home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
FishMarket 1.0
/
FishMarket v1.0.iso
/
fishies
/
526-550
/
disk_532
/
dataplot
/
dataplot.help
< prev
next >
Wrap
Text File
|
1992-05-06
|
33KB
|
750 lines
DataPlot User's Guide
Version 2.10 - 24 June 1991
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . 1
STARTUP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
KEYBOARD OPERATION . . . . . . . . 3
STOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
DATASETS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
OPTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
DEFAULT OPTION VALUES. . . . . . . 7
INTERACTIVE OPTIONS. . . . . . . . 8
FILE READING . . . . . . . . . . . 9
CROSSHAIRS . . . . . . . . . . . .10
FUNCTIONS. . . . . . . . . . . . .11
MACROS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
PRINTERPLOT. . . . . . . . . . . .13
PLOTTEXT . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
RESCALE and REPLOT . . . . . . . .15
SKETCH FREEHAND. . . . . . . . . .16
HPGL and PLT:. . . . . . . . . . .17
DRAWFUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . .18
SCREENPRINT. . . . . . . . . . . .19
SCREENDUMP . . . . . . . . . . . .20
SAMPLE FILES . . . . . . . . . . .21
THE END. . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
1. INTRODUCTION
DataPlot2.1 makes 2-dimensional plots of data on the screen and
on dot matrix printers which are Epson MX-80 compatible. Hard
copy plots can also be made in the Hewlett-Packard Graphics
Language for driving pen plotters. If the PLT: driver is
installed, then the output can be to any preferences supported
dot matrix printer. Screen plots can be made at any resolution,
and may range in size from 200 x 100 pixels to full screen.
Screen prints are transferred to paper on a pixel to pixel
basis. Variable size paper plots can be made to dot matrix
printers, with the plots ranging from 4.5 to about 18 cm on a
side. Up to 100 sets of data may be plotted on one screen. Up
to 2 billion points can be in each data file, although it would
take an unreasonably long time to plot that many points. Each
file may have from 1 to 50 columns of numbers. Plots can be
saved as IFF files. There is also a macro language for
repetitively plotting datasets using the same options. At least
one megabyte of ram is required.
DataPlot2.1 is easy to use. It may be run from either WorkBench
or the CLI. Many items can be selected from the mouse menu.
Nearly all options may be set by clicking on them from the
options screen. The keyboard may be used to select several of
the mouse menu commands. These single key shortcuts are listed
below under KEYBOARD OPERATION.
2. STARTUP
Start up DataPlot2.1 by typing the name from a shell or CLI, or
from WorkBench by double clicking on the icon. DataPlot2.1
uses four system libraries. In order to use them, four special
files, dos.bmap, exec.bmap, graphics.bmap, and intuition.bmap,
are necessary. They are included on the Extras 1.3 disk. If
they are not found in the LIBS: directory or in t:, then a
short version will be created in t: and deleted as the program
ends.
A point-and-click file name requester is available when reading
a file. Selecting the Requester box or pressing F8 calls up the
file requester. If arp.library is in libs: and BatchRequester
is in c:, then the ARP file requester, which is faster than the
built-in one, will be used.
Otherwise, a built-in requester will be used which starts at the
top level of disk drives and assigned directories. Clicking on
a file name selects that file for reading by DataPlot2.1. A
file name can be entered from the keyboard by clicking on the
"File:" word at the top of the requester window. Pressing ENTER
ends the entry. All ".info" files are eliminated from the
requester. The list of files is sorted without regard to case.
Clicking on a directory name results in a display of
subdirectories and files. The path is shown in the second line
of the requestor. If there are no files from which to choose,
then the display will indicate that and you may select cancel or
parent directory from the bottom of the requester.
