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.TH PLOTICUS PL "Ploticus data display engine"

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<b>Ploticus data display engine</b><br>
<a href="../doc/Welcome.html"><img src="../gallery/btn/welcome.gif"></a>
<a href="../gallery/index.html"><img src="../gallery/btn/gallery.gif"></a>
<a href="../doc/Contents.html"><img src="../gallery/btn/handbook.gif"></a>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<h1>WCTB Welcome</h1>
<br>
<img src="../gallery/all.gif"><br>
</center>
<font size="+1">
<br><br>
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.LP
\fBPloticus\fR is a rewritten version of IPL, our in-house
package for creating graphical data displays.  The new package
includes most of the functionality of IPL, along with many new
features and capabilities.  The script file syntax is similar,
but IPL control files need to be converted manually to work with 
the new package (see below).  I (scg) would be happy to convert
the more important files over as needed - just ask.
.LP
The package is also available on the web at www.sgpr.net
and may be downloaded from there if desired.


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.SH WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?
.LP
\fBPloticus\fR is conceptually simple.  It includes two programs: 
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<a href="pl.1.html">
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pl
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</a>
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for producing plots, charts and graphs,
and
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<a href="pltab.1.html">
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pltab
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</a>
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(successor to 'Nicetab') for producing presentable tables and tabular graphs.



.SH GETTING STARTED
.LP
Probably the easiest way to get started is to
look through the 
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<a href="../gallery/index.html">
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Ploticus Gallery
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</a>
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using your web browser (or on emme at /wctb/src/graphcore/ploticus/gallery)
and look at some of the script files.
Then copy or
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<a href="../gallery/gall.using.html">
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download one to try
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</a>
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 .  You can modify the script as desired using 
your favorite text editor, using the hyperlinked
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<a href="Contents.html">
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handbook
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</a>
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as a guide.

.SH CONTROL FILE SYNTAX DIFFERENCES
Here is a start at understanding the differences between IPL control
files and ploticus script files:
.LP
1. Case doesn't matter in proc names, key or attribute names.
.LP
2. \fBProc\fR, \fBClone\fR, and \fBSaveas\fR are now 
\fB#proc\fR, \fB#clone\fR, and \fB#saveas\fR (and case doesn't matter).
.LP
3. Comments are signified by \fB//\fR as the first non-white-space matter on a line
.LP
4. The scripts use the DMS script processor, so constructs like \fB#declare\fR,
\fB#set\fR, \fB#if\fR, and \fB#loop\fR may be used, as well as @VARIABLES.
.LP
5. Multi-line attributes must always terminate with a blank line.
.LP
6. Many of the attribute names / usage have changed.  Some of the more common are:
.IP
In \fBproc areadef\fR, \fBXmin\fR and \fBXmax\fR are now handled by \fBxrange\fR.
.IP
\fBYmin\fR and \fBYmax\fR are now handled by \fByrange\fR.
.IP
\fBXinc\fR \fIn\fR is now \fBxaxis.stubs: inc\fR \fIn\fR
.IP
\fBYinc\fR \fIn\fR is now \fByaxis.stubs: inc\fR \fIn\fR
.IP
In \fBproc getdata\fR, \fBDatafile\fR is now \fBfile\fR.

.LP
In the near future I hope to write a script to automate some of the conversion work.


.SH AUTHOR
Steve Grubb  
