PLOTHI Process

Note: This legacy plotting process is no longer supported or developed. It is included here for legacy macro support only. For interactive plot creation and editing functions, with template and automation support, consider the Plots window tools.

To access this process:

Enter "PLOTHI" into the Command Line and press ENTER.
Display the Find Command screen, locate PLOTHI and click Run.

See this process in the Command Table.

Process Overview

Generate a bar chart or histogram plot file.

The input file must contain three explicit fields describing the start of each bin (*X1), the end of each bin (*X2) and the value or frequency variable (*Y).

If the HISTOG process was used to generate the input file, then these fields are called LOWER, UPPER and FREQENCY respectively. The plot size parameters @XMIN, @XMAX are normally set to the limits of the histogram bins used in HISTOG. These were given by the parameters @MINIMUM and @MINIMUM + @BINSIZE * @NUMBINS. The @YMIN and @YMAX parameters are usually set to zero and greater than the maximum frequency in any bin. All the required values may be determined by inspection of the file output by HISTOG.

Input Files

Name	Description	I/O Status	Required	Type
IN	Input data file.	Input	Yes	Undefined
PROTO	Plot prototype file. Must contain the fields X, Y, S1, S2 and CODE (numeric, explicit) and XMIN, XMAX, YMIN, YMAX, XSCALE, YSCALE (numeric, implicit).	Input	Yes	Plot Prototype

Output Files

Name	I/O Status	Required	Type	Description
PLOT	Output	Yes	Plot	Output plot file.

Fields

Name	Description	Source	Required	Type	Default
X1	Field marking bin start (LOWER if file generated by HISTOG).	IN	Yes	Numeric	Undefined
X2	Field marking bin end (UPPER if file generated by HISTOG).	IN	Yes	Numeric	Undefined
Y	Field to be plotted in Y (FREQENCY if file generated by HISTOG).	IN	Yes	Numeric	Undefined

Parameters

Name	Description	Required	Default	Range	Values
	Colour [as 'pen' number] for plot (1).	No	1	Undefined	Undefined
APPEND	Plot append flag. If set to 1 then the new plot will be appended to the PLOT file, if it exists and is a valid plot file (0).	No	0	0,1	0,1
XMIN	Minimum value of X for plot. None of XMIN, XMAX, YMIN, YMAX, XSCALE, YSCALE need be set if this information is already in the prototype.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined
XMAX	Maximum value of X for plot.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined
YMIN	Minimum value of Y for plot.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined
YMAX	Maximum value of Y for plot.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined
XSCALE	X scale in user data units per millimetre.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined
YSCALE	Y scale in user data units per millimetre.	No	Undefined	Undefined	Undefined

Example

Copy

!PLOTHI     &IN(HISTFILE),&PROTO(PLOTPROT),&PLOT(FEHSPLOT), 
@XMIN=30,@XMAX=80,@YMIN=0,@YMAX=150,*X1(LOWER), 
*X2(UPPER),*Y(FREQENCY)

Error and Warning Messages

Message	Description
>>> ERR 411 <<< ( 0) IN TRANDP	The scale has been defined or calculated as zero. Fatal; the process is exited.
>>> CANNOT APPEND TO NON-EXISTENT OUTPUT FILE. >>> A NEW OUTPUT FILE WILL BE CREATED	The @APPEND parameter has been set to 1, but the specified plot file does not exist. A new file will be created to contain the new plot being produced.
>>> ERROR - CANNOT APPEND TO PLOT FILE AS IT DOES >>> NOT CONTAIN ALL THE REQUIRED FIELDS. >>> THE PLOT FILE WILL BE OVERWRITTEN.	The @APPEND parameter has been set to 1, the specified plot file exists but is invalid. The existing plot file will be overwritten by the new plot being produced.
>>> FATAL ERROR, BAD SCALE/RANGE COMBINATION(S) <<< >>> XMIN, XMAX = nnnnnnnnnn.nn nnnnnnnnn.nn >>> YMIN, YMAX = nnnnnnnnnn.nn nnnnnnnnn.nn >>> XSCALE, YSCALE = nnnnnnnnnn.nn nnnnnnnnn.nn	Either insufficient scale information had been entered (at least two of XMIN, XMAX, XSCALE or Y equivalents must be entered either from the prototype of from parameters) or the combination given of XMIN, XMAX, and XSCALE (or their Y equivalents) was impossible. Often caused by entering a null plot prototype and no parameters. Fatal; the process is exited.