ploticus: ploticus(1)

.ig ploticus: ploticus(1)

ploticus(1)

Version 2.41 Mar2009

.. .TH ploticus 1 "11-MAR-2009 PLOTICUS ploticus.sourceforge.net" .SH Name ploticus \- data display package .SH Synopsis \fCploticus \-prefab \fIprefabname\fC \fIparm=value\fC .. [\fI-options\fR] .br \0.. OR .. .br \fCploticus \fIscriptfile\fC [\fI-options\fC] .ig

.. .ig

Quick links for finding things on this page:
Description Where to find examples Command line arguments Basic options Setting ploticus variables Result format options Clickmap and mouseover Result sizing options Graphics environment options Capacity setting options SVG / XML options Interactive / workstation options Paper orientation options Development & debugging options	Naming of the result file(s) Usage examples Environment Bugs Author, Copyright, Licensing See also

.. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Description \fBploticus\fR is the primary component of the .ig .. \0'ploticus' data display package .ig .. .LP \fBploticus\fR is a program that produces plots and charts from data, and produces results that can be viewed on web pages, paper, slides, or interactively on the screen. Standard types of plots may be done using .ig .. \0prefab plot templates .ig .. , or a user-developed .ig .. \0script file .ig .. may be supplied for greater flexibility and customization. \fBploticus\fR may be executed from the command line or .ig .. \0as a CGI program. .ig .. .LP For complete online docs and downloads see .ig .. \0http://ploticus.sourceforge.net .ig .. .ig

.. .ig .. .SH Where to find examples See the various .ig .. \0prefab examples .ig .. \0. A large number of .ig .. \0script examples .ig .. are also available. Some .ig .. \0usage examples .ig .. are also shown below. .ig

.. .ig
.. .SH Command line arguments .LP Command line arguments may generally be given in any order. If there are arguments that you want to always have in effect, you can invoke them from a .ig .. \0config file. .ig .. Many settings can also be made dynamically from scripts via .ig .. \0proc settings .ig .. or .ig .. \0proc page. .ig .. Processing occurs in this order: first the config file is read; then command line args are processed (left to right); then .ig .. \0proc page .ig .. and/or .ig .. \0proc settings. .ig .. Later settings override earlier ones. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Basic command line options .LP \fB-prefab\fR .ig .. \fIprefabname\fR .IP \0 Produce a plot using a .ig .. \0prefab .ig .. plot template. \fIprefabname\fR identifies the template, eg. \fCcron\fR or \fCvbars\fR. Necessary parameters are supplied on the command line using the form \fIparm=value\fR. .ig

.. .LP \fIscriptfile\fR .br \fB-f \fIscriptfile\fR .IP \0 names a .ig .. \0script file .ig .. that will be interpreted to produce results. Alternatively, \fB-stdin\fR may be used to indicate that script will be available on standard input. .ig

.. .ig .. .LP \fIvariable\fC=\fIvalue\fR .IP \0 Declares the named \fIvariable\fR and sets it to the given \fIvalue\fR. This is a convenient way to pass information to prefabs and scripts. Variable names are case-sensitive. .br Example: \fCCUTDATE=10-31-98\fR .br sets the variable \fCCUTDATE\fR to \fC10-31-98\fR. .ig