Upon start up, DataPlot2.1 sets up the default options (as
stated below) and opens a custom 640 x 200 pixel, 4-color
screen. Selecting the "Plot a dataset" menu item will bring up
a file name request window. The specified file will be read to
determine any options to be applied, such as which column is X
and which is Y. Options contained in the dataset file will
override options set from the keyboard, unless USE NO is set,
meaning that DataPlot2.1 is not to use any of the in-file
options. After reading the options, the file will be read again
to obtain the data. Automatic scaling information is determined
from the first file to be read which actually contains any data
points. A file could have only options and no data, if desired.
After the scaling is performed, the file is read again and each
point is plotted. Therefore, KYBD: may not be used as a data
file name.
The plot can be transferred to paper by selecting the menu item
"Screen Print" or "Paper Plot". The "Screen Print" selection
will make a screen pixel to printer pixel copy of the plot. The
"Paper Plot" selection will read the data files again and make a
plot at the size specified. (This is the DataPlot1.0
capability.) The Y-axis label will be printed horizontally at
the top of the Y-axis in the paper plot to Epson mode. It will
be printed vertically in the HPGL mode. Plots can be made to
any preferences supported printer by selecting the HPGL output
to be the PLT: device, which will rasterize the HPGL output and
send it to the printer. IF the output is to a file, then an
ASCII file of HPGL commands will be created. That file may be
copied to PLT: for a printer plot. If you copy the file to
PLT:S, then the plot will be drawn on a high-resolution screen,
giving a preview of the printer plot.
3. KEYBOARD OPERATION
In addition to using the mouse to select operations to be
performed, you may enter the characters shown in parentheses in
the pull-down mouse menus and shown here to activate the
indicated commands:
Help (Help key)
New Plot (N)
Plot a Dataset (D)
Draw a Function (F)
Execute a Macro (M)
Save as IFF file (F1)
Save as a Macro (F2)
Crosshairs (C)
Rescale & Replot (R)
Plot text (T)
Sketch Freehand (S)
Set an Option (O)
Quit (Q)
Printer Plot to Preferences Printer (P)
Screen Print to Epson compatible printer (F3)
Printer Plot to Epson compatible printer (F4)
Printer Plot to HPGL output (F5)
Screen Dump to Preferences Printer (F6)
Case is insignificant. The left and right arrow keys may be
used to position the cursor when entering a value from the
keyboard. Some requestor boxes include boxes to erase, accept
(OK), and cancel the operation with the mouse. Whether these
boxes are shown or not, certain keys may be used as follows:
Erase the entry F9, control-X, or control-U
Cancel the operation ESCape
Accept the entry F10 or ENTER
These functions are available by clicking the mouse in the
appropriately named box. The cursor can be positioned in the
entry by use of the mouse and the cursor arrow keys.
4. STOP
An operation, such as plotting a curve or printing a plot may be
halted with a control-C. The screen will flash and beep, then
after the current point or line is processed, the operation will
be aborted. Two control-C's within one second will terminate
DataPlot.
5. DATASETS
A data file consists of any number of option lines followed by
the data points. Each line of data consists of from 1 to 50
data values separated by a comma or spaces or both a comma and
spaces. By default, the first column of data contains the X
axis values, and the second column contains the Y axis values.
The options XCOLUMN=n and YCOLUMN=n (where n may range from 1 to
50) may be used to specify which columns of data are to be
plotted.
If the data consists of only one column of values, then the
option "DATA = UNIFORM" may be used. DataPlot2.1 will then read
only the Y values from the file, with the X values starting at 1
and incremented by 1 with each point. The program detects the
start of numeric data following option lines (which may be blank
lines) when the first non-blank character is numeric, meaning
the digits 0-9, +, -, or a decimal point. The first several
lines of data may be skipped by setting the option SkipPoints=n.
Data is normally read until an end of file is reached. If the
entire file is not to be read, then the option MaxPoints=n can
be used to specify how many points to read. Reading will stop
sooner if an end of file is detected.
The data file may also consist of just one column if the
Xcolumn=1 and Ycolumn=1 options are used. With only these
options, the plot would simply be a straight line. Using the
FUNCTION options, one could plot a number of different curves
using that same file as the input dataset.
