BARG

Section: User Commands (1)
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NAME

barg - draw a bar graph in gremlin format

SYNOPSIS

: barg [input_file_name [output_file_name]]

DESCRIPTION

Barg is used to generate bar graphs in gremlin format. It takes up to two arguments. The first argument is the name of the barg input file. The second argument is the name of the gremlin file to store the output of barg into. If the output file is not specified then output goes to standard output. If the input file is also missing then input is read from standard input.

A barg input file is an ASCII file containing barg commands and data. Each command is on a separate line. White space can be used to separate the different arguments to each command. Lines beginning with a "#" and blank lines are ignored. All command arguments that affect the dimensions of the graph are specified in pixels.

Graphs are divided up into sets of bars. Each set can contain from 1 to 8 bars and there can be any number of sets. The program is fully parameterized such that the bar width, inner bar spacing, inner set spacing, graph height and graph width can all be specified. All parameters that are not specified, except for the number of sets and the number of bars in each set which must be specified, will either default to preset values or be calculated. If the inner set spacing is not specified or it is specified as -1, it will be calculated from the bar width, inner bar spacing and graph width. Likewise if the inner set spacing is set but the bar width is not then it will be calculated from the other parameters.

The following is a summary of the barg commands:

Command         Arguments

b               <left border width> <right border width>
d               <data set label>
h               <graph height>
k               <left key border> <right key border> <key width> <key height>
lx              <x-axis label>
ly              <y-axis label>
n               <num bar sets> <num bars per set>
p
s               <inner bar space> <inner set space>
t               <graph title>
w               <graph width>
y               <# of ticks> <delta> <starting value>
W               <bar width>
1               <bar type> <bar label>
2               <bar type> <bar label>
3               <bar type> <bar label>
4               <bar type> <bar label>
5               <bar type> <bar label>
6               <bar type> <bar label>
7               <bar type> <bar label>
8               <bar type> <bar label>

The following explains each command in more detail:

b: Define the left and right border in pixels. The left border width is the number of pixels between the y-axis and the first bar graph. The right border width is the number of pixels that the x-axis extends past the last bar graph.
d: Define a bar graph set. These commands should be the last commands in the input file. The label is the string to draw at the bottom of the bar graph set. The following lines up until a line beginning with an "e" is found are taken as floating point y values for bars in the bar graph set. The line with the "e" marks the end of the bar graph set. There cannot be more than the number of bars per set lines of data between the "d" and "e" commands.
h: The graph height in pixels.
k: Bar graph key information. At the bottom of each graph each of the different bar types is drawn along with the associated label (see the 1-8 commands below). The left key border specifies the number of pixels between the y-axis and the first key. The right key border is the number of pixels between the end of the x-axis and the rightmost key. The key width and height define the size of the bar that is drawn that represents the key.
lx: Label to print on the x-axis.
ly: Label to print on the y-axis.
n: Define the number of bar sets and the number of bars in each set. This command must come after the dimensions of the graph are defined and before the data sets are defined with the "d" command.
p: Print a percent sign after each value on the y-axis.
s: Define the number of pixels between each bar and between each set of bars.
t: Title the graph.
w: The width of the graph in pixels.
y: Define the range of the y-axis. The # of ticks is the number of pieces to divide the y-axis into, the delta is the size of each piece and the starting value is the base value for y.
W: The width of each bar.
[1-8]: Define the type of the ith bar in a set. The type must be between 0 and 7 and corresponds to the 8 gremlin filled polygon types. The label is used to print out the bar type key.

AUTHOR

Michael N. Nelson