.. .LP \fB-o .ig .. \fIoutfile\fC | stdout\fR .IP \0 Specify a filename where the result will be written. No processing is applied to this name.. so the ending should be appropriate for the selected output format, eg. use \fC.png\fR for PNG files. If \fC-o stdout\fR is used, result will be sent to standard output. If \fB-o\fR is not specified, a .ig .. \0default output filename .ig .. will be used. .br Example: \fC-o fp001.png\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-dir .ig .. \fIdirname\fR .IP \0 Set ploticus' working directory to \fIdirname\fR. If used, this argument should be specified leftmost on the command line, since it affects evaluation of other args. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Result format options .LP (Availability depends on your ploticus configuration/build) .LP \fB-png \fR .ig .. PNG image .LP \fB-gif \fR .ig .. pseudo-GIF image .LP \fB-jpeg\fR .ig .. JPEG image .LP \fB-svg\fR or \fB-svgz\fR .ig .. .ig .. \0SVG .ig .. graphic. See also SVG / XML options below. .LP \fB-swf\fR .ig .. .ig .. \0SWF .ig .. (flash) result. .LP \fB-wbmp\fR .ig .. WBMP image .LP \fB-eps \fR .ig .. EPS (encapsulated PostScript) .LP \fB-ps \fR .ig .. paginated PostScript to stdout .LP \fB-x11 \fR .ig .. display on X11 screen .LP \fB-drawdump\fR \fIfilename\fR .ig .. produce no visible graphic; save a generic representation of the graphic result to a file. By using \fC-drawdump\fR and \fC-drawdumpa\fR you can easily .ig .. \0overlay or combine results from separate ploticus runs. .ig .. The drawdump file can be rendered later in any desired format, using this command: \fCploticus \-prefab draw dumpfile=\fIfilename\fR .ig .. or by using .ig .. \0proc drawcommands. .ig .. Drawdump capability is available in all builds. (2.30+) .LP \fB-drawdumpa\fR \fIfilename\fR .ig .. same as \fC-drawdump\fR but result is \fBappended\fR to file. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Clickable image maps and mouseover options .LP \fB-csmap\fR .IP \0 produce a .ig .. \0client-side clickable imagemap .ig .. to accompany a png, gif, or jpeg. These can be used for hyperlinks, and also for providing pop-up text labels that appear when the mouse passes over a region. By default, client-side map content is written to stdout. .ig

.. .LP \fB-csmapdemo\fR .IP \0 Same as \fB-csmap\fR but all mapped regions are shown outlined in green, and a complete HTML chunk is produced which involves the output image name. .ig

.. .LP \fB-mapfile\fR .ig .. \fIfilename\fC | stdout | stderr\fR .IP \0 explicitly name the output file containing the map info. The name may also be set in .ig .. \0proc page. .ig .. If a name is not specified, client-side image map info will be written to stdout; For SVG this parameter is not needed, since image map info is embedded in the SVG file. .ig

.. .LP \fB-map\fR .IP \0 produce a .ig .. \0server-side clickable imagemap file .ig .. to accompany a png, gif, jpeg, or SVG. \fBNote: server-side maps are deprecated.\fR .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Result sizing options .LP \fB-scale\fR .ig .. \fIsx\fR[,\fIsy\fR] .IP \0 Scale the final result. If one value is given, the result is scaled by this amount in both x and y. If two values are given, scaling in x and scaling in y may be done independently. A scale value of less than 1.0 reduces the size; an scale value of greater than 1.0 enlarges. Scaling is done relative to the origin (0,0) which is at the lower left. .br Example: \fC-scale 0.7\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-pagesize\fR .ig .. \fIwidth,height\fR .IP \0 Sets the pre-crop size of the result image for GIF/PNG/JPEG, or sets the display window size when drawing to X11. On other output devices this option does nothing. \fIwidth\fR and \fIheight\fR are in .ig .. \0absolute units. .ig .. 0,0 is the lower left corner. If \-pagesize is not specified, the default size will be 8" x 8". Size is set before any drawing takes place and is unaffected by the \-scale option. .IP When rendering PNG/GIF/JPEG images, this option determines amount of internal memory allocation for accommodating the image. The result can never be bigger than this size, and any drawing outsize the bounds will not be visible. \fBTo create PNG/GIF/JPEG images larger than 8" x 8", this option MUST be specified to set a bigger size.\fR Cropping options (below) can be used along with \-pagesize as long as they result in a smaller rectangle than the pagesize; they take effect after all drawing has been completed. .IP \fB-pagesize\fR has no effect with EPS or paginated PostScript results (the PostScript BoundingBox will be determined by the extent of the graphic). .IP Example: \fC\-pagesize 7,3\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-tightcrop\fR .IP \0 For image or EPS output, crop the result tightly to the extent of the design. Normally a small margin is allowed on all four sides. This option sometimes crops a bit too tight; if so try \fB-croprel\fR. .ig

