INTRODUCTION Remember how excited we got the first time we used 1-2-3 (or some other spreadsheet) to plot our data? It seemed so much easier than what we were used to before. But power is addicting. Soon we found it a pain to massage the data. To zoom in on a section of the data was painful. Well, 321PLOT provides a simple and FAST way to obtain line plots of your scientific data. Using simple ASCII format input, you can: * Obtain color display plots of up to 6 tables of data * Flexibly and interactively scale the data to zoom into any section * Print the graph as it is displayed on any of the following printers (or compatible) - Note: Provided for registered users only EPSON 9 PIN HP DeskJet 500C HP 7440 PLOTTER EPSON 24 PIN HP PaintJet HP 7470 PLOTTER HP LaserJet 100 HP Thinkjet HP 7475A FOR HP LaserJet 150 HPGL LASERJET 3 HP LaserJet 300 HP 7475A PLOTTER Postscript HP DeskJet HP 7550 PLOTTER * Format the data as lines, symbols, or lines and symbols * Label the graph, each axis, and each line * Interactively turn on/off lines on the plot * View with a grid or without HOW TO SET UP THE DATA 321PLOT takes a simple ASCII data file of the following format: Line 1: Plot Title Line 2: X axis Title Line 3: Y axis Title Line 4: Comma delimited names of each data column Line 5: Maximum # of data points and [optionally] delta X. If the delta X is not specified, the first column will be used as the X axis. In this mode, x axis data need not be monotonic. Line 6: Comma delimited data points. Each column of data will represent one line. The following represents a data fragment taken from EXAMPLE.DAT included with this package: Graph Title X Title y Title Line 1,Line 2,Line 3, Line 4, Line 5, Line 6 56,0.5 1,2,3,4,5,6 2,3,4,5,6,6 3,4,5,6,7,6 4,5,6,7,7,6 5,6,7,8,7,6 Where in this sample, "Graph Title" is just what it says "X Title" is the title on the X axis "Y Title" is the title on the Y axis "Line 1,..." are the titles of the lines "56,0.5" indicates to read no more than 56 lines of data and says that each line represents 0.5 increment on the X axis. "1,2,3,4,5,6" represents the six lines of data RESTRICTIONS All columns must have the same number of data points. No more than 16,000 data points can be specified per column. If only three lines titles are defined on line 4, only three columns of data will be plotted. HOW TO USE 321PLOT How to Start 321PLOT From the DOS prompt, enter: 321PLOT filename.ext where filename.ext is the filename containing the ASCII data defined above. How to Turn On/Off certain data lines Use the function keys F1 through F6 to toggle the On/Off status of each column. Since 321PLOT automatically scales each plot, turning off certain data lines may enable you to change the full scale. Data Lines turned off will not be displayed or printed. How to Format 321PLOT allows you to use either lines, symbols or both to plot your data. This affects printing and displaying. Use F7 to toggle formatting. How to turn the Grid Off F8 toggles the status of the Grid. How to Display the Full Scale Plot F9 allows you to display the full scale results of the selected data. This may change depending on which data is selected. How to Zoom in on selected portions of the plot Using the F10 key, 321PLOT allows you to set Scale mode to: Minimum X axis Minimum Y axis Maximum X axis Maximum Y axis Center the Data Once the Scale mode is selected, you may enter the data numerically (only within the range displayed) or use the arrow keys to change the scale. In this way you can easily Zoom in and out of selected regions of data. How to Print (For Registered users only) Use the "P" key to print your plot to LPT1:. You may select different printers using the environment variable PLOT_NUM. At the DOS prompt, type: SET PLOT_NUM=X where X represents your printer from the following list: EPSON 9 PIN driver mode definitions 0 60 x 72 dpi 1 120 x 72 dpi 2 240 x 216 dpi EPSON 24 PIN driver mode definitions 3 LQ 180x180 dpi 4 LQ 180X360 dpi 5 LQ 360x360 dpi HP LaserJet driver mode definitions Also applies to HP DeskJet B&W modes 6 HP LaserJet 100 dpi 7 HP LaserJet 150 dpi 8 HP LaserJet 300 dpi HP DeskJet 500C driver mode definitions 9 100 dpi B&W 10 150 dpi B&W 11 300 dpi B&W HP PaintJet driver mode definitions 12 90 dpi B&W 13 180 dpi B&W 14 90 dpi B&W 15 180 dpi B&W 16 180 dpi B&W, PaintJet XL only 17 HP Thinkjet HP 7475A PLOTTER 18 A size paper 19 B size paper 20 A4 size paper 21 A3 size paper HP 7550 PLOTTER 22 A size paper 23 B size paper 24 A4 size paper 25 A3 size paper HP 7440 PLOTTER 26 A4 size paper HP 7470 PLOTTER 27 A3 size paper HP 7475A FOR LASERJET 3 28 HPLJ_HPGL_A 29 HPLJ_HPGL_B Postscript driver mode definitions 30 PS_COURIER 31 PS_HELV 32 PS_TIMES 33 PS_SYM How to obtain 321PLOT help From the plot screen, type the "H" key to obtain 321PLOT help. Use the to exit help. How to exit 321PLOT From the plot screen, type the key.