TABLIX(1)

💅 TABLIX(1) — or, the whole Tablix User's Manual moment ✨

okay bestie, sit down, hydrate, because we're about to talk about tablix2_plot — the Tablix data plotter — and it's literally so good 🫶

---

🌸 NAME 🌸

tablix2_plot — the Tablix data plotter. that's her. that's the girl. 💖

---

🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

tablix2_plot command [ options ]

short, sweet, main character energy. periodt. 👑

---

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so first of all, context, because you need the lore:

Tablix is a powerful free software kernel for solving general timetabling problems. no cap. it uses a coarse-grained parallel genetic algorithm in combination with other techniques to construct sensible timetables from XML formatted problem descriptions. Tablix can run on a single host as well as on a heterogeneous parallel virtual machine using PVM3. it's giving versatile, it's giving flexible. 🌈

now, tablix2_plot? she can be used to plot various types of population convergence graphs using data in files usually named conv0.txt, conv1.txt, ... — you know the vibe. Tablix will save convergence data into these files if it was compiled with the --enable-conv option. so like, if you didn't compile with that, no files, no graphs, no slay. 🙈

these graphs are useful for example to get a rough estimate of time required to solve a particular problem. and here's the cute part: note that tablix2_plot can be safely used with files that are still being written to by a running Tablix session. she doesn't mind, she's chill like that. 💜

graphs are plotted with gnuplot using the default output terminal (which is in most cases a X11 display). want Encapsulated postscript files? set the EPSOUTPUT environment variable. want Scalable vector graphics files? set the SVGOUTPUT environment variable. the contents of these variables are used by tablix2_plot as a file name