.. .LP \fB-crop\fR .ig .. \fIx1,y1,x2,y2\fR .IP \0 Crop image or EPS result to the box specified by \fIx1,y1\fR and \fIx2,y2\fR, in .ig .. \0absolute units. .ig .. Note that there may be no spaces in the coordinates specification. Cropping takes place after design is rendered and does not affect coordinate locations. .br Example: \fC-crop 1.2,0.8,4.4,5.2\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-croprel\fR .ig .. \fIleft,bottom,right,top\fR .IP \0 Crop image or EPS result tightly to the extent of the design (like \fB-tightcrop\fR), but then adjust the cropping outward or inward on one or more sides. \fIleft\fR is the amount to adjust the left side, in .ig .. \0absolute units. .ig .. Similarly for \fIbottom\fR, \fIright\fR, and \fItop\fR. Positive values always adjust outward from center; negative values adjust inward (tighter). There may be no spaces in the \fIleft,bottom,right,top\fR specification. Cropping takes place after design is rendered and does not affect coordinate locations. .br Example: \fC-croprel 0,\-0.1,0,0.1\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-pixsize\fR .ig .. \fIwidth,height\fR .IP \0 If specified, result PNG/GIF/JPG image will be created at exactly this width and height in pixels. Does not interact with scaling or cropping... user is responsible for ensuring that content fits appropriately into the specified size. User is also responsible for setting \-pagesize appropriately for larger images. New in 2.40 .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Graphics environment options .LP \fB-font\fR .ig .. \fIfont\fR .IP \0 sets the overall font to \fIfont\fR. See .ig .. \0fonts .ig .. for more info. .ig

.. .LP \fB-textsize\fR .ig .. \fIpointsize\fR .IP \0 sets the overall default textsize to \fIpointsize\fR. All embedded size specifications will be rendered relative to this. .ig

.. .LP \fB-linewidth\fR .ig .. \fIw\fR .IP \0 sets the overall default linewidth to \fIw\fR. All embedded line width specifications will be rendered relative to this. See linedetails(pli) for more on line width. .ig

.. .LP \fB-color\fR .ig .. .ig .. \0color .ig .. .IP \0 sets the overall default text and line drawing color to \fIcolor\fR. .ig

.. .LP \fB-backcolor\fR .ig .. .ig .. \0color .ig .. .IP \0 sets the background color to \fIcolor\fR. .ig

.. .ig .. .LP \fB-cm\fR .ig .. .IP \0 Use centimeters as your absolute units, instead of inches. On the command line this must appear to the left of any arguments dealing with absolute unit values, such as \-pagesize. Centimeter absolute units can also be set via .ig .. \0proc settings. .ig .. If cm will always be the desired absolute units, the preferred way to achieve this is by using \fCunits: cm\fR in a .ig .. \0ploticus config file. .ig .. .ig

.. .LP \fB-inches\fR .IP \0 Use inches as your absolute units. This is the default. .ig

.. .LP \fB-outlabel\fR .ig .. \fIlabel\fR .IP \0 Set the label or title for the output. For X11 this sets the window title; for PostScript and SVG it sets the \fC%%Title\fR attribute. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Capacity setting options These options (new with version 2.10) allow capacities to be raised for accomodation of very large data sets, or lowered to minimize memory usage. The defaults in this section are defined in \fCpl.h\fR. .LP \fB-maxrows .ig .. \fInrows\fR .IP \0 Set the capacity for data rows to \fInrows\fR. Default \fInrows\fR is 10,000. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each row. .ig

.. .LP \fB-maxfields .ig .. \fInfields\fR .IP \0 Set the capacity for data fields to \fInfields\fR. Default \fInfields\fR is 200,000. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each field. .ig

.. .LP \fB-maxproclines .ig .. \fInlines\fR .IP \0 Set the capacity for script lines for active procs to \fInlines\fR. Default \fInlines\fR is 5000. Active procs are the current proc, all \fC#save\fRd procs, and all proc getdata procs that contain embedded \fCdata\fR. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each line in each active proc. .ig

.. .LP \fB-maxvector .ig .. \fIncells\fR .IP \0 Set the capacity for the data plotting vector to \fIncells\fR. Default \fIncells\fR is 100,000. The data plotting vector is an array which holds plottable values for situations where the values must be sorted or pre-screened for bad values. Ploticus will allocate one \fCdouble\fR value for each cell. .ig

.. .LP \fB-maxdrawpoints .ig .. \fIn\fR .IP \0 Use this if you need to render a polygon having more than 500 points in PNG/GIF/JPEG, X11, or SWF, or any continuous line having more than 500 points in SWF. .ig

.. .LP Note: raising the maximum number of categories may be done using .ig .. \0proc categories .ig .. from within the script. .ig

.. .LP \fB-cpulimit\fR #Include nbsp2 \fIs\fR .IP \0 Set unix resource limit on cpu time to \fIs\fR seconds. Default is 30 seconds. New in 2.40 .ig

