The QtiPlot Handbook
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# Chapter 3. Command Reference

The active items appearing in a menu depends upon which project window is active. For example, if the active window is a table, then all the items related to table functions are enabled and the others are automatically disabled.

# The File Menu

Many of the commands from the File Menu are also linked to corresponding icons in the File Toolbar. Clicking one of these icons will directly execute the linked command.

File-> New ->

  New -> New Project (Ctrl-N)

    Creates a new QtiPlot project file. If another project is already open and has been saved at least once, it will be closed before the new project is created. If another project is open but has never been saved, a dialog will be opened to ask if the current project should be saved.

  New -> New Folder (F7)

    Adds a new folder to the project. The new folder is added to the current folder.

  New -> New Table (Ctrl-T)

    Creates a new (empty) table and adds it to the project. The empty table will have 30 rows and 2 columns. The number of rows and columns can be changed with the Rows and Columns of the Table menu.

    The properties of each column (numeric format, column width, etc) can be modified using the Column Options... command of the Table menu. See the table section for more details.

  New -> New Matrix

    Creates a new (empty) Matrix and adds it to the project. The empty matrix will have 32x32 cells. These dimensions can be changed using the Set Dimensions... command of the Matrix menu

    See the matrix section for more details.

  New -> New Note

    Creates a new note window and adds it to the project. A note is a simple text window which can be used to add comments to the current project.

  New -> New Graph

    Creates a new 2D plot, that is, a graph window with a single, empty layer, and adds it to the project. Current defaults are used to create the layer, which is just a framework into which you add curves with the Add/Remove Curves... command.

  New -> New Function Plot (Ctrl-F)

    Opens a dialog which is used to create a 2D plot by specifying an analytical function. See the 2D plot section of the tutorial for a general overview of this function.

    The function can be defined in cartesian, parametric or polar coordinates, see the Add Function... command for more details.

  New -> New Surface 3D Plot (Ctrl-Alt-Z)

    Opens a dialog which is used to create a 3D plot by specifying an analytical function. Only cartesian coordinates are available. See the 3D plot section of the tutorial for more detail on this function.

File -> Open (Ctrl-O)

  Opens an existing QtiPlot project file (.qti). If your project has been saved in a compressed format, you must select the .qti.gz file format.

  This command can also be used to open projects which have been built with Origin software.

File -> Append Project... (Ctrl-Alt-A)

  Appends an existing QtiPlot project file (.qti) to the current project as a new folder.

  This command can also be used to append projects which have been built with Origin software.

File-> Recent Projects

  Opens a list of the most recently used QtiPlot project files. You can open one of these files by selecting it from the list. If the file no longer exists or has been moved, an error message will pop-up and the filename will be deleted from the list.

File -> Close

  Closes current project, without quitting the application.

File-> Open Image File

  This command adds a new graph window to the QtiPlot project and loads an image file into it. The image can be resized and moved around in the graph window if desired. It can also be copied and inserted into another 2D plot with a result similar to that obtained using the Add Image. An image can also be used to generate an intensity matrix (see the Import Image... command).

File-> Import Image...

  Using this command, an image may be loaded into a QtiPlot project and converted into an intensity matrix. For each pixel, an intensity between 0 and 255 is computed from the intensities of the three colors red, green and blue.

  This example shows the 3D plot drawn from the intensity matrix obtained from the QtiPlot logo.

File-> Save Project (Ctrl-S)

  Saves the current project. If the project hasn't been saved yet (an "untitled" project), a dialog will open, allowing you to save the project to a specific location. In a project file, all settings and all plots are stored in ASCII format.

  If the project includes large tables, it may be useful to save the project in a compressed file format. The free zlib library is used to save files in gzip format ( .qti.gz ).

File-> Save Project as...

  Saves the current project under a file name different than the current name.

File -> Open Template

  Opens an existing QtiPlot template file (.qpt). This command will create a new graph window with one or more empty layers created using the same graphical parameters (window geometry, fonts, colors, etc). as the layers in the saved template.

  The first figure below is a graph which was saved as a template. The second figure is the graph with a new, empty layer created using the Open Template command to load the saved template file.

