Chapter 2: Basic Concepts and Conventions
In DISLIN, the graphics are limited to a rectangular area
called the page. All lines outside of or crossing page
borders will be suppressed.
The size of the page is determined by the routines SETPAG
and PAGE. SETPAG corresponds to a predefined page while
PAGE defines a global page setting. In default mode, there
are 100 points per centimeter and the point (0,0) is located
in the upper left corner (Figure 2.1):
(0,0) +----------------------------------+
| |
| |
| |
| DIN A 4 Landscape |
| |
| |
| |
+----------------------------------+ (2969,2099)
Figure 2.1 : Default Page (DA4L)
DISLIN can create several types of plotfiles. Device-independent
plotfiles or metafiles can be coded in ASCII or binary format.
Device-dependent plotfiles are available for
several printers and plotters.
The file formats are:
- a CGM metafile according to the ANSI standard
Plot vectors are coded in binary format as non negative integers
with 200 points per cm. Because of binary
coding, CGM metafiles are smaller than other plotfiles.
- a GKSLIN metafile
Plot vectors are stored as floating-point numbers
between 0 and 1 in ASCII format. These files are easily
transferable from one computer to another.
- a PostScript file
PostScript is an international standard language that
has been developed for laserprinters in the last few
years. Some of the PostScript features such as hardware
fonts and shading can be used within DISLIN.
- a PDF file
The Portable Document Format is the de facto standard for the
electronic exchange of documents. Compressed and non compressed
PDF files can be created by DISLIN. PostScript fonts can be used
for PDF files in the same way as for PostScript files.
- a Prescribe file
The plotfile is created in the graphics language of
Kyocera laserprinters and may also contain hardware
features such as shading for rectangles and pies.
- a HPGL file
Plot vectors and colours are coded in a language
recognized by Hewlett-Packard plotters.
- a WMF file
The Windows metafile format is also supported by DISLIN.
Plot vectors are converted to 1/1440 inch. WMF files can
contain hardware fonts defined with the DISLIN routine
WINFNT.
- a Java applet file
Plot vectors and colours are stored in form of a Java applet.
- a TIFF file
The raster format TIFF can be used for storing graphical
output.
- a PNG file
The Portable Network Graphics format is a compressed and therefore
very small raster format for storing graphical output. PNG files
can be displayed directly by several Internet browsers.
The compression of PNG files is done in DISLIN with the zlib
compression routines written by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler.
- a PPM file
The portable pixmap format is a well-known colour image file format
in the UNIX world. There are many tools for converting PPM files
into other image formats. The pixel values are stored in DISLIN
PPM files in plain bytes.
- an IMAGE file
This easy raster format is used by DISLIN to store
images. The files contain an ASCII header of 80 bytes
and the following image data.
- a Tektronix and X Window emulation
Data can be displayed on X Window terminals and graphic
terminals with a Tektronix emulation 4010/4014.
File formats can be set with the routine METAFL. The filename
consists of the keyword 'DISLIN' and an extension that
depends on the file format. An alternate filename can be
chosen by calling the routine SETFIL. Both subroutines must
be called before the initialization routine DISINI.
Most routines in DISLIN can be called anywhere during program
execution. Certain routines, however, use parameters
from other routines and must be called in a fixed order.
DISLIN uses a level structure to control the order in which
routines are called. The levels are:
0 before initialization or after termination
1 after initialization or a call to ENDGRF
2 after a call to GRAF
3 after a call to GRAF3 or GRAF3D.
Generally, programs should have the following structure:
(1) setting of page format, file format and filename
(2) initialization
(3) setting of plot parameters
(4) plotting of the axis system
(5) plotting the title
(6) plotting data points
(7) termination.
The following conventions appear throughout this manual for
the description of routine calls:
- INTEGER variables begin with the character N or I
- CHARACTER variables begin with the character C
- other variables are REAL
- arrays end with the keyword 'RAY'.
Notes:
- CHARACTER variables may be specified in upper or lower
case and may be shortened to four characters.
- DISLIN stores parameters in common blocks whose names
begin with the character 'C'. Common block names in
user programs should not begin with the character 'C'
to avoid possible name equalities.
- The Fortran logical units 15, 16 and 17 are reserved by
DISLIN for plot and parameter files.
- Two types of coordinates are continually referred to
throughout the manual: plot coordinates which correspond
to the page and always have 100 points per cm,
and user coordinates which correspond to the scaling of
the axis system.
When a DISLIN subroutine or function is called with an illegal
parameter or not according to the level structure, DISLIN
writes a warning to the screen. The call of the routine
will be ignored and program execution resumed. Points lying
outside of the axis system will also be listed on the
screen. Error messages can be suppressed or written to a
file with the routines UNIT and NOCHEK.
There are different DISLIN libraries for the programming languages
Fortran 77, Fortran 90 and C. The DISLIN C library is written in the
programming language C and useful for C programmers.
Though it is possible to call C routines in Fortran programs
and Fortran subroutines in C programs, it is easier to use
the corresponding library. Especially, the passing of
strings can be complicate in mixed language programming.
The number and meaning of parameters passed to DISLIN routines
are identical for all libraries. The Fortran version
uses INTEGER, REAL and CHARACTER variables while the C library
uses int, float and char variables. A detailed description
of the syntax of C routines is given by the utility program
DISHLP or can be found in the header file
'dislin.h' which must be included in all C programs.
For example:
#include
#include "dislin.h"
main()
{
disini ();
messag ("This is a test", 100, 100);
disfin ();
}
Several DISLIN distributions contain native libraries for the programming
language Fortran 90 where the source code of DISLIN is written in Fortran
90. Since the passing of parameters to subroutines and functions can be
different in Fortran 90 and Fortran 77, you should not link Fortran 77
programs with Fortran 90 libraries and vice versa.