.. .ig .. .SH SVG / XML options: .LP \fB-svg_tagparms\fR .ig .. \fIstring\fR .IP \0 This allows arbitrary \fCtext\fR to be inserted into the opening \fC

.. .LP \fB-omit_xml_declaration\fR .IP \0 By default the first line of the SVG result will be the XML declaration \fC\fR . Use this option to suppress the XML declaration line if the SVG result is to be embedded into a larger XML document. .ig

.. .LP \fB-xml_encoding\fR .ig .. \fImethod\fR .IP \0 Set the XML character encoding method. This encoding will be indicated in the XML declaration line. The default is \fCiso-8859-1\fR which provides Latin and Western European character sets. For Unicode fonts this should be set to \fCutf-8\fR (for more discussion see the Unicode section in .ig .. \0fonts .ig .. ). .ig

.. .LP \fB-tag\fR .IP \0 Causes a suitable HTML \fC

\fR tag to be written to standard output. .ig

.. .LP \fB-zlevel \fIn\fR .IP \0 This may be used to set the compression level to \fIn\fR for SVGZ output (0 - 9 where 9 is highest level of compression and the default). .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Interactive (workstation) use options .LP \fB-winloc\fR .ig .. \fIx,y\fR .IP \0 Control where on the screen the upper-left corner of the X11 display window will be placed. \fIx\fR and \fIy\fR are in pixels. Example: \fC-winloc 200 0\fR .ig

.. .LP \fB-v\fR .ig .. \fIcommand\fR .br \fB-viewer\fR .ig .. \fIcommand\fR .IP \0 After generating results in the specified format, execute \fIcommand\fR in order to view the results on your screen. The output file will automatically be included in the \fIcommand\fR. For example, if a GIF file is being generated you might use this to invoke the xv utility: \fC-viewer xv\fR. If PostScript is being generated you could use something like this to invoke the ghostview utility: \fC-viewer "gv \-magstep \-1"\fR. The given command must be available on your system and locatable in your command search path. This option may not be used with \fC-o stdout\fR. .ig

.. .LP \fB-noshell\fR .IP \0 If specified, ploticus is prohibited from issuing any shell commands. This is a security feature useful for example when running a script that was sent to you by an unknown party. New in 2.31 .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Paper orientation options .LP \fB-landscape\fR .IP \0 For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to landscape (oblong). .ig

.. .LP \fB-portrait\fR .IP \0 For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to portrait. .ig

.. .LP \fB-posteroffset\fR .ig .. \fIx,y\fR .IP \0 Allows production of large-size posters made up of multiple standard sheets of paper butted together. May be used only with paginated PostScript, and should be used in combination with the \fC-scale\fR and \fC-textsize\fR options. \fIx,y\fR is the point within your result (in .ig .. \0absolute units .ig .. ) that is to be placed at the lower left corner of the page. For further discussion of this, see .ig .. \0posters .ig .. \0. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Development and debugging options .LP \fB-debug\fR .IP \0 Debug mode. Causes dianostic information to be written to the diagnostic stream (stderr by default, see \fC-diagfile\fR below). Highly recommended if you are experiencing difficulty. Best to use \fC-debug\fR as the first (leftmost) argument so that it can report on all arguments gotten. Another effect of debug mode is that any temporary files are not removed upon termination. .ig

.. .LP \fB-ping\fR .IP \0 Write the ploticus name and version number to standard output and exit. versions 2.33+ .ig

.. .LP \fB-echo\fR .ig .. \fC[ diag | stdout]\fR .IP \0 Write ploticus script lines as they are executed. Lines are written to the diagnostic stream (standard error by default) or standard output. Lines are written after variables and most script directives, including flow-of-control directives, are evaluated. .ig

.. .LP \fB-showbad\fR .IP \0 Identify unplottable data, showing the value, and its row and field. .ig

.. .LP \fB-diagfile\fR .ig .. \fIfilename | stderr | stdout\fR .IP \0 All non-error messages and output will be written to this file (default is stderr). .ig

.. .LP \fB-errmsgpre\fR .ig .. \fItag\fR .IP \0 Allows developer to set the first portion of all ploticus error messages to \fCtag\fR for purposes of presentation or identification. .ig

.. .LP \fB-errfile\fR .ig .. \fIfilename | stderr | stdout\fR .IP \0 All error messages will be written to this file (default is stderr). .ig

