clicking in the bottom or left margin calls up the X AXIS or Y AXIS windows, which allow you to set the minimum and maximum tic values, the number of tics, and edit the axis label. Double clicking on an axis value allows you to edit the text of that value. This text will be reset on rescaling the axis unless the axis values lock is set in the AXIS window. In the SELECT mode, it is possible to move text around the screen by pressing the left mouse button while the pointer is over the text, holding it down, and dragging the text to the desired location. If the movement is small, a screen refresh may need to by forced by selecting the menu option ACTIONS/Redraw. Several blocks of text can be moved together, without changing their relationship to each other by group selecting them. Click on one block of text, hold down the shift key and select the others, then without releasing the left mouse button, drag the blocks of text to their new location. Single data points can be moved in a similar manner. To select a data point, click the left mouse button near it while holding down the Ctrl key. Several data points may be group selected by holding down the shift key as well as the Ctrl key while selecting the points. Multiple items of different natures may be group selected together. It is possible to select whole data sets, single points and text in one go. Note however that only data points and text can be moved. Also available in the SELECT mode, is a curve reader. If the Alt key is held down when the left mouse button is pressed, the coordinates of the point indicated will be given. The curve reader automatically compensates for log axes, zooming and sliding. The pointer action can be set to ZOOM or SLIDE by selecting these subitems from the Pointer Action option in the EDIT menu. The action of the pointer in these modes is described below. The menus available are PROJECT which relates to the loading, saving and printing of plots, EDIT which allows you to delete, copy, paste, import and export data and text, ACTIONS which allows modification of the plot, resizing, shifting and zoom, OPTIONS which changes the screen palette, changes the axes, grid and cross hair on or off, and FUNCTIONS which allows special actions like data smoothing, line fitting and data sorting. The major menu selections are described below. TEXT IN MULTIPLOT Multiplot supports three kinds of text: Operator independent, operator semidependent and operator dependent. ** Operator Independent Text The title, X axis label and Y axis label are operator independent. Their text is rendered in a preset position and cannot be moved. Their content can be edited by double clicking on them. ** Operator Semi-Dependent Text The legends and axis values are operator semi-dependent. They are created in a default position but may be moved by select-dragging and edited by double clicking. The legends are created with a small line in the relevant colour/line-type to their left and are placed in the right margin which is sized to fit them in an aesthetically pleasing manner. The axis values are a special type of Operator Semi-Dependent text. In general, Multiplot tries to update the axis values as you change the characteristics of your graph. For example, if you zoom in or out, Multiplot will replace the axis values with new values. If you decide to toggle the right margin, Multiplot will move the axis values with the associated tic mark to the correct position on the axis. These alterations may not be desired, and may actually move or change the text of a lovingly edited axis value. If you _do not_ wish Multiplot to move or update your axis values, turn the Axis Values Lock ON, either by the OPTIONS/Lock menu or by calling up the edit Axis window (double click the left mouse button over the axis). ** Operator Dependent Text Any text added to enhance a plot (arbitrary text) must be dragged to the desired location by the user. It can be edited or deleted in the normal manner. Text representation in Multiplot is complicated by the bit mapped nature of the Amiga fonts. Multiplot handles graphics by vector mapping. That is, it draws lines by deciding on a starting point and an end point and joining them with a line of the highest resolution it can. This is why it manages to support CAD and DTP programs through its various output formats, why it can draw to a screen of any size, and why its printed output looks so smooth. The Amiga fonts are bit mapped. That is rather like drawing by colouring in the squares of a crossword puzzle. Multiplot has to try to cope with the inability of Amiga fonts to scale or provide satisfactory printed output. As a result, Multiplot maintains two "layers". The lower layer is scalable and contains the data points, lines, axes, tics and error bars. The upper, superimposed layer is the bitmapped layer in which the Amiga fonts reside. This layer does not scale. On screen text in Multiplot represents the actual location and size of printed text as a proportion of the graph's overall dimensions. The printed font used is the HP-GL default font, which is similar to Courier. On screen, this font may be represented by any mono-spaced font, and Courier is used if present