A data file may consist of only options. If the same set of
options are always used, you may wish to make a file containing
just them. Such a file could be named MACRO.AUTO and placed in
the default directory. It would then be executed automatically
whenever DataPlot2.1 is run from that directory. Another choice
is to create a macro file DataPlot.init in the S: directory, and
it will also be executed automatically when DataPlot2.1 is run.
DataPlot.init might have your choice of colors, for instance, or
perhaps your choice of screen resolution and depth. It could
simply speak a message telling you that DataPlot2.1 is ready.
To save time when plotting a very large dataset with known
minima and maxima, one could set the proper limits with the
XMINIMUM, XMAXIMUM, YMINIMUM, and YMAXIMUM options. If a
minimum or maximum value is set, then the specified value will
be used for autoscaling, with the other values obtained from the
first dataset. For manual scaling, one must also set
SCALE=MANUAL, and supply XSTEPS and YSTEPS. (The default number
of steps is 5). With manual scaling, the user is responsible
for selecting values that will result in numerics with a nice
appearance.
6. OPTIONS
An option line consists of an option name, which is always just
one word, followed by an equal sign or a space and an option
value. The spelling of the option may be truncated. Upper case
is not required. An unrecognized option in a data file is just
ignored and the processing continues. The option PRINTOPTIONS
will result in an output to the currently specified PRINTERPORT
of the current values of the options, which are:
TITLE = text (Text for plot title)
XLABEL = text (Text for X axis label)
YLABEL = text (Text for Y axis label)
MARKERS = YES or NO (Draw a marker for each data point, YES)
1 - 10 (increments the marker number, else use
(the indicated marker)
SEGMENTS = YES or NO (Draw line segments between data points)
XCOLUMN = 1 thru 50 (Selects the column with the x values)
YCOLUMN = 1 thru 50 (Selects the column with the y values)
ZCOLUMN = 1 thru 50 (Selects the column with the z values for
use with a function)
ErrorColumn = 1 thru 50 (Selects the column with the error
values, an error bar will be drawn)
REMARK text (Ignore this comment line)
;text (Ignore this comment line also)
DATA = X,Y or UNIFORM (Data is X,Y or just uniformly spaced Y)
SkipPoints N (Skip the first N points)
MaxPoints N (Plot only N points)
PrinterType EPSON (Sets the escape code for dots/lf,
Epson MX-80 uses ESC A 8)
or IBM (Uses ESC A 8 ESC 2)
or EPSONQ (Uses ESC + 40 for 40/360 inch lf)
NEWPAGE (Eject page when finished with plot)
NOTE text (Notes will be printed below the plot
for Epson printer plots)
YFUNCTION algebraic-expression (Applies to the y-axis)
XFUNCTION algebraic-expression (Applies to the x-axis)
FUNCTION algebraic-expression (A function to be applied to the
y-axis values, including the
following:)
SIN (Sine, angle in radians for all functions)
COS (Cosine)
TAN (Tangent)
ASIN (Arcsine)
ACOS (Arccosine)
ATAN (Arctangent)
SINH (Hyberbolic sine)
COSH (Hyberbolic cosine)
TANH (Hyberbolic tangent
EXP (e raised to the value)
LOG (Log to base 10)
LN (Natural log)
SQRT (Square root)
ABS (Absolute value)
INT (Integer part)
FRAC (Fractional part)
^ (Exponentiation)
** (Exponentiation)
X (The value read from the X-column)
Y (The value read from the Y-column)
Z (The value read from the Z-column)
DATE (YYMMDD to YY.fraction)
A blank expression erases the function; the variable is plotted.
