The Datafile PD-CD 5/DATAFILE_PDCD5.iso/education/a/chartdraw/!ChartDraw/!Help

Text File | 1992-03-19 | 13.8 KB | 372 lines

!Chartdraw, © by Chris Johnson, 1990
====================================


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

THIS PROGRAM WAS COMPILED USING THE DABS PRESS ARCHIMEDES
BASIC COMPILER (ABC)

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This fully multi-tasking application allows the production
of a range of charts from data that can be entered and
edited. The program plots line graphs, stacked and grouped
barcharts and piegraphs. The current implementation allows
only 2D-representation of the bars and pies, which is
sufficient for most needs.

This application now gives full support to Acorn's !Help
application, displaying information on the various icons
and windows when the !Help window is open.

Starting the program
--------------------

Double clicking on the !Chartdraw directory installs the
application on the icon bar. Clicking on the icon on the
iconbar opens a scrolling edit window into which the data to
be displayed can be entered. Labels to append to the axes
etc. are also entered. Loading in one of the demonstration
data files should show how the edit window operates.

If the program is freshly started, or any previous data has
been cleared, then the edit grid will be empty. If the
program has been used previously, any data already entered
and not cleared will be displayed. It is possible to enter a
main title for the chart, and subtitles for up to four
groups of data. Text labels for the individual data can be
entered into the left hand boxes as required. Note that the
label applies to each corresponding data in the data sets.
The caret can be placed in any box by pointing and clicking
SELECT on the mouse. Pressing return will automatically move
the caret into the next box of the edit window (the caret
need not be at the right hand end of the text) with
automatic scrolling as necessary. All editing is carried out
in the standard fashion of the RISC OS WIMP environment.

Note these changes from previous versions. There are a
number of changes to the key strokes. You can now move
around the edit window using the arrow keys, together
with SHIFT for sideways movement.

You can DELETE the complete row of data at the cursor
using either CTRL X or SHIFT/CTRL/COPY.

You can insert a blank row using SHIFT/CTRL/INSERT, with
the data from the current line being all moved down one
row. If all the rows already have data in them, the last
row of data will be lost.

Function key F3 will bring up the "save as" dialogue
box, except when a chart is displayed, when the "save
drawfile" box will be displayed instead.

Function key "Print" will print the chart (if the edit
window has input focus).

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WARNING: All the editing is carried out on strings of
characters. These strings are converted to numerical values
only when the charts are drawn. The application does not
check these strings for non-numerical content before it
converts using the VAL function. It is up to the user to
check the data entered for mis-typing etc.

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The Iconbar Menu
----------------

This provides the standard information window, an
opportunity to QUIT the application, and a dialogue box
to set a range of default preferences, which can be
saved in the application and will be reloaded at
startup.

The Edit window menu
--------------------

Clicking the menu button on the edit window will allow six
choices.

Clear data
----------
This will clear the data (screen display and memory buffer)
ready to begin entering the data for a new chart (NB. Once
its gone its gone!!!).

Save file
---------
This acts in the standard RISC OS way. You can enter a file
name and drag the save icon to an open directory viewer, or
if the full path name is set up (e.g. the data was loaded
from disk) then it is necessary only to click on OK. When
data is saved to disk it is given a defined filetype so that
the application is able to recognise datafiles to load back
in. The filetype number is easily changed if it clashes with
any other application filetypes.

Note that there are some differences between this later
version of ChartDraw and the previous release. The label
text is not now saved as part of the data file and so the
new files are not compatible with the old.

Pie Charts / Line Graphs / Stacked Bars / Grouped Bars
------------------------------------------------------
These options cause the plotting of the chosen type of
chart. In the case of the piechart, a sub-menu allows you to
choose between plotting a single large pie, or up to four
small ones. Line graphs and grouped bargraphs also allow a
similar choice of one or all of the data sets, but stacked
bargraphs always uses all the data sets.



Chart window menus
==================

Once a chart has been drawn, clicking on its window with the
menu button will present a number of choices. Some of these
are common to all charts, others are specific to a
particular type of chart. All the actions are summarised
below.

Common choices
==============

Pie Charts / Line Graphs / Stacked Bars / Grouped Bars
======================================================

Some actions are fairly clear. It is possible to replot the
chart in an alternative form by choosing the new chart
format. If pie charts, line graphs or grouped barcharts are
chosen, then you may again choose to plot one or all of the
sets. The barcharts can be toggled between vertical and
horizontal bars as the user wishes. In release one of this
program it was possible to use hatched fills as well as
solid fills. Since the draw module, which is used in this
new version for all plotting, does not support hatched
filling, this facility has now been removed. If users feel
especially agrieved at this, then I will consider
reintroducing it, but screen redraws would probably become
very lethargic.

Print chart
-----------
Selecting this option will print the chart directly, using
whichever printer driver is installed. Note that either the
!printerDM or !printerPS must be installed on the iconbar
before hardcopy can be obtained. The printed output should
be the whole chart as displayed on the screen, but without
any window borders etc.

Make Drawfile
-------------
This option will allow a copy of the chart to be output to
disc as a draw file, which can subsequently be loaded into
!Draw to allow additional annotation or various enhancements
to be undertaken. The modified chart may then be printed
from !Draw in the normal way.

This option leads to a standard "save as" dialogue box, and
the file may be saved in any of the normal RISC-OS ways,
i.e. by dragging the icon to a directory display, or, if the
full path name is set up, by simply clicking on OK.