in the Fonts: directory. Otherwise the default topaz.9 is used. A font requester will be added in the forthcoming OS/2 version of Multiplot. THE PROJECT MENU OPEN (Left-Amiga O) Returns you to the DATA SELECTION window for loading a new file. SAVE (Left-Amiga S) Saves data, formatting and text as a Multiplot file, overwriting original data file. SAVE AS Plots may be saved in any of the following formats: IFF (loads into DPaint), Draw (loads into Draw2000 etc), IntroCAD (an excellent CAD program), mCAD (a PD CAD program), HPGL plotter language, Encapsulated Postscript and Postscript. Please note the following restrictions: Currently Draw, IntroCAD, and mCAD saves do not include the numbers or labels on axes. This is because of the lack of font support in these programs. Draw saves require the program Plot2Draw to be in the same directory as Multiplot. IntroCAD saves require the program Txt_2_Icad to be in the same directory as Multiplot. EPSF and postscript saves require the program HPGL2PS to be in the same directory as Multiplot. Also note: # Neither Professional Page nor PageStream handle Draw files with large dimensions very well. If your dimensions are greater than 200 units, these programs often scramble the data. Rescale your data to keep within these limits if you wish to import to either of these programs. Data may be rescaled by adding a line to the data file which begins with "*SCALFACT*" and contains scale factors by which data following is to be multiplied. Scale factor columns map to data columns after the keyword "*SCALFACT*" is discarded. # Professional Page does not recognise Draw format line types. All line type information is lost in transferring Draw format plots to Professional Page. # PixelScript does not support PostScript line types. All line type information is lost when transferring postscript output to Pixel Script. # mCAD does not handle plots with small dimensions very well. If your data is in hundredths of units, mCAD will not plot anything on the screen. This can be corrected by using *SCALFACT* to rescale data. # CAD file formats are very poorly optimised. As a result, saves of large plots may take a long time. PRINT PREVIEW Print preview is achieved via the transparent use of the PLT: device. The plt-handler must be in your l: directory, and the PLT: mountlist must be added to your DEVS:mountlist. You do not need to mount the device. Multiplot will mount PLT: automatically if it is not already mounted. PRINT SETUP Opens the Print Setup window which allows the selection of print orientation, size and position on the page. The print spooler can be toggled on or off from this window. PRINT (Left-Amiga P) Printing is achieved via the transparent use of the PLT: device. The plt-handler must be in your l: directory, and the PLT: mountlist must be added to your DEVS:mountlist. You do not need to mount the device. Multiplot will mount PLT: automatically if it is not already mounted. Notes on use of Plt: # Plt: opens its own window on the workbench when it starts up. This window relays information about how much of the image has been printed and the remaining system memory. It also provides a "close gadget" (The square with a dot in it for closing windows) which will abort the print. Use the left-Amiga-M and left-Amiga-N key combinations to switch between Multiplot's screen and the workbench. This will be corrected in a future release of Plt:. # Multiplot checks for the presence of the Plt-handler in the L: directory before attempting to mount Plt:. If this file is not present, Multiplot will not print, even if the Plt: device has been mounted by some other mechanism. # The Plt: device checks the print resolution requested in preferences. If you want the nicest possible quality print-outs from Multiplot, set your printer density setting (graphics screen 2) to "7". QUIT (Left-Amiga Q) Quit exits the program without saving any changes. THE EDIT MENU UNDELETE (Left-Amiga Z) Replaces the last blocks of text or data sets deleted. Only a single level of undelete is maintained, but it may contain multiple items if, for example, several data sets were group selected and deleted. COPY (Left-Amiga C) Places a text version of the selected data sets or text blocks in the clip board for transfer to another plot or program. PASTE (Left-Amiga V) Reads the clipboard. If the clip has been written by Multiplot, it will be added to the current graph. If it consists of 2 columns of numbers, the first column will be assumed to be X values, and the second, Y values. If there are 3 columns, the third will be assumed to be error-in-Y. Blank rows are interpreted as end/beginnings of data sets. Legends and text can also be read, if they conform to the flat file data format described above. CUT (Left-Amiga X) Places a text version of the selected data sets or text blocks in the clip board for transfer to another plot or program, and then deletes it from the current plot. DELETE (Delete key) Removes data set(s) or block(s) of text currently selected. THE ACTIONS MENU MOUSE ACTION Allows the user to select the mode in which the mouse works. The options are Select, Zoom and Slide. Select (Left-Amiga-Shift !) The select mode allows