Game Fest 1993

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

/ Game Fest 1993 / gamefest1993stgcomputerslimited1993.iso / soft / more4 / pro3 / graph.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1989-05-31 | 142KB | 6,007 lines

- --------------------------------------------------------------- E x p r e s s G r a p h User's Guide by David Berdan E X P R E S S W A R E CORPORATION P.O. Box 1800 Duvall, WA 98019 (206) 788-0932 (C) Copyright 1986-89 --------------------------------------------------------------- - --------------------------------------------------------------- PREFACE This diskette version of the documentation contains the complete ExpressGraph manual. The text on this diskette is almost identical to the text in the typeset version of the manual which comes with registered ExpressGraph. However, because of the limitations of most users' printers, it is not possible to include the illustrations, such as examples of graphs. Most of the illustrations in the ExpressGraph manual are simply displays of graphs as they would appear on the screen. In this manual, wherever one of those illustrations would have appeared, you will instead see something like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select BAR CHART - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- By following the instructions in each box, you can create the illustration on your screen as it appears in the typeset manual. If you have a graphics printer, and you want to save a copy of the graph for future reference, press the F9 key to print it out. --------------------------------------------------------------- - --------------------------------------------------------------- Changes are periodically made to the information contained herein. These changes will be incorporated into future editions of this publication. A User Response Form is provided at the back of this publication. If this form has been removed, please address your comments to: E X P R E S S W A R E C O R P O R A T I O N P.O. Box 1800 Duvall, WA 98019 Proprietary Notice ExpressGraph is a proprietary product written by David Berdan, and is published by Expressware Corporation, Duvall, Washington. All rights reserved except those expressly granted to the user by this document. --------------------------------------------------------------- - Contents --------------------------------------------------------------- 1 Introduction 3 System Requirements 4 Getting Started 6 A Brief Tutorial 12 General Information 14 Keyboard Conventions 16 The Main Menu 18 Entering Data 23 Drawing Graphs 27 Line Graphs 33 Bar Charts 40 Pie Charts 43 Saving Data To Disk 45 Loading Data From Disk 54 Optional Specifications 62 Pattern Sequences 63 Advanced Features 63 Transpose and Flip 65 Adding Text to Graphs 69 Technical Information 69 System Requirements 69 Capacities 69 Single Drive Users 70 Users With Hard Disks 70 Users With RAM Disks 71 Color Monitors - Contents 72 Customizing ExpressGraph 74 ExpressGraph File Format 77 The Files On The Disk 78 Some Frequently Asked Questions 79 Distribution Notice 80 User Response Form 83 Order Form 85 Index - INTRODUCTION --------------------------------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION ExpressGraph is an easy-to-use business graphics program. Numbers can be analyzed much more easily and quickly when they are displayed in graphic form. ExpressGraph allows you to display numbers in a variety of graphic formats. Then you can choose the display you like best, and print your graph. Here are some examples of how people use ExpressGraph: * Graphing sales dollars and gross profit on a weekly basis, using line graphs and bar charts. * Displaying financial data graphically, to see how a company is changing, or to compare two or more companies' financial status. * Analyzing budgets and expenses with a pie chart: which expenses are most significant? Which ones are increasing? * Spotting trends amid a "sea of numbers". A graph can make a strong trend easy to identify, while the same data may go unnoticed when displayed numerically. * Providing summarized data in graphic form to accompany financial statements, for quick analysis and trend spotting. Graphs created with ExpressGraph (GRAPH) can be displayed in one of ten graphic formats, altered in various ways, and printed out. The data for the graph can be saved on disk and reloaded later for further changes or review. And if you want to add some finishing touches to your graph, just move the cursor around on the screen and enter additional text in small, medium and large sizes. 1 - INTRODUCTION There is an old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. To paraphrase that old saying, a graph is worth a thousand numbers. In fact, a recent research study compared businessmens' ability to absorb information from graphs, versus absorbing the same information from financial statements and other business reports. The study showed that the businessmen absorbed information 1200 times faster when it was in graphic form. And they tended to retain the information longer too, because their mind had a "picture" to remember. So maybe in the interest of accuracy, our paraphrase should read: "a graph is worth 1200 numbers". This manual describes all the features of GRAPH in detail. It is recommended that the manual be read completely before using GRAPH, but you will find that it is so easy to use, many of its features can be mastered even without the documentation. For that reason, this manual has been organized as a reference document rather than a tutorial. There is a tutorial section at the beginning, titled "A Brief Tutorial", but the rest of the manual is designed for quickly finding information about specific commands and functions. 2 - SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS --------------------------------------------------------------- SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS GRAPH runs on the IBM PC and compatible systems with the following minimum configuration: * 256K computer memory. * An MSDOS or PCDOS operating system version 2.0 or later. * A graphics monitor, either monochrome or color. * A graphics adapter board. GRAPH does not work with mono- chrome boards. * A double sided diskette drive. GRAPH is also compatible with hard disks and RAM disks. * A printer is optional. To print graphs, your printer must either be an IBM or Epson compatible graphics printer, or must have a special graphics program for doing screen prints of graphic displays. 3 - GETTING STARTED --------------------------------------------------------------- GETTING STARTED The following information is provided to get you up and running with GRAPH as quickly as possible. We recognize that most people try running a program before they read the User's Guide. This section gives you enough information to make a backup copy of GRAPH and to get the program started. 1. Turn on your computer and load the DOS operating system. The GRAPH disk does not have DOS on it, so use a diskette that does. 2. FORMAT a blank diskette using the DOS FORMAT command. (See your DOS manual if needed.) If you would like the diskette to be self-booting, use the /S command so the DOS operating system is included on it. 3. Copy all the program files from the original GRAPH Program Disk onto this diskette. GRAPH may also be used on a hard disk, by creating a separate subdirectory and copying the files from the diskette to it. 4. In order to print graphs on a dot-matrix printer, your DOS needs to be set up so that pressing the Print Screen key prints graphic images. If you are using IBM's PCDOS, and you have an IBM Graphics Printer, Proprinter, Epson printer or compatible, then simply run the program called GRAPHICS. You may want to include GRAPHICS in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. It can be useful for screen prints other than ExpressGraph displays. If your DOS does not have a program called GRAPHICS, or if your printer is not Epson graphics compatible, consult your DOS manual or printer manual for information on graphic screen print. 5. To start ExpressGraph, type: GRAPH and press ENTER. For monochrome graphic monitors type: GRAPH /M (For more information on /M and other command line options, such as turning off sound or specifying a default drive, see the section titled "Customizing ExpressGraph".) 4 - GETTING STARTED 6. The GRAPH banner screen appears: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Start GRAPH Press PrtSc -------------------------------------------------- Enter the letter of the disk drive where GRAPH disk files are to be saved and loaded. Or press ENTER to default to the currently logged disk drive. 7. The Main Menu screen displays. GRAPH is ready to use! ---------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Start GRAPH Press ENTER, then press PrtSc ---------------------------------------------- 5 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL --------------------------------------------------------------- A BRIEF TUTORIAL These are the steps required to prepare a typical graph: 1. ENTER the numbers to be graphed. 2. SAVE the numbers on disk, if desired. 3. DISPLAY the various graphs available until you find the one you want. 4. ADD special text to the graph, if any. 5. PRINT the graph. This tutorial takes you through these steps using a simple graphic example. The graph we want to produce analyzes a company's monthly sales and monthly gross profit for a year. Here are the numbers to be graphed: Month Sales Gross Profit ----- ----- ------------ JAN 48,000 21,000 FEB 31,000 16,000 MAR 45,000 20,000 APR 51,000 22,000 MAY 55,000 24,000 JUN 58,000 26,000 JUL 43,000 21,000 AUG 61,000 28,000 SEP 65,000 32,000 OCT 74,000 37,000 NOV 110,000 58,000 DEC 90,000 45,000 To prepare a graph of these numbers, load GRAPH into your computer, following the instructions in the previous section. When the Main Menu appears, select 1 - Enter / Edit Data by pressing either the <1> key or the <E> key. 6 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL The Edit Mode screen appears. If you have used a spreadsheet program before, you will find that this screen functions similarly, with rows and columns of numbers. The cursor is positioned at the Title field. Enter: Annual Sales and Gross Profit then press ENTER. The cursor moves to the group heading above the first column. Enter: Sales and press ENTER. Each time ENTER is pressed, the cursor moves to the next field or "cell" in the column. Before entering any more data, let's get a feel for the keyboard and cursor movement. In a later section we will discuss the keyboard conventions in depth, so for now let's just learn enough to get our sample graph data into the computer. Press ENTER a few times. The cursor moves downward to the next field. Keep pressing ENTER all the way past the sixteenth line. The screen "scrolls" downward, and the next sixteen lines are displayed. To move upward to a higher cell, press the UP ARROW key. To move sideways, press the TAB key to move right, or SHIFT and TAB to move left. If you have not entered anything into a field yet, then the LEFT ARROW key will move into the left column also. Now you have enough information to move around the screen to every field. For this tutorial, all the data fits on one screen. For larger graphs with more data, it is possible to move off the screen to the right or to the bottom, in which case the screen "scrolls" upward or sideways to display more columns and lines. Now let's enter the month abbreviations, which are Value Names on our graph. Although the full month names fit into the fields provided, we will only use the first three letters of each month name. Move left into the Value Name column using the LEFT ARROW key, then upward to the first line, using the UP ARROW. Enter: JAN 7 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL and press ENTER. Then type in each of the remaining eleven month abbreviations. They are displayed on the graphs to identify each month's data. When the month abbreviations have all been entered, move the cursor to the top of the first column of numbers, by pressing the HOME key. Now enter the sales and gross profit figures to be graphed. (Note: for those in a hurry, or those who feel they have mastered the data entry part of this tutorial, there is a graph already on disk which contains this data; it is named TUTORIAL. Use the Load command on the main menu if you don't want to enter these numbers.) Here are the numbers once again: Month Sales Gross Profit ----- ----- ------------ JAN 48,000 21,000 FEB 31,000 16,000 MAR 45,000 20,000 APR 51,000 22,000 MAY 55,000 24,000 JUN 58,000 26,000 JUL 43,000 21,000 AUG 61,000 28,000 SEP 65,000 32,000 OCT 74,000 37,000 NOV 110,000 58,000 DEC 90,000 45,000 You may have noticed that all the numbers in this graph have been rounded to the nearest thousand dollars. Considering the size of the amounts, this has little or no effect on the graph. As a rule, graphs are not intended to reveal detail; they show overall trends. So numbers that are "in the ballpark" usually produce graphs identical to those with more precise numbers. In fact, if we just left off the three trailing zeros on all the numbers, the graphs drawn would be identical. But then the scale along the edge of the graphs would read 10, 20, 30 instead of 10000, 20000, 30000. 