While ACE/gr has a convenient point-and-click interface, most parameter settings and operations are available through a command line interface (found in Files/Commands). See the ACE/gr User's Manual for further information. The following discusses command line parameters, data file formats, hot keys, examples, and a few bugs. See the ACE/gr User's Manual for a complete description of ACE/gr and its capabilities.
The device numbering follows:
1 .. PostScript landscape
2 .. PostScript portrait
3 .. FrameMaker .mif landscape
4 .. FrameMaker .mif portrait
5 .. HPGL landscape
6 .. HPGL portrait
disk - Data file is on disk.
pipe - Read from a pipe.
stdin - ACE/gr is in a pipe, read from standard input.
The setting selected here stays in effect until the next use of the -source command line option is given. This differs from earlier versions of ACE/gr.
On startup, ACE/gr will look for a .xmgrrc (XView) or .xmgrrc (Motif) file in the users' home directory allowing the user to change the default behavior of ACE/gr. The construction of the .xmgrrc (XView) or .xmgrrc (Motif) file is the same as for a parameter file.
Note: all data are assumed to be delimited by tabs or blanks.
XY data sets:
xy ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X and Y one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character (except '#' and '@', see below).
nxy ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X and Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 ... Y30. These data files may be concatenated as with the 'xy' format.
xydx ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X Y DX one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character. DX is the value that will be printed as an error relative to X,
i.e., the point will be plotted with an error bar at (x+-dx, y).
xydy ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X Y DY one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character. DY is the value that will be printed as an error relative to Y,
i.e., the point will be plotted with an error bar at (x, y+-dy). This is the usual file type for error
bars.
xydxdx ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X Y DX1 DX2 one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character. DX1 and DX2 are the values of the error bars to be draw to the
right and left of X respectively (assuming DX1 and DX2 are positive),
i.e., the point will be plotted with error bars at (x+dx1, y) and (x-dx2, y).
xydydy ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X Y DY1 DY2 one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character. DY1 and DY2 are the values of the error bars to be draw to the
on the top and bottom of Y respectively (assuming DY1 and DY2 are positive),
i.e., the point will be plotted with error bars at (x, y+dy1) and (x, y-dy2).
xydxdy ... Multiple xy data sets composed of X Y DX DY one point per line, data sets separated by
'&' or some other non-digit character. DX and DY are the values of the error bars to be draw to the
left and right of X and on the top and bottom of Y respectively (assuming DX and DY are positive),
i.e., the point will be plotted with error bars at (x+dx, y+dy) and (x-dx, y-dy).
For the xy, xydx, xydy, xydxdx, xydydy, xydxdy data file formats, sets are separated by a line containing non-numeric characters, that are neither comment lines (lines with a '#' in column 1) nor parameter lines (lines beginning with an '@'). Data files can have imbedded comments by placing a '#' in the first column of the comment line. Plot parameters can be set by placing a '@' in the first column of the line followed immediately by the parameter name and setting as described in the format for parameter files. Comment lines and parameter lines can occur at any place in the data file, and are not used to indicate data set separators. I recommend a single '&' on a line to use as a data set separator.
Block data file format.
Block data files are composed of equal length columns. For example:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
is a block data file consisting of 3 columns. Each row is assumed to have the same number of entries.
^A - autoscale plot
^B - draw a box (using the current settings for boxes)
^C - bring up the transformations popup
^D - delete an object (string, line, or box)
^E - bring up the edit points popup
^F - bring up the files popup
^G - bring up the define world/view popup
^L - locate the legend
^N - move an object (string, line, or box)
^P - draw a line (using the current settings for lines)
^R - bring up the files popup
^S - setops popup
^T - tics popup
^V - set the viewport with the mouse
^W - write a string (using the current settings for strings)
^X - exit ACE/gr
^Z - enable zoom
The following examples use xmgr, xvgr will provide similar results.
o Read a single data file, autoscale axes, and use default settings:
unix% xmgr test.dat
o Read a single data file and use plot parameters previously saved in the file "test.par":
unix% xmgr test.dat -param test.par
or
unix% xmgr test.dat -p test.par
o Read a data file and use plot parameters previously saved in the file "test.par", read the output resulting from the execution of the program "myprog test.dat":
unix% xmgr test.dat -pipe test.par -source pipe "myprog test.dat"
o Read data from a pipe (the '-source pipe' as the last command line parameter tells xmgr to read from STDIN), use parameter file "test2.par", use device 7 to use as the hardcopy device, and ( -h ) don"t run interactive - just print and quit.
unix% awk "{print $4, $3}" mydata.dat | xmgr -device 2 -param test2.par -source stdin
o Read data from a pipe (in this case a program running on a hypercube), use parameter file "test2.par". The data will be X1, Y1, Y2, ..., Yn, (from the -nxy). Override the settings in the parameter file for the Y-axis and autoscale (the -autoscale), set the type of plot to linear-log (the -log y).
unix% xmgr -param test2.par -nxy -source pipe "rsh ipsc2.oacis.org gdata" -autoscale y -log y
There is no way to abort a plot.