plinit

initialize the system

parameter	type	units	description
driver	int	--	plotter driver, currently PS, PSL, PDF, PDFL or X
file	char*	--	plotfile name, stdout if empty, not used when driver is X
xsize,ysize	float	mm	paper size
xorg,yorg	float	mm	position of the origin relative to lower left of the paper
initial_font	char*	--	initial font name
alternate_font	char*	--	alternate font name
returns:	void

Description

plinit (re)initializes plot package. It chooses a new plotter driver. Currently three drivers are available:

PS

portrait oriented PostScript

PSL

landscape oriented PostScript

PDF

portrait oriented PDF

PDFL

landscape oriented PDF

X

for plotting on the screen (X-windows or VGA).

plinit resets all internal variables, including the origin and scaling. Scaling is reset to millimeter units in both x- and y-direction, and the origin is reset to xorg,yorg millimeters relative to the lower left corner of the paper. The parameter file is a name for the plotfile. It is not used when plotting in X-windows; otherwise, if it is empty then the PostScript output will be sent to standard output and if it is non-empty, then the plotfile will be file.eps. The pair width,height determines the paper/screen sizes in mm; it may also be replaced by one of the following macros:

A0	841	x	1189
A1	594	x	841
A2	420	x	594
A3	297	x	420
A4	210	x	297
A5	146	x	210
A6	105	x	146
A7	74	x	105

Using PSL or PDFL for the plotter driver automatically exchanges paper width and height. Thus A4 is the normal papersize, both for PS and for PSL. For PostScript plotting, the papersize given should be the actual papersize of the plotter. It may be tempting to use other papersizes instead, for example to influence the behaviour of plreserv. However, plclip should be used for such purposes. The two font parameters make two fonts available, the initial font and an alternate font. The latter becomes effective if either plfont is called or, in plformat, a @--character is found in the format string. Available Postscript fonts have names constructed from the capital letters of their standard Postscript names. Their geometries are found in files with those names in the directory /simplot/fonts. Currently available fonts are:

AGB	AvantGarde-Book	HNO	Helvetica-Narrow-Oblique
AGBO	AvantGarde-BookOblique	HO	Helvetica-Oblique
AGD	AvantGarde-Demi	NCSB	NewCenturySchlbk-Bold
AGDO	AvantGarde-DemiOblique	NCSBI	NewCenturySchlbk-BoldItalic
BD	Bookman-Demi	NCSI	NewCenturySchlbk-Italic
BDI	Bookman-DemiItalic	NCSR	NewCenturySchlbk-Roman
BL	Bookman-Light	PB	Palatino-Bold
BLI	Bookman-LightItalic	PBI	Palatino-BoldItalic
C	Courier	PI	Palatino-Italic
CB	Courier-Bold	PR	Palatino-Roman
CBO	Courier-BoldOblique	S	Symbol
CO	Courier-Oblique	TB	Times-Bold
H	Helvetica	TBI	Times-BoldItalic
HB	Helvetica-Bold	TI	Times-Italic
HN	Helvetica-Narrow	TR	Times-Roman
HNB	Helvetica-Narrow-Bold	ZCMI	ZapfChancery-MediumItalic
HNBO	Helvetica-Narrow-BoldOblique	ZD	ZapfDingbats

If an empty string is given, Helvetica ("H") is used for the initial_font and Symbol ("S") for the alternate_font For plotting under X-windows, any available X-font definition string may be given. Default values are

"-*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"

for the initial_font and

"-*-symbol-medium-r-*-*-10-*-*-*-*-*-*-*"

for the alternate_font

Examples

See also

plpoly plshade plfill pldot plclip plarcr plbox plformat plmvorg plframe plblock plarrow plfunc plrotate pltrace plaxes plpgon plarc plfont plreserv plhiss plpline plhist plsmooth plloop simplot program plaxfit plpolar plpie plpolv plevent plot