the editing of data sets or axes by double clicking the left mouse button over them. This action calls up a window for editing their characteristics. This mode also allows the movement of text by click-dragging, and selection of text or data sets for manipulation. It is possible to select multiplot data sets my selecting one set, and holding down the shift key while selecting the other sets. The same method can be used to group select text. Zoom (Left-Amiga-Shift #) Allows closeup views of areas of the data, and to adjust the axes to desired values. After selecting ZOOM from the menu, the mouse may be used to draw a box on the screen to indicate the area of the plot to be enlarged. This is achieved by clicking and holding the left mouse button, dragging the mouse, and releasing the left mouse button. The maximum limit of enlargement is 1,600 times. Zooming out to reduce the size of the plot by one half is achieved by double clicking the left mouse button. Slide (Left-Amiga-Shift ^) After selection the mouse may be used to draw a vector on the screen to indicate the direction and amount the plot should be moved. This is achieved by clicking and holding the left mouse button, dragging the mouse, and releasing the left mouse button. AXIS SCALE LOCKS Allows either the X or Y dimension to be frozen while the other is zoomed or rescaled. very useful when used in conjunction with the other items in this menu (Zoom, Slide, FullPlot). This allows you to arrange the scale of the plot to best advantage. The Subitem X AXIS will lock the amount of zoom in the X axis, and the subitem name will change to "X LOCK ON". The lock may be turned off by reselecting the subitem. The same applies for the Y AXIS selection. the BOTH LOCKS ON selection will lock both axes. They can be both turned off with BOTH LOCKS OFF. The amount of zoom can be manually set from the X and Y AXIS windows. Unless locked, the following options will reset the view of your data: Full Plot, Redefine Plot, Sort, Linear Fit, Smooth, Logarithmic Fit. AXIS VALUE LOCKS Allows either the X or Y axis values to remain unchanged despite rescaling of the axis. This option allows the editing of axis values to create text labels without having them moved or overwritten. REDRAW (Left-Amiga R) Redraws the screen with the same zoom as currently set. It should be used to repair the screen of unwanted rendering, or an incomplete refresh. This option is different from FULLPLOT and REDEFINE PLOT which will reset to either the full plot, or if the X or Y locks are on, to the locked plot size. FULLPLOT (Left-Amiga F) Redraws the screen with the default axis settings. This plot will show all data points and the extremes of any error bars. It will not overcome locked axis settings, so if you have defined a set of minimum and maximum axis values, it is wise to lock them with the BOTH LOCKS ON option. REDEFINE PLOT (Left-Amiga D) Presents the user with the CUSTOM PLOT WINDOW for each data set in succession. This is useful for editing all data sets, editing the characteristics of a data set plotted as a line (when it may be difficult to recognise where the points are for selection with the mouse) or if a data set has been skipped (possible from the Custom Plot window) and not plotted. This action is destructive in the sense that any zooming that has not been locked will be lost. ADD TEXT (Left-Amiga A) A legend may be added to an unlabelled data set by selecting it (single click of left mouse button near any point of the data set) and choosing this menu option. A EDIT TEXT window will appear in which the legend text may be typed. This is also another way of editing existing legends, and can be used to add arbitrary text if used without selecting a data set. THE OPTIONS MENU CROSS HAIR (Left-Amiga L) Provides a cross hair for the cursor to assist with zooming, sliding and movement of text blocks. GRID (Left-Amiga G) Allows the selection of a cross grid, tics, or no marks on the axes. AXES Allows the selection stem and leaf (left and lower axes shown), box or no axes drawn. RIGHT MARGIN (Left-Amiga M) Toggles the right margin space for legends. PALETTE The screen palette may be altered by calling the neat requester, which was written by RJ. The only non obvious feature of the requester is that by clicking the left mouse button on the RGB characters, the requester is converted to a hue/saturation/lightness requester for those who think that way. The SAVE Subitem will attempt to write a file called MPlot.def to the same directory as Multiplot, or failing that, to the s: directory. This file is in the same format as the screen palette files produced by the program "Colour" by a nationalistic Canadian bloke. SIG FIGURES Allows the number of significant figures of axis values and formulae to be set independently. ERROR BARS (Left-Amiga E) Toggles the error bars on and off. If a data set is loaded without error bars, and error data is added later via the EDIT POINT window, it will be necessary to select this option to get them rendered. If error bars are unimportant, this option should be turned off to speed screen refresh times. THE FUNCTIONS MENU SORT DATA This option will place the data points in order