Changeset 6239 for misc/tools/plotcsv/README

Timestamp:

Jan 29, 2009, 3:25:40 PM (15 years ago)

Author:

rwilson

Message:

Updated the README - now explains usage better.

File:

• misc/tools/plotcsv/README (modified) (1 diff)

misc/tools/plotcsv/README

@@ -1 @@
-This directory holds development code for the 'plotcsv' program
-which plots time-series data in a CSV file to a screen window.
+This directory holds the code for the 'plotcsv' program.  This program
+is meant to be used to view stage versus time from an ANUGA *.csv data
+file and compare a similar graph from another file as a quality assurance
+step.
 
-Ideally, the program will stop running but leave the plot window 
-on the screen, to be closed by the user.  CAN'T DO THIS IN MATPLOTLIB!?
+Usage:  plotcsv.py <options> <filename>
+where <filename> is the path to the data file to plot
+  and <options>  is zero or more of:
+                   -x <datacol> where <datacol> is a column specifier,
+                   -y <datacol>     either a number or a header string
+                   -v <range>   force a range in Y axis values, of the form
+                                    <min>,<max>, eq, "-5,10"
+                   -h           prints this help
 
-Also, the user would like to be able to specify a fixed Y axis scale
-to make comparison of two plots 'by eye' easier.
+The <datacol> values above may be either a column number (starting from the
+left at column 0) or a string that must match one of the column header
+strings in the first line of the CSV file.  If the '-x' or '-y' options
+x are not supplied then the X column is assumed to be column 0 and the Y
+column is assumed to be column 1.
 
-plotcsv.py
-A program that does the above, except it doesn't 'persist'.
+The '-v' option can be used to force a max/min range in the Y axis to allow
+easier comparison of two graphs that would otherwise autoscale the Y axis
+differently.
 
-To use it:
-plotcsv.py -x time -y stage test.csv
+Ideally, the program will stop running but leave the plot window on the screen,
+to be closed by the user, but this doesn't appear possible with matplotlib.
+
+For example, try:
+    plotcsv.py -x time -y stage test.csv
 or
-plotcsv.py -x time -y stage -v -2,25 test.csv
+    plotcsv.py -x time -y stage -v -2,25 test.csv
 or
-plotcsv.py -x time -y depth test.csv
+    plotcsv.py -x time -y depth test.csv
 or
-plotcsv.py -x 0 -y 1 test.csv
+    plotcsv.py -x 0 -y 1 test.csv
 or even
-plotcsv.py test.csv
+    plotcsv.py test.csv
 
-To get help:
-plotcvs.py -h