Right click on a curve

[Peter Simmonds]

I've re-started using DPlot Junior, brilliant program!. Really useful for plotting out data from another application through the DPlot.DLL. One problem, when I right-click axes, legend etc. I can edit the various display options. However, right clicking on a curve doesn't work, I just get the same menu as from the graph area (long menu starting with "Linear X - Linear Y" instead of "Line style" etc. What am I doing wrong, I've tried everything and can't find anything in the forum about this.

Thanks

Peter

PS Any update on the maximum number of curves that can be plotted on an XY graph? I think it was 100, but there was some discussion about possibly increasing that.

[DPlotAdmin]

One problem, when I right-click axes, legend etc. I can edit the various display options. However, right clicking on a curve doesn't work, I just get the same menu as from the graph area (long menu starting with "Linear X - Linear Y" instead of "Line style" etc. What am I doing wrong, I've tried everything and can't find anything in the forum about this.

That's by design, though I need to either 1) spell that out in the Help file or 2) relax that constraint. Off the top of my head I can't think of why those options shouldn't be available in DPlot Jr... other than of course I want the end user to buy the full version.

PS Any update on the maximum number of curves that can be plotted on an XY graph? I think it was 100, but there was some discussion about possibly increasing that.

Not yet, sorry. This is one of the tougher ones. I can't set a new limit of 200 or 500 or whatever, because tomorrow somebody will want that limit + 1. And every change requires a change to the interface for external programs driving DPlot through dplotlib.dll. The obvious answer is to rearrange things and make the maximum number of curves dynamic. That's easy enough to do if I was willing to throw out support for older versions, but of course I'm not willing to do that. It will happen, but I can't say when.

[Peter Simmonds]

Thanks. I certainly will buy for the full version, but as a software package to support another application, I'll also have to keep using DPlot Junior.

As for the restriction, all kinds of curve editing can be done in DPlot Junior from the menu bar (from Options -> Symbol/Line syles etc. so I can't understand why access through right clicking has to be restricted. Any chance of a revision in the next version?

Thanks for the explanation for the maximum number of curves. I'm still a bit a novice at using DPlot, and maybe you could tell me how I might plot several hundred points on an x-y graph, each colored individually (based I suppose on a z value). I don't want them all joined up into a surface (as in the contour plots), while I also cannot assign each point to a separate curve (because of the 100 maximum number restriction). I'm quite likely missing something from the help file!

Any help very gratefully received

Peter

[DPlotAdmin]

Either a 3D scatter plot or (in 2D) a bubble plot (Options>Bubble Plot).

[Peter Simmonds]

Thanks, presumably when using the .DLL interface I need to set dp.DataFormat to another value? (it was %DATA_3DR for the contour plots).

Peter

[DPlotAdmin]

Yes, DATA_3DS (=7).

OR, for a bubble plot use DATA_XYYY to send your X,Y,Z values to DPlot, where Z is treated as a second curve, and add a [Bubbles(...)] command.

The main differences are

1. The 3D scatter plot can of course be viewed in 3D
2. With a 3D scatter plot you can set up a color palette of up to 256 colors, while a Bubble Plot is limited to high and low color value, with all intermediate values being an interpolation between those 2 extremes.
3. The Bubble plot can assign colors as well as size to the symbols, based on Z value.

Examples of both are shown on the Features page:
3D Scatter: http://www.dplot.com/features.htm#THREEDSCATTER
Bubble plot: http://www.dplot.com/features.htm#BUBBLES

[DPlotAdmin]

As for the restriction, all kinds of curve editing can be done in DPlot Junior from the menu bar (from Options -> Symbol/Line syles etc. so I can't understand why access through right clicking has to be restricted. Any chance of a revision in the next version?

After thinking this through I'm honestly more inclined to remove those Options menu commands from DPlot Jr than to add the right-click capabilities, since all of those settings can be set by the calling program. DPlot Jr was never intended to be a full-featured graphing application. The only reason for its existence is to drive sales for the full version.