8 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL When all the numbers have been entered, examine your screen to make sure it has all the legends, numbers, group names and title. Now let's save the data on disk, so it can be reloaded later if necessary. Hold down the ALT key and press S. (This is referred to in this manual as "pressing ALT-S"). A window appears, prompting for a file name. Enter MYBAR as the file name, and press ENTER. There is a brief pause while the graph is written to disk. Now let's do what we set out to do in the first place -- look at some graphs. At any time in GRAPH you can go directly to the Graph Menu by pressing ALT-G. The Graph Menu is displayed. This menu lets you decide whether your graph will be a line graph, bar chart or pie chart, and lists some variations of each. Use the up and down arrow keys or press the space bar to select the style of graph. A small arrow points at the currently selected style, and a sample of that style is shown on the screen. Note that the sample graph is using sample data, not your data. Use the down arrow key to select: Bar Chart - Regular then press ENTER. Your graph is displayed: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select BAR CHART - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- 9 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL The bar chart on the screen is a graphic representation of the twelve months of sales and gross profit figures. If your graph doesn't look like the previous one, you may have entered some data incorrectly, or may have selected a style other than Regular Bar Chart. If it doesn't look right, press ESC twice to return to the Main Menu, then go back to the start of the tutorial and review your work. A unique feature of GRAPH is the TRANSPOSE command. When you are viewing a graph, or even when entering data, hold down ALT and press the T key. The data being graphed is "rotated"; i.e. data along the x-axis (bottom of the graph) moves to the y-axis (side of the graph) and vice versa. Try pressing ALT-T. Your graph is re-drawn with the data transposed. Sometimes a transposed graph is more meaningful or easier to read. When you press ALT-T, the data in the Edit/Enter (spreadsheet) Screen is transposed also. Another interesting command is the FLIP command. When viewing a graph or when entering data, press ALT-F. All the columns of data in your graph are flipped, as if in a mirror image. Press ALT-F on your tutorial graph, and the month abbreviations reverse themselves; i.e. the sequence changes to DEC, NOV, OCT, etc. This is not likely a useful sequence, so press ALT-F a second time to restore the graph to its original format. Now try pressing combinations of ALT-T and ALT-F a few times to see the various arrangements of the data. There are eight different ways your data can be configured, using TRANSPOSE, FLIP and combinations of the two. Experiment until you decide which format you prefer. Now notice the large cursor flashing in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. This cursor allows additional text to be entered on the screen, so you can add finishing touches to your graph. Press ENTER several times until the flashing cursor is in the lower left corner, as low as it will go, then type: ACME SHOE COMPANY 10 - A BRIEF TUTORIAL If you make a mistake while typing, use the backspace key to back up and erase a character. Now press the F1 key. The cursor becomes smaller. Press the space bar a couple times, then type: Seattle, Washington Now let's print the graph. Make sure your printer is on and that the paper is set to top of page. press F9 to print. A hard copy of your graph as it appears on the screen is printed. (Note: If nothing prints, or if your computer locks up, or your printer makes funny noises, then the graphics screen print routine is probably not properly installed. Refer to the Getting Started section for more information.) So now we have performed each of the five steps required to prepare a graph. We have: 1. Entered the data to be graphed. 2. Saved the data on disk. 3. Displayed the various graphs available until we found the one we wanted (regular bar chart). 4. Added special text to the graph. 5. Printed the graph. Now let's go look at the same data, displayed in other graphic forms. Maybe there is another format which we prefer instead of the bar chart format. Press ESC once, and the Graph Menu is displayed. Now it's your turn. Display a few different styles of graphs, and see the various ways the same data can be displayed graphically. When you are finished viewing or printing a graph, just press ESC to return to the menu, and try another one. There are ten different possible selections on the graph menus, and with the TRANSPOSE (ALT-T) command and FLIP (ALT-F) command, there are eight ways of looking at each one. This concludes the tutorial. The remainder of this manual is organized for reference. It is a good idea to read through it to familiarize yourself with some of the more sophisticated commands. But the best way to learn GRAPH is to use it. 11 - GENERAL INFORMATION --------------------------------------------------------------- GENERAL INFORMATION From 1 to 16 "groups", or columns of numbers may be graphed by ExpressGraph. Each group can have from 1 to 52 values (numbers). So the most data which may be represented in a single graph is 832 numbers (16 x 52 = 832). However, too much data can cause a graph to be so cluttered that nothing can be learned from it. And since the graphic image is formed by thousands of tiny dots on your screen and on your printer, the "resolution", or detail, is reduced as the amount of data being graphed is increased. The easiest graphs to read are usually those with two or three groups (columns) and fewer than 20 values (numbers) per group. Just as printed reports with too many numbers can be difficult to read, when a graph has too many numbers represented in graphic form, the same "forest for the trees" problem occurs. Numbers entered into GRAPH may be in the range 999,999,999,999 to -99,999,999,999. Numbers may have decimals up to 11 places, provided the total digits plus sign and decimal point do not exceed 12 characters. Negative numbers in the data prevent the use of some graphs, such as pie charts, which inherently can't handle negatives. Graphs are displayed on the screen and printer as a pattern of tiny dots. If many numbers are being graphed, the clarity or detail of the graphic image may suffer somewhat. This is because there are fewer dots available when drawing a small object or line. Some styles of graphs work better than others with certain kinds of data. When a graph looks bad because of dot resolution, try the other styles. One of them may look better. Or try summarizing your data so there are fewer numbers to graph. The quality of the graphic image is also a function of the printer being used. All printers display your graph as the same number of dots, but some displays are better than others. For example, the screen displays and illustrations in this manual were produced with ExpressGraph on a laser printer, in Epson-compatibility mode. The 12 - GENERAL INFORMATION quality of these graphic displays is very good, even though the number of dots in the graph are the same as on any other printer. ExpressGraph can display the following kinds of graphs: 1. Line Graph a. Regular (no symbols) b. With symbols 2. Bar Chart a. Regular b. Overlapped c. Stacked d. Percentage e. 3-Dimensional 3. Pie Chart a. Uncut b. Separated c. Exploded 13 - KEYBOARD CONVENTIONS --------------------------------------------------------------- KEYBOARD CONVENTIONS GRAPH supports most of the keys on the PC keyboard. Some prompts can be answered with a single keystroke, in which case it is not necessary to press ENTER after pressing the key, because GRAPH acts on the keystroke immediately. When entering data into a field of two or more characters, the cursor positions at the first character of the field, and the field length is denoted by underscores on the right. While entering data into a field, the following special keys may be used: CONTROL KEYS Special Key Alternate Purpose of key --------------- ------------- ------------------------------------- UP ARROW CONTROL-E Moves the cursor upward to the field above the current field. DOWN ARROW CONTROL-X Moves the cursor downward to the field below the current field. LEFT ARROW CONTROL-S Moves the cursor left one character. BACKSPACE RIGHT ARROW CONTROL-D Moves the cursor right one character. TAB CONTROL-F Moves the cursor right one column. BACKTAB CONTROL-A Moves the cursor left one column. HOME Moves the cursor to the upper left field on the screen. END or Exits from the current menu to ESCAPE the previous (higher level) menu. 14 - KEYBOARD CONVENTIONS CONTROL KEYS Special Key Alternate Purpose of key --------------- ------------- ------------------------------------- INSERT CONTROL-V Toggles on/off insert mode, allowing characters to be inserted in a field. DELETE CONTROL-G Deletes the character at the cursor. ENTER Moves the cursor to the start of the next lower field. PAGE DOWN CONTROL-C On multiple-screen displays, moves down to the next (lower) screen. PAGE UP CONTROL-R On multiple-screen displays, moves up to the previous (higher) screen. CONTROL-T Erases input data from the cursor to the end of the field. CONTROL-Y Erases all the data in the field. 15 - THE MAIN MENU --------------------------------------------------------------- THE MAIN MENU The first screen to appear after the banner screen is the Main Menu: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Display Main Menu Press PrtSc -------------------------------------------------- From the Main Menu, all the other menus and functions of GRAPH are invoked. To perform one of the functions on the Main Menu, either press the number of the item, or press the first letter of the function. For example, to graph data, you can press either <2> or <G>. (GRAPH also accepts ALT-G, CTRL-G or lower case g.) To get back to the Main Menu from one of the submenus, press ESC or END. A unique feature of GRAPH is that you do not have to return to the Main Menu in order to go to another submenu. To go directly to the Enter / Edit Data screen at any time, from anywhere in GRAPH, just press ALT-E. To go to the Graph Menu at any time, press ALT-G. Pressing ALT plus one of the keys E, G, S, L, O, P or Q takes you immediately to a screen listed on the Main Menu. 16 - THE MAIN MENU Each of the items listed on the Main Menu is discussed in its own chapter following this one, except for "7 - Quit and return to DOS". Use item 7 to exit from GRAPH. Press either <7> or <Q> and the following window pops up: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION On Main Menu, press Q (Show only the pop up box here) -------------------------------------------------- Reply <Y> to exit from GRAPH, or reply <N> to return to the Main Menu and continue with GRAPH. Main Menu selections 1 through 6 are discussed in the following chapters. 