The Print Window

Figure 2.8: The Print window.

Window title:

DsTool: Print

Function:

The Print window allows the user to output data to a file or a printing device which understands PostScript.

Description:

The Print window is opened by selecting the Print option from the File menu button located in the Command window, or by selecting the Print option from the Options menu button located in any 2-D or 1-D View window. The user may select printing options, and print the output to a printer or a file. In addition, after the file has been written to a file, DsTool can call an external program to view the output.

Panel items:

• Title read-write text field: Displays the string which will appear at the top of the printed image. The default is the title of the dynamical system as it appears on the Model name message of the Command window.
• Hor variable stack setting: Allows the user to choose the abscissa variable for the plot. The default value for this field depends upon where the Print window was opened from. If the Print window is called from the Command window, the first variable is used. If the Print window is called from a 2-D or 1-D View window, the current value of the horizontal variable is used.
• Hor label read-write text field: Displays the string which will appear centered below the horizontal axis of the printed image. The default is the string currently being used to indicate the abscissa. The value will change when the Hor variable stack setting is changed.
• Ver variable stack setting: Allows the user to choose the ordinate variable for the plot. The default value behaves the same way as for the horizontal variable, with the second variable being used as the default value when the Print window is opened from the Command window.
• Ver label read-write text field: Displays the string which will appear centered to the left of the vertical axis of the printed image. The default is the string currently being used to indicate the ordinate. The string will change when the Ver variable stack setting is changed.
• Hor range read-write fields: Display the min and max values for the abscissa. The default value for this field depends upon where the Print window was called from. If the Print window is called from the Command window, the default values for the horizontal variable's range are used. If the Print window is called from a 2-D or 1-D View window, the current values of the horizontal variable's range are used.
• Ver range read-write fields: Display the min and max values for the ordinate. The default value behaves the same way as for the horizontal variable's range.
• Printer / File exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether the output is written to a file or piped to a printer. The default is to print to a file. The read-write text field immediately to the right of the Printer option specifies the printer to which the plot will be sent. The default printer name is specified by the environmental variable LPDEST if set, by the environmental variable PRINTER if LPDEST is not set, or the default printer name, ``lp''. The read-write text field immediately to the right of the File radiobutton specifies the filename of the PostScript file to which data is saved. The default is the file ``test.ps''.

  A common experience is to attempt to print a PostScript file which is too big to fit entirely within a printer's buffer. In this case, we recommend attempting to print the file with the UNIX command lpr -s filename. We remark in any case that piping data directly to a printer is somewhat riskier than creating a PostScript file and then sending that file to the printer, chiefly because if the pipe fails for any reason, then the image may be lost.

• Directory read-write text field: Displays the directory to which the file will be saved. This field works in conjunction with the filename field directly above it. The default value is the current working directory.
• Font stack setting: Allows the user to choose the font to print the axes labels and title in. The allowed fonts are detailed (with examples for each font typeface) in Appendix A. The default value is ``Times-Roman''.
• Title size (Pts) numeric field: Displays the size (in printer's points; one point is approximately $1/72$ inches) of the title. The range is from 4 points to 30 points. The default is 14 points.
• Label size (Pts) numeric field: Displays the size (in printer's points) of the axis labels. The range is from 4 points to 30 points. The default is 10 points.
• Hor tick marks numeric field: Displays the number of tick marks on the horizontal axis of the bounding box. If Show bounding box is off, this field is not used. The default value is 3.
• Ver tick marks numeric field: Displays the number of tick marks on the vertical axis of the bounding box. If Show bounding box is off, this field is not used. The default value is 3.
• Hor length (pts) numeric field: Displays the width in points of the picture. The default value is 450.
• Ver height (pts) numeric field: Displays the height in points of the picture. The default value is 450.
• Hor offset (pts) numeric field: Displays the horizontal indentation in points of the lower left corner of the picture. The default value is 80 when not in Landscape mode, and 575 when in Landscape mode.
• Ver offset (pts) numeric field: Displays the vertical height from the bottom of the page in points of the lower left corner of the picture. The default value is 145.
• Landscape mode exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether to print in landscape mode (rotated by 90 degrees) or not. The default value is no.
• Use color PostScript exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose between printing a black and white PostScript image (the default) and a color image. Warning: DsTool does not check to see if the selected printer is a color printer. Printing a color image on a non-color printer will lead to images of poor quality.
• Use picked colors exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether to print with picked colors or not. The default is to not use picked colors, even if the 2-D View window from which Print is called has pick colors chosen. If the Use color postscript setting is off, this field is not used.
• Connect the dots exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether consecutive points in continuous data should be drawn with connecting line segments. The default is to not connect the dots.
• Show bounding box exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether a bounding box will be printed about the plotted points. The bounding box will contain tick marks as specified by the Hor and Ver Tick Marks numeric fields (see above). The default is to show the bounding box.
• Show system info exclusive setting: Allows the user to choose whether the upper left portion of the printed image will contain information about the dynamical system being plotted. This information includes the name of the dynamical system, the time that the image (or PostScript file) was generated, the range of the ordinate and abscissa, the initial settings (as seen in the Selected Point window), and the number of points in the plot. If the dynamical system being plotted is a vector field, then the system information also includes the value for Step size as it appears on the Orbits window. The default value is to show the system information.
• Go command or window button: Sends the current data file to the printer to be printed, or opens and brings to the foreground the Files window for saving the data to a file. Its function depends upon the value of the Printer/File exclusive setting.
• Preview command/window button: Invokes an external program to view the output of the Print routines. This option requires that the output be saved to a file before trying to preview. The default external program is ``gs''. See the accompanying documentation in $DSTOOL/my_dstool/README for information on how to change this default program.
• Dismiss command button: Closes the Print window.