6 User Manual: Chapter 1
Ad5001 edited this page 2022-04-22 16:06:14 +00:00
This file contains ambiguous Unicode characters

This file contains Unicode characters that might be confused with other characters. If you think that this is intentional, you can safely ignore this warning. Use the Escape button to reveal them.

← Previous chapter | Chapter 1: The Interface (≡ Index) | Next chapter →

The Interface

First start

Image of the first start screen of LogarithmPlotter

When LogarithmPlotter starts for the first time or when it's been updated, you will be greeted by a screen similar to this one. It allows you to see the changelog, as well as configure the global options of LogarithmPlotter.

  • "Check for updates on startup" does exactly what it sounds like. If enabled, LogarithmPlotter will check if a new version has been released everytime it starts up.
  • "Reset redo start when a new action is added to history": if disabled, if you go to a previous section of the history and make a change, the more recent changes in the redo section won't be overwritten.
  • "Enable LaTeX rendering": When enabled, makes the labels of every object on the canvas to be rendered as a LaTeX expression. It requires a valid LaTeX installation on the computer, including latexmk, dvipng and fongus-calligra. One such distribution is TeXLive.

Note that all of those settings can be changed at any moment from the "Settings" menu at the top of the window.

Overview of the main interface

Image of the main interface of LogarithmPlotter The main interface of LogarithmPlotter is divided into 2 sections, the side bar on the left, and the graph on the right.
The sidebar allows you to modify the diagram and interact with objects while the graph is where you see your changes and objects applied.

The sidebar is composed of 3 tabs: Objects, Settings and History each of which will be explained in sections below.

Objects tab

Image of the objects tab in an example graph

The Object tab allows you to interact, create and delete with the objects of the graph.
It is composed of two parts, the objects lists, and the object creation grid.

To create an object, you can click one of the buttons at the bottom of the tab, and it will open a object property editor for that object.

You can reopen it at any time by clicking on the row associated with the object you want to edit.

On that row, you can:

  • Show or hide the object, by clicking the □ checkbox at the beginning.
  • (On objects that can be repositionned) Reposition the object by clicking on the position button.
  • Delete the object using the trash button.
  • Change the color of the object by clicking on the colored circle at the end of the line.

Settings tab

Image of the settings tab

The Settings tab allows you to change how the diagram looks, and parameter the axes properly. It also features a few buttons you can also find in the menu bar.

List of settings:

Icon Name Default value Definition
X Zoom icon X Zoom 100 The zoom alongside the x-axis.
  • For non logarithmic scales, the number of pixels for a unit of 1.
  • For logarithmic scales, represent one decade divided by 2.3.
Y Zoom icon Y Zoom 10 The zoom alongside the ordinate, equivalent to the number of pixels for a unit of 1.
Minimum X icon Min X 0.5 Minimum value to be drawn on the x-axis. In other words, it's the value of x on the left side of the graph.
Maximum Y icon Max Y 25 Maximum value to be drawn on the y-axis. In other words, it's the value of y at the bottom of the graph.
Maximum X icon Max X Variable Minimum value to be drawn on the x-axis. In other words, it's the value of x on the right side of the graph.
  • This value is dynamic depending on the width of the LogarithmPlotter window as well as the x zoom you've chosen.
  • Setting this value will change the value of the x zoom to fit exactly to the specified dimensions.
Minimum Y icon Min Y Variable Minimum value to be drawn on the y-axis. In other words, it's the value of y at the top of the graph.
  • This value is dynamic depending on the height of the LogarithmPlotter window as well as the y zoom you've chosen.
  • Setting this value will change the value of the y zoom to fit exactly to the specified dimensions.
X Axis Step icon X Axis Step 4 Step of the graduation for the x-axis.
  • Only for non logarithmic scale.
  • This value is an expression, you can use pi or e in it.
Y Axis Step icon Y Axis Step 4 Step of the graduation for the y-axis.
  • This value is an expression, you can use pi or e in it.
Line width icon Line width 1 Width (percentage) of the the lines and circles of objects shown on the graph.
  • For lines, it's directly the width of the line.
  • For circles, the diameters are 8 + 2 × line width.
Text size icon Text size (px) 14 Size in pixel of the text shown on the graph.
X Label icon X Label Empty Label to be used on the x-axis.
  • Example: "x", "ω (rad/s)"...
  • Editable, you can put any value you want, while maintaining an history of the previously used labels.
  • Note: this history is not saved with the file.
Y Label icon Y Label Empty Label to be used on the y-axis.
  • Example: "y", "Magnitude (dB)", "φ (°)", "φ (rad)", "φ (deg)"...
  • Editable, you can put any value you want, while maintaining an history of the previously used labels.
  • Note: this history is not saved with the file.
X Log Scale When checked, the x-axis is represented with a logarithmic scale, otherwise, it's represented with a non logarithmic scale.
Show X graduation When checked, will show the labels alongside the x-axis (10¹, 10², ... or 4, 8, ...). Otherwise, they will be hidden.
Show Y graduation When checked, will show the labels alongside the y-axis (0, 4, ...). Otherwise, they will be hidden.

List of the buttons:

  • Copy to clipboard:
    • Copies an image of the graph to the clipboard.
  • Save plot:
    • Saves the plot in the currently opened file, or prompts you to pick a location if non are open...
  • Save plot as:
    • Prompts you to choose a location to save the plot at, and saves it.
  • Load plot/Open plot:
    • Prompts you to choose an existing LogarithmPlotter diagram file and opens it in the current window.
    • IMPORTANT: All unsaved changes to the previous diagram WILL BE LOST if you open a new one.

History tab

Image of the history tab

The history tab allows you to see the historical progression of graph broken down in "actions" pretaining to objects. The list in itself is read from top to bottom, from most recent to most ancient.

The "Now" represents the point in history in which the graph is.

Any action that happened before now are in the "Undo" section of the history, under the "Now". Similarly, the actions that happened after the now are in the "Redo" scection, above the "Now".

Note: You can hover the actions with your mouse to see more details about them.

If you want to undo/redo any action, click on it and it will undo/redo it after undoing/redoing the action in between them and the now.

There exists 7 types of actions:

Symbol Type Occurance Color (Light|Dark theme)
plus sign Object creation When a new object is created lime/green
cross sign Object deletion When an existing object is deletion salmon/dark red
Eye sign Show/hide object When an object's is shown or hidden whitesmoke|darkgray, light gray/dim gray
Double arrow sign Modify object When an object's property is changed cyan/dark slate blue
Label sign Rename object When an object's name is changed orange/dark orange
Appearance sign Coloring the object When an object's color is changed plum/purple

You can also filter the actions of the history by using the "Filter..." search bar.

Note: The changes in the settings tab are not kept in the history tab. This feature may come to a future version of LogarithmPlotter.

Next chapter →