The main idea inside MagicChart is to use the Pilot pen interface to the maximum.

So, the screen is almost entirely occupied by the graph itself. The other informations are shown by tapping on "hot spots" of the graph with the stylus.

MagicChart can use up to 10 "serials" of numbers. Each serial can have an arbitrary number of values, the only limit is the Pilot memory.

The values themselves are numbers : positives, negatives, reals or integers.

Just copy the file MagicChart.prc on your Pilot, using the Installer.

If you upgrade from version 1.0 and you are a registered user, you will have to enter your registration key again.

The file will take 37 Ko of your Pilot memory, not including the database (1-2 Ko). You should have Palm OS 2.0 or upper to run the program.

This manual is for the registered version 1.2 of MagicChart. The version number of the program is indicated in the " About " dialog box.

The unregistered version has the following differences :

• 2 serials instead of 10.
• 30 values max. by serial instead of 100.
• A registration reminder screen on data loading after the evaluation period.

The chart will be drawn in the rectangular area as soon as data is loaded.

The  field at the bottom left of the screen will be used to display the value pointed by the stylus and the name of the serial to which the value belongs.

At the top right corner, a pop-up list ( "Default" on the screenshot ) indicates the currently selected settings. A particular set of settings is called a "view".  

At the bottom right corner there are 4 direction arrows. You can use it to navigate between serials (Up and Down) or between values of the same serial (Left and Right).

The main window is the one in which your graph will be displayed.

The next time you run the program, it will bring you in the state it was when you previously left. This is done by automatically reloading the last viewed memo and the last "View" (your settings, see below).

If the memo cannot be reloaded, a blank screen, like the one you got the first time, will be displayed.

This window allows you to load and save serials and values.

The same window is used to load and save the memos because the same options applies to both operations.
 
 

The "Category" list, on the left, contains the Memopad categories. Select the category to which your memo belongs. When you select a new category, the "Memo" list, on the right is automatically updated.

The "Category" list lets you create a Memopad category, say "Chart", in which you can put all your memos that have to be used with MagicChart.

The " Memo " list contains the name of the memo to load or save. The name of the currently selected memo is displayed in the "Memo" field under the list. This field is read-only.

The name of a memo is in fact the first line of the memo. If the name is too long, only the first 15 characters are displayed.

When you use this dialog to save a memo, the "Category" and "Memos" lists are both fixed.

The " Save memo as… " option will bring you a dialog with a single field : the new memo name. 

Once you tap on the " Ok " button, the memo is created and filled with the data in memory.

The whole operation can be aborted by clicking on " Cancel "

If you try to load a memo which contains alphanumeric data on some lines, these values will be evaluated to 0.

Thus, loading a memo where the second line contains  the names of the serials without checking the " Names on the 2^nd line " box will lead to the creation of a 0 value as the 1^st element of all the serials.

When you save your data, click that box to save your serial names too.

The " Fld separator " field allows you to modify the field separator in the memo. The default field separator is " ; " which is the most common.

If you want to change it, you can directly type the new value in the field. This new value will be saved with other user preferences by the " Save " button in the " Graph parameters " window (see below).

After you choose a memo, click on the " Ok " button to load it.
Click on the " Cancel " button if you don’t want to load the memo selected.

This windows is used to manipulate serials.

The list, on the left, displays the 10 serials that can be loaded. Each serial is identified by its index, from 1 to 10.

The fields, beside the list, display informations about the currently selected serial.

On the other side, when you click on a non-empty serial number, the name of the serial and the following informations are displayed :

 

	" Min " field : the minimum value found in the serial
	" Max " field : the maximum value found in the serial
	" Nb val " field : the number of values in the serial
	" Draw " checkbox : whether the serial is to be drawn or not.

The default name of the serial, which applies if the names where not found in the loaded file, is the string " Ser # " concatenated with the index of the serial.

To change this name, tap in the " Name " field, enter the new name, then click on the " Chg " button.

The names that you give can be saved with your data. Simply make sure that the " Names on 2^nd line " checkbox is checked in the " Save file " window.

The " Draw " checkbox allows you to specify which serials should be drawn and which should not. If the box is checked, then the serial will be plotted in the main window, else it will not.

The X and Y scales are computed by looking at the min and max values of all the serials to draw. So, if you decide to hide one or more serials, the graph scales will be modified accordingly to reflect the changes. This garantees that you always see the better view of your datas.

This window indicates the main options that will act on the drawing of the graph.

On the left, the " Type " list lets you choose the type of chart that will be drawn.

Others options will act on different parts of the graph

If you get a setting that you like, you can save it. This setting is called a "View". To save a view in the MagicChart database, choose the  " Save view as..." option in the "File" menu.

After you saved your new view, it becomes the current one. You can modify it and save your modifications  by choosing "Save view" in the "File" menu.

