MagicChart

 

Tutorial

 

Introduction
  MagicChart is a business chart drawing program for the Pilot. It can plot one or several serials of numbers in one graph.

This tutorial will show you the general working of MagicChart.

Step 1 Create a sample memo
 

Open the Memopad application and create a new memo in which you enter the following :

First line : enter the title of the memo, say "mydata"
Second line : enter 2 serials of data separated by a semi-column, the first serial is the numbers from 1 to 10 and the second serial is their doubles (thus, from 2 to 20).
 

After you entered all the values, your memo should look like the screenshot on the left.

(This screenshot is taken from a french version of Memopad)

Step 2 Start MagicChart and load your data
 

Launch the MagicChart program and click on the "Menu" silk button of your Palm after the "Main window" is displayed.
The menu of the application is shown. Choose the "File" drop-down menu then the "Open" option.
You are now in the " File Open " window. Browse the memos with the "P" and "N" buttons until you find the memo "mydata".

When you find it, be sure that the "Names on 2nd line" box is not checked and just tap on the "Ok" button to load the memo.

 

The data in the memo is automatically rendered with the options defined in the "Graph parameters" window.

The first time that you use the program, however, no options have been defined, and the program uses the "zen mode" : its default values. You get something like the screenshot on the left.

 

Step 3 Use the pen selecting
 

The pen selecting feature allows you to quickly see the values of the points plotted and their serial.

On your simple graph, you can try to select a point by tapping on the screen with your stylus. The selected point will change its shape from a rectangle to a frame.

Simultaneously, the value of the point and the serial to which it belongs will be displayed in the bottom line field. For example, look at the screenshot.

The value of the bottom field indicates that the selected point belongs to the serial "Sr #2", it is the 6th point of the serial and the value plotted is 12.

 

When you click on other values, the old selected point becomes filled again.

If you click on a part of the screen where there is no point, the last selected point becomes de-selected and the bottom line field are cleared.

Step 4 Modify the graph options
 

Now, you can play with the options in the "Graph options" window to try different renderings.
The "Graph options" window is called by choosing "Options" in the "Graph" menu.

Click on the "Lines" button to connect the points with lines.

Another way to modify your chart is using the "Axes options" form.This form is called by choosing "Axes" in the "Graph" menu.


Check the "X-axis grid" box and enter "2" in the associated field to draw a vertical line every 2 X-values.
Check the "Y-axis grid" box enter "4" in the associated field and select the "Num" pushbutton to draw a set of 4 horizontal lines.

 

Tap on the "Ok" button. The chart is updated. If you set the options as written above, you should now see that something like the photo on the left.This is a better looking graph.

 

 

Go in the "File" menu, choose "Save view as" and save the current drawing options by tapping the " Save " button in the bottom left corner. By doing that, the next time you’ll be starting MagicChart and loading a file, the data will directly be shown with a grid and lines between the points.

You can try by yourself different combinations of options until you find one that fit your needs.

Go to the " Serial " window and uncheck the " Draw " checkbox for the 2nd serial. See how the scale is adjusted to provide a maximum visibility of the remaining data.

Step 5 Scrolling
 

MagicChart can not show more than 26 values on a single screen. For larger serials, it provides horizontal scrolling.

Let’s try it.

Return in the Memopad application. We are going to add some data in our sample memo in order to see the scrolling.
The simpliest way is to copy the lines of data in the clipboard and to paste them 3 times.

 

Your memo should now have 40 lines ( the initials 10 plus 3 pastes).
Restart the MagicChart application, and reload the memo. The main window should now look like the screenshot on the left.

 

On that screen, you can see the first 2 " serials " from 1 to 10 completely plotted, plus, on the right, the beginning of the 3rd serial.
In the upper right corner of the draw area, you can see a little frame. This is a right scroll indicator.
Tap on it with your stylus, the screen is " shifted " to the left and the next batch of values is displayed. You now see :

 

These are the remaining of the values in your memo.
You can notice the following things :

The right scroll indicator is not shown any more. This indicates that you are at the " end " of the values.

A left scroll indicator has appeared.

 

This indicates that you can go on the left to see previous values. If you do so, you will return to the first screen. The left indicator will be hidden and the right one shown.

If your data need more than 2 screens to display entirely, the " middle " screens will have both the right and the left indicator on them.

Step 6 Working with views
 

MagicChart can save your favorite settings so that you can instantaneously see your data with you prefered representations. This is the role of views.

You are currently using the "Default" view. It is indicated in the upper right corner of the main screen.

Let's create a new view, based on the current one. Simply choose the "Save view as" option of the "File" menu.

 

Tap "my view" in the field. This is the name of the new view. The new view will be created as a copy of the "Default" view.

Tap on "Ok". Note that the current view is now "my view". You can switch between the 2 views in the list but, since both are identical, you can't see any difference.

 

So, go to the "Graph parameter" window and add labels for both axes. Say "X LABEL" for the X-axis and "Y LABEL" for the Y-axis.

 

Here is a screenshot of what you should see. Save the modifications od this view by taping on "Save view" in the "File" menu.

Now, if you switch to the "Default view", you can see a difference : the labels have disappeared. Select "my view" : they are back.

 

You can naturally apply different views on the same loaded memo : this is a fast way to find which representation of the data is the most speaking.

The last item in the view list is the classical "Edit..." option. It allows you to delete or rename a view, including the "Default" one.

You can edit almost without restrictions your views provided that :

- You have a view named "Default" when you leave the program. If you quit the application without a "Default" view, MagicChart will recreate one the next time you start it up.

- You can delete all the views but one. At least one view is required forMagicChart to represent the data. Note that it might not be the "Default" view.