17 - ENTERING DATA --------------------------------------------------------------- ENTERING DATA The first step in producing a graph is to provide numbers to GRAPH. To enter numbers and legends into GRAPH, select "Enter / Edit Data" from the Main Menu, by pressing either <1> or <E>. The following screen is displayed: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Select Enter / Edit Data (If data appears on screen, press <Alt-C> then press <Y> to clear) Press PrtSc -------------------------------------------------- GRAPH TITLE When this screen is displayed, the cursor is on the line labelled Graph Title. A description of the graph may be entered here, or the field may be left blank. This description is displayed at the top of each graph. Title letters can be one of three sizes: small, medium or large. The default size is medium. To print small letters, add /1 to the end of the title. To print large letters, add /3. To suppress the title display, add /0 at the end. 18 - ENTERING DATA GROUP NAMES Below the title line are four Group Name fields, numbered 1 to 4. These group names are used to label each group of numbers in the graph. GRAPH allows up to 16 groups to be entered, but only four groups fit on the screen at a time. Press the TAB key to move from group to group. After moving across the four groups numbered 1 to 4, the spreadsheet area "scrolls sideways" to the next four groups numbered 5 to 8. If you continue pressing the TAB key, GRAPH keeps moving to the next group until it hits group number 16. Pressing SHIFT-TAB or left arrow moves back to the left. The group names you enter are displayed on each graph. On line graphs and bar charts, they are displayed in a Legend box on the graph, as in the example to --------------------- the right. On pie charts, they are ILLUSTRATION displayed under each pie chart. Load TUTORIAL Select LINE GRAPH - Regular Each group name may be up to twelve (Show only legend box) characters. The Legend box on line graphs and bar charts is exactly wide enough for the longest group name, so short group names create a narrow Legend box, which in turn leaves room for a wider graph. If there are no group names entered, the Legend box is not displayed, so the graph is wider still. However, group names are recommended for graphs with more than --------------------- one group. VALUE NAMES Along the left edge of the Edit Mode screen are the Value Name fields. Sixteen of them appear on the screen, but if you move the cursor downward past the 16th line, the screen "scrolls" to lines 17 to 32. If you continue moving the cursor downward, GRAPH scrolls down until it hits line 52. Pressing the UP ARROW multiple times moves back up to line 1. Pressing the HOME key moves to Group 1, Value 1. The PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys scroll up and down a screen at a time. 19 - ENTERING DATA The Value Names you enter are displayed on each graph. On line graphs and bar charts they are displayed along the bottom of the graph. On pie charts, they are displayed as a legend to the right of the chart. Each Value Name may be up to twelve characters, or may be left blank. It is usually best to keep these names short, because they have to print side-by-side along the bottom of line graphs and bar charts, like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select LINE GRAPH - REGULAR (Show only the bottom line) -------------------------------------------------- If the group names are too wide to fit on one line, GRAPH staggers them, alternating on two lines, like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE01 Select BAR CHART - REGULAR (Show only the bottom line) -------------------------------------------------- If the value names are still too wide after staggering, consider the following options: a. Abbreviate them. b. Skip every other one. c. Transpose the graph. (See "Transpose and Flip" section.) d. Widen the graph by changing the edges of the chart on the "Optional Specifications" screen. e. Widen the graph by omitting the right-hand legend. To do this, reply "N" to the "Print Legend Titles" prompt on the "Optional Specifications" screen. Removing all the group names will also omit the right-hand legend. 20 - ENTERING DATA ENTERING NUMBERS Numbers are entered on the Edit Mode screen in the grid with the rectangle around it. Use the arrow keys to move around the grid, then type in the number corresponding to that group and value. Numbers entered into GRAPH may be in the range 999,999,999,999 to -99,999,999,999. Numbers may have up to 11 decimal places, provided the total digits plus sign and decimal point do not exceed 12 characters. Negative numbers in the data prevent the use of some graphs, such as pie charts, which inherently can't handle negatives. To change a number, move the cursor to it, then type the new number over it. Use the left and right arrow keys to position to a digit to be changed. To remove a number, press the DEL key several times, or press the space bar to erase from the cursor to the end of the number, or press CTRL-Y to erase the entire number. To erase all the numbers and descriptions on the screen, press ALT-C. SPECIAL COMMANDS The following two lines appear across the bottom of the Edit Mode screen: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Select Enter / Edit Press PrtSc (Show only the bottom two lines) -------------------------------------------------- <Alt-A> Automatic Value Names Since so many graphs are by month name, GRAPH has a means of quickly filling in the value names with month names January through December, or abbreviations Jan through Dec. There is also an option for day names. Press ALT-A and a window pops up, prompting for the automatic values to be filled in. <Alt-C> Clear Data Pressing ALT-C clears all the data on the Edit Mode screen. It does not alter the Optional Specifications. A warning message is given before clearing the data, which appears in a pop-up window. The prompt 21 - ENTERING DATA gives you a chance to change your mind, in case you did not really want to erase all the data. <Alt-D> Delete Row or Column <Alt-I> Insert Row or Column Press ALT-D to delete a row or column of numbers. A window prompts for whether a row or column is to be deleted. Press ALT-I to insert a row or column of numbers. <Alt-S> Save Pressing ALT-S causes the "Save Window" to pop up in the center of the screen, allowing you to save your graph data to disk. For more information, see the section titled "Saving Data To Disk". <Alt-T> Transpose <Alt-F> Flip These commands cause the data to be rearranged. ALT-T changes rows to columns and columns to rows. Pressing ALT-T a second time restores the data to its original sequence. ALT-F causes columns (groups) to be "flipped"; for example, if there are four group names, A, B, C, D then pressing ALT-F rearranges them so their sequence is D, C, B, A. Pressing ALT-F a second time restores them to their original positions. For more information on these commands, plus examples, see the section titled "Transpose and Flip". <Alt-G> Graph Leaves the Edit Mode screen and goes directly to the Graph Menu screen. <End> Finished Pressing the END key returns to the Main Menu. Your data remains intact, and can be changed later by selecting Enter / Edit Data. Pressing the ESC key also returns to the Main Menu. <F9> Print Data If you want a printed copy of the numbers being graphed, press F9 when the Edit Mode screen is displayed. The numbers are printed in columnar form similar to the screen display. Group Names are printed as column headings and Value Names are printed on the left. 22 - DRAWING GRAPHS --------------------------------------------------------------- DRAWING GRAPHS This section describes each of the graphs which can be produced by ExpressGraph. Examples are shown, and suggestions made for using each type of graph. There are some general rules which apply to all graphs, regardless of type: LIMIT THE DATA Try to limit the amount of data to be graphed. Too much data makes a graph too cluttered, making it hard to read. GRAPH has a maximum capacity of 16 groups of 52 numbers (or 52 groups of 16 numbers). If the data to be graphed is larger than that, it is necessary (and probably desirable) to summarize it in some way before graphing. RELATIVE SIZE OF GROUPS When a graph contains more than one group of numbers, the numbers should be relatively the same in size, or else the smaller group does not graph well. Consider this example: A company sells videotape, and they also occasionally sell video recorders. In a typical month they sell 50,000 units of videotape but only forty recorders. If they were to combine their monthly unit sales of both items on the same graph, it might look like the graph below. As you can see from the sample ------------------------------------- graph, the sales of the videotape are graphed very ILLUSTRATION well, but the much smaller quantities of the video Load SAMPLE01 recorders appear as no more than a smudge along the Select BAR CHART - REGULAR bottom of the graph. When groups of numbers are this different in size, it is best to show them in separate graphs. ------------------------------------- 23 - DRAWING GRAPHS ADDING CONTOUR On occasion, the numbers you are graphing may be so consistent that a line graph or bar chart appears to be exactly flat, with no peaks or valleys at all. Sometimes that may be exactly what you want to see. Other times, you may want a bit more "motion" in your graph. For example, when graphing dollar amounts in the millions, a change of $10,000 appears as no change at all. To see a visible trend in numbers which are too constant to display a trend, change the Starting Scale Adjustment value. This number is found on the Optional Specifications menu, and usually is zero. The number is subtracted from each of your data numbers before graphing them. For example, the following line graph would have appeared perfectly flat if each number were graphed as is. But by changing the Starting Scale Adjustment to one million, GRAPH subtracts a million from every number before graphing, so the graph gets some contour: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE02 Select LINE GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- Now it can be seen that the numbers were dropping off, but have now begun a gradual ascent. This would have been obvious by simply looking at the numbers themselves, but comparitive numbers such as these are often buried amid many other numbers and only a very patient, detail- oriented examination reveals such trends after close study. 24 - DRAWING GRAPHS NEGATIVE NUMBERS GRAPH accomodates negative numbers on many of its graphs by simply starting the bottom scale value at the largest negative number. When negative values are drawn on a bar chart, the bar extends downward from zero, as in this example: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE03 Select BAR CHART - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- Some of the graphs which GRAPH produces do not work if there is a negative number in the data, usually because the inherent nature of the graph does not permit negatives. For example, in a pie chart, there is no way to draw a negative slice. If your data contains negative numbers, GRAPH gives the message: Data contains negative number(s). Can't draw the chart...press any key. This message occurs on all Pie Charts, and on Stacked, Percentage and Three-D bar charts when negative numbers are present. To use one of those styles when data is negative, either remove the negative numbers or consider combining them with other numbers so that the combined result is positive. 25 - DRAWING GRAPHS SCALING Two of the graphs available are percentage-oriented: the Pie Chart and the Percentage Bar Chart. The scale on those two graphs is based on 100%, so regardless of the size of the numbers, the pie or bar is always the same physical size. The remaining eight graphs have a series of scale numbers on the left edge of the graph, which usually start at zero in the lower left corner, and increase in large enough increments so that the largest number graphed does not go above the top line. GRAPH examines the numbers you have entered, and determines the best scale to use. If you don't like the scaling provided by GRAPH, you can control it to some degree. On the Optional Specifications menu there are two fields which change the scaling: Scale Increment and Starting Scale Value. See the section titled "Optional Specifications" for more information. 26 - LINE GRAPHS --------------------------------------------------------------- LINE GRAPHS Line graphs are the most common of all graphs, perhaps because they are the easiest to draw with pencil and paper. ExpressGraph offers two types of line graphs: Regular, and With Symbols. This section discusses line graphs and gives some suggestions for their use. WITH SYMBOLS The only difference between Regular line graphs and those With Symbols is that the latter has a small symbol such as a triangle or square drawn at each plotted point on the graph. Symbols are useful when a graph contains two or more sets of lines, because they identify the lines. If group names have been specified, a legend is drawn to the right of the graph showing the symbol used for each line. The drawback to symbols is that they tend to clutter large graphs, especially when lines are close to one another. Most line graphs do not require symbols, because either: (a) only one group of numbers is being plotted, or (b) the meaning of each line is intuitively obvious. 