The following options may NOT be set after the first file:
SCALE = MANUAL or AUTO (Manual or automatic scaling)
XMINIMUM = value (Minimum X value for scaling)
XMAXIMUM = value (Maximum X value for scaling)
XSTEPS = 1-30 (Number of x steps for scaling)
YMINIMUM = value (Minimum Y value for scaling)
YMAXIMUM = value (Maximum Y value for scaling)
YSTEPS = 1-30 (Number of y steps for scaling)
XAXIS = LINEAR or LOGARITHMIC (X axis type)
YAXIS = LINEAR or LOGARITHMIC (Y axis type)
NUMERICS = YES or NO (Print numbers along the grid axes)
MAJORTICKS = YES or NO (Draw major ticks, no grid lines)
GRIDS = YES or NO (Draw grid lines, no major ticks)
MINORGRIDS = YES or NO (Draw minor grid lines for log axes)
GridTint = N (Selects the color for the grid lines,
the default is 1)
GRIDPATTERN DASHED or SOLID (Selects the grid line pattern)
YLABELSIZE = 2 or 1 (Sets Y label height, pixels not square)
Some options are primarily for use with macros or from the
keyboard by the user while running DataPlot2.1:
HELP (Type this information to the screen)
RESET (Reset options to default values, may only be used
after a NewPlot command, does not affect colors)
VOICE male or female (Default is male)
ChangeDirectory, CD, or CHDIR newdirectory (Change the default
directory from which files will be read.
Using "CD ." in a macro means to change
to the directory in which the macro is
located.)
EpsonResolution 480 or 960 (The graphics mode for screen
printing)
LaserJetResolution 75, 150 or 300 (Size and resolution of
screen print)
ScreenResolution 320x200 (Sets screen resolution, then executes
or 640x200 a NewPlot. If there is insufficient
or 320x400 RAM, then screen depth or resolution
or 640x400 will be reduced automatically.)
ScreenDepth 1-5 (Determines number of colors, 2^ScreenDepth,
only after a NEWPLOT, default value is 2.)
CurveColor 1-31 [r,g,b] (Select the color for the curve, can
not exceed (2^ScreenDepth)-1. The [red,
green, blue] values are optional.)
ColorPalette color,r,g,b (Set the RGB values for a color, 0-31
with the red, green, and blue values
ranging from 0 to 15. Color 0 is the
background, 1 is for text and the grid,
and higher colors are for curves.)
WindowSize 200,100 to 617,386 (Set window size, can be done with
or 297,186 mouse before the first dataset is
plotted.)
OnError WAIT, EXIT, or CONTINUE (Determines whether macro
execution stops, DataPlot exits,
or action continues on an error)
7. DEFAULT OPTION VALUES
The default options are reset when a new plot is begun. These
are:
Title = DATA PLOT
Xlabel = X
Ylabel = Y
Scale = auto
Xdirection = forward
Ydirection = forward
Xaxis = linear
Yaxis = linear
Numerics = yes
Grids = yes
MajorTicks = no
Newpage = no
Orientation = landscape
Printer = Epson
PrinterPort = PAR:
EpsonResolution = 480
LaserJetResolution = 75
Ylabelsize = 2
If scale = manual is invoked, then the six following default
values are set, but may be changed.
Xminimum = 0
Xmaximum = 10
Xsteps = 5
Yminimum = 0
Ymaximum = 10
Ysteps = 5
After a dataset is plotted, the following options are reset
for the next file:
Data X,Y
Markers yes (Incremented to the next marker type; there are 10)
Segments yes
SkipPoints 0
MaxPoints 2000000000
Xcolumn 1
Ycolumn 2
Zcolumn 0
ErrorColumn 0
Xfunction clear
Yfunction clear
8. INTERACTIVE OPTIONS
During interactive use of DataPlot2.1, after selecting a new
plot with an N from the keyboard or from the mouse menu, the
screen will be cleared and an options screen will be presented.
