R-Plot Version 2.0

© 2012 – 2020, Dr. J. Rathlev, 24222 Schwentinental, Germany

Overview


Quit program Zoom Export Color pick up Objects of a chart Charts Add new object Load sheet Save sheet Save sheet as Properties of sheet New sheet Main menu Refresh graphic Edit object Order of objects Print New chart Duplicate chart Edit chart Remove chart Order of charts Add axis Add text object Add data curve Add image Add best-fit Add function Add bar chart Add graphical object

Desktop

Click on a region of the following screenshot will lead to specific help for that region.



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Main menu

Sheet
New - Create a new sheet
Load .. - Load a saved sheet (F3)
Recently used .. - List of of recently used sheets
Save - Save a modified sheet (F2)
Save as .. - Save a sheet as new file
Properties .. - Edit properties of sheet
Print .. - Print sheet
Export
as Postscript - Export sheet as EPS
to clipboard - Copy sheet clipboard
Quit - Quit program
Chart
New .. - Add a new chart (Ctrl+D)
Edit .. - Edit properties (e.g. size and background color) of chart
Remove .. - Remove chart
Objects
Add
Axis
X axis - Add a horizontal axis(Ctrl+X)
Y axis - Add a vertical axis(Ctrl+Y)
Curve .. - Add a data curve (Ctrl+C)
Best-fit curve .. - Add a best-fit curve (Ctrl+F)
Graph
Bar graph .. - Add a bar graph (Ctrl+B)
Histogram .. - Add a histogram (Ctrl+H)
Function .. - Add a function (Ctrl+U)
Text
Box .. - Add multi-line text box (Ctrl+T)
Comment .. - Add rotatable single-line text (Ctrl+M)
Legend .. - Add legend for curve (Ctrl+G)
Result .. - Add box with best-fit results (Ctrl+R)
Image.. - Add an image (e.g. bmp, jpg, png) (Ctrl+I)
Other
Line .. - Add line with optional arrows (Ctrl+L)
Rectangle .. - Add rectangle with optional fill (Ctrl+O)
Edit .. - Edit the selected object (Ctrl+E)
Remove .. - Remove selected object
Preferences
Sheet - Edit preferences for new sheets
Language - Select desktop language
System default - Use the system default language.
English
German
Help
Documentation - Show this help file (F1)
About - Information about the program
References .. - Information on components used from other authors

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Tool bar

Create new sheet

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ New .. will open the dialog shown at right to enter a short description and select the sheet size, the margin widths (only required for direct sheet printing), the units to be used (cm or inch) and the preferences for the charts to be created afterwards. By default, the sheet size is set to 4 x 4 inch2 suitable to be inserted as a picture in a document.
The user can adjust this setting to his wishes anytime by calling the menu item Preferences⇒ Sheet.
Next to this, the program will create the first chart automatically fitting to the size of the sheet.

Edit sheet

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ Edit .. will open the dialog shown at right to edit the sheet properties described above. Use the buttons in the middle of the bottom section to load preferences from a file, save the current settings to a file or to reset all values to their default. Doing so, you can customize your basic design for different projects.

Load sheet

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ Load .. will open a dialog to select a saved sheet (file type: xrp). The sheet will be loaded and displayed immediately.
All recently used sheets are stored in a program internal list for fast selection:
Click the button or use the menu item Sheet ⇒ Recently used ...
Note: All sheets are saved as zip archives containing an XML file with the sheet data and the used images (if present) in BMP format.

Saving an edited sheet

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ Save .. will save the sheet data immediately using the current filename.

Saving a sheet with a new filename

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ Save as .. will save the sheet data under a new filename.


 

Graphical display

Adjust size

The graphic display will be scaled in a way that the sheet fits to the window.

Zoom in

The graphic display will be scaled up in steps of 1.4. The displayed details can be moved by mouse dragging or using the scroll bars.

Zoom out

The graphic display will be scaled down in steps of 1.4.

Update display

Clicking this button will redraw the graphic window.


