Name¶
ploticus - data display package
Synopsis¶
ploticus -prefab
prefabname parm=value .. [
-options]
.. OR ..
ploticus
scriptfile [
-options]
Description¶
ploticus is the primary component of the 'ploticus' data display
package
ploticus 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
prefab plot templates , or a user-developed script file may be
supplied for greater flexibility and customization.
ploticus may be
executed from the command line or as a CGI program.
For complete online docs and downloads see
http://ploticus.sourceforge.net
Where to find examples¶
See the various prefab examples . A large number of script
examples are also available. Some usage examples are also shown below.
Command line arguments¶
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
config file. Many settings can also be made dynamically from scripts
via proc settings or proc page. Processing occurs in this order:
first the config file is read; then command line args are processed (left to
right); then proc page and/or proc settings. Later settings
override earlier ones.
Basic command line options¶
-prefab prefabname
-
- Produce a plot using a prefab plot template.
prefabname identifies the template, eg. cron or vbars. Necessary
parameters are supplied on the command line using the form
parm=value.
scriptfile
-f scriptfile
-
- names a script file that will be interpreted to
produce results. Alternatively, -stdin may be used to indicate that
script will be available on standard input.
variable=
value
-
- Declares the named variable and sets it to the given
value. This is a convenient way to pass information to prefabs and
scripts. Variable names are case-sensitive.
Example: CUTDATE=10-31-98
sets the variable CUTDATE to 10-31-98.
-o outfile | stdout
-
- 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 .png for PNG files. If -o stdout
is used, result will be sent to standard output. If -o is not
specified, a default output filename will be used.
Example: -o fp001.png
-dir dirname
-
- Set ploticus' working directory to dirname. If used,
this argument should be specified leftmost on the command line, since it
affects evaluation of other args.
(Availability depends on your ploticus configuration/build)
-png PNG image
-gif pseudo-GIF image
-jpeg JPEG image
-svg or
-svgz SVG graphic. See also SVG / XML options
below.
-swf SWF (flash) result.
-wbmp WBMP image
-eps EPS (encapsulated PostScript)
-ps paginated PostScript to stdout
-x11 display on X11 screen
-drawdump filename produce no visible graphic; save a generic
representation of the graphic result to a file. By using -drawdump and
-drawdumpa you can easily overlay or combine results from separate
ploticus runs. The drawdump file can be rendered later in any desired format,
using this command: ploticus -prefab draw dumpfile=
filename or by
using proc drawcommands. Drawdump capability is available in all
builds. (2.30+)
-drawdumpa filename same as -drawdump but result is
appended to file.
Clickable image maps and mouseover options¶
-csmap
-
- produce a client-side clickable imagemap 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.
-csmapdemo
-
- Same as -csmap but all mapped regions are shown
outlined in green, and a complete HTML chunk is produced which involves
the output image name.
-mapfile filename | stdout | stderr
-
- explicitly name the output file containing the map info.
The name may also be set in proc page. 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.
-map
-
- produce a server-side clickable imagemap file to
accompany a png, gif, jpeg, or SVG. Note: server-side maps are
deprecated.
Result sizing options¶
-scale sx[,
sy]
-
- 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.
Example: -scale 0.7
-pagesize width,height
-
- 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. width and
height are in absolute units. 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.
- 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. To create PNG/GIF/JPEG images larger than
8" x 8", this option MUST be specified to set a bigger size.
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.
- -pagesize has no effect with EPS or paginated
PostScript results (the PostScript BoundingBox will be determined by the
extent of the graphic).
- Example: -pagesize 7,3
-tightcrop
-
- 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
-croprel.
-crop x1,y1,x2,y2
-
- Crop image or EPS result to the box specified by
x1,y1 and x2,y2, in absolute units.
Note that there may be no spaces in the coordinates specification. Cropping
takes place after design is rendered and does not affect coordinate
locations.