27 - LINE GRAPHS For example, the following graph plots a company's monthly sales, gross profit and net profit as three lines. The management people who look at these graphs are well aware that sales are always greater than gross profit which is always greater than net profit (they went to college to learn that). So in this graph, symbols are not necessary. But they have been used here anyway, so you can see an example of them: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE04 Select LINE GRAPH - WITH SYMBOLS -------------------------------------------------- 28 - LINE GRAPHS INTERSECTING LINES When overlap of numbers is significant information, line graphs are best because the lines physically cross one another. For example, in the following graph, a company compares the cost of manufacturing a truck part in their own plant versus purchasing the part from an outside source. They find that when quantity requirements are low, they can purchase it for less than they can make it. But as more units of the part are needed, they can make it themselves for less. To graphically illustrate this to management, an engineer prepares the following graph: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE05 Select LINE GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- The graph above illustrates the benefit of purchasing the part when small quantities are needed, and manufacturing the part when the quantity requirements increase. And it shows the exact break-even point where the two lines cross. A bar chart could show the same trend, but the break-even (cross-over) would not be as vividly illustrated. Other types of graphs, such as pie charts for instance, would not be suitable for this application. 29 - LINE GRAPHS LARGE AMOUNTS OF DATA On graphs with many display points, line graphs look less cluttered than other types, because each number being graphed takes only a small amount of room. For example, this graph contains three groups of 52 numbers, yet is still readable: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE06 Select LINE GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- 30 - LINE GRAPHS CONTINUOUS FLOW On some graphs, even though just a few points are plotted, all the points in between are meaningful too. For example, in the following graph only six points are plotted, yet more than six values may be taken from the graph. The data being graphed is the printing cost of a brochure. Even though the cost of printing 4,000 brochures was not one of the numbers plotted, it is easy to determine that 4,000 brochures cost about $51 per thousand: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE07 Select LINE GRAPH - WITH SYMBOLS -------------------------------------------------- 31 - LINE GRAPHS HORIZONTAL LINES When a graph is to be compared to some specific constant, such as an average or standard, a solid horizontal line can be easily drawn on a line graph to represent the constant. For example, in the following graph, a sales manager shows the actual sales as a line graph. He shows the monthly goal as a solid horizontal line at $30,000 and the year's average as a solid horizontal line at $36,000. This was easily accomplished by simply entering the number 30,000 in all twelve of the Group 2 values, and entering 36,000 in all twelve of the Group 3 values. Here is the graph which results: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE08 Turn off horizontal grid Select LINE GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- Note that the graph above is missing the dotted horizontal lines which usually run across the graph at each scale mark. It is sometimes desirable on line graphs with flat lines to remove the horizontal grid. See the "Optional Specifications" section for more information on horizontal and vertical grid lines. This concludes the discussion of line graphs. For more information about changing the physical appearance of your line graphs, see the section titled "Optional Specifications" and the section titled "Transpose and Flip". 32 - BAR CHARTS --------------------------------------------------------------- BAR CHARTS Bar charts are the most flexible type of graph, providing numerous ways of looking at the same data. GRAPH can produce the following types of bar charts: ---------------------- ILLUSTRATION Go to Graph Menu REGULAR Select REGULAR ---------------------- Press PrtSc key ILLUSTRATION ---------------------- OVERLAPPED Go to Graph Menu Select OVERLAPPED ---------------------- Press PrtSc key ILLUSTRATION ---------------------- Go to Graph Menu STACKED Select STACKED ---------------------- Press PrtSc key ILLUSTRATION ---------------------- PERCENTAGE Go to Graph Menu Select PERCENTAGE ---------------------- Press PrtSc key ILLUSTRATION ---------------------- Go to Graph Menu THREE-D Select THREE-D Press PrtSc key ---------------------- 33 - BAR CHARTS You may note several similarities between regular bar charts and the line graphs in the previous chapter. In fact, for many graphs, choosing between the line graph format and bar chart format is largely a matter of personal taste. But there are subtle differences between bar charts and line graphs. Because it is a continuous line, a line graph, is often used to show the upward and downward "flow" of a series of numbers. Bar charts, on the other hand, are usually used when the numbers being graphed are separate, discrete values with no flow implied. For example, the data in our earlier tutorial (sales dollars and profit dollars by month) is usually considered more suitable for a bar chart than a line graph, because the value for each month is a separate total for the entire month. A daily or weekly graph of the same data might demonstrate more clearly the ebb and flow of a company's sales, and a line graph may be more suitable for that data. There is another time when a bar chart is preferable to a line graph: when the lines are overlapping too much, making the line graph hard to read. On a bar chart each number has its own equal share of horizontal space, so all numbers have equal representation or "opportunity" to be seen. The size of a number determines the height of its bar, and it's the height that makes the number appear large or small in comparison to the other numbers. On bar charts, as on line graphs, numbers are graphed in comparison to each other. If all the numbers are small, the scale is reduced so that the largest number fills the height of the graph. Then each of the other numbers is represented by a bar whose height is shorter than the largest number's bar. REGULAR vs OVERLAPPED Regular Bar Charts and Overlapped Bar Charts are almost identical. The only difference is that in the latter, the bars overlap one another slightly. It is mainly a cosmetic difference, since some people prefer the bars to overlap and others don't. On bar charts with a lot of data, there is one small advantage to overlapping bars: each bar takes up less room on the graph, so the bars are slightly wider. 34 - BAR CHARTS STACKED BAR CHART The stacked bar chart is a specialty chart, which works well for some types of data, and is totally meaningless for other types. Another name for a stacked bar chart might be "consolidated groups" chart. Stacked bars are only meaningful when: a) two or more groups are being graphed; and b) the numbers in each group can be added together to represent some meaningful total. An example of a meaningless stacked bar chart is one produced with the data in the tutorial: sales dollars and gross profit dollars. When these two groups of numbers are added together, they have no meaning. However, let's re-enter the sales amounts as expense amount. Now a stacked bar chart is very meaningful (although this new data may be meaningless on other types of graphs). Each bar in the chart below represents total sales by its total height. The shaded portion at the bottom of each bar indicates the portion of the sales dollars which were gross profit: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE09 Select BAR CHART - STACKED -------------------------------------------------- 35 - BAR CHARTS PERCENTAGE BAR CHART The Percentage Bar Chart is similar in many respects to a pie chart. The bars from each group are stacked on top of one another as in a stacked bar chart. But the size of each segment represents a percentage of the whole bar, not the actual value. The scale along the left-hand edge of a Percentage Bar Chart is always the same, regardless of the values (see the example below). And every bar is always a full 100% in height. Like the stacked charts discussed earlier, Percentage Bar Charts are only meaningful if the values from all Groups add up to some meaningful total. In the previous example, the data from the tutorial example was re-entered, with the sales figures reduced by the amount of gross profit. That same example works for a Percentage Bar Chart as well, and shows graphically the percentage of sales which are gross profit: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE10 Select BAR CHART - PERCENTAGE -------------------------------------------------- Note the differences between this example and the previous one for stacked bar charts. They are both graphing the same data, but this chart shows profit as a percentage of sales, while the stacked bar chart shows profit as a proportionate part of sales. 36 - BAR CHARTS THREE-D BAR CHART The Three-Dimensional Bar Chart is probably the most exotic of all the graphs that ExpressGraph can produce. A 3-D graph usually impresses people the most, but it is also usually harder to read than the other graphs. Let's look at the tutorial example again, this time in 3-D: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select BAR CHART - THREE-D -------------------------------------------------- The three-dimensional effect of the graph is eye-catching, and for many applications the 3-D Bar Chart is has great appeal. However, the example above demonstrates two common problems with 3-D charts: a) the bars in front cover up some of the bars in back; and b) it is difficult to determine the value of a bar because of the angle of the graph. 37 - BAR CHARTS In many applications, both of these drawbacks are acceptable. And there are some customizations which can be done with the 3-D Bar Chart to make it more readable. For example, by simply pressing ALT-F, the two group columns are flipped, and the 3-D chart now looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select BAR CHART - THREE-D Press ALT-F -------------------------------------------------- Now the smaller numbers--the gross profit figures--are in front, so the back row is visible. See the section titled "Transpose and Flip" for more information on the ALT-F command. 38 - BAR CHARTS Another way to get a better "vantage point" when looking at 3-D Bar Charts is to change a field on the Optional Specifications screen which is called the "3-D Aspect Angle". This field normally has a value of 30, but may be any value from 20 to 80. Decreasing the aspect angle causes the 3-D Bar Chart to sit more flatly; i.e. not to tilt downward quite so much. Increasing the angle gives the impression that the chart is opening toward you. For example, this is the same data as above, but with an aspect angle of 60: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Change Aspect Angle to 60 Select BAR CHART - THREE-D Press ALT-F -------------------------------------------------- Note that the graph is really not being "rotated". The rear grid remains vertical regardless of changes in the aspect angle. Changing the angle simply "opens up" the graph more widely, by moving the base of the graph downward -- a sort of wide-angle lense effect. 39 - PIE CHARTS --------------------------------------------------------------- PIE CHARTS The pie chart is a popular way to represent data graphically. There are some inherent differences between pie charts and other types of graphs. Each slice of a pie chart represents a percentage of some total amount. Consequently, all the numbers used for a pie chart must add up to some meaningful total amount. Using the example from the tutorial, let's take a look at a pie chart of the data: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select PIE CHART - UNCUT -------------------------------------------------- The Uncut Pie Chart on the left represents a year's sales, while the one on the right represents a year's profits. Even though total profit is much smaller than total sales, both pies are the same size. That is because they are representing percentages, not actual amounts. Each pie is 100%. The slices in this example each represent one month, so there are twelve slices in each pie. Earlier we discussed the Percentage Bar Chart, and indicated that in many respects it is similar to a rectangular pie chart. (Some might call it a cake chart.) Just as in the percentage bar chart, the size of each pie slice represents a percentage of the whole pie, not the actual value. 