Add Label
---------
The labels option is one way in which extra annotation can
be added to the charts. You can add a maximum of TEN labels.
When you choose "add label" from the graphic menu, a
writable icon box will appear near the top of the screen (Do
not panic if it appears to overwrite part of the chart). You
can add the label text up to a maximum of forty characters.
When you press <RETURN> the text is converted to a writable
icon. This icon can be dragged to anywhere in the graph
window for positioning. If you later click on the text with
SELECT a caret appears and the text may be edited in the
usual manner. If the text becomes longer than it was before,
it will scroll out of view as with many writable icons -
never fear - when you press <RETURN> the icon will be
replotted and all the text will become visible.

If you click MENU on the label text, rather than on the
general window area, then a menu will appear giving four
options.

BORDER will toggle a border on/off around the text

FILL will toggle the solid background on/off (useful if the
label overlays part of the chart)

DELETE is self explanatory. However, note that it is
preferable to simply edit the text even if you wish to
change it completely, rather than to keep deleting and
recreating labels, since the program has limited storage for
the label text, and it cannot always reclaim the space when
a label is deleted.

VERTICAL will toggle the label between normal and reading
vertically down. NOTE (1) Fill is inhibited for a vertical
label as the text is deleted when the icon is redrawn with a
filled background (This is due to the order in which the
WIMP manager plots various parts of the window. I have not
found any way around this yet). NOTE(2) In order to edit the
text of a vertical label you must first convert back to
horizontal by choosing vertical again, edit the text and
then go back to vertical. This is again a function of the
way in which RISC OS deals with text icons (I have not found
a way to let the WIMP itself write vertical text in icons).

Note that, unlike the earlier release, there are no longer
separate sets of labels for each type of graph. However this
is not a great disadvantage as the labels can be moved
around and edited so easily.

Line and Bar Charts only
========================

Change Axes
-----------
When a chart is first plotted the program selects
automatically the range of the axes and the size of the
index marks along the axis. For barcharts, it is assumed
that the origin (zero) should be included in the graph,
whereas the line graph is simply plotted over the range of
values. The program chooses round numbers for the range and
indexing along the axes (e.g. a full scale of 2000 rather
than 1922.5, with indexing at 400, rather than 384.5?). The
change axes option allows the user to override to some
extent the program choice, although the algorithm is not
completely overriden, in that round numbers close to the
user entered values may be chosen rather than the exact
values entered! Piecharts always add up to 100%, so there is
no need for any user choice.

Piecharts Only
==============

In the piechart menu, choosing segments allows one or all
segments to be `exploded' or returned to normal. If the
selection is for one segment, then when the menu clears,
clicking SELECT on a particular segment will explode (or
return) that segment. If there is more than one piechart on
screen, then the corresponding segment in each pie will be
exploded or returned. More than one segment can be exploded
by choosing one segment from the menu as many times as
necessary, and clicking on a different segment each time.
All the segments may be exploded at once or all returned to
normal by choosing explode all or return all as appropriate,
the action occurring immediately. When clicking to mark a
particular segment for canceling, click in the inner half of
the segment to ensure the click is always registered.

Bar Graphs Only
===============

Vertical or Horizontal
----------------------
This action is self explanatory, the chart may be toggled
between vertical and horizontal format bars.


Loading of data files
=====================

The application can be started up by simply double clicking
on a data file of the correct type. A window is opened and
the data is displayed within the edit window, ready for
editing or printing. Data can also be loaded in all the
other WIMP ways, i.e. drag the file into an already open
edit window or drag the file to the application icon on the
iconbar. The application will ignore any file that is not of
the correct type.


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Note that files are now saved in ASCII format and are
therefore often much shorter than before. Old style
files will be recognised and loaded as before, but if
resaved will be in the new format.

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The software referred to in these notes is NOT placed into
the  public domain, but remains the copyright of the author,
Chris Johnson. It is released for distribution by Norwich
Computer Services under their Shareware/Careware scheme
only, and should not be posted on bulletin boards or
circulated on any public domain software discs, except by
prior and express agreement with the author, or with Norwich
Computer Services.

Anyone obtaining this software by any means other than
direct purchase from Norwich Computer Services, or from the
author, and making use of the software other than for trial
purposes, is requested to register with the author by
sending £3 (most of which will find its way to an approved
charity). All users registering directly with the author
will be informed from time to time of any significant
improvements or 'bug' fixes and will be entitled to
upgraded versions of the software free of charge by
sending a blank disc.

The software is supplied as is, and no warranty, either
express or implied, is given as to the suitability of the
software for any purpose.

Notwithstanding the above, the author would, of course, be
interested in hearing of any 'bugs' or any  other unexpected
features, and will endeavour to correct any such 'bugs' so
reported in any future issues of this software. Suggestions
for improved features are also most welcome. Implementation
of suggestions depends of course on practicability and more
importantly, the authors spare time (I do have a full time
job!).

If you have any comments on this program, or would like to
suggest ways in which it could be improved then the author
can be contacted directly.

Chris Johnson
7 Lovedale Grove
Balerno
Edinburgh
EH14 7DR

If you have access to JANET then try

     [e-mail]

If you wish to enter into the 'shareware' concept in the
full  sense then registrations (>=£3) will be gratefully
received by the  author.

If, in any communication, you make specific reference to the
program code, then please

      (a) quote the version number and date

      (b) refer only to the program as issued.

      (c) supply as many details as possible about the
          problem, and indicate the hardware configuration of
          the machine being used.

PLEASE SEND A STAMPED AND SELF ADDRESSED ENVELOPE IF YOU
REQUIRE A REPLY.

Notwithstanding all the above I hope you find the program of
some use.

CafJ 19/3/1992