                              RtPlot (version 0.41) 
                            Copyright (c) Dov Bai (1999-2001)


Version history:
----------------
Version 0.4  (12-1-2001) - Initial release.
Version 0.41 (12-8-2001) - Added "ticks" with numbers on x,y axes.


Copyright
---------

 RtPlot version 0.41, Copyright(c) 1999-2001 Dov Bai

 Permission to use, copy, and distribute this software and its
 documentation for any purpose (except as detailed hereunder) is granted
 without fee, provided that the above copyright notice and this permission
 notice appear in all copies of the software and related documentation. You
 may not disassemble, decompose, reverse engineer, or alter any of the files
 in the package.

 This software cannot be sold or bundled with any commercial package without
 express written permission from Dov Bai, its author.

 THIS IS FREEWARE. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS-IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTY OF 
 ANY KIND. THERE IS NO LIABILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES OF ANY KIND ARISING OUT OF 
 OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
 

RtPlot-Real time plotting - Summary
--------------------------------------

RtPlot is a small and little resource consuming  program for displaying in real 
time 2D plots of data generated by other programs. It was written because of a need 
to monitor the progress of long-running scientific programs occasionally producing 
output suitable for plotting. The user can open as many plotting windows as needed. 
Each plotting window monitors a single data file and plots its contents. When the 
data file is updated by another concurrently running program the 2D display is 
updated in the plotting window. The user can configure the frequency in which 
RtPlot checks for file updates, force freezing or an update of the plot, range 
of x, range of y, number of ticks along x,y axes and other parameters with a couple 
of mouse clicks. The plot may be dragged with the mouse.


Package contents
----------------

 The package includes 3 files: 
   (1)   rtplot.exe - RtPlot executable
   (2)   readme.txt - this file    
   (3)   plottest.exe - for demonstration purposes (see below)
   
Usage
-----

 To open a new plot wndow click File->New Plot in the initial menu. A dialog box opens with 
default values of ranges of x & y ([x-min,x-max], [y-min, y-max]), and 
file name. You may change the values in the dialog. "x-col" is the column in the data 
file used for the x-axis, "y-col" is the y-axis. If there are only two data columns 
in the file, normally "x-col" is the first (0) column and "y-col" is the second (1). 
With more than two columns, it is possible to change to different columns.

 Once the all parameters are set in the initial dialog, click "OK" and a plot window opens 
with the data plotted. By default the program checks for data file updates about every 
1 second. This can be changed by clicking Timer->Set and typing a different number of 
seconds in the dialog box. Setting the update interval to 0 stops checking for file 
updates. It is also possible to stop checking for updates by right clicking anywhere 
on the plot window area and choosing "Freeze" from the popup menu. Selecting "Unfreeze" 
in the popup menu will re-enable data updates. Selecting "Update" forces an immediate 
data update no matter what the value of timer interval is.

 The x, y ranges can be adjusted either by clicking Plot->Range->x-range (or y-range) 
in the main menu or "Modify" in the popup menu. Adjusting the number of x & y "ticks"
is similar. Selecting "Line" in the popup menu opens a dialog in which in which the 
color and width of lines (1 by default) can be changed. The color is expressed in R-G-B. 
Each of R, G, B can be any number between 0,255. RGB=(0,0,0) is a black line, 
RGB=(255,0,0) is a red line, RGB = (0,255,0) is a green line and RGB=(0,0,255) is a 
blue line.

 Another useful feature is the ability to plot up to 3 previous data plots in the same 
plot window in addition to most recent data. The number of previous values can be set
by clicking Plot->History in the main menu and then checking any of the numbers 
in the menu. By default the history number is 0 (no previous data is displayed).
   
 In the title bar of the plot window listed are (1) The data file name, (2) Columns 
plotted and (3) time of most recent data update.

 It is possible to open any number of plot windows by clicking File->New Plot in the 
main menu.

 DRAGGING: A useful feature is the ability to drag the plotted data in the plot window 
and to examine various portions of the plot. This is done by clicking the left mouse 
button and dragging the mouse while the button is pressed.

Data Format
-----------

 RtPlot assumes the data in the file is ordered in two (or more) columns.  E.g.

0.0   1.0
1.0   2.0
2.0   3.0

describes three points of a straight line. Comments are not allowed but this may 
change in future versions.

Demonstration
--------------

The package contains a small executable, plottest.exe. Running the executable will produce two data files: testplot1.txt & testplot2.txt. Initially,
the two files include data for sin & cosine functions with zero phase. As time 
progresses the phase is changing and the data in the files is updated every 1 second.
If you load the files into RtPlot, you may view the "moving" sin & cosine.  


Author
------

Please direct suggestions or bug reports to the author:

Dov Bai
e-mail: dbai@juno.com