40 - PIE CHARTS If there is only one group of values, GRAPH draws a single large pie chart. If there are two or three groups, GRAPH draws two or three pie charts side-by-side. GRAPH cannot draw more than three pie charts. If there are more than three groups to be graphed, they must be drawn in separate graphs. Or alternatively, they might be displayed as percentage bar charts, which are similar to pie charts, but allow up to 52 bars to be displayed on the screen at once. SEPARATED PIE CHART A Separated Pie Chart is just like an Uncut Pie Chart, except that the slices are all pulled out from the pie a small distance. This makes each slice a bit more visible: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select PIE CHART - SEPARATED -------------------------------------------------- EXPLODED SLICES On an Exploded Pie Chart, one or more slices are pulled out from the pie a small distance. The default is to explode only the first slice (the slice associated with value number 1). It is possible to explode more than one slice, and to indicate which slices to explode, by changing the value called "Exploded Pie Chart Sections" on the Optional Specifications screen. For example, this is the same pie 41 - PIE CHARTS chart as above, but with slices 3, 5 and 10 exploded: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Change Exploded Pie Chart Sections to 3 5 10 Select PIE CHART - EXPLODED -------------------------------------------------- There is also a field on the Optional Specifications screen called "Distance to explode", which tells GRAPH how far out of the pie each slice should be pulled. A small number (minimum 10) causes the slice to be pulled out a small distance. A larger number (maximum 40) causes the slice to be pulled out more. 42 - SAVING DATA TO DISK --------------------------------------------------------------- SAVING DATA TO DISK When you have finished preparing your graph, the data can be saved on disk for future use. To save your data at any time, regardless of what screen you are on, press ALT-S. A window appears on the screen that looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-S (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- To save your graph data to disk, enter any valid file name from one to eight characters. GRAPH adds an extension of GRF to your file name. For example, if you enter ABC and press ENTER, then GRAPH creates a file on your disk called ABC.GRF. If there is already a file on disk by the same name as the one you specified, a warning message is given. The warning pops up in another window: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Save TUTORIAL, Press ENTER (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- When this window appears, if you do not want to destroy the file on disk which has the same name, then Press ESC and change the name of the file you are saving. If the file on disk with the same name can be erased, and this one written over it, reply "O". If you want to save the old file as backup, reply "B". The file on disk gets renamed from name.GRF to name.BAK, then the current data is saved as name.GRF. 43 - SAVING DATA TO DISK All the data about your graph is saved in the .GRF file, including: * Titles, group names, value names * All numbers * Dimension of matrix (16 x 52 or 52 x 16) * All fields on the Optional Specifications screen * Currently selected type of graph * Override pattern sequence 44 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK --------------------------------------------------------------- LOADING DATA FROM DISK The previous section explained how to save data for a GRAPH file onto disk. To read data from disk into GRAPH, press ALT-L. A window pops up which looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-L (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- Usually the data you are loading was saved earlier by GRAPH as a GRF file. The other two types of files (.FE and .DIF) are discussed later in this section. Press 1 or E to load an ExpressGraph (.GRF) file. The following screen appears: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-L Press 1 -------------------------------------------------- 45 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK All the GRF files on the disk are displayed on this screen, and each one is numbered sequentially. To load a data file, enter the file's number, then press ENTER. When a file is loaded, it replaces all the data currently in GRAPH, including the numbers and descriptions on the Enter Data screen and the values on the Optional Specifications screen. If there is data which you do not want to lose, use ALT-S to save it before loading a new file in over it. REPORT FILES (.FE) Users of File Express, Expressware's popular database program, may sometimes want to produce graphs from information in their databases. To accomodate that need, the .FE file type is included in GRAPH. The quickest and easiest way to summarize data from a File Express database is to use the report writer to create a report. Write the report to disk with a file name that ends with .FE which can then be read by GRAPH. Most databases have a large number of records, and need to be sorted and summarized before meaningful graphs can be produced from them. For example, a database with five hundred sales invoice entries produces a meaningless graph if its detailed, raw data is graphed. But let's say each of the sales entries has a month number: 1 for January, 2 for February, and so forth. The database is sorted into month sequence, then a summary report is prepared, with sales dollar totals and profit dollar totals for each month. A summary report called SALES.FE is written to disk. On disk, the report looks like this: 46 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK Annual Sales and Gross Profit July 1, 1986 Page 1 Sales Gross Profit ---------- ------------ 48,000 21,000 31,000 16,000 45,000 20,000 51,000 22,000 55,000 24,000 58,000 26,000 43,000 21,000 61,000 28,000 65,000 32,000 74,000 37,000 110,000 58,000 90,000 45,000 These are the steps to follow to write the above report to disk: 1. Sort the database index by MONTH. 2. Select "Print Reports". 3. Select "Define REPORT LAYOUT". 3. Select <A>utomatic spacing between fields. 4. Select SALES and PROFIT, then press the END key. 5. For Title line 1, enter: "Annual Sales and Gross Profit". 6. Leave Title line 2 blank. 7. Select any report width. 8. Select <S>ubtotals. 9. Select <A>ll fields to be subtotaled. 10. For field to determine subtotals, select MONTH. 11. For length of MONTH to compare, press ENTER. 12. For Duplicate Grouping, select Y or N (doesn't matter). 13. For Save Report Format, select N. 14. Select Write to <D>isk. 15. Name of Output File is SALES.FE. 16. Select <S>ubtotals only. 47 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK Now exit from File Express and start ExpressGraph, then press ALT-L. On the first prompt, indicate that a "Report File (.FE)" is being loaded. Then select the report (.FE) file called SALES. The data from the summary report is now on GRAPH's data screen, and looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Blank all the value names -------------------------------------------------- To add month names of Jan, Feb, etc., press ALT-A for Automatic Value Names. A window pops up which looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-A (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- 48 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK Press 1 for abbreviated month names. Another window appears: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-A then 1 (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- Press 1, then press the ENTER key. The value name column is automatically filled with month abbreviations, starting with January. Now the data is ready to graph. For a sample of the graph which is produced from this data, see the Tutorial section. DIF FILES (.DIF) GRAPH can also read the popular DIF files which can be produced by many software programs. "DIF" is an acronym for Data Interchange Format, which is a standard format for numbers and text to be passed from one program to another. A DIF file is simply one or more columns of data and one or more rows of data, arranged in an array. For GRAPH's purposes, there are four types of data which go into the DIF file: * Report Title * Group Name(s) * Value Name(s) * Numbers to be graphed 49 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK These four types of data are stored in a simple row-column array in the following format: Report Title Grp Name 1 Grp Name 2 Grp Name 3 . . . Value Name 1 Value Value Value Value Name 2 Value Value Value Value Name 3 Value Value Value . . . Users of ExpressCalc, Expressware's popular spreadsheet program, can pass data to GRAPH using DIF files. The following example illustrates the use of DIF files, and also demonstrates the ease of interfacing between CALC and GRAPH. Start CALC and load the spreadsheet called EXAMPLE, a simple interest calculation spreadsheet discussed in the CALC tutorial. EXAMPLE looks like this on the screen: A B C D 1 2 Compute Annual Interest 3 4 Rate: 5.50 5 6 Year Balance Interest 7 1983 5,000.00 275.00 8 1984 5,275.00 290.13 9 1985 5,565.13 306.08 10 11 Totals 5,871.21 871.21 The numbers to be graphed are in cells C7:D9. The two Group Names are "Balance" (in C6) and "Interest" (in D6). The three Value Names are "1983, 1984, 1985" (in B7:B9). The title of the graph is to be "Annual Interest: 5.5%", and does not appear on the spreadsheet. 50 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK Comparing the sample spreadsheet to GRAPH's DIF format above, we can see that the array to be graphed is in cells B6:D9. The only thing that array is missing is the report title. Move the cursor to cell B6 and enter the text Annual Interest: 5.5%/1. (Note: the /1 on the end of the title tells GRAPH to display it in small letters, since it is too big to display in medium letters.) Now use the /Save function of CALC, and specify EXAMPLE.DIF as the file name. When CALC notices that the file being saved is a .DIF file, it prompts for the range to be saved. Enter B6:D9, and press ENTER twice (defaulting to "save by rows"). Now exit from CALC, and start GRAPH. Press L (for load) and D (for DIF), then select EXAMPLE.DIF from the list of files. The following prompt appears: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press L, then D (include only the pop-up window) -------------------------------------------------- Since our DIF file had group names and value names, reply Y to this prompt. If the DIF file had only contained numbers, we would reply N to this message (to prevent the first row and column of numbers from ending up in the group name and value name columns). 