of ascending X value. This allows other manipulations of the data which require this format. SMOOTH DATA Select a data set by clicking the left mouse button near one of its points, and then select one of the subitems from this menu option. Filter A new data set will be created in which each Y value is the mean of the surrounding Y values from the original data set. A requester will appear enabling you to enter the number of values each side of the point for the mean to be taken over. This option is most suitable for smoothing data sets containing large numbers of points. This action is destructive in the sense that any zooming that has not been locked will be lost. Interpolate A new data set will be created in which intermediate data points are added to create a smooth curve tracking the original data. This option is most suitable for smoothing data sets with relatively few points. It is sometimes useful to provide intermediate points before filtering to provide a smoother curve. This action is destructive in the sense that any zooming that has not been locked will be lost. LINEAR FIT Select a data set by clicking the left mouse button near one of its points, and then select this menu option. A new data set will be created which will represent a straight line fit of the data. The formula of the line is shown in the legend. This action is destructive in the sense that any zooming that has not been locked will be lost. Note that the current axis settings are taken into account for linear fits of data. For example, if the Y axis is logarithmic and the X axis linear, an exponential fit is produced (a straight line on a lin/log scale). If the X axis is logarithmic and the Y axis linear, a log fit is produced (a straight line on a log/lin scale). Log/log and true linear fits are also available. POLYNOMIAL FIT Select data set by clicking the left mouse button near one of its points, and then select this menu option. A window will allow selection of the order of fit. High order fits may require extended calculation times. A new data set will be created which will represent the appropriate fit of the data. The formula of the line will be displayed as its legend if the is sufficient room. COMMAND KEY SEQUENCES Multiplot fully supports keyboard shortcuts using the right Amiga key. A full list of shortcuts and mnemonics is listed below: Key Command Mnemonic A ACTIONS/AddText <A>dd Text B OPTIONS/Axes/Box <B>ox C EDIT/Copy <C>opy D ACTIONS/ReDefine Plot Re<D>efine Plot E OPTIONS/Error Bars <E>rror Bars F ACTIONS/Full Plot <F>ull Plot G OPTIONS/Grid/Grid <G>rid H PROJECT/Save as/HPGL <H>PGL I PROJECT/Save as/ILBM <I>LBM J not used K PROJECT/Save as/DrawSave <K>AD format L OPTIONS/Cross Hair Cross Hair <L>ines M OPTIONS/Right Margin <M>argin N PROJECT/Save as/IntroCAD I<N>troCAD O PROJECT/Open <O>pen P PROJECT/Print <P>rint Q PROJECT/Quit <Q>uit R ACTIONS/Redraw <R>edraw S PROJECT/Save <S>ave T OPTIONS/Grid/Tics <T>ics U OPTIONS/Screen Title <U>p the top screen writing V EDIT/Paste Commodore guidelines W PROJECT/Save as/Data <W>rite data X EDIT/Cut Commodore guidelines Y OPTIONS/Axes/X and Y X and <Y> Z EDIT/Undelete Commodore guidelines Please note that there are three other keyboard shortcuts that allow you to swap between mouse actions. These also require that the right Amiga key is held down. Shift-1 (!) ACTION/Mouse Action/Select Shift-3 (#) ACTION/Mouse Action/Zoom Shift-6 (^) ACTION/Mouse Action/Slide The Escape and Delete keys are supported: Esc PROJECT/Quit Del EDIT/Delete The Alt key is used to activate the curve reader. Holding down the Alt key while clicking the left mouse button while in SELECT mode will result in a window that displays the X and Y co-ordinates of the pointer. The Shift key activates group selection when in SELECT mode. The Ctrl key allows selection of a single data point instead of a whole data set when in SELECT mode. THE CUSTOM PLOT WINDOW For each data set for plotting, this window can be called to allow you to select plot colours and whether data is plotted as a line, series of points, both, or a step plot. If points are drawn, the point size and point type can be selected. If a line is drawn, the line pattern can be selected. The colour and line type are selected by repeatedly clicking the left mouse button on the buttons that represent the current selection shown at the left of the window. The number between the colour and line type buttons displays the size in pixels of points if plotted. The plot type is selected by clicking the left mouse button while the pointer is over the desired selection displayed in the middle of the window. Currently, data may be plotted as points, lines, points and lines, step graph (with or without points) and impulse plots. The point type is selected from the panel of six mutually exclusive buttons on the right of the window. The CONTINUE button will accept changes and proceed to the Plot window where the plot is rendered. The SKIP button will skip a single data set, so that it will not be plotted when the PLOT window is opened. The missing data set can be recalled by selecting the Redefine plot option from the EDIT menu, and pushing the CONTINUE button when presented with