These options may be selected by clicking with the mouse. All
options can also be set from the keyboard by just typing the
name of the option and the value. An area at the bottom of the
screen will be cleared and your entry will appear there. An
escape or mouse click in the appropriate box will end the
setting of options. Clicking on an option which has only two or
three valid values will automatically change the option to
another valid value. Clicking on a string option, such as the
TITLE, will allow the user to edit the current title. Clicking
on one of the functions will allow the user to edit the last
entered function, even if it contained an error and was not
currently displayed on the screen. Clicking on the MARKER
option will cause all ten markers to be displayed. A marker is
then selected by clicking on it. To turn markers off, type in
the command Markers NO.
Certain options, such as axis directions, can only be set before
a file is plotted or a function is drawn. Thus, when setting
new options for the next dataset, only those options which can
be changed will be presented.
9. FILE READING
DataPlot2.1 reads each file to be plotted several times. The
first time is to activate any options that may be included in
the file. The second time, the file is reopened, the option
lines are skipped, and the data are read. If autoscaling is in
effect, then the first data file may be read an additonal time
to determine the minimum and maximum values. The file will not
be read to determine the minimum and maximum values if they have
been set by the appropriate options. If a paper plot is made,
then the file is read another two times to replot the data to a
bitmap. Therefore, KYBD: may not be used as a file name.
10. CROSSHAIRS
When the CrossHairs mode is selected from the mouse menu, a
small set of crosshairs will appear on the screen outside the
plot area, and the pointer will be different. Clicking the
mouse inside the plotting area will result in the crosshairs
being drawn at the selected point and the corresponding values
of X and Y appearing in the title bar. To exit this mode, click
the mouse outside the plotting area, or press a key.
11. FUNCTIONS
DataPlot can do manipulation of the data points with the
FUNCTION options. For instance the functions
(abs(1.56-tan(y)))^.5
or
sqrt(x^2 + y^2) + (cos(x))^2
could be used. Specifying either FUNCTION or YFUNCTION
specifies an operation on the Y-axis values of the plot, whereas
XFUNCTION specifies an operation on the X-axis values. The
functions are applied to the x and y values as read from the
dataset file.
The following function can be used to convert from a six or
eight digit date in the format YYMMDD to a year + approximate
fractional year format for plotting, and may be invoked by
specifying the DATE keyword:
int(x/10000)+int(frac(x/10000)*100-1)/12+int(frac(x/100)*100-1)/365
The function will be compiled and optimized to the extent that
successive operations using constants will be evaluated at
compile time.
12. MACROS
DataPlot2.1 has a macro language which is useful for repeating
plots. This macro language consists of all the options
previously discussed, plus the following commands. Case is not
significant, and commands may be truncated to three or more
characters.
NEWPLOT (Clear screen for new plot)
DATASET filename (Plot this dataset)
DRAWFUNCTION expression,xmin,xmax (Draw this function from
xmin to xmax)
RESCALE [Xmin,Xmax,Ymin,Ymax] (Auto rescale and replot)
CROSSHAIRS (Start interactive crosshairs)
SCREENPRINT Epson, Epson2x, LaserJet (Copy the screen to the dot
matrix printer on a pixel to pixel basis.)
SCREENDUMP (Print the screen to your Preferences selected
printer using your Preferences selected options.)
PRINTERPORT port (PAR: is the default)
PAUSE message (Prints message, waits for key or mouse)
BEEP (Beeps)
SPEAK message (Speaks the message)
PLOTTEXT "text" color xval,yval (Places text on the plot)
PRINTERPLOT Epson, Epson2x [width, height, left margin]
(Makes a dot-matrix paper plot in portrait
orientation only, with the 2x indicating
double strike. [Optionally, one may specify
width and height in cm, and left margin in
character spaces.])
PRINTERPLOT HPGL (Makes a paper plot in the HP
Graphics Language)
PRINTERPLOT PREFERENCES (Makes a paper plot to the
preferences selected dot matrix
printer through the PLT: software)
PRINTERADVANCE TOP or NNN (advance printer to top of form, or
advance printer NNN lines)
PRINTFILE filename (copy file "filename" to the printer)
PRINTLINE text (copy the line of text to the printer)
IFFSAVE iffname (Save screen as IFF ILBM file, about 41K
free space is required)
OnError WAIT, EXIT, or CONTINUE (Macro error response,
WAIT waits for the user, EXIT terminates
DataPlot2.1, CONTINUE ignores the error)
USE YES or NO (Use or ignore in-file options)
QUIT (Quit DataPlot2.1)
An unrecognized macro command will be executed as an option.