51 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK Now that EXAMPLE.DIF is loaded, you can review it on the Data Entry screen: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE11 -------------------------------------------------- The data is ready to graph, without adding anything more. Press ALT-G and select BAR CHART - REGULAR to display the graph: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE11 Select BAR GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- 52 - LOADING DATA FROM DISK This is not much of a graph, with only three years' data. Later in the CALC manual, in Example #2 of the /Replicate command, the same graph is carried out for twenty years. Using that example, with a 12% annual interest rate, save cells B6:D26 as a DIF file, then load that file into GRAPH. This data makes for a bit more interesting graph: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load EXAMPLE2.DIF Select BAR GRAPH - REGULAR -------------------------------------------------- 53 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS --------------------------------------------------------------- OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS The Optional Specifications screen can be selected from the Main Menu by pressing the letter O. It can also be selected from anywhere in GRAPH at any time by pressing ALT-O. The screen looks like this: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-O -------------------------------------------------- For most graphing applications, the optional specification fields do not need to be changed, because GRAPH determines the best value to use. But sometimes you may want to customize a graph by changing one or more of these fields. EDGES OF CHART The graphics screen is composed of thousands of tiny dots. There are 640 columns of dots across the screen and 200 rows of dots vertically, for a total of 128,000 dots. The first four fields of the Optional Specifications screen define the boundaries on the screen within which GRAPH confines its drawing. As you can see from the default settings shown in the screen above, a graph normally occupies almost the entire screen. Changing the left or right edges of the area causes the graph 54 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS to be "squeezed" into a narrower space. This changes the appearance of the graph, giving it -------------------------------------- a taller look. For example, the graph on the right shows how the TUTORIAL bar chart looks when the left edge is changed to ILLUSTRATION 150 and the right edge is changed to 450. Load TUTORIAL Note the month descriptions Left edge to 150, right to 450 in the graph on the right. They have overlapped one another until they are unreadable. On narrow graphs, it may be necessary to eliminate the value names, or to leave some of them blank. -------------------------------------- To give a graph a low, flat look, change the top and bottom edges to 70 and 130, but leave the left and right edges unchanged: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Change top edge to 70, bottom edge to 130 -------------------------------------------------- The problem of overlapping value names that occurred with tall, thin graphs is not a problem when flattening a graph. If there is not enough room for the vertical scale numbers to fit on a flat graph, then GRAPH uses fewer scale numbers so they don't overlap. Changing all four edges of a graph simply makes the graph smaller. For a small graph or one that is flat or tall, try experimenting with the four edge values to change the graph's shape and size. 55 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS PERCENT OF CHART USED Looking at some of the line graphs and bar charts in this manual, you may notice that the tallest bar never goes all the way to the top of the graph. In fact, it always occupies exactly 90% of the vertical space available, unless you tell GRAPH otherwise. If you decrease the Percent of Chart Used value, GRAPH uses less of the vertical graphing area. This can be useful, for example, when creating graphs with different values, but trying to keep them proportionate to one another. The two graphs below reflect sales figures for the years 1985 and 1986: ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE13 Load SAMPLE14 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- At first glance, it would appear that 1986 sales are no better than 1985 sales. But actually, sales doubled in 1986. How can the charts be made more proportionate to one another? One solution is to graph all 24 months on a single graph. But then the graph becomes cluttered, and the bars become very narrow. An alternative is to change the Percent of Chart Used value on the 1985 graph, so that the bars are not as tall. Since the 1985 numbers are roughly half the size of the 1986 numbers, try 45% as the 1985 Percent of Chart Used. It may take some experimenting to get both of the charts with the same high value; in this case, 37%. Now the charts look like this: ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE13 Load SAMPLE14 Change % used to 37 Leave % used at 90 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- 56 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS THREE-D ASPECT ANGLE Three-dimensional bar charts sometimes have a unique problem: the bars in front block the bars in back so they can't be seen. There are multiple solutions to this problem. The first is to Flip (ALT-F) the columns, causing the sequence of the bars to be reversed. Sometimes a Flip is all that is needed, because the larger sales figures are blocking the profit figures, or the larger 1986 figures are blocking the '85 figures. But sometimes no amount of flipping or transposing can make the bars in back more visible. Changing the 3-D Aspect Angle effectively "opens up" the 3-D chart, as if it were a pop-out birthday card. The wider it is opened, the easier it is to see the bars in back. Another comparison is ------------------------------------- to imagine yourself on an airplane, flying toward ILLUSTRATION a "city" of 3-D bars. From a distance, the city looks Load SAMPLE15 like the graph to the right. Select 20% Aspect Angle Some of the buildings in Select 3-D Bar Chart front are blocking the ------------------------------------- buildings behind them. ------------------------------------- As the airplane gets ILLUSTRATION closer, (50% aspect angle), the "roofs" of the hidden Load SAMPLE15 bars in back become Select 50% Aspect Angle visible, as in the second Select 3-D Bar Chart example to the right. ------------------------------------- ------------------------------------- Finally, as the airplane nears the city, (80% aspect ILLUSTRATION angle), you can see all the buildings, and maybe even Load SAMPLE15 part of the street between Select 80% Aspect Angle them. Select 3-D Bar Chart ------------------------------------- 57 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS CIRCLE ASPECT RATIO Some printers and video screens distort the circular shape of a pie chart, giving it either a flat, oval shape or a tall, stretched oval shape. For example: --------------------------------- --------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Load TUTORIAL Change circle aspect ratio to 25 Change circle aspect ratio to 75 Select PIE CHART - UNCUT Select PIE CHART - UNCUT --------------------------------- --------------------------------- On a video monitor, this distortion can usually be adjusted with the vertical height adjustment on your video monitor. On printers, an adjustment is usually not available; it is inherent in the dot pattern produced by the printer. Reducing the Circle Aspect Ratio causes circles to be drawn flatter. Increasing the Ratio causes circles to be drawn taller. If pie charts are not perfectly circular on your printer, change the Circle Aspect Ratio until the pie chart becomes round. Changing the aspect ratio changes both the screen image and the printed image, so it may be necessary for the screen image to be slightly distorted so that the printed pie chart can be circular. The distorted pie charts produced by changing the Circle Aspect Ratio value may even be desirable sometimes. The flat pie chart in the example above has a sort of slanted, three-dimensional effect which may be desirable for some charts. 58 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS HORIZONTAL AND VERTICAL GRIDS GRAPH prints rows of dotted lines across line graphs and bar charts, alongside each scale number. These dotted lines can be removed by changing the Horizontal Grid field from Y to N. Vertical grid lines can also be printed, but are normally left off the graph. To print vertical grid lines, change the Vertical Grid field from N to Y. Here are examples of graphs with and without grid lines: ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE03 Load SAMPLE03 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular N for Vert grid, Y for Horiz. N for Vert grid, N for Horiz. ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE03 Load SAMPLE03 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular Y for Vert grid, N for Horiz. Y for Vert grid, Y for Horiz. ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- PRINT LEGENDS Sometimes the legend to the right of a graph is not necessary, either because the legends are intuitively obvious, or because there is only one entry in the legend. Legends can be removed by specifying N on the Print Legends field. A secondary benefit of removing legends is that the area available for the graph becomes wider. On graphs with many numbers, a wider graphing area usually improves readability. 59 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS SCALE INCREMENT AND STARTING SCALE The numbers which run up the left side of a line graph or bar chart are called the scale numbers. GRAPH usually does a good job of determining the best scaling increment for you. The default increment is usually a power of ten: 10, 100, 1000, 10000, etc. There may be times when you want the increment to be something different. For example, if you are graphing accounts receivable aging, you may want the scales to read 0, 30, 60, 90, 120. All it takes is to change the scale increment to 30. The Starting Scale Adjustment was discussed in the section titled Drawing Graphs -- Adding Contour. An example is given in that section of a graph which appears flat and unchanging. Then the starting scale value is changed from zero (the default) to one million, and the graph gets some contour. EXPLODED PIE CHART SECTIONS AND DISTANCE When drawing pie charts, it is often useful to have certain sections or "slices" pulled out from the rest of the pie. GRAPH automatically pulls out the first section (value 1) on an exploded pie chart. To explode a different section, or ---------------------------------------- more than one section, change the field called ILLUSTRATION Exploded Pie Chart Sections. To explode Load TUTORIAL more than one slice, delete "Gross Profits" column enter two or more Set "Exploded pie chart sections to "1 5 11" numbers separated by a Select Pie Chart - Exploded space. For example, the pie chart on the left has an Exploded Pie Chart Sections field of 1 5 11, so the first, --------------------------------------- fifth and eleventh sections are exploded. 60 - OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS CURRENT DATA DRIVE The disk drive you selected in response to the banner screen message (or on the command line) is shown on the Optional Specifications menu. Another drive can be selected for loading and saving graphic data by simply changing the drive letter. If a drive letter is specified which does not exist on your computer, then no files are available to be loaded, and a message is given when saving indicating the file cannot be opened. 61 - PATTERN SEQUENCES --------------------------------------------------------------- PATTERN SEQUENCES Pressing 6 or P on the main menu, or pressing ALT-P at any time, passes control to the Pattern Screen: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Press ALT-P -------------------------------------------------- Use this screen to change the shading patterns on your graph. The sixteen available patterns are displayed across the top of the screen, and the current pattern sequence is displayed across the bottom. The default pattern sequence is ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP. When a bar chart or pie chart is drawn, group 1 is shaded with pattern A, Group 2 with pattern B, and so on. Symbols for line graphs can be resequenced in the same manner. To change the sequence, press R, then type one or more characters over the old pattern sequence characters. For example, if your graph is to be done only with black and white shadings, use a pattern sequence of AFAFAF. The sequence needs to only be as long as the number of groups in your graph. If all the shadings are to be black, (white when printed), press CONTROL-Y to clear the pattern sequence field. If you find it hard to differentiate, for example, between patterns A, B and K, omit B and K by using a pattern sequence of ACDEFGHIJLMNOP. 