How do I change graph characteristics in Xess?

On this page:

Overview

You can modify Xess graph options in two ways. One is by changing the "New Graph Options" found under the "Options" menu of the main sheet. You can also change the settings of a graph more specifically by changing the options found under the "Edit" and "Options" menus in the Graph Editor window.

Modifying General Options

The General Options dialog box allows you to define the following graph characteristics:

• Graph type
• Automatic redraw after recalculation
• Display legend
• Default foreground and background color
• Default font, style, size
• Graph title text, font, style, size, color

To change general graph options:

1. Display "Options" from the Graph Editor menu bar.

2. Select the "General" option which displays the General Options dialog box.

3. Modify any of the following options accordingly:

• Graph types:
  • Scatter graphs
  • Line graphs
  • Area graphs
  • Bar graphs
  • Stacked bar graphs
  • Histogram
  • Pie graph
  • Surface graph (3D rotation)
  • Contour graph
  • Polar graph
  • Hi-Lo graph
  • Control graph
  • Box graph

Although it is easy to switch from one graph type to another the graph range selected may be incorrect or insufficient to create such a a graph. In this even, a (sometimes cryptic) error message is displayed on the Control/Status area of the main window. This requires that you may have to modify the data ranges to obtain the desired results. For more information, please read Graph DataSet Dialog in the "Help" Menu.

• Redraw on recalculation
• Defer redraw
• Display legend
• Default foreground and background color
• Default font, style, size
• Graph title text
  • You may format the title text using the following delimiters:

    ^	Center with respect to the previous line
    {	Begins a block of text
    }	Ends a block of text
    	Next character or text block to be subscripted
    ^	Next character or text block to be superscripted
    \	Turns off special properties of the preceding characters so they can be printed out
    \n	Forces new line

• Graph title font, style, size and color

4. Click OK to accept the changes and dismiss the dialog box; click Apply to accept changes and retain the dialog box. (If Defer Redraw in the general Graph Options menu is OFF, the effects are immediately reflected in the corresponding graph edit window; if Defer Redraw is ON, you must explicitly invoke Redraw from the File menu to update the graph.) Click Cancel if you wish to dismiss the dialog box.

For more detailed information on changing General Options you can check under the Help "Index" menu and select "Graph Options."

Changing Options within the Graph Editor

"Edit" menu

The Edit menu consists of the following options:

• Data Sets
  • The Data Set Options dialog box allows you to customize the appearance of each dataset within the graph. Options that can be altered include the following:
    • Graph data ranges
    • Hi/Lo Data
    • Annotation
    • Segment type
    • Histogram option
    • Shading
    • Line style, width, color
    • Marker type
    • Fill style and color
    • Legend text, font, size, style, color
  • For details about this dialog box, refer to help topic, "Graph Dataset Dialog".

• Rotate 3D
  • Rotate 3D dialog box provides a means to change the viewing angle of a 3D surface plot. You can rotate the graph to change the horizontal and vertical angles of view. This option is disabled if the graph type is not a surface plot. For details about this dialog box, refer to help topic, "Graph Rotate Dialog".

"Options" menu

The Options menu allows you to customize the general appearance of the graph and consists of the following options:

• General
  • The General Options dialog box allows you to define the following:
    • Graph type
    • Automatic redraw after recalculation
    • Display legend
    • Default foreground and background color
    • Default font, style, size
    • Graph title text, font, style, size, color
  • Please refer to the help topic, "Graph Options", for detailed information on setting general characteristics for a graph.
• X Axis
• Y Axis
• Z Axis
  • The X-Axis, Y-Axis, and Z-Axis Options dialog box allows you to define the following:
    • Scaling
    • Tic placement, font, style, size, color
    • Axis color and placement
    • Grid line option with color
    • Axis label text, font, style, size, color
  • Please refer to the topic titled "Graph Axis Dialog" for detailed information
    on setting axis characteristics for a given graph.

NOTE: If you want to resize the graph for output, in the event that
you want a longer X or Y axis, you need to resize the graph window
itself and then print it out.