Printing and export

Print the sheet

Clicking the button or using the menu item Sheet ⇒ Print .. will will open a dialog to select a printer and then start the print-out of the sheet.

Export sheet as Encapsulated-Postscript file (EPS)

The sheet will be converted to Postscript and saved as file which can later on be inserted for example as picture into a LaTeX document.

Copy sheet to Windows clipboard

The sheet will be copied to the Windows clipboard and can be inserted from there into any other appropriate application (such as text processing).


Pick up a color

Clicking the button will modify the cursor to an eyedropper if moved over the sheet. The color under the cursor will be displayed at the lower right with its RGB values. Clicking the mouse will save this color as user defined color and can be later on selected in each color dialog (e.g. for lines or background).


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Charts

 Add new chart

Clicking the button or using the menu item Chart ⇒ New .. will open a dialog to edit the chart settings. The chart size will be calculated automatically in a way that the first chart will fill the whole sheet. Adding more charts, they will be arranged vertically with appropriate heights. In doing so, an adjustable space for axes will be preserved. Nevertheless the user can change location and size of charts for his purposes.
Optional you can select a background color and a frame.

Each chart will be labeled automatically with a unique name but you can change this name if you want. The upper list on the desktop will show you all charts in the sheet with their names and the associated number of objects. A green check mark means that the chart is currently displayed, a red struck circle that the chart is not visible (refer to the check box at the lower left in the chart edit dialog). If a red cross is displayed instead, this chart was marked for removing.
When updating the graphic window, the charts will be drawn in the order shown in the list. That means that a chart placed further down will overlap charts placed above. To change this order click one of the arrow buttons. The position of the selected chart will be moved accordingly.

 Edit chart

Clicking the button or using the menu item Chart ⇒ Edit .. will open the dialog to edit the chart settings:

All chart settings including the settings for objects can be saved as template for reuse in other charts:
Load a chart template
Save current settings as template

Remove chart

Clicking the button or using the menu item Chart ⇒ Remove .. the selected chart will be marked as deleted which is displayed by a red cross in the list of charts. You can undo this anytime before saving the sheet by clicking the button provided for this purpose. Saving a sheet will delete the marked charts definitely.

Duplicate a chart

Clicking the button will create a clone of the selected chart including all its objects. Position and size of the other charts will be adjusted automatically.



Objects of a chart

You can add different objects to each chart. Just click one of the buttons in the tool palette. Some buttons will open a submenu for a specific selection. Each object will be labeled automatically by the program with a unique name, but you can change this if you wants.
The lower list on the desktop will show you all objects of the selected chart with their names and type information. A green check mark means that the object is currently displayed, a red struck circle that the object is not visible (refer to the check box at the lower left in the edit dialogs of the provided objects). If a red cross is displayed instead, this object was marked for removing.
When updating the graphic window, the objects will be drawn in the order shown in the list. That means that an object placed further down will overlap objects placed above. To change this order click one of the arrow buttons. The position of the selected object will be moved accordingly.

Some object dialogs offer the option to save the settings (e.g. for an axis) as template. You can load such a template to reuse the settings for other objects
Load a template
Save current settings as template
 

Add coordinate axis

The selection menu offers to create an X or Y axis or to duplicate an existing axis. The dialog window (see picture at the right) shows the properties of the new axis for editing by the user:

 

Add data curve

If this button is clicked on an empty sheet, a new sheet filling chart including two axes for X and Y will be created automatically. The ranges will be adjusted after the entry of the data points.
The dialog window (see the picture at the right) shows the properties of the curve for editing by the user:

Data input

The data input uses a text editor and is done line by line (see picture at the right). You can use either the tab or the space key to separate the columns. In the upper part of the window, you can select if the data set contains error values. According to this, additional columns will be provided (see the picture at the lower right). Error values are always given as differences to the nominal value and can be asymmetrical (values must be positive in any case).
In the lower part of the window, you will find a tool bar with buttons for the following functions:
Paste text from clipboard
Sort table by increasing X values
Switch between block and column mode on marking text
Search for text
Replace text
Find or replace next text


