Program CSVPLOT
csvplot [options]
Plot the contents of a CSV (comma separated values) file. The first
line of the CSV file contains the names of the columns. Subsequent
lines must contain numeric values.
The command line options are:
-IN filename
filename
Set the CSV input file name. The ".csv" file name suffix may be
omitted. If a command line option does not start with a dash
(-) and the input file has not already been set, then it is
assumed to be the input file name.
-INAME filename
filename
Set the image file output name. If an image output file name is
supplied, then the program will run in "batch" mode and not
display the plot interactively. The default is to display the
plot interactively on the screen. If a command line option does
not start with a dash (-) and the input file has been set but
the image output file has not, then the command line option is
assumed to be the image output file name.
-CFG filename
Specify a plot parameters configuration file. By default, the
file "config.csvplot" is used if present. If the -CFG command
line option is used, then it is an error if the configuration
file is not found. The ".csvplot" file name suffix may be
omitted. CSVPLOT files are described in a later section of this
document.
-SIZE dx dy
Set the preferred size of the drawing area in pixels. If an
image file is created, it will be exactly this size. If the
display is on the screen, then an attempt will be made to set
the display area to this size, but this may be overridden by the
system and is dependant on system resources. The default size
is 800 x 600 pixels.
-DEV name
Explicitly set the RENDlib graphics device name string. See the
RENDLIB_DEV documentation file for a description of graphics
device name strings. The default is the empty string, which
causes the default to be taken from the RENDLIB.DEV environment
file set. This is also described in the RENDLIB_DEV
documentation file.
-IMG
Cause an image output file to be produced. The program will run
in batch mode and not display anything interactively. The image
file will be written to the current directory and its generic
name will be the generic name of the CSV file. The image file
type will be GIF. The default is to display the plot
interactively on the screen
-MINX v
-MAXX v
-MINY v
-MAXY v
Set the minimum or maximum X or Y axis value. The independent
variable is plotted along the X axis, and all the dependent
variables are plotted along on the same Y axis. The default
MIN/MAX range for an axis is the combined MIN/MAX range of all
the variables plotted along that axis. The default MIN/MAX
range for an individual variable is the MIN/MAX range of the
data for that variable in the CSV file to be plotted, but can be
overridden by the CSVPLOT file, described below.
-TRANSP
Make the background transparent. The command line option is
ignored unless writing to an image file (not displaying live).
The default is to make the background opaque.
-SHOW name [name ... name]
Explicitly set the list of dependent variables to display. If
no -SHOW options are used, then all enabled channels are
plotted. If one or more -SHOW options are used, then only those
channels named in the -SHOW options are plotted. The first
channel name after -SHOW is required. Additional channel names
can be supplied as long as they do not start with a dash (-).
If a channel name starts with a dash, then it must be given as
the first name after a -SHOW option. Multiple -SHOW options may
be used.
Note that any name containing a blank or special character must
be enclosed in apostrophies ('') or quotes (""). The names are
case-insensitive. Names that do not match a channel name as
given in the first line of the CSV file are silently ignored.
CSVPLOT File
This program can read a CSVPLOT configuration file, which contains
additional configuration information about the CSV file and how to plot
it. A CSVPLOT file contains lines of text. Lines that are empty,
contain only blanks, or start with a star (*) in column 1 are ignored.
The remaining lines start with a command keyword followed by parameters
depending on the command. The command keyword and the parameters are
separated from each other by one or more blanks. Parameters that
contain spaces must be enclosed in quotes ("") or apostrophies ('').
Leading and trailing blanks on the line are ignored. The commands are:
INCLUDE filename
Process the contents of the indicated CSVPLOT file as if it were
in the current file at this location. The ".csvplot" file name
suffix may be omitted. Pathnames are relative to the directory
containing the CSVPLOT file.
CHAN name
Indicates the data channel (CSV file column) that subsequent
commands will apply to. NAME is case-insensitive, and will be
matched against the column names supplied on the first line of
the CSV file. If NAME does not match any column name, then no
channel will be selected. In that case, subsequent commands
that act on the current channel will have no effect.
IND
Indicates that the current channel is the independent variable.
The default is for the first channel (column 1) to be the
independent variable.
MIN v
Indicate the minimum value to plot for the current channel. The
default is the actual minimum value found in the CSV file for
this channel.
MAX v
Indicate the maximum value to plot for the current channel. The
default is the actual maximum value found in the CSV file for
this channel.
COL red grn blu
Sets the color to use to plot the current channel. The red,
green, and blue color component values are in the 0.0 to 1.0
scale.
ON
Enables the plotting of the current channel. By default, all
channels with non-empty name strings on the first line of the
CSV file are enabled for plotting.
OFF
Disables the plotting of the current channel. By default, all
channels with non-empty name strings on the first line of the
CSV file are enabled for plotting.
ADV v
Show the current channel advanced by V on the X axis. This
could be used to compensate, for example, if the the channel
data contains a lag due to a filtering operation. "Advance"
means that the data will be drawn shifted in the negative X
(left) direction. The data will be shifted to positive X
(right) if V is negative.
Examples
Example files config.csvplot and b.csv are provided in the EXAMPLES >
CSVPLOT directory within the software installation directory. An easy
way to make a plot with the example files is to set the current
directory to the CSVPLOT examples directory, then enter the command
"csvplot b".