Error handling can be specified for macro file execution. If
OnERROR WAIT has been set (the default) then execution of the
macro will stop with an error message and wait for user
intervention, which can be to exit the macro or to continue. If
OnERROR EXIT has been set, then DataPlot2.1 will exit on an
error. If OnERROR CONTINUE has been specified, then the error
will be ignored and execution of the macro will continue with
the next command.
The 2x suffix for Epson printer plots makes a double strike to
make the print darker.
For interactive selection, a question mark (?) may be used for a
command or for a command argument. The user will be prompted
for the argument to be used (e.g. DATASET ?). A user supplied
default value may be entered following the question mark, as in
these two examples:
DataSet ? data1 (The user must select a dataset,
data1 is provided as the default)
? screenprint (The user must select a command,
screenprint is the default)
If there is a file named DataPlot.init in the S: directory, then
it will be executed upon startup. Such a file could have your
choice of screen colors or depth. Then if there is a MACRO.AUTO
file in the default directory, it too will be executed. Even
though DataPlot2.1 does not have an AREXX port, it can be
controlled by a script file though the MACRO.AUTO file. An
automated system could collect data from a data acquisition
system, write an appropriate MACRO.AUTO file, then run
DataPlot2.1 to generate a printer plot.
A plot can be saved as a macro, which can be edited by
MicroEmacs, for example. The commands NewPlot and
ScreenResolution are not included when a macro is saved, and
must be added by the user. The NewPlot command erases any
internally stored macro commands in the history buffer.
13. PRINTERPLOT
A paper copy of the screen plot can be made using the
PrinterPlot (or PAPERPLOT) command. Before using this command
from a macro, the PrinterPort command should be used to specify
the output device, whether it is PAR:, PLT:, or a file. The
PrinterPort should not be specified as PRT: for a printer plot
because the Amiga Operating System will not pass the escape
sequences to the printer as required for bit-mapped graphics.
If NULL: is specified as the PrinterPort, then no output will be
sent to the printer. This is internal to DataPlot2.1 and does
not require a NULL: device driver.
14. PLOTTEXT
Text can be positioned on a plot with this command. After the
user selects this mouse menu command, the text color can be
selected with a mouse click, and then the text may be typed in.
Next, the text may be positioned on the plot by moving the mouse
and clicking at the desired location.
When used in a macro, the format is:
PlotText "the text" textcolor xposition,yposition
where the desired text must be in quotes if it is more than one
word. The arguments may be separated by commas or spaces at the
user's option. The x and y positions are given in the scale
coordinates (the values printed along the axes). A warning note
will appear briefly on screen if the position is out of range.
If the text color, an integer from 1 to 31, is greater than that
allowed by the current screen depth, then it will be set to the
maximum number permitted.
15. RESCALE and REPLOT
This command is useful when multiple datasets are plotted on one
screen with autoscaling selected. Only the first dataset is
used to determine the scaling. Consequently, subsequent data
points or even entire datasets may be out of range. The RESCALE
macro, or the mouse menu option Rescale and Replot (R), may be
used to automatically set new autoscaling limits so that all
points will be in range. The datasets will be read again and
replotted. DataPlot will attempt to rescale such that PLOTTEXT
strings will also be in range.
Values for Xminimum, Xmaximum, Yminimum, and Ymaximum may be
entered on the line with RESCALE. These values will be used
for rescaling, instead of the default range if desired. This is
useful for zooming in on a section of data. A default value
will be used where a new value is omitted. For instance, the
macro command
RESCALE ,,0,1
would use the default extreme values for Xminimum and Xmaximum,
but would set Yminimum to 0 and Ymaximum to 1, and then replot
the datasets.
