-- IF you are reading this documentation on line, you might want to make use of the Tioga Levels commands to see different levels of texts.
Plot {spec}
where {spec} := one or more instances of [switches] {filePattern},
where switches are optional (see A.1. below), and filePattern may contain "wild" characters (see A.2. below).
If you specify more than one plot files in the command line, the first plot will be shown on the color monitor, and the rest of the plot viewers will be created initially in iconic state, to be opened later when you like.
A.1. Switches:
The meaningful switches are:
-h or -H => (Highest version only. Default true)
Only the highest version of plot files whose names match the filepattern are opened.
-a or, -A => (All versions. Default false)
All versions of plot files that agree with the filepattern are opened.
-# => (The max number of plot files to open is #. Default 12)
Sets the limit of the number of plots to be opened at a time to #, where # is a number.
A switch affects all files opened thereafter until overridden by a different switch.
Illegal switches are ignored.
A.2. Examples:
plot cmos*.plot*
Plots all files with names matching the pattern "cmos*.plot*".
For each file that has more than one versions, only the latest version is opened.
The program is clever enough to exclude files whose names end with ".press".
plot foo.plot -a cmos*.plot0
Plots the latest version of foo.plot; then plots all versions of files with names matching "cmos*.plot0"
B. Menu Buttons:
There are eight menu buttons on each plot viewer, namely, Color, Curson, Background, Get, Store, Press, and Interpress.
B.1.
DisplayMode - Sets the screen display mode.
There are two screen display mode supported, namely, the color mode, and the black-and-white mode. In the color mode, curves will be drawn alternately in twelve colors, which may be customized by the user if he wants. (see D.4. below.) In the black-and-white mode, curves are drawn in black and white, using different line patterns (dots, dashes, ... , etc.), so that we can still distinguish curves easily when the plot is printed through a black and white printer.
When this menu is clicked, a pop-up menu will show up to list the two choices available, for the ease of making selection of the desired screen display mode.
B.2.
ColorMap - Sets the color map.
If you click the "ColorMap" menu, a pop up menu will show up, listing two color maps for you to choose: "mine", or "Cedar". You probably would like to stick to "mine" most of the time. The other option is provided to be of some help when you are using some other tools that fiddles the color map in a way incompatible with this package..
B.3.
Cursor - Sets the color of the cursor on color monitor.
The cursor's color on the color monitor may be black or white. When you click at this menu, a pop-up menu will show up for you to choose its color.
B.4.
Background - Sets the background color of the plot.
There are four colors available for the background, namely, white, gray, dark gray, and black. When you click at this menu, a pop-up menu will show up for you to choose the background color easily.
B.5.
Get - Gets another plot to be displayed on the viewer.
The current plot on the plot viewer will be replaced by another one, whose file name is the current selection. This is similar to the Get menu in a tioga viewer.
B.6.
Store - Stores the plot into a file.
Similar to the store menu command in a tioga viewer, this command stores the plotting information currently shown in the plot viewer into a file, whose name is the current selection. Note that plot files are created with keep = 99.
B.7.
Press - Makes a press file for the plot.
When this menu is clicked, a pop-up menu will show up for you to select one of the two drawing mode: color or black and white.
In the color mode, curves are drawn alternately in twelve colors, which may be customized by the user if he wants. (see D.4. below.) In the black-and-white mode, curves are drawn in black and white, using different line patterns (dots, dashes, ... , etc.), so that we can still distinguish curves easily when the plot is printed through a black and white printer.
The name of the press file created is simply appending ".press" after the plot file name after removing its version part. Note that if there is already a press file with the same name, it will be overwritten in most cases.
B.8. Interpress - Makes a interpress master for the plot.
Similiar to above command, but an interpress master instead of a press file will be generated for the plot. The name of the interpress file is that of the plot file appended with ".ip". Note that any existing IP file of the same name may be overwritten.
When this menu is clicked, there will also be a menu that pops up for you to select the drawing mode.
D. User Profile Entries (all optional)
D.1. Plot.Column: {color | left | right} (default: color.)
Specifies the column in which the plot viewer(s) will be created.
D.2. Plot.CreateOption: {CloseOtherViewers | SwapBottomViewer | Iconic} (default: CloseOtherViewers.)
This entry specifies how the plot viewers will be created. If "CloseOtherViewers" is the option, all viewers in the same column will be closed when the plot viewer is created in that column.
If you choose the "SwapBottomViewer" option, the new viewer will replace the bottom viewer in the column. If there is no viewer in this column, then the new viewer will occupy the whole column.
If Iconic is your option, then the new viewer will be created in its iconic state.
D.3. Plot.Background: {White | Gray | DarkGray | black} (default: White.)
D.4. Plot.ColorN: r, g, b -- where N may be any number in [1..12], and r, g, b are any real number in [0..1].
If you don't specify your own colors, the default ones are:
Plot.Color1: 1, 0, 0.8 --
purple red
Plot.Color2: 0.4, 0, 1
-- purple
Plot.Color3: 0, 0, 1
-- blue
Plot.Color4: 0, 0.56, 1
-- greenish blue
Plot.Color5: 0, 1, 1
-- green blue
Plot.Color6: 0, 1, 0
-- green
Plot.Color7: 0.52, 1, 0
-- yellow green
Plot.Color8: 1, 1, 0
-- yellow
Plot.Color9: 1, 0.6, 0
-- orange yellow
Plot.Color10: 1, 0.42, 0
-- yellowish orange
Plot.Color11: 1, 0.25, 0
-- orange
Plot.Color12: 1, 0, 0
-- red
In fact you may also alter the background colors (at your own risk) by specifying rgb values for the following colors differently:
Plot.Color0: 1, 1, 1 -- white
Plot.Color13: 0.5, 0.5, 0.5 -- gray
Plot.Color14: 0.17, 0.17, 0.17 -- dark gray
Plot.Color15: 0, 0, 0 -- black
E. User Profile Entries
for ColorDisplay (also optional)
ColorDisplay.Side: left -- or right, if you like.
ColorDisplay.BitsPerPoint: 8 -- or 4, but 8 is recommended.
ColorDisplay.Type: 640x480 -- or 1024x768, depending on your monitor.
If interested, read [Cedar]<CedarChest6.0>Documentation>ColorDisplayDoc.tioga for more information about ColorDisplay.
F. Exercises
F.1. Issue the following commands in the CommandTool:
% bringover -p /cherry/thyme/cedar6.0/top/plot.df
% Plot CmosInverter.plot0 -- plotting information in this plot file will be plotted out.
% SPlot SPlotExample.data -- plotting information of text format in the file is plotted.
F.2. Play around with the DisplayMode, ColorMap, Cursor, and Background menus on the plot viewer and see what effects these menu buttons have.
F.3. Select the text "Waves.plot" (don't include the double quotes) and click the Get menu twice. You will see a different plot displayed in the plot viewer, and the caption of the viewer is changed.
F.4. Click the Interpress menu. A pop up menu will show up. Move the cursor to the second entry in the pop up menu, "black and white". When this entry becomes inverted (white letters on black background), click any mouse button. When the interpress master is written, issue the following commands in the CommandTool:
% InterpressToPD WavesBW.pd ← Waves.plot.ip raven384
% print -h stinger WavesBW.pd
Wait a few minutes and go to Stinger to pick up the hardcopy of the plot.
F.5. Issue the following command in the CommandTool:
% PlotDemo
If you want to see how simple this plot is created by a simple procedure call, take a look at the file PlotDemoImpl.mesa.
F.6. Copy SPlotExample.data to Foo.data. Open Foo.data. Read the comments in it, and make some reasonable changes. Issue the following command and see if Foo.data can be plotted as expected.
% SPlot Foo.data
F.7. You have seen some of the features this package provides. If you read some other sections in this document, you can easily become a "plotting expert".