the data set. The KILL button is similar to the SKIP button but its effects are permanent. A dead data set can be revived with EDIT/Undelete. The STOP button will skip all remaining data sets without presenting the Custom Plot window for them. It will not accept changes made to the data set currently being edited. THE AXES WINDOW For either or both the X and Y axes, this window can be called by double clicking the left mouse button over the axis to be edited with the Mouse Action menu option set to SELECT mode. This window allows the following characteristics of the axis to be edited: * Minimum and maximum axis values. The axis scale may be reversed by placing the higher value in the minimum value box and the lower value in the maximum value box. This results in mirror image reversal of the data. * The number of major tics. The number of major tics may vary from 1 to 20. * The number of minor tics. The number of subdivisions may vary from 1 to 10. * Axis scale type. The axes may be set as linear or logarithmic independently allowing log/lin, lin/log, log/log and lin/lin plots. * The axis label. * A lock may be set preventing rescaling of the axis. * A lock may be set preventing overwriting of the axis values. Note that the current axis settings are taken into account for linear fits of data. For example, if the Y axis is logarithmic and the X axis linear, an exponential fit is produced (a straight line on a lin/log scale). If the X axis is logarithmic and the Y axis linear, a log fit is produced (a straight line on a log/lin scale). Log/log and true linear fits are also available. THE EDIT POINT WINDOW This window may be called up for any data point by holding down the Ctrl key and double clicking the left mouse button near the desired data point with the Mouse Action menu option set to SELECT mode. This window allows the X and Y values of a point to be individually set, and the error bars to be altered; either above or below the point. Note that the error bars need not be symmetrical, and one direction error bars are supported. THE PRINT SETUP WINDOW The Print Setup window is called be selecting the PROJECT/Print Setup menu option. This window allows the selection of print orientation, size and position on the page. A sliding knob sets the size of the plot. Default is for the plot to fill the page. Clicking within the slider's run allows changes in size from 10% to 100% in 10% increments. Dragging the slider allows finer control of the plot size. A button controls the orientation of the plot. Default is for landscape. Orientation may be toggled between landscape and portrait by clicking the left mouse button over the icon which represents the current setting. The position of the plot on the page can be set by dragging the box representing the plot to the desired location on a rectangular field representing the printed page. The print spool may also be toggled on and off from this window. When the print spool is used, plot printing can continue as a background task, while continuing work. Once the print spool has been started, Multiplot may even be quit without interrupting printing. If it is desired that printing be ceased, this is achieved by clicking the left mouse button on the "close gadget" (top left corner) of the PLT window on the WorkBench. HINTS AND TIPS Q: What can I do to improve the appearance of the printed output on my dot matrix printer? A: One way to enhance the appearance of your printouts is to use different pen thicknesses. For example, the axes could be in a thick pen, and the grid lines in a finer pen. To achieve this, type the following line into a CLI window before printing: setenv pltinfo P/000-3/000-1/000-2/000-2/000-2/000-2/000-2/000-2/ Q: How do I get a line fit of only part of a data set? A: Group select (shift-control-select) and delete the unwanted data points. Select the set, choose the FUNCTIONS/Linear fit menu option, and select the EDIT/Undelete menu option. Q: Can I create a histogram from Multiplot? A: The short answer is not yet. However it is possible to create the appearance of a histogram by copying the data set, opening the CUSTOM PLOT window and setting one plot type to "impulse" and the other to "step", with a point size of 0. Q: Is there any way I can change the font size in Multiplot? A: Multiplot does not yet have a font requester. If you desparately need a different sized font (say, for photo-reproduction), place the desired size in the Courier directory of FONTS: and delete Courier/12, Courier/13 and Courier/14. Then run fixfonts (in the Sys:system directory). Multiplot already has the hooks to handle different font sizes. Note: for an obscure reason, the OS likes to serve Courier 12/13 when /14 is requested. It is worthwhile deleting these from your Courier directory (unless you want smaller text, of course!). TROUBLE SHOOTING Problem: I am not American, and when I print, Multiplot tries to write on a page that is wider than the paper I use. Solution: Neither am I, and it does work! Ensure that the page width in the preferences program is set to "Narrow Tractor" and that you have not altered the PLT: startup flags in the devs:mountlist file to indicate a larger page size. If