16. SKETCH FREEHAND
This mode permits the user to select a color and turn on pixels
by moving the mouse over them while holding the left mouse
button down. The results are only shown on the screen and can
only be copied to a printer through the ScreenPrint commands.
17. HPGL and PLT:
The Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language is used to drive HP pen
plotters. It can also be used to drive any preferences
supported graphics printer through the use of the PLT: device,
which was written by Rich Champeaux and Jim Miller. The PLT:
device accepts HPGL commands and produces a raster image which
can be displayed on the Amiga screen, or sent to the printer.
The instructions for installing the PLT: device are included in
the PLT.doc file. All of the PLT software is included at no
extra cost. If PaperPlot HPGL is selected, then the output will
be a file of HPGL commands. That file can be copied to PLT:S
for a screen preview, or copied to PLT: for output to your
printer. It is an ASCII file, and can be edited, if necessary.
Pen 1 is used for the text, with pens 2 through 8 used for
plotting the data. The pen number is incremented for each
dataset. The CurveColor option will override the automatic
increment. PLT: uses black as the default color for all pens.
The CLI command
copy hpglfile to plt:/000-1/f00-3/
will produce a plot with pen 1 set to black and a thickness of 1
pixel, and with pen 2 set to red and a thickness of 3 pixels.
The three consecutive digits specify, in hex, the relative
amounts of red, green, and blue. The dashed number specifies
the pen width in pixels.
If you have sufficient ram, then you can specify PLT: as the
output device directly from DataPlot, with any color options you
desire. If your printer is monochrome, then color options
should not be specified.
Specifying PLT:S for a screen preview directly from DataPlot2.1
has sometimes resulted in corrupted RAM. You are hereby warned!
If you intend to install PLT:, then please read the
instructions. Essentially, it consists of adding a MountList
entry in DEVS:, copying the plt-handler to L:, and assigning
PLOTDATA: to a subdirectory containg the plot fonts. A batch
file is included for automatically modifying your MountList, and
copying the PLT-handler to L: for you. It also assigns PLTDATA:
to the directory containing the fonts and a font list. This
file should only be executed once! You may want to modify your
Startup-Sequence to Mount PLT: and to Assign PLTDATA: to the
appropriate directory.
18. DRAWFUNCTION
DataPlot2.1 will also plot functions entered by the user, either
in a macro or interactively from the mouse menu. The function
must be a function of x only, unlike functions which can be
applied to data points. If no data has yet been plotted, then
the limits which are entered for plotting the function will also
be used to auto-scale the plot. The same set of functions used
for manipulating the data points is available for DrawFunction.
19. SCREENPRINT
Under the ScreenPrint menu item, the user may select either
portrait (vertical) or landscape (sideways) orientation for a
pixel to pixel printer copy of the plot window. Any pixel that
is other than the background color (color 0) will be printed as
a dot on the printer. The size of the printout depends on the
size and resolution of the plot window and the orientation. If
the plot is too large to fit the page with the selected
resolution, the resolution is automatically increased in order
to shrink the size of the plot. The printer must be compatible
with the Epson graphics commands for this to work properly.
20. GRAPHICDUMP
Selecting GraphicDump will result in a printer output using the
Preferences selected options to the Preferences selected graphics
printer. The appearance of the output can change greatly with
size, color, and the graphics options. The best results will
probably be obtained by using a black background (color 0 0,0,0)
with white curves (color 1 15,15,15) using a screendepth of 1 for
a plot with only 2 colors. The Preference option for "negative"
should also be selected. Other combinations will also work.
21. SAMPLE FILES
There are sample data files and macro files on the DataPlot2.1
disk. Please examine them to see examples of the proper format.
22. THE END
Your suggestions for improving DataPlot are welcome.
Bytes and Bullets
Route 3 Box 3532
Manchester TN 37355
(615)-596-2077