Example: -crop 1.2,0.8,4.4,5.2
-croprel left,bottom,right,top
-
- Crop image or EPS result tightly to the extent of the
design (like -tightcrop), but then adjust the cropping outward or
inward on one or more sides. left is the amount to adjust the left
side, in absolute units. Similarly for bottom, right,
and top. Positive values always adjust outward from center;
negative values adjust inward (tighter). There may be no spaces in the
left,bottom,right,top specification. Cropping takes place after
design is rendered and does not affect coordinate locations.
Example: -croprel 0,-0.1,0,0.1
-pixsize width,height
-
- 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
Graphics environment options¶
-font font
-
- sets the overall font to font. See fonts for
more info.
-textsize pointsize
-
- sets the overall default textsize to pointsize. All
embedded size specifications will be rendered relative to this.
-linewidth w
-
- sets the overall default linewidth to w. All
embedded line width specifications will be rendered relative to this. See
linedetails(pli) for more on line width.
-color color
-
- sets the overall default text and line drawing color to
color.
-backcolor color
-
- sets the background color to color.
-cm
-
- 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 proc settings. If cm will always be the desired
absolute units, the preferred way to achieve this is by using units: cm in
a ploticus config file.
-inches
-
- Use inches as your absolute units. This is the default.
-outlabel label
-
- Set the label or title for the output. For X11 this sets
the window title; for PostScript and SVG it sets the %%Title attribute.
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 pl.h.
-maxrows nrows
-
- Set the capacity for data rows to nrows. Default
nrows is 10,000. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each row.
-maxfields nfields
-
- Set the capacity for data fields to nfields. Default
nfields is 200,000. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each
field.
-maxproclines nlines
-
- Set the capacity for script lines for active procs to
nlines. Default nlines is 5000. Active procs are the current
proc, all #saved procs, and all proc getdata procs that contain embedded
data. Ploticus will allocate one pointer for each line in each active
proc.
-maxvector ncells
-
- Set the capacity for the data plotting vector to
ncells. Default ncells 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
double value for each cell.
-maxdrawpoints n
-
- 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.
Note: raising the maximum number of categories may be done using proc
categories from within the script.
-cpulimit #Include nbsp2
s
-
- Set unix resource limit on cpu time to s seconds.
Default is 30 seconds. New in 2.40
SVG / XML options:¶
-svg_tagparms string
-
- This allows arbitrary text to be inserted into the opening
<svg> tag.
Example: -svg_tagparms 'height="10cm" width="15cm"'
-omit_xml_declaration
-
- By default the first line of the SVG result will be the XML
declaration <?xml .. > . Use this option to suppress the XML
declaration line if the SVG result is to be embedded into a larger XML
document.
-xml_encoding method
-
- Set the XML character encoding method. This encoding will
be indicated in the XML declaration line. The default is iso-8859-1 which
provides Latin and Western European character sets. For Unicode fonts this
should be set to utf-8 (for more discussion see the Unicode section in
fonts ).
-tag
-
- Causes a suitable HTML <EMBED> tag to be written to
standard output.
-zlevel n
-
- This may be used to set the compression level to n
for SVGZ output (0 - 9 where 9 is highest level of compression and the
default).
Interactive (workstation) use options¶
-winloc x,y
-
- Control where on the screen the upper-left corner of the
X11 display window will be placed. x and y are in pixels.
Example: -winloc 200 0
-v command
-viewer command
-
- After generating results in the specified format, execute
command in order to view the results on your screen. The output
file will automatically be included in the command. For example, if
a GIF file is being generated you might use this to invoke the xv utility:
-viewer xv. If PostScript is being generated you could use something like
this to invoke the ghostview utility: -viewer "gv -magstep -1".
The given command must be available on your system and locatable in your
command search path. This option may not be used with -o stdout.
-noshell
-
- 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
Paper orientation options¶
-landscape
-
- For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to
landscape (oblong).
