Graph Document
A graph document is one type of document of a project.
It may contain one or multiple graphs. The first
graph in the graph document is called the master
graph. A master graph cannot be deleted from the
parent graph document. Subsequent graphs added to the same graph document are
called sub-graphs. Sub-graphs can
be deleted from the parent graph document. To add a sub-graph to a graph document,
select one of the menu
commands on the Graphs: Add Sub-Graph sub menu on the Graph
menu (which is also the context menu of the graph document). To delete a sub-graph from the graph document, select the
corresponding menu command on the Graphs: Delete sub menu of the Graph
menu.
If there are multiple graphs in a graph document, the
one that receives the user input and responds to the user operations is called the
active graph. To change the active graph in a graph document, use the Active
Graph combo-box on the Graph Toolbar, or choose
the Active Graph menu command on the Graph menu.
Upon activation, DataScene highlights the new active graph by
temporarily drawing a semi-transparent rectangle around it.
The canvas area of a graph document is called the panel of
the graph document. Each graph in the graph document occupies a certain
rectangular area in the graph document. Such a rectangular area is called the bounding
rectangle of the graph. The location and size of a graph's bounding
rectangle is determined by its margins properties, which can be customized on the Margins tab-page of the Panel
Editor. Alternatively, the user may use the Graph Layout tool on the Toolbox
to interactively change the size and location of the bounding rectangle of the active graph.
Fig. 1. A graph document with four graphs shown in the float-window mode.
A number of graphical objects may be drawn in a graph:
- Walls - for a graph that does not contain the Donut,
Pie, Polar, Polar
Bar, Radar, or Smith series
there are four walls: Left, Right, Bottom, and Back. The properties of the walls can be
customized with the Walls Editor. The cube enclosed by the walls
of a graph is called the graph
cube. If the view
dimension of the graph is set to 2D, all walls except the Back wall
degenerate into lines and the graph cube degenerates into the rectangle of
the Back wall.
- Titles - a graph has four titles: Header, Sub
Header, Footer, and Sub Footer. The properties of these titles can be
customized with the Title Editor.
- Axes - there are six axes for a graph that
does not contain the Donut, Pie,
Polar, Polar Bar, Radar,
or Smith series: Left, Right, Top,
Bottom, Depth Bottom, and Depth Top; there are two axes for a graph that contains only
Polar, Polar Bar, or Radar
series:
Radial and Angular; there is no axis for a graph that contains only Donut,
Pie,
or Smith series. The properties of the axes of the active graph can be
customized with
the Axis Editor. The series-axes association
is specified by the Axes property of
the series and can be customized with the Series
Editor.
- Series - zero or multiple compatible series
may be contained in a single graph.
- Legend - a graph has a legend. The properties of
the legend can be customized with the Legend Editor.
- Lines - line items (including arrows) can be added to the active graph
with the LineTool on the ToolBox.
Added line items are
anchored to the graph coordinate system.
- Rich Text - rich text items can be added to the active graph with the
TextTool on the ToolBox. Added rich
text items are anchored
to the graph coordinate system.
Fig. 2. The anatomy of a graph document (in the float-window mode) containing
two
graphs.
A graph document can be set to fixed or auto size. An auto-sized graph
document resizes itself as the size of the document window changes, while a fixed size graph
document stays in a fixed size regardless of the size of the document window. To
change the size mode of the graph document, select the Size menu command
on the Graph
menu to open the Graph Size dialog
box. The default size mode for a
newly created graph document can be customized on the Appearance: Size
tab-page on the Program Options
dialog box.
The menu commands on
the Graph menu can be used to customize the
properties of the active graph document (e.g. Size) and most properties of its elements (e.g. Axes, Panel, Legend, Titles, and Walls). A few graph properties,
however, can be customized with tools on the Graph Tools tab on the ToolBox.
For example, the graph aspect settings can be customized with the Aspect
Editor; the graph Rotation
and Elevation angles (which are part of the graph aspect settings) can be
changed with the Rotate Tool; the axis scales and ranges can be changed
with the Pan Tool, the Magnifier,
or the Auto Scale
tool. A few other properties can be changed with controls on the Graph
ToolBar: Graph Theme combo-box,
View Dimension combo-box, Graph
Quality combo-box, and 3D Zoom combo-box
(which is visible only if the
View Dimension is set to 3D).
See Also
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