The join environments

SYNOPSIS:
\jput(x,y){object}

\begin{dottedjoin}[optional dotcharacter]{inter-dot-gap}
..... dottedlines drawn here for each \jput statement.
\end{dottedjoin}

\begin{dashjoin}[stretch]{dash-length}[inter-dot-gap for dash]
..... dashlines drawn here for each \jput statement.
\end{dashjoin}

\begin{drawjoin}[stretch]
..... drawlines drawn here for each \jput statement.
\end{drawjoin}

Three environments, corresponding to the three kinds of lines described earlier, are also provided. They are dottedjoin, dashjoin and drawjoin. All the three environments use yet another new command \jput2 (join and put) which is identical to the regular \put command of LATEX except that it behaves differently when in any of the three environments.

All objects put using a \jput command within the scope of any of the three environments are, in addition to being plotted, joined by lines of the respective kind; in other words, a line of the specified kind is drawn between points plotted using \jput statement in the order they are encountered; a point refers to the x and y coordinates specified in the \jput statement. Consecutive \jput statements are assumed to define adjacent points — hence, the input should be accordingly ordered. Moreover, the plotted point should be in a \makebox(0,0){...} (except, of course, centered objects such as \circle and \circle*) if it is to be centered on the specified coordinate; without it the object's bottom-left corner will be at the specified coordinate. Each instance of any of the three join environments defines a separate ``curve'' hence every set of points belonging to different ``curves'' should be enclosed in separate join environments.

All the parameters, optional and mandatory, other than the coordinates that go along with the line drawing commands, may be specified after the \begin{...join} command as its arguments. Currently effective default values are used when not specified in [], and may be changed anytime using the \renewcommand as discussed previously.

The primary motivation for designing the join environments is for use in plotting graphs and joining different curves by different looking lines. It is not necessary that the \jput statements put some object; if the object is null then one gets only lines — in such a case it is much simpler to use the respective line drawing command directly.