 

Date and time input

Both manual input and import can use the following formats:


 

Import data

All data saved in CSV format (comma separated values) can be imported. Because this format is supported by many applications, it provides a versatile data source. The format settings in detail and the column allocation can be selected (see picture at the right). Leading comment lines can be skipped.
Depending on the CSV file to be imported, the column separator (e.g. comma or semicolon), the decimal separator (point or comma) and the field delimiter (e.g. quotations marks) must be selected as required. In lower window a section of the CSV file to be imported will be displayed for examination. The columns must be selected by clicking the small arrows beside of the column counters. A green dot signals that the value was read faultlessly. If the signal is red, either the column separator or the column selection is faulty.

Reduce data by factor ..: To reduce the number of a large amount of data sets, a factor can be specified. For example a number of 5 will take the average of each five data sets.


 

Add best-fit curve

Computing the best-fit curve (linear function or polynomial up to 10th degree) uses the method of least squares. The scaling in X or Y direction can independently of each be linear, logarithmic or inverse.

Add function as curve

A function described by an arithmetic expression will be added to the chart. If this button is clicked on an empty sheet, a new sheet filling chart including two axes for X and Y will be created automatically. The range of the X axis must be specified before the function can be entered.
The dialog window (see the picture at the right) shows the properties of the function for editing by the user:

Special charts

Add bar chart

If this button is clicked on an empty sheet, a new sheet filling chart including two axes for X and Y will be created automatically. The ranges will be adjusted after the entry of the data points.
The dialog window (see the picture at the right) shows the properties of the bar chart for editing by the user:

Add histogram

If this button is clicked on an empty sheet, a new sheet filling chart including two axes for X and Y will be created automatically. The ranges will be adjusted after the entry of the data points.
On data entry, only one set of X values is required. Prior to displaying the chart, the program will compute automatically how many values will fit to each a stripe. The dialog window (see the picture at the right) shows the properties of the bar chart for editing by the user:

Add text objects

Use this function to add independently placeable text. There are four variants (text box, comment, legend and Best-fit result) as described below. All have the following common properties:

Text box

The text can contain several lines. The size of border and background are adjusted automatically.

Comments

A comment can only hold one line but can be rotated. The reference point rotation is selectable.

Legends

A legend shows a short snippet (symbol + line) of a curve or function together with a short, user defined description.

Best-fit result

A text box is displayed showing the result of the computation for the best-fit (polynomial coefficients).

 

Add graphic objects

Use this function to add lines (optionally with arrow heads) and rectangles (transparent or colored) to your chart. Each object can be dragged and scaled interactively in the graphic window using the mouse.

Lines

 

Rectangle


 

Add image

Use this function to insert any image (jpg, bmp, gif, png, tif or emf) into the chart. The image can be dragged interactively in the graphic window using the mouse.



Preferences

The preferences define the properties that will be used for new sheets, charts and objects. Preferences can be saved in a template file and loaded later on again. Doing so, it is possible to provide basic settings for different projects. All numeric values refer to the currently selected unit (cm or inch).

Sheet

The default values for the sheet size are designed to create a picture to be inserted in a document (4 x 4 inch2, no margin). The size can be adjusted to any value or selected from the common paper formats (e.g. ISO A4). Margins are only required for sheets which should be printed directly.
In addition you can select the background color and the unit of length to be used (cm or inch).

Charts

The background of the charts can be transparent (uses the color of the sheet) or displayed in a selectable color. In addition the border width and the space for the axis labeling can be adjusted.

Axes

The distance between the axis labels and the axis caption and the particular font size can be adjusted separately, as well as the line width and the length of the tick marks. In addition you can select the decimal separator for numeric values and if the chart should be enframed by axes (left and right, resp. bottom and top).