At the first starting of the program, the current view is the "Default" view. On subsequent starts, the program will remember the view in which it was the last time you quitted. 

Whenever you want, you can change the current view by simply selecting the one you want in the popup list of the main window.

Points :

X-Y :

Histo :

Pie :

Example :

If you have 4 values : 25, 25,25, 25, each value will be represented by a equally sized pie part.

If you have 50, 25,25, the 1^st value will be half the pie, and the 2^nd and 3^rd value will be a quarter of the pie.

If more than one serial is currently drawn (ie. the box " Draw " of the serial is checked), then the serial which has the least index will be chosen, the other serials will be ignored.

Ring :

This is an extension of the Pie chart. Each serial (1 to 5) is represented as a ring. All the rings are included in eachothers.

This graph is very useful for seeing proportions in an evolving set of numbers. For example, you can have data on sells to you 10 best consumers over several years. Each year is represented by a ring and you can easily see the weights of each consumer over the years. A line graph would be more confusing because it will produce 10 lines (one for each consumer).

The "floating mean" checkbox :

This checkbox works with 2 associated fields and permits the drawing of a "floating mean" on the graph. This line is added to the currently drawn serials.

The 2 associated fields are : the index of the serial on which the floating mean will be based and the number of values used to calculate the mean.

Use the floating mean to get the general trend of your data, since they get smoothed.

This window shows the options concerning the X and Y axes.

The options are almost the same for each axis.

All informations about the axes are considered as a part of the current view.

Drawing a grid

You can add a grid  to your graph, on the X, or Y, or both axes. Just click on the appropriate "Grid" chexbox and provide the associated parameter(s).

If you leave these fields empty, no grid will be drawn, even if the corresponding checkbox is checked.

The parameter(s) will be used to compute how many lines are drawn. The working is slightly different for the X or Y axis.

For the X-axis : the number nb that you enter is used to draw a vertical line every nb x values.

For the Y-axis : the number nb that you enter is used to draw horizontal lines. If you choose the "Num" pushbutton, nb is the number of lines that will be drawn. If you choose the "Intv" pushbutton, nb is the y values interval between 2 lines.

Example :

Your values range from 11 to 32. If you enter 5 for the number, as shown on the screenshot, and choose "Num" then 5 horizontal lines will be drawn.

If you enter 5, but choose the "Intv" push button, then an horizontal line will be drawn for every interval of 5 on y values. So, as your y values goes from 11 to 32, you will get one line for 15, 20, 25, 30. This makes 4 lines.

Note : The X-axis graduations have no meaning in the case of an X-Y chart and so it will not be displayed. No grid will be drawn, neither, for circular graphs.

Labelling the axes

You can add on each axis a label to indicate what is represented. These labels which should be short are limited to 11 characters. The Y-axis label is drawn vertically and is more readable if you write it in upper case.

It's an evidence but, remember, when you label one or both axes, the screen space used to display the chart is reduced.

This window regroups the main options that will act on the working of the program.

Important : these options are a part of the current view.

If the " Replace " button is selected, the data in the clipboard will erase the data already in memory.

If the " Add " button is selected, the data in the clipboard is added to the data in memory, beginning with the first empty serial.

An error occurs if you try to paste more serials than the available empty serials. However, the serials of the paste operation that have been be loaded are not discarded, in order to save your time.

Example : 

You have 7 serials loaded, and you paste 4 serials from the clipboard. The 3 first serials will be effectively loaded but the 4^th not.

The term "view" is used for "a set of settings".

It is a convenient way to store and retrieve your most commonly used settings.

The settings included in a view are :

• All the parameters of the "Graph parameters" window
• All the parameters of the "Preferences" window

Each view is identified by its name. By default, MagicChart use the "Default" view, which is automaticaly created on each startup if it doesn't exist. The name of the currently used view is displayed on the main screen in the upper right corner.

You can easily change the active view by selecting another one in this list.

A new view is created upon the current view. Just choose the "Save view as" option in the "File" menu and give a name for the new view.

MagicChart will then save the new view and make it become the current view.

All the modifications of the settings that you do will now act on the new view.

You can rename or delete views by using the "View edition" dialog. It can be accessed by choosing the last option of the view list on the main screen.

This option is named "Edit ..." and displays the dialog shown on the left.

Using this dialog box is very simple : tap on a view in the list, then on the button corresponding to the action you want to do.

You can close the dialog by tapping on "Ok".

Particular points :

When you edit views, you have to consider the following points :

Leave a view named "Default" when you quit the application. Else, MagicChart will re-create a "Default" view on its next startup.

You can delete all the views in the list but one. It might not be the "Default" view. If you try to delete the last view, you will get an error message. This is necessary, because MagicChart has to use a view to draw the current data.

When you delete the current view, MagicChart will use the preceding view in the list instead of the one you deleted.