.. .LP \fB-help\fR or \fB-?\fR or \fB-version\fR .IP \0 Print version number, copyright info, web site address, etc. .ig

.. .ig .. .SH Output file names The output file may be specified on the command line using the \fB-o\fR option, or via Proc Page's outfilename attribute. If so, the result is written to a file of that name. \fC-o stdout\fR may also be used to send result to standard output. .LP Otherwise, if your script filename has a "recognized extension" .\" a prefab is being used or ( \fB.p\fR, \fB.pl\fR, \fB.plo\fR, \fB.pls\fR, \fB.htm\fR or \fB.html\fR ), the base part of the script file name is used and \fC.png\fR, \fC.gif\fR, etc. is appended. If your script filename doesn't have a recognized extension, the generic name \fCout.*\fR will be used. .LP X11 output is always displayed on the screen, and paginated PostScript is written to standard output unless \fC-o\fR is used. .LP If page breaks (Proc Page) are encountered when rendering in any format other than paginated PostScript, special action is necessary since each page must go into a separate file. A Proc Page \fCoutfilename\fR may be specified for each page; otherwise a \fCp\fIn\fR prefix will be attached to the beginning of each page's output file name to indicate page \fIn\fR. .LP If a .ig .. \0clickmap .ig .. is being generated, the result file is named similarly to the above. .ig .ig

.. .SH Usage examples .LP The following example uses the .ig .. \0scat prefab: .ig .. .IP \0 \fCploticus \-prefab scat \-png datafile=results.dat x=2 y=3\fR .LP The following examples assume that you have a script file called \fClineplot1.p\fR. .IP \0 \fCploticus \-x lineplot1.p\fR = view on X11 screen .IP \fCploticus \-png lineplot1.p\fR = create PNG image lineplot1.png .IP \fCploticus \-gif lineplot1.p \-o stdout\fR = create GIF image on standard output .IP \fCploticus \-gif lineplot1.p \-viewer xv\fR = produce GIF and view using xv (assuming xv image viewer is available on your system). .IP \fCploticus \-eps lineplot1.p\fR = produce EPS file lineplot1.eps .IP \fCploticus \-eps lineplot1.p \-viewer gv\fR = produce EPS and view using gv (that's ghostview, assuming it is available on your system). .IP \fCploticus \-eps lineplot1.p \-o lineplot.eps\fR = produce EPS into file lineplot.eps .IP \fCploticus \-ps lineplot1.p | lp\fR = produce paginated postscript and send to unix lp print spooler. .IP \fCploticus \-ps lineplot1.p \-veiwer gv\fR = produce paginated postscript and view using ghostview. .ig

.. .ig .. .SH Environment .LP \fBPLOTICUS_CONFIG\fR .IP \0 The name of a .ig .. \0ploticus configuation file .ig .. , for setting default date notations, number notations, measurement units, etc. .ig

.. .LP \fBPLOTICUS_PREFABS\fR .IP \0 The path name of a directory where ploticus will look for .ig .. \0prefab .ig .. scripts. The "factory" prefabs are located in the ploticus ./prefabs subdirectory. .ig

.. .LP \fBLC_CTYPE\fR, \fBLC_COLLATE\fR, \fBLANG\fR .IP \0 Locale support. Thanks to Oleg Bartunov oleg@sai.msu.su for contributing this. \fBploticus\fR must be built with \-DLOCALE for this to work. .ig

.. .LP \fBTDH_ERRMODE\fR .IP \0 Control the disposition of error messages. Allowable values: \fCstderr\fR which is the default, and \fCcgi\fR which causes error messages to be written to stdout with html formatting. .ig

.. .ig .. .SH Bugs Ploticus has some stated .ig .. \0limitations .ig .. (mostly related to capacities that you may run into if you're dealing with large data sets). To report problems or get help see the .ig .. \0ploticus support page. .ig .. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH Author, Copyright, Licensing The primary author is .ig .. \0Stephen C. Grubb. .ig .. Ploticus covered by the General Public License (GPL)... please see the .ig .. \0ploticus copyright page .ig .. for more info. .ig .. .ig

.. .SH See also .ig .. \0http://ploticus.sourceforge.net .ig .. .ig

data display engine
Copyright Steve Grubb

Ploticus is hosted at http://ploticus.sourceforge.net