Lines and symbols

Defines the preferences for curves and functions: Line width and style (e.g. solid or dotted), line color and the size, color and shape (e.g. circle or square) of the symbols used for marking the measurement points. The fill color refers to the graphic object rectangle.

Text

Select the default text font, size, style and color for axis captions and other text.


Individual text formatting

Anfang

Use the following format characters to enclose particular parts of text which should be displayed in a special style (e.g. bold or italic), as super- or subscript, as Greek letters or mathematical symbols:

Special characters

Greek letters

GreekCharacter
ΑA
ΒB
ΧC
ΔD
ΕE
ΦF
ΓG
ΗH
ΙI
ϑJ
ΚK
ΛL
ΜM
 
GreekCharacter
ΝM
ΟO
ΠP
ΘQ
ΡR
ΣS
ΤT
ΥU
ςV
ΩW
ΞX
ΨY
ΖZ
 
GreekCharacter
αa
βb
χc
δd
εe
φf
γg
ηh
ιi
φj
κk
λl
μm
 
GreekCharacter
νm
οo
πp
θq
ρr
σs
τt
υu
ϖv
ωw
ξx
ψy
ζz

Mathematical symbols

The hex equivalents are shown in parentheses.

SymbolCharacter
@(0040)
°(00B0)
»(00BB)
£(00A3)
³(00B3)
¥(00A5)
×´(00B4)
Ä(00C4)
Å(00C5)
Õ(00D5)
å(00E5)
Ö(00D6)
ò(00F2)
á(00E1)
ñ(00F1)
 
SymbolCharacter
^(005E)
«(00AB)
®(00AE)
¯(00AF)
¿(00BF)
Û(00DB)
Ü(00DC)
Ý(00DD)
Þ(00DE)
ß(00DF)
à(00E0)
§(00A7)
ª(00AA)
©(00A9)
¨(00A8)
 
SymbolCharacter
À(00C0)
Á(00C1)
Â(00C2)
Ã(00C3)
(00B6)
Ñ(00D1)
Æ(00C6)
Ç(00C7)
È(00C8()
É(00C9))
Ê(00CA)
Ë(00CB)
Ì(00CC)
Í(00CD)
\(005C)

Examples:

y^2^ ⇒ y2 x_1_^2^ ⇒ x12 x_1_^2^ = y_4_^(a+b)^a^2^ ⇒ x12 = y4(a+b) a2
*bold* textbold text \italic\ textitalic text !abcd! ⇒ αβχδ !å@³! ⇒ ∑≅ℜ≥

Entry of special characters

To enter characters not available on the keyboard, you can open a dialog (see the picture at the right) to select the desired character with a mouse click from a table or by entering the associated hex code in the field at the lower left.


Command line

If starting the program via a desktop shortcut or from another program, it is possible to control its behavior by the following option:

none
The program starts showing the last opened sheet.
 
[Sheet]
The specified Sheet will be loaded and displayed..
 
/ini:[IniFile]
All program settings made by the user (such as the preferences for new sheets) are saved in the file RPlot.ini. By default, you will find this file in the directory used for the Application data of the user:
Using this option you can select an alternative configuration file in the default directory (e.g. /ini:pb.ini ) or at any other location. For this, a full path must be specified.
 

Keyboard shortcuts

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  F1
F2
F3
Ctrl+B
Ctrl+C
Ctrl+D
Ctrl+E
Ctrl+F
Ctrl+H
Ctrl+G
Ctrl+I
Ctrl+L
Ctrl+M
Ctrl+O
Ctrl+R
Ctrl+T
Ctrl+U
Ctrl+X
Ctrl+Y
this help
Save a sheet
Load a sheet
Add a bar chart
Add a data curve
Add a new chart
Edit selected object
Add a best-fit curve
Add a histogram
Add a legend
Add an image
Add a line
Add a comment
Add a rectangle
Add a best-fir result
Add a text box
Add a function
Add an X axis
Add a Y axis

Dr. J. Rathlev, 24222 Schwentinental, Germany, April 2020