Important:
- All program units in Fortran 90 programs that
contain calls to DISLIN routines must include the statement 'USE DISLIN'.
The module 'DISLIN' contains interfaces for all DISLIN routines and enables
the compiler the correct passing and checking of parameters passed
to DISLIN routines.
For example:
PROGRAM TEST
USE DISLIN
CALL DISINI ()
CALL MESSAG ('This is a test', 100, 100)
CALL DISFIN ()
END PROGRAM TEST
The linking of programs with the graphics library depends
upon the operating system of the computer. Therefore, DISLIN
offers a system-independent link procedure that can be used
on all computers in the same way.
- Command:
- DLINK [option] main
- option
- is an optional parameter containing a minus
sign and a character. The following options can
be used on all computers:
- -c
- for compiling programs before linking.
- -r
- for running programs after linking.
- -a
- for compiling, linking and running programs.
- main
- is the name of the main program.
Notes:
- If DLINK is called without parameters, the description
of the program will be printed on the screen. There may
be other local features available depending upon the
operating system used.
- Linking of C programs should be done with the
procedure CLINK.
- Linking of Fortran 90 programs should be done with the
procedure F90LINK.
The following programs are useful for working with DISLIN.
They send plotfiles to devices, check the use of DISLIN routines
in Fortran programs and print the description of routines
on the screen.
D I S H L P
DISHLP prints the description of a DISLIN routine on the
screen.
- Command:
- DISHLP routine [options]
- routine
- is the name of a DISLIN routine or a question
mark. For a question mark, all routine names
will be listed. An empty input terminates the
program.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISHLP).
D I S M A N
DISMAN prints an ASCII version of the DISLIN manual on the
screen.
- Command:
- DISMAN [options]
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISMAN).
D I S P R V
DISPRV checks the use of DISLIN routines in a Fortran program.
The type and dimension of parameters and the overlapping of common
block and routine names with internal DISLIN
declarations will be checked.
- Command:
- DISPRV filename[.FOR] [options]
- filename
- describes the file containing the Fortran code.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISPRV).
D I S D R V
DISDRV sends a plotfile to a device. CGM and GKSLIN files
can be used for all devices while device-dependent plotfiles
can only be sent to corresponding devices.
- Command:
- DISDRV filename[.MET] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of a plotfile.
- device
- is the name of a device. CONS refers to the
graphics screen, XWIN to an X Window terminal,
PSCi to a PostScript printer, KYOi to a Kyocera
laserprinter with Prescribe and HPLi to a
HP-plotter, where i = 1, 2, 3, ..., n is the
printer number.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISDRV).
D I S H P J
DISHPJ sends a GKSLIN or CGM metafile to a printer using a
raster graphics emulation (i.e. HP PCL).
- Command:
- DISHPJ filename[.MET] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of the metafile.
- device
- is the name of the device.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISHPJ).
D I S I M G
DISIMG displays an image file on the screen, or converts it
to PostScript and TIFF.
- Command:
- DISIMG filename[.IMG] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of the image file. The file must be
created with the routine RIMAGE.
- device
- is the device name.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISIMG).
D I S M O V
DISMOV displays a sequence of image files.
- Command:
- DISMOV filename[.MOV] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of a data file where the filenames
of the images are stored (1 line for each filename).
The images must be created with the routine RIMAGE.
- device
- is the device name.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISMOV).
D I S T I F
DISTIF displays a TIFF file created by DISLIN on the screen,
or converts it to PostScript and an image format.
- Command:
- DISTIF filename[.TIF] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of the TIFF file. The file must be
created with the routine RTIFF.
- device
- is the device name.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISTIF).
D I S G I F
DISGIF displays a GIF file on the screen, or converts it to
PostScript and TIFF.
- Command:
- DISGIF filename[.GIF] [device] [options]
- filename
- is the name of the GIF file.
- device
- is the device name.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISGIF).
D I S A P S
DISAPS converts an ASCII file to a PostScript file.
- Command:
- DISAPS filename [output] [options]
- filename
- is the name of the ASCII file.
- output
- is the name of the output file. By default, the
name of the input file and the extension ps
will be used.
- options
- is an optional field of keywords (see DISAPS).
- Note:
- If a utility program is called without parameters,
a description of possible parameters will
be printed on the screen. DISDRV, for example,
lists the local output devices available.
DISLIN is available via ftp anonymous from the following
sites:
The DISLIN Homepage is:
DISLIN is well tested by many users and should be very bug
free. However, no software is perfect and every change can
cause new bugs. If you have any problems with DISLIN, contact
the author:
Helmut Michels
Max-Planck-Institut fuer Aeronomie, Max-Planck-Str. 2,
D-37191 Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany
E-Mail: michels@linmpi.mpg.de
Tel.: +49 5556 979 334
Fax: +49 5556 979 240
DISLIN is free for the operating systems Linux and FreeBSD and for the
GNU compilers GCC+G77/MS-DOS and GCC+G77/Windows95. Other DISLIN versions
are available at low charge and can be tested free of charge.
Programs linked with DISLIN can be distributed without any
royalties together with neccessary shareable DISLIN libraries.
Normally, DISLIN programs check for a valid DISLIN license in the file
'license.dat' in the DISLIN directory. If DISLIN is not installed on a
system, a DISLIN program can be executed if the file 'license.dat' is
created with the entry 'License: Runtime'. The environment variable
'DISLIN' should be set to the directory where the file 'license.dat'
is placed.
A valid DISLIN license can be received by running the program 'license'
in the DISLIN directory and sending the output file 'license.lis' to the
author.
This manual of the data plotting software DISLIN can be copied and distributed
freely.
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