NAME
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO - Object-oriented interface from perl/PDL to the PLPLOT plotting library
SYNOPSIS
use PDL;
use PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO;
my $pl = PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new (DEV => "png", FILE => "test.png");
my $x = sequence(10);
my $y = $x**2;
$pl->line($x, $y);
$pl->close;
For more information on PLplot, see
http://plplot.sourceforge.net
Also see the PLplot documentation at:
http://plplot.sourceforge.net/resources/docbook-manual/
Also see the test file, test.pl in this distribution for some working examples.
DESCRIPTION
This is the PDL interface to the PLplot graphics library. It is designed to be simple and light weight with a familiar 'perlish' Object Oriented interface.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported. Most options can be used with any function. A few are only supported on the call to 'new'.
Options used upon creation of a PLplot object (with 'new'):
BACKGROUND
Set the color for index 0, the plot background
DEV
Set the output device type. To see a list of allowed types, try:
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new();
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png');
FILE
Set the output file or display. For file output devices, sets the output file name. For graphical displays (like 'xwin') sets the name of the display, eg ('hostname.foobar.com:0')
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png');
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'xwin', FILE => ':0');
FRAMECOLOR
Set color index 1, the frame color
JUST
A flag used to specify equal scale on the axes. If this is not specified, the default is to scale the axes to fit best on the page.
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png', JUST => 1);
ORIENTATION
The orientation of the plot: 0 -- 0 degrees (landscape mode) 1 -- 90 degrees (portrait mode) 2 -- 180 degrees (seascape mode) 3 -- 270 degrees (upside-down mode)
Intermediate values (0.2) are acceptable if you are feeling daring.
# portrait orientation
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png', ORIENTATION => 1);
PAGESIZE
Set the size in pixels of the output page.
# PNG 500 by 600 pixels
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png', PAGESIZE => [500,600]);
SUBPAGES
Set the number of sub pages in the plot, [$nx, $ny]
# PNG 300 by 600 pixels
# Two subpages stacked on top of one another.
PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png', PAGESIZE => [300,600],
SUBPAGES => [1,2]);
=head2 Options used after initialization (after 'new')
BOX
Set the plotting box in world coordinates. Used to explicitly set the size of the plotting area.
my $pl = PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png');
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, BOX => [0,100,0,200]);
CHARSIZE
Set the size of text in multiples of the default size. CHARSIZE => 1.5 gives characters %150 the normal size.
COLOR
Set the current color for plotting and character drawing. Colors are specified not as color indices but as RGB triples. Some pre-defined triples are included:
BLACK GREEN WHEAT BLUE
RED AQUAMARINE GREY BLUEVIOLET
YELLOW PINK BROWN CYAN
TURQUOISE MAGENTA SALMON WHITE
# These two are equivalent:
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, COLOR => 'YELLOW');
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, COLOR => [0,255,0]);
LINEWIDTH
Set the line width for plotting. Values range from 1 to a device dependent maximum.
LINESTYLE
Set the line style for plotting. Pre-defined line styles use values 1 to 8, one being a solid line, 2-8 being various dashed patterns.
PALETTE
Load pre-defined color map 1 color ranges. Currently, values include:
RAINBOW -- from Red to Violet through the spectrum
GREYSCALE -- from black to white via grey.
# Plot x/y points with the z axis in color
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, PALETTE => 'RAINBOW', PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS', COLORMAP => $z);
PLOTTYPE
Specify which type of XY plot is desired:
LINE -- A line
POINTS -- A bunch of symbols
LINEPOINTS -- both
SUBPAGE
Set which subpage to plot on. Subpages are numbered 1 to N. A zero can be specified meaning 'advance to the next subpage' (just a call to pladv()).
my $pl = PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png',
FILE => 'test.png',
SUBPAGES => [1,2]);
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, SUBPAGE => 1);
$pl->xyplot ($a, $b, SUBPAGE => 2);
SYMBOL
Specify which symbol to use when plotting PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS'. Special plotting symbols range from 0 to 31, 32 - 127 are ASCII characters.
SYMBOLSIZE
Specify the size of symbols plotted in multiples of the default size (1). Value are real numbers from 0 to large.
TEXTPOSITION
Specify the placement of text. Either relative to border, specified as: [$side, $disp, $pos, $just]
Where side = 't', 'b', 'l', or 'r' for top, bottom, left and right
disp is the number of character heights out from the edge
pos is the position along the edge of the viewport, from 0 to 1.
just tells where the reference point of the string is: 0 = left, 1 = right, 0.5 = center.
or inside the plot window, specified as: [$x, $y, $dx, $dy, $just]
Where:
x = x coordinate of reference point of string.
y = y coordinate of reference point of string.
dx Together with dy, this specifies the inclination of the string.
The baseline of the string is parallel to a line joining (x, y) to (x+dx, y+dy).
dy Together with dx, this specifies the inclination of the string.
just Specifies the position of the string relative to its reference point.
If just=0, the reference point is at the left and if just=1,
it is at the right of the string. Other values of just give
intermediate justifications.
# Plot text on top of plot
$pl->text ("Top label", TEXTPOSITION => ['t', 4.0, 0.5, 0.5]);
# Plot text in plotting area
$pl->text ("Line label", TEXTPOSITION => [50, 60, 5, 5, 0.5]);
TITLE
Add a title on top of a plot.