62 - ADVANCED FEATURES --------------------------------------------------------------- ADVANCED FEATURES TRANSPOSE AND FLIP It is not easy to visualize how your data will look graphically until you graph it. So after the data is all entered and you are looking at your graph, you may decide that it is backward or upside down. You can rearrange your data with Transpose and Flip. These commands can be invoked at any time by pressing ALT-T or ALT-F. If you are displaying a graph when you enter ALT-T or ALT-F, the data is rearranged and the graph is redrawn. If you are looking at the Enter Data screen when the keys are pressed, the data is redisplayed in the new sequence. TRANSPOSE (ALT-T) is a "rotate" command. It moves groups to values and values to groups. For example, this data: Sales Profit Jan 10 1 Feb 20 2 Mar 30 3 looks like this after transposition: Jan Feb Mar Sales 10 20 30 Profit 1 2 3 FLIP (ALT-F) is a "mirror image" command. It swings around all the columns of data so the last one is first. For example, the transposed data above looks like this when flipped: Mar Feb Jan Sales 30 20 10 Profit 3 2 1 After one of the ALT-T or ALT-F keys is pressed, if the resulting graph is undesirable, press the key a second time to return the graph to its previous state. 63 - ADVANCED FEATURES Using Transpose and Flip, the same graph can be displayed in eight different ways: ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE16 Load SAMPLE16 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular Press ALT-T ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Normal Transposed ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE16 Load SAMPLE16 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular Press ALT-F Press ALT-T then ALT-F ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Flipped Transposed then Flipped ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE16 Load SAMPLE16 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular Press ALT-F then ALT-T Press ALT-T, ALT-F, ALT-T ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Flipped then Transposed Transposed then Flipped then Transposed ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE16 Load SAMPLE16 Select Bar Chart - Regular Select Bar Chart - Regular Press ALT-F, ALT-T, ALT-F Press ALT-T, ALT-F, ALT-T, ALT-F ---------------------------------- ---------------------------------- Flipped then Transposed Transposed then Flipped then Flipped then Transposed then Flipped 64 - ADVANCED FEATURES ADDING TEXT TO GRAPHS After a graph is drawn, there is a large flashing cursor at the top, immediately to the right of the title. This cursor can be moved around the screen with the arrow keys, and additional text can be entered on the screen at the spot the cursor occupies. The following keys control movement of the cursor: CONTROL KEYS Special Key Alternate Purpose of key --------------- ------------- ------------------------------------- UP ARROW CONTROL-E Moves the cursor upward one line. PAGE UP DOWN ARROW CONTROL-X Moves the cursor downward one line. PAGE DOWN LEFT ARROW CONTROL-S Moves the cursor left one character. BACKSPACE Moves the cursor left one character, and erases the current position. RIGHT ARROW CONTROL-D Moves the cursor right one character. HOME Moves the cursor to the upper left corner of the screen. END Moves the cursor to the lower right corner of the screen. ENTER Moves the cursor to the start of the next lower line. CONTROL-LEFT ARROW Moves the cursor left one dot. CONTROL-RIGHT ARROW Moves the cursor right one dot. CONTROL-PAGE UP Moves the cursor up one dot. CONTROL-PAGE DOWN Moves the cursor down one dot. 65 - ADVANCED FEATURES Fine-Tuning The Cursor As it is moved around the screen, the cursor normally moves upward and downward a distance equal to its height. It moves left and right a distance equal to its width. For "fine tuning" the cursor to an exact location, hold down the CONTROL key and press LEFT ARROW, RIGHT ARROW, PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN, and the cursor moves only a single dot (pixel) at a time. Destructive Backspace The BACKSPACE key erases the entire area occupied by the cursor after moving to the left. If the area contains part of your graph as well as text, the graph data is erased as well as any text. Text in Three Sizes Text may be added to a graph in three different sizes. Press the F1 key to change the size of the cursor. Press F1 multiple times to rotate through the three sizes. The cursor size roughly indicates the size of the letters: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load TUTORIAL Select PIE CHART - UNCUT (with no legend) Across the top, type "These are large characters" Below it, type "These are medium characters" And below that, type "These are small characters" -------------------------------------------------- Text in White or Black Text is normally added on the screen as white letters on a black background (on the printer these become black letters on white paper). But suppose you want to enter some text in the middle of a pie chart slice which is white. Pressing F3 toggles the character color from white to black, so that characters display by removing dots instead of 66 - ADVANCED FEATURES adding dots. Entering black characters on a black background has no effect; it looks like nothing is happening. But if black characters are entered on a white or shaded background, they appear as in this example: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE17 Display BAR GRAPH - REGULAR In the center of the first bar, enter 1985 in large letters In the center of the second bar, enter 1986 in large letters -------------------------------------------------- Unfortunately, not all printers have the precise resolution of the laser printer used for preparing this manual. On some dot matrix printers, the 1985 and 1986 in the graph above would appear as little more than a blur. There is another way to label the inside of a white or shaded area of the graph: use the backspace key to "make a hole" in the middle of a shaded area, then type your descriptions into it. For example: -------------------------------------------------- ILLUSTRATION Load SAMPLE17 Select BAR GRAPH - REGULAR In the center of the first bar, press BACKSPACE four times, then enter 1985 in large letters In the center of the second bar, press BACKSPACE four times, then enter 1986 in large letters -------------------------------------------------- 67 - ADVANCED FEATURES Extra text on graphs is not saved in any form. If the Redraw key (F5) is pressed, the graph is redrawn and all extra text disappears. Likewise, when the graph is saved to disk, extra text is not saved with it. Consequently, if the graph is to be changed and reprinted at some time in the future, it is best to use the graph title, group names and value names for labelling, because they are saved with the graph and redrawn each time. 68 - TECHNICAL INFORMATION --------------------------------------------------------------- TECHNICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Computer: IBM PC / XT / AT or 100% compatible Memory: 256K RAM minimum DOS: Version 2.0 or higher Disk Drives: 1 Printer: Dot Matrix Graphics Graphics screen printing required Display: Graphics Adapter required Monitor: Color or Graphic monochrome CAPACITIES Maximum Numbers Graphed: 832 Maximum Groups: 52 (with 16 values) Maximum Values: 52 (with 16 groups) Maximum Number: 999,999,999,999 Minimum Number: -99,999,999,999 Types of Graphs: 10 SINGLE DRIVE USERS GRAPH works fine on systems with only one diskette drive. There is adequate room on a single diskette for the programs, the complete documentation, and dozens of graphs. If your diskette starts filling up, delete the GRAPH.DOC file to make more room. Just remember if you share GRAPH with a friend, be certain to share the GRAPH.DOC file too. 69 - TECHNICAL INFORMATION USERS WITH HARD DISKS To install GRAPH on a hard disk, boot up DOS, then follow these steps: C: If not already logged to drive C (the hard disk), then log to it. CD\ Log to the root directory of the hard disk. MD GRAPH Make a new directory called GRAPH. CD GRAPH Log to the new directory. COPY A:*.* Copy all the files from the GRAPH Program Disk in drive A to the hard disk. GRAPH is now installed on your hard disk. To start GRAPH from the hard disk, follow these steps: CD \GRAPH Change to the GRAPH subdirectory. GRAPH C: Run the GRAPH program, specifying drive C as the drive for saving data. Data is saved in the GRAPH subdirectory with the programs. USERS WITH RAM DISKS If you are using part of your computer's memory to emulate an additional disk drive, there is typically no advantage to installing GRAPH on the RAM disk. When GRAPH is started, the entire program is loaded into memory, and remains there at all times. GRAPH files are usually so small that it takes just a few seconds to load or save one from even the slowest disk drive. Consequently, there is little or no benefit to using GRAPH with a RAM disk. 70 - TECHNICAL INFORMATION COLOR MONITORS Those who have a monochrome graphics monitor connected to a color graphics card may not see everything displayed on the screen, or the screen may appear blurred and unreadable. If this happens, press ESC to leave GRAPH, then start the program again, using the /M option: GRAPH /M Users with color monitors may also use the /M option to cause all screens to display in black and white. 71 - CUSTOMIZING EXPRESSGRAPH --------------------------------------------------------------- CUSTOMIZING EXPRESSGRAPH When GRAPH is started, several optional fields may be included on the command line. First of all, a file name and optional drive designation may be included. For example: GRAPH C:TUTORIAL starts GRAPH, then loads the GRF file from drive C. The first prompt for "drive to use for data" is not given, since the drive has already been specified. After loading the specified file, the Enter/Edit Data screen is displayed. The drive designation may also be specified by itself: GRAPH C: There are also some optional commands which may be included on the command line at startup. If there is a file name and/or drive designation, these commands follow them. The commands are: /M Monochrome (black and white) display: This command is usually necessary when using GRAPH on a monochrome graphics monitor with a color graphics board. Users with color graphics monitors may also use the command to make menus appear in black and white. /S Turn off the sound: GRAPH makes a distinctive "beep" when it accepts a data field from the keyboard. It makes a slightly different sound when an invalid character is entered. Some computers have louder speakers than others, and the sound may be annoying to you or to others around you. Use the /S command to turn it off. 72 - CUSTOMIZING EXPRESSGRAPH /B BIOS Calls for screen display: Some computers' video memory is not fully compatible with the IBM PC. To display data on the screen as quickly as possible, GRAPH places data directly into video RAM. If characters are not being properly displayed on your compatible computer, or if "snowy" static appears on the screen when characters are displayed, use the /B option. GRAPH will call the ROM BIOS routines in your computer to display characters on the screen. This usually results in slower screen display. /F Fast startup: If you have specified the drive letter or file name on the command line, use the /F command to bypass the banner screen and go directly to GRAPH. 