necessary, the page size can be set in absolute terms in preferences. Problem: Sometimes when I run Multiplot, it doesn't seem to be able to find its palette file or the conversion utilities, even though they are right in its own directory. Solution: Multiplot remembers where these files are by their full path specification. If another disk or device exists with the same name as the disk Multiplot resides on, it may not be able to find the files. The commonest problem results from naming the Multiplot disk "Empty" or a data disk "Multiplot". Problem: When I try to print a plot, PLT can't find the file pltfontnames. Solution: Pltfontnames must reside in a device called PLTDATA:. This is best done by assigning PLTDATA: to the directory in which pltfontnames is kept. CHANGES SINCE LAST BETA =======> IMPORTANT FORMAT CHANGE FOR BETA USERS <======= Bug fix: It was possible to create a data file with Multiplot that could not be reread. The fix involved a change in the *?AXISDAT* keyword. Currently, files produced by XLNd<beta> versions are still supported. This will not continue to be the case. Please open all data files created by Multiplot XLNd<beta> and resave ---- Bug fix: The left axis width on HPGL output was calculated incorrectly if the values had been edited. Bug fix: The plot was not rescaled after adding a title. Bug fix: If an attempt to write a postscript file failed, the temporary file was not deleted. Bug fix: The postscript output in Portrait mode has been fixed. Bug fix: An attempt to clip a large data set would corrupt memory due to insufficient memory requested to hold the clip. Bug fix: Setting print dimensions to 10% no longer divides by 0. Bug fix: Smoothing an unsorted data set no longer results in a permanent Zzz balloon. Bug fix: Smoothing without selecting a data set no longer results in 2 error messages. Bug fix: The normal handling of the Return/Enter keys has been added to the file and palette requesters. Bug fix: Estimation of non-standard Courier font dimensions has been fixed. New feature: The Enter key is now supported. It has the same functions as the Return key. Style Change: Hitting return from within a text box no longer exits the whole window. Instead the text box is unselected. A subsequent return or enter will exit the window. Style Change: Screen coordinates are now stored as int's instead of SHORT's. This prevents the extraneous lines produced when a value overflowed (occurred with large zooms), but runs slightly slower. It saved 2K. No idea how. Style Change: The encapsulated postscript output now has the default postscript .eps instead of .ps, to avoid confusion with postscript files of the same data. CHANGES SINCE XLNc NOTE: Multiplot is now Workbench 2.0 compatible. This required an alteration in the PLT-handler which is a modification of the handler distributed in PLT 1.3b. Bug fix: The great one would visit if Multiplot was started with no data file and then the left mouse button was clicked any where on the screen without first pasting data. Bug fix: An error in the event loop has been corrected, resulting in improved responsiveness. Bug fix: The ILBM saves included cross-hairs. Bug fix: The plot would not be redrawn if the Edit Text window was closed by hitting the return key. Bug fix: The first attempt to paste with an empty clipboard would result in an "insufficient memory" error instead of a "nothing to paste" error. Bug fix: The dynamic allocation of memory for pastes is now bullet proof (I hope :-). Bug fix: The point size range listed in the How to Plot window is now correctly referred to as 0-20. Bug fix: The tf_Accessors count for the default font is now correctly handled. Bug fix: Multiple accesses of the same font are now made to the same font structure in memory instead of copying it to a new location. Bug fix: Extra Text was offset 1/2 character down and 1 character to the right of the correct location in HP-GL output. Bug fix: The error message generated by attempting to save an HPGL file to a disk and whipping the disk out of the drive at the last moment has been corrected. Bug fix: A compiler dependent bug in the way strings were accessed has been corrected. Bug fix: The aspect ratio of plots exported to CAD programs was inconsistent. Bug fix: No data was plotted in the HPGL output if one or both axes were reversed. New feature: A new file requester is now used which offers greater utility for the same space. New feature: A Print Setup menu option has been added to allow orientation, position and scale of the printed graph to be set interactively from within Multiplot. New feature: A print spool has been added, so that a graph may be printed while further work is done within Multiplot, or the program may be quit without interrupting the print. New feature: A print preview has been added. New feature: It is now possible to move, delete or edit a data point. A data point may be selected in SELECT mode by holding down the Ctrl key and clicking the left mouse button near the point. Data points may be group selected (Shift-Ctrl-LMB), or edited by double clicking. New feature: Asymmetric error bars are supported. Single direction error bars can be defined in the data file or created interactively from within Multiplot. New feature: Multiple objects of different types can now be group selected. For example, data points and legends can be group selected and dragged together. New feature: The EDIT/Undelete feature when used to undelete a deleted legend will now recreate the link between data set and text. New feature: It is now possible to edit, move and delete axis values. New feature: The routines for finding selected text have been optimised to allow the inclusion of much greater numbers of text objects with relatively little slow down in response time. New feature: Linear data fits now compensate for log axes making exponential, log and log/log fits available. New feature: Open B-Splines have been added as a method of data smoothing. New feature: Polynomial line fits from 1st to 5th order have been added. New feature: The recalculation of screen locations for data is now only performed if some change to the scaling of the relevant axis has been made. This results in faster screen refreshes. New feature: A curve reader has been added. The coordinates of any point can be obtained by holding down the Alt key and clicking the left mouse button with the pointer or cross hairs over the point of interest. New feature: Postscript output is now supported. New feature: Encapsulated postscript output is now supported. New feature: The HP-GL output has been upgraded to HP-GL/2 and includes imbedded PCL commands to directly support the HP LaserJet III. New feature: Minor tics can be included on the axes. New feature: Logarithmic axes are now supported. Style Change: The FUNCTIONS/Smooth data set menu option now has two subitems: Filter which calculates running means of points over a designated window; and Interpolate which adds intermediate points utilising modified b-splines. Style Change: The menu option FUNCTIONS/exponential fit has been removed. the same function is available by selecting FUNCTIONS/linear fit when the X axis is linear and the Y axis logarithmic. Style Change: Axis and formulae values are now a fixed number of significant figures rather than the idiosyncratic system used previously. Style Change: The maximum axis value and its tic are now drawn. Style Change: A box is no longer drawn around the legends in a graph with box axes and a right margin. Style Change: Low memory error handling has been improved. Style Change: The CUSTOM PLOT window has been redesigned to make selections easier, improve appearance on 1 bit plane screens, and use less chip RAM. Style Change: A clearer, larger font is used for all screen text. This makes the reading of menus a great deal easier. I recommend the inclusion of Topaz.11 in the WB1.3 Fonts: directory. Note that this is unnecessary with WB2.0 because Topaz.11 is in ROM. Other changes: The *AUTOSCRIPT* format has been changed to accommodate the extra information required for new features. The new format is backwards compatible with the old version with the exception of tic number which will not be read from a Multiplot XLNc file. THE FUTURE Probable enhancements to come are: font requester, category axes, multiple axes and bar graphs. Suggestions welcomed. BETA TESTERS WANTED If you would like to see the latest version of Multiplot, why not volunteer as a beta tester or ask for the latest version? Send a self addressed envelope and disk to the address below. US residents may send $10 US instead (Note: this is not a shareware contribution, but covers disk and mailing costs). CONCLUSION Multiplot was the first intuitive Data plotting program for the Amiga. It has since been joined by a number of other programs which enable the display of experimental data but is unrivalled for ease of use, stability and flexibility. It allows extremely rapid visualisation of experimental data with a wide selection of output formats. It does a simple job, but does it well. If you have suggestions, questions, bug finds, please write: Prior to June 1991: Dr Alan G Baxter, Walter & Eliza Hall Institute, c/o Post Office, Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville 3053, AUSTRALIA WEHI::Baxter_A Baxter_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz.au Baxter_A@wehi.dn.mu.oz.au@MUNNARI.OZ.AU wehi.dn.mu.oz!BAXTER_A@harvard.edu Ph (03) 380 9206 From July 1991: Dr Alan G Baxter, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, MGH East, Bldg. 149, 8th Floor, 13th Street, Charlestown, MA 02129 Thanks to: Tim Mooney for the great code. Graeme Riddle and Jens Hohmann for testing. Peter Leviton for help with the maths. Rich Campeaux and Jim Miller for suggestions and the PLT: device. Peter Cherna for fixing the event loop. Peter da Silva for the Standard File Requestor. RJ Mical for the palette requester. Barney Kaufman via Steven Owen for the polynomial fitting. I--------------------------------------------------------------------------I I I I This release of Multiplot XLN is to mark the occasion I I of the marriage of I I I I Alan George Baxter I I I I and I I I I Susan Margaret Munro I I I I I I at St John's Uniting Church, Essendon, Victoria, Australia I I on March 3rd 1991. I I I I--------------------------------------------------------------------------I