# Plot text on top of plot
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, TITLE => 'X vs. Y');
VIEWPORT
Set the location of the plotting window on the page. Takes a four element array ref specifying:
xmin The coordinate of the left-hand edge of the viewport. (0 to 1)
xmax The coordinate of the right-hand edge of the viewport. (0 to 1)
ymin The coordinate of the bottom edge of the viewport. (0 to 1)
ymax The coordinate of the top edge of the viewport. (0 to 1)
# Make a small plotting window in the lower left of the page
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, VIEWPORT => [0.1, 0.5, 0.1, 0.5]);
# Also useful in creating color keys:
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, PALETTE => 'RAINBOW', PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS', COLORMAP => $z);
$pl->colorkey ($z, 'v', VIEWPORT => [0.93, 0.96, 0.15, 0.85]);
XBOX
Specify how to label the X axis of the plot as a string of option letters:
a: Draws axis, X-axis is horizontal line (y=0), and Y-axis is vertical line (x=0).
b: Draws bottom (X) or left (Y) edge of frame.
c: Draws top (X) or right (Y) edge of frame.
f: Always use fixed point numeric labels.
g: Draws a grid at the major tick interval.
h: Draws a grid at the minor tick interval.
i: Inverts tick marks, so they are drawn outwards, rather than inwards.
l: Labels axis logarithmically. This only affects the labels, not the data,
and so it is necessary to compute the logarithms of data points before
passing them to any of the drawing routines.
m: Writes numeric labels at major tick intervals in the
unconventional location (above box for X, right of box for Y).
n: Writes numeric labels at major tick intervals in the conventional location
(below box for X, left of box for Y).
s: Enables subticks between major ticks, only valid if t is also specified.
t: Draws major ticks.
The default is 'BCNST' which draws lines around the plot, draws major and minor ticks and labels major ticks.
# plot two lines in a box with independent X axes labeled
# differently on top and bottom
$pl->xyplot($x1, $y, XBOX => 'bnst', # bottom line, bottom numbers, ticks, subticks
YBOX => 'bnst'); # left line, left numbers, ticks, subticks
$pl->xyplot($x2, $y, XBOX => 'cmst', # top line, top numbers, ticks, subticks
YBOX => 'cst', # right line, ticks, subticks
BOX => [$x2->minmax, $y->minmax]);
YBOX
Specify how to label the Y axis of the plot as a string of option letters. See XBOX.
YLAB
Specify a label for the Y axis.
XLAB
Specify a label for the X axis.
FUNCTIONS
new
Create an object representing a plot.
Arguments:
none.
Supported options:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
my $pl = PDL::Graphics::PLplotOO->new(DEV => 'png', FILE => 'test.png');
setparm
Set options for a plot object.
Arguments:
none.
Supported options:
All options except:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
(These must be set in call to 'new'.)
$pl->setparm (TEXTSIZE => 2);
xyplot
Plot XY lines and/or points. Also supports color scales for points. This function works with bad values. If a bad value is specified for a points plot, it is omitted. If a bad value is specified for a line plot, the bad value makes a gap in the line. This is useful for drawing maps--$x and $y can be continent boundary lat and lon, for example.
Arguments:
$x, $y
Supported options:
All options except:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
(These must be set in call to 'new'.)
$pl->xyplot($x, $y, PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS', COLOR => 'BLUEVIOLET', SYMBOL => 1, SYMBOLSIZE => 4);
$pl->xyplot($x, $y, PLOTTYPE => 'LINEPOINTS', COLOR => [50,230,30]);
$pl->xyplot($x, $y, PALETTE => 'RAINBOW', PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS', COLORMAP => $z);
text
Print text on the plot.
Arguments:
$text -- The text string to print. May contain PLplot escape sequences, see
http://plplot.sourceforge.net/resources/docbook-manual/plplotdoc-html-0.4.3/escape-sequences.html
Supported options:
All options except:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
(These must be set in call to 'new'.)
$pl->text ("Pressure (lb/in#u2#d): #(850)", TEXTPOSITION => ['b', 4.0, 0.5, 0.5]);
(See also the TEXTPOSITION option above)
colorkey
Plot a color key showing which color represents which value
Arguments:
$range : A PDL which tells the range of the color values
$orientation : 'v' for vertical color key, 'h' for horizontal
Supported options:
All options except:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
(These must be set in call to 'new'.)
# Plot X vs. Y with Z shown by the color. Then plot
# vertical key to the right of the original plot.
$pl->xyplot ($x, $y, PALETTE => 'RAINBOW', PLOTTYPE => 'POINTS', COLORMAP => $z);
$pl->colorkey ($z, 'v', VIEWPORT => [0.93, 0.96, 0.15, 0.85]);
shadeplot
Create a shaded contour plot of 2D PDL 'z' with 'nsteps' contour levels. Linear scaling is used to map the coordinates of Z(Y, X) to world coordinates via the BOX option.
Arguments:
$z : A 2D PDL which contains surface values at each XY coordinate.
This PDL is stored in Y, X order, as this is how the C code of PLplot requires it.
$nsteps : The number of contour levels requested for the plot.
Supported options:
All options except:
BACKGROUND
DEV
FILE
FRAMECOLOR
JUST
PAGESIZE
SUBPAGES
(These must be set in call to 'new'.)
# vertical key to the right of the original plot.
# The BOX must be specified to give real coordinate values to the $z array.
$pl->shadeplot ($z, $nsteps, BOX => [-1, 1, -1, 1], PALETTE => 'RAINBOW');
$pl->colorkey ($z, 'v', VIEWPORT => [0.93, 0.96, 0.15, 0.85]);
close
Close a PLplot object, writing out the file and cleaning up.
Arguments: None
Returns: Nothing
This closing of the PLplot object can be done explicitly though the 'close' method. Alternatively, a DESTROY block does an automatic close whenever the PLplot object passes out of scope.
$pl->close;
AUTHOR
Doug Hunt, dhunt\@ucar.edu.
SEE ALSO
perl(1), PDL(1), http://plplot.sourceforge.net/