73 - GRAPH FILE FORMAT --------------------------------------------------------------- GRAPH FILE FORMAT This section is for programmers whose programs access data in .GRF files, or whose programs create .GRF files. The file format is designed so user programs can access or create .GRF files easily. All data is saved in ASCII string format. READING AND WRITING THE FILE In Microsoft BASIC, use the INPUT# command to read data from a GRF file, and PRINT# to write a GRF file. All data fields are string format. Numeric data can be read into a string workarea, then converted to a double-precision numeric value using the VAL function. Here is an example of a simple GRF file, which contains two groups, Sales and Profit, and three value names, Jan, Feb and Mar: GRAPH 1.0 16,52 2,3 Sales 48000 31000 45000 Profit 21000 16000 20000 Jan Feb Mar Sales and Gross Profit 10,600,20,150,90,30,50,1,0,1,0,0," 1 ",15 1 ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOP 0 74 - GRAPH FILE FORMAT HEADER FIELD The first field is the header field. It looks like this: GRAPH 1.0 To verify that the input file is a GRAPH file, check the first five characters of this field for the letters "GRAPH". The "1.0" is the version number of GRAPH that produced the output. If you are creating a GRAPH file in your own program, it is recommended that you use "0.0" through "0.9" in this field, so it is evident that the file was not created by GRAPH, but by another program. You can also put descriptive info in the field, starting at column 20, to describe the source and/or contents of the file. MAXIMUM DIMENSION Following the header field are two numbers separated by a comma, which indicate the maximum dimension of the data matrix. For files created by GRAPH, these numbers are either: 16,52 or 52,16. DIMENSION USED Following the maximum dimension are two more numbers separated by a comma, which indicate the Number Of Groups Used and the Number Of Values Used. The earlier example has two groups (sales and profit) and three values per group (Jan, Feb, Mar), so the two numbers are 2,3. GROUP NAMES AND VALUES Next comes the first group name, on a line by itself. Following it is each value (number) for the group, on a separate line. (The Number of Values Used tells you the exact count). Following the last value is the second group name. It is in turn followed by all the values for the second group, and so forth for as many groups as are specified in the Number Of Groups Used. 75 - GRAPH FILE FORMAT REMAINING FIELDS OPTIONAL The fields explained below, which follow the group names and values, are optional. If the GRF file ends with none or only some of the optional fields, GRAPH loads the fields that are present, and uses system defaults for the rest. VALUE NAMES AND GRAPH TITLE Next come the value names, one per line. If no value names were specified, the lines are still present, but contain blanks or null. Following the last value name is the graph title. It also is present even if blank. OPTIONAL SPECIFICATIONS The next line contains each of the values from the Optional Specifications screen, separated by commas. OTHER PARAMETERS Following the optional specifications are the following parameters: * Current selection on the Graph Menu (1 to 10) * Alternate pattern selection * Starting scale adjustment As this product is enhanced, more special parameters will be added at the end. The program checks for end-of-file as it loads, so if some new parameters are missing, the module will still load, and use standard defaults for the missing parameters. None of these parameters are required for the graph to display, and it is recommended that programs passing data to GRAPH not include Optional Specification parameters or the fields following them. Bad data in one of the fields can cause unpredictable results. 76 - FILES ON THE GRAPH DISK --------------------------------------------------------------- FILES ON THE GRAPH DISK The following files are included on your GRAPH diskette: * README: Contains general information about ExpressGraph and Expressware. It can be displayed with the TYPE command, or can be printed using this DOS command: COPY README PRN: * GRAPH.EXE: The GRAPH startup program. It must be on the logged disk drive. * GRAPH2.EXE, GRAPH3.EXE, etc.: Overlay programs used by GRAPH. They must be on the currently logged disk drive. * GRAPH.DOC: The GRAPH User Guide in a disk file. This is an evaluation copy of the guide, provided so you can share the program with others. This file is not needed to run GRAPH. * PRINTDOC.BAT: This batch file is used to print the evaluation copy of the User Guide. * RESPONSE: This is a file similar to the User Response Form at the end of this manual. You can either remove the pages from the manual, or COPY RESPONSE PRN: to print this file. * SAMPLE01.GRF, SAMPLE02.GRF, etc.: Sample graph files which are referenced in the documentation on the diskette. Since the diskette documentation does not contain the illustrations found in the registered User's Guide, all the illustrations have been saved as GRF files on diskette for easy display by GRAPH. * TUTORIAL.GRF: A sample of the graph file referenced and discussed in the tutorial at the beginning of the User's Guide. 77 - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS --------------------------------------------------------------- SOME FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: What is your update policy? A: All registered Expressware users are notified by mail when a new version of GRAPH becomes available. The cost of an update is usually $20 (to registered users). Q: Do you have any other programs you are distributing? A: Yes. File Express, a powerful data base management program, and ExpressCalc, an easy-to-use spreadsheet. Q: What else are you working on? A: An advanced report writer, as yet to be named. And new versions of ExpressCalc, File Express and ExpressGraph are also in development. In the section titled "User Response Form" we list some future enhancements, and ask you to indicate which ones are the most desirable to you. By filling out and returning the form, you can help us decide which improvements should be made first. Q: In what language was GRAPH written? A: It was written in BASIC, then compiled with the Microsoft QuickBASIC Compiler. It also has some assembler subroutines. Q: What computers does GRAPH run on? A: Based on our users' responses, we know that GRAPH runs on the following computers (provided they have a graphics adapter): IBM PC COMPAQ Deskpro TANDY 1000 IBM XT COMPAQ Portable TANDY 1200 IBM PCjr CORONA ZENITH Z-150 IBM PC Portable ITT Xtra ZENITH AT IBM AT TAVA AT&T 6300 If you have tested GRAPH on another brand, please let us know, and we will add it to the list. 78 - DISTRIBUTION NOTICE --------------------------------------------------------------- DISTRIBUTION NOTICE Expressware is distributing GRAPH as a "SHAREWARE" product. After trying the product, if you decide to use it, we trust you to purchase the registered set. You may obtain a production copy of GRAPH for $10 from your local software dealer or directly from Expressware. The $10 disk set contains a diskette with the complete GRAPH software and the complete documentation, ready to be printed on your own printer. The disk set also contains a $10 rebate coupon to be used toward the purchase of the GRAPH registered set. The complete GRAPH registered set is also available from software dealers throughout the U.S. and Canada, or may be purchased directly from Expressware. The registered set includes a commercially printed copy of the User's Guide, one diskette and a user registration form. Registered owners of GRAPH receive phone support on Expressware products, newsletters, product announcements, and update service. Whether or not you purchase a registered copy, you are still encouraged to copy GRAPH and share it with your friends, so they can evaluate it. The following restrictions apply: * No charge is to be made for copying or distributing GRAPH. * No alterations may be made to the files on the diskette. * The printed manual may not be copied or reproduced in any way. * Commercial sale or use of GRAPH in any manner is prohibited without Expressware's written permission. 79 - USER RESPONSE FORM --------------------------------------------------------------- USER RESPONSE FORM We are always interested in knowing more about our users. This information helps us to channel our efforts in the directions you want. Please help us by completing the questionaire on the following page and mailing it to: Expressware P. O. Box 230 Redmond, WA 98073 If you do not want to remove these pages from your manual, and a copy machine is not readily available, there is a file on the GRAPH diskette called RESPONSE which is a copy of this form. The file can be printed by typing the following on the DOS command line: COPY RESPONSE PRN: 80 - USER RESPONSE FORM 1. Where did you hear about GRAPH? _________________________________ 2. System being used to run GRAPH: a) Computer brand/model ________________________________________ b) Amount of computer memory? _________________________________ c) Type of disk? _______________________________________________ d) Black & white or color monitor? _____________________________ e) Printer brand/model? _________________________________________ 3. For what types of applications do you use GRAPH? _________________________________________________________________ 4. ____ Registered user ____ Non-registered user (If you are a non-registered user, we are interested in knowing why. Is the price too high? Is GRAPH missing features you need?) 5. Which database manager do you use? _____________________________ 6. Which word processor do you use? _______________________________ 7. Which spreadsheet do you use? _________________________________ 8. Name and address (optional): ____________________________________ ____________________________________ ____________________________________ 81 - USER RESPONSE FORM 9. Here are some of the enhancements to GRAPH that are planned. Help us prioritize these enhancements. Put a "1" on each feature you would find useful. Put a "2" on any you feel are important, and a "3" on those you feel are absolutely essential. ___ Help screens. ___ Scatter graphs. ___ Area charts. ___ Horizontal bar charts. ___ Subtotals and totals. ___ Overlay/combine different types of graphs. ___ Save screen dump images to disk. ___ Profiles (configuration files). ___ Formulas in data fields. ___ Smart keys (keyboard macros). ___ Save extra text entered on graph. ___ Mark a block of data to be graphed. ___ Specify a subdirectory for data files. ___ Move portions of the graph around on the screen. ___ Allow user-defined shading patterns. ___ ____________________________________________ ___ ____________________________________________ ___ ____________________________________________ 10. If you find a bug in GRAPH, an error in the manual, or you just have a suggestion for doing it a better way, we would like to hear from you. Write your comments here, or attach a separate sheet. ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ 82 - Index ----------------------------------------------------------- A D adding text 65 data drive 61 advanced features 63 delete column 22 aspect angle 37, 57 delete row 22 aspect ratio 58 destructive backspace 66 automatic value names 21 dimensions 75 available patterns 62 disk files loading 45 saving 43 B diskette drive 3 backspace, destructive 66 diskette files 77 bar chart 33 distance to explode 60 overlapped 34 distorted circles 58 percentage 36 double precision 74 regular 34 double-sided diskette 3 stacked 35 drawing graphs 23 three-D 37 drive letter 61 bell, turning off 72 DIF files 49 black and white monitor 71 DOS version required 69 black text 66 bugs, reporting 80 BIOS 72 E bypass banner screen 72 edges of chart 54 entering data 18 entering numbers 21 C erase column 22 capacities 12, 69 erase row 22 circle aspect ratio 58 exploded sections 60 clear data 21 exploded slice 41 color extra text 65 graphics board 3 ExpressCalc, graphing data 49 monitor 3, 71 compatible computers 78 computers, runs on 78 continuous flow 27 current data drive 61 cursor movement 66 85 - Index F K file format 74 keyboard conventions 14 file names 77 keys, alternate 14 files on disk 77 kinds of graphs 13 fine-tuning cursor 66 flatten graph 54 flip 37, 63 L format, file 74 language 78 frequent questions 78 large text 66 future enhancements 80 learning 6 fast startup 72 letter sizes 18 FE files 46 line graph File Express, graphing data regular 27 with symbols 27 loading data 45 G getting started 4 graph title 18 M graphic types 13 main menu 16 graphing databases 46 maximums 12, 69 graphing spreadsheets 49 memory required 3, 69 grid lines 59 minimum configuration 3 group names 19 monitor color 3 monochrome 3 H monochrome mode 72 hard disk 70 monochrome monitor 3, 71 header record 75 Microsoft BASIC 74, 78 horizontal grids 59 MSDOS 3 horizontal lines 27 I installing on hard disk 70 installing GRAPH 4 invert matrix 63 86 - Index N Q narrow graph 54 question & answer 78 negative numbers 23 non-IBM computers 78 R numbers, entering 21 regular bar chart 34 regular line graph 27 reporting bugs 80 O requirements 3 omit legends 59 response form 80 one drive 69 reverse matrix 63 operating system 3 RAM disks 70 optional specs 54 ROM BIOS 72 order form 83 ordering software 83 overlapped bar chart 34 S overlapped legends 54 saving data 43 scale increment 60 scaling 23 P separated pie 41 pattern sequences 62 shading 62 percent used 56 single drive 69 percentage bar chart 36 slash commands 72 permission to copy 79 sound, turn off 72 pie chart 40, 60 stacked bar chart 35 policy, updates 78 starting scale value 60 prices, software 78 startup options 72 prices, software 83 symbols 27 print legends 59 system requirements 3, 69 print numeric data 22 Skip banner screen 72 printer 3 Slow display 72 programming language 78 public domain 79 PCDOS 3 87 - Index T technical info 69 text sizes 66 three-D aspect 37 three-dimensional bar chart 37 transpose 63 turn off sound 72 tutorial 6 Three-D aspect angle 57 U update policy 78 user response 80 V vertical grids 59 W white text 66 widen graph 59 3 3-D aspect angle 57 3-D bar chart 37 88