  You just have to add curves with the Add/Remove Curves... command, but note that the style used to draw these curves is not kept in the template.

File -> Open Excel

  Opens a file dialog permitting you to select an Excel file. When a file is selected and opened, QtiPlot creates a new table for each sheet in the file and reads the spreadsheets into the tables. If the file contains graphs, QtiPlot will also import them, but only if you have Excel installed on your machine.

File -> Open ODF Spreadsheet

  Opens a file dialog permitting you to select an OpenOffice spreadsheet file. When a file is selected and opened, QtiPlot creates a new table for each sheet in the file and reads the spreadsheets into the tables.

File -> Save as Template

  Save the active graph as a QtiPlot template file (.qpt). The resulting template will contain all of the layers from the graph, including images, text labels (axes, etc), and any graphical parameters, including the positions and sizes of the layers. Plotted data, the style used to draw curves, and any associated scales are not saved in the template.

File -> Export Graph

  The Export Graph command appears in the file menu whenever a graph window is selected. All graphs, or one graph at a time, can be exported in any of the available image formats. Since all export options have the same image formats available, these will be described first. Depending upon the image format chosen, you may be able to customize some image file parameters by checking the show options check box. Available options vary according to the format chosen.

  For the bmp, pbm, jpeg, xbm, pgm, ppm image formats, the only available option is the quality of the image. This parameter defines the image compression ratio, and may be set to any value between 0 and 100%. Higher values produce a better quality image and a larger file, while lower values result in increasingly lossy compression, degraded image quality, and smaller file size. For png, tiff and xpm, there is an option to choose a transparent background.

  For eps, pdf, and ps file formats, the option dialog is different again. The main parameters available are the desired resolution and the size of the sheet of paper for which the image will be formatted. The default value for the resolution is the screen resolution. If you increase the resolution, the overall size of the plot will be unchanged but the quality of the graphic elements will be better.

  By default the plot is exported to its real size on screen, but if you wish, you can choose a different size by checking the Custom print size box. In addition, there is a Keep aspect ratio option. If you check this box and modify one dimension of a plot, the other dimension will automatically be modified to keep the plot's aspect ratio the same.

  When exporting the plot to LaTeX (.tex) there are two very useful options: Export font sizes and Escape special characters in title/axis labels. If checked, the first option will include LaTeX commands in the output which keep the original font sizes. If not checked, the font size specified in the preamble of the TeX document will be used for all text strings in the plot. The second option specifies whether LaTeX special characters should be escaped or not when exporting. If the title or the axis labels contain LaTeX syntax (like superscripts, subscripts, etc...), and you want them to be interpreted by the LaTeX compiler, you must uncheck this option.

  Export Graph -> Current (Alt-G)

    This selection will save the active graph using one of the image formats described above.

  Export Graph -> All (Alt-X)

    This selection will save all graphs in the project using one of the image formats described above.

  File -> Create Open Document Presentation...

    This selection will save all the graphs in the project in an Open Document Format file (.odf) that can be opened and edited with OpenOffice.

File -> Export

  The Export command appears in the file menu whenever a non-graph window is selected.

  Export ASCII

    This selection will save the active table or matrix in ASCII format.

  Export Excel

    This selection will save the active table or matrix as an Excel spreadsheet.

  Export to PDF (Ctrl-Alt-P)

    This selection will save the active window as a PDF document.

File-> Print (Ctrl-P)

  Prints the active plot. A print dialog is opened where you can select the printer, different paper sizes, etc.

File-> Print Preview

  Displays a print preview for the active window. You can use this dialog to print the previewed window.

File-> Print All Plots

  Prints all plots in the project. A print dialog is opened where you can select the printer, different paper sizes, etc.

File -> Export ASCII

  Opens the Export ASCII dialog to allow saving data from the active table to an ASCII file.

File -> Import -> Import ASCII... (Ctrl-K)

  Opens the Import dialog used to import ASCII data files. The file to import, and the options for importation are set in this dialog.

File -> Import -> Sound (WAV)...

  This option allows you to import an uncompressed sound (.wav) file (PCM format).

File -> Quit (Alt-F4)

  Closes the application. You will be asked whether or not you want to save any changes.

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