-portrait
-
- For paginated postscript, set paper orientation to
portrait.
-posteroffset x,y
-
- 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 -scale and
-textsize options. x,y is the point within your result (in
absolute units ) that is to be placed at the lower left corner of
the page. For further discussion of this, see posters .
Development and debugging options¶
-debug
-
- Debug mode. Causes dianostic information to be written to
the diagnostic stream (stderr by default, see -diagfile below). Highly
recommended if you are experiencing difficulty. Best to use -debug 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.
-ping
-
- Write the ploticus name and version number to standard
output and exit. versions 2.33+
-echo [ diag | stdout]
-
- 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.
-showbad
-
- Identify unplottable data, showing the value, and its row
and field.
-diagfile filename | stderr | stdout
-
- All non-error messages and output will be written to this
file (default is stderr).
-errmsgpre tag
-
- Allows developer to set the first portion of all ploticus
error messages to tag for purposes of presentation or identification.
-errfile filename | stderr | stdout
-
- All error messages will be written to this file (default is
stderr).
-help or
-? or
-version
-
- Print version number, copyright info, web site address,
etc.
Output file names¶
The output file may be specified on the command line using the
-o option,
or via Proc Page's outfilename attribute. If so, the result is written to a
file of that name. -o stdout may also be used to send result to standard
output.
Otherwise, if your script filename has a "recognized extension" (
.p,
.pl,
.plo,
.pls,
.htm or
.html
), the base part of the script file name is used and .png, .gif, etc. is
appended. If your script filename doesn't have a recognized extension, the
generic name out.* will be used.
X11 output is always displayed on the screen, and paginated PostScript is
written to standard output unless -o is used.
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 outfilename may be specified for each page;
otherwise a p
n prefix will be attached to the beginning of each page's
output file name to indicate page
n.
If a clickmap is being generated, the result file is named similarly to
the above.
Usage examples¶
The following example uses the scat prefab:
-
- ploticus -prefab scat -png datafile=results.dat x=2 y=3
The following examples assume that you have a script file called lineplot1.p.
-
-
ploticus -x lineplot1.p = view on X11 screen
-
ploticus -png lineplot1.p = create PNG image lineplot1.png
-
ploticus -gif lineplot1.p -o stdout = create GIF image on standard
output
-
ploticus -gif lineplot1.p -viewer xv = produce GIF and view using xv
(assuming xv image viewer is available on your system).
-
ploticus -eps lineplot1.p = produce EPS file lineplot1.eps
-
ploticus -eps lineplot1.p -viewer gv = produce EPS and view using gv
(that's ghostview, assuming it is available on your system).
-
ploticus -eps lineplot1.p -o lineplot.eps = produce EPS into file
lineplot.eps
-
ploticus -ps lineplot1.p | lp = produce paginated postscript and send to
unix lp print spooler.
-
ploticus -ps lineplot1.p -veiwer gv = produce paginated postscript and view
using ghostview.
Environment¶
PLOTICUS_CONFIG
-
- The name of a ploticus configuation file , for
setting default date notations, number notations, measurement units, etc.
PLOTICUS_PREFABS
-
- The path name of a directory where ploticus will look for
prefab scripts. The "factory" prefabs are located in the
ploticus ./prefabs subdirectory.
LC_CTYPE,
LC_COLLATE,
LANG
-
- Locale support. Thanks to Oleg Bartunov oleg@sai.msu.su for
contributing this. ploticus must be built with -DLOCALE for this to
work.
TDH_ERRMODE
-
- Control the disposition of error messages. Allowable
values: stderr which is the default, and cgi which causes error messages
to be written to stdout with html formatting.
Bugs¶
Ploticus has some stated limitations (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 ploticus support page.
Author, Copyright, Licensing¶
The primary author is Stephen C. Grubb. Ploticus covered by the General
Public License (GPL)... please see the ploticus copyright page for more
info.
See also¶
http://ploticus.sourceforge.net