Interactive edition of hierarchical properties of graphic objects
The graphic Object Editor is a set of visual (GUI) editors, available
in the Edit
menu of graphic windows. They provide graphic editing operations
for the different kind of graphics objects (see graphics entities
for more details), including the enabling them, disabling them, and editing their properties,
before or after they have been drawn.
Internally, each graphic window, and the drawing it contains, are represented by
a hierarchy of entities. The hierarchy top level is the Figure
.
Each Figure
defines at least one child of type Axes
.
Each Axes
entity contains a set of leaf entities which are the basic graphics
objects like Polylines
, Rectangles
, Arcs
, Segs
,...
It can also contain a Compound
type which is recursive sets of entities.
The graphic Object Editor manipulates this hierarchy of entities.
In the Scilab language, graphics entities are associated to Scilab variables of type handle
.
The handle is a unique identifier which is associated to each instance of a created graphical entity.
Using this handle, it will be possible to reach entities' properties through
set
and get
routines.
The handles are also used to manipulate graphics objects, to move them, to make copies or delete them.
A set of high-level graphing routines (see set, get) allow accessing and editing the objects'
properties such as data, coordinates and scaling, color and appearances without requiring
to replay the initial graphics commands.
The graphic Object Editor is implemented using the Tcl/Tk language; it is not available on MacOS, where Tcl/TK is not available.
The following editing operations are available in the Object Editor:
Let this figure be the current one.
Redraw the content of the graphics window.
Erase the content of the graphics window. Its action
corresponds to clf
routine.
Using the mouse, it allows the user to select a 2D
object (like a curve, a rectangle...) and put it in the
clipboard. Thus, by a next call to Paste
object
,the object is copied in the
selected current axes.
Allow the user to paste a previous object put into in the clipboard inside the selected current axes.
Using the mouse, it allows the user to move a 2D object (like a curve, a rectangle...) inside the selected current axes.
Using the mouse, it allows the user to pick up a 2D object (like a curve, a rectangle...) inside the selected current axes and to delete it instantly.
Launch the Tcl/Tk interface for the
Figure
object applied to the figure
handle of the graphics window.
Launch the Tcl/Tk interface for the
Axes
object applied to the current
axes handle of the graphics window.
Start an event handler on the graphics window to catch the mouse clicks on graphics objects and launch the corresponding Tcl/Tk interface. The left mouse-click allows object edition and the right click performs a move of the selected object. Note that, for now, this feature is applied to 2D objects only.
Stop the action of the Entity Picker by terminating the event handler on the graphics window.
Once the graphic interface is enabled (using the Figure Properties
or Current Axes Properties
options), two main areas appear:
Placed on the left side of the graphical editor, a hierarchical tree selector specifies which object is currently edited. It can be used to switch from a graphic object to another provided that they are in the same graphic window.
The second area represents a notebook composed with
different properties pages (like
Style
, Data
,
Clipping
...) depending on the
selected graphic object. Using this editor, user can
edit more easily the whole properties set of each
graphic object (like through the set
and
get
routines). Here is an example of the axes' notebook displaying axes properties:
Furthermore, you can legend/annotate your figure using sample
primitives given inside the Insert
menu in the
graphic window. Using the mouse and following the instruction in the message subwindow, you can add a:
Draw a line between 2 left mouse clicks. The line lives in the axes where the first point was selected.
Draw a polyline by clicking on the left button to define the line path and right click at last to complete the drawing. The polyline lives in the axes where the first point was selected.
Draw an arrow between 2 left mouse clicks. The arrow lives in the axes where the first point was selected.
Draw a double-sided arrow between 2 left mouse clicks. The double arrow lives in the axes where the first point was selected.
Open a dialog box to enter the text, then click on the figure window to place it. The text lives in the axes where the point was selected.
Draw a rectangle: 2 left mouse clicks define respectively the upper left corner and the lower-right corner of the rectangle. The rectangle lives in the axes where the first point was selected.
Draw a circle : 2 left mouse clicks define respectively the upper left corner and the lower-right corner of the bounding-box where the circle lives. The rectangle lives in the axes where the first point was selected.