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The python module plotsvg contains the class Figure() which produces an .svg file that can be rendered by svg-enabled browsers. SVG stands for "scalable vector graphics", a W3C standard for describing vector graphics elements. Most modern browsers like Firefox, Opera, Safari, Google Chrome are svg-enabled. Unfortunately, this is not the case for Microsoft's Internet Explorer. SVG graphs can easily be transformed into .png or .jpg raster images by processing a screen dump ('PrintScrn') with a graphics utility as Paint (for Windows) or the GNU Image Manipulation Program Gimp. For higher resolution than your screen size there are conversion tools on internet.
An instance of the Figure class is created by typing f=plotsvg.Figure(), after which f is defined as a Figure instance. Attributes and methods of f are then available as f.attribute or f.method(arguments).
The Figure class has several methods (for details type info(plotsvg.Figure.xxx) where xxx=method):
| addobject(position,obj[,options]) | Inserts svg object at given position |
| addtext(position, textline[,options]) | Inserts line of text at given position |
| attributes() or attr() | Prints the present values of attributes. |
| frame(xyrange[, options]) | Defines coordinate frame with scales. |
| parse(s[,options]) | Parses text (internal use only) |
| plotc(data[,options]) | Plots cumulative distribution of data |
| plotf(function[,options]) | Plots a function |
| plotm(M[,options]) | Plots a matrix with interpolated colors |
| plotp(data[,options]) | Plots a set of points, optional with lines and error bars |
| line(start,end[,options]) | Draws line from start to end |
| show([options]) | Writes the svg to a file |
The module plotsvg.py defines several functions (for details type info(plotsvg.xxx) where xxx=function):
| autoplotc(data[,options]) | plots cumulative distribution automatically |
| autoplotf(function,xrange[,options]) | plots a function automatically |
| autoplotm (M[,options]) | plots a color matrix automatically |
| autoplotp(data[,options]) | plots data points automatically |
| cinterpol(x,data[,options]) | gives cubic interpolation of data |
| fminmax(function,xrange) | gives min and max value of function in xrange |
| spline(data[,options]) | cubic spline generation |
plotsvg.py is a python module. It is a standard text file, not an executible, and it can therefore be downloaded on any platform on which python is installed (see here for instructions how to install python). Because the server does not allow to download files with .py extension, all xxx.py files on this website are presented as xxx.txt files that you can download. The plotsvg.txt files are extended with a prefixed date (format yymmdd) in order to distinguish versions. After downloading please change the extension back into .py and remove the date prefix before installing the file into your python system.
Install the plotsvg.py file in a place where your python program can find it: preferably in the folder Lib/site-packages/ in your python distribution. You can also install it in a folder like 'mymodules' in your workdirectory when you have extended the python path to include this folder.
This page contains online documentation for plotsvg. The module itself contains up-to-date documentation that can be invoked (after from plotsvg import *) by the command info:
The last 3 lines produce documentation respectively, on the module as a whole, a function in the module, a Figure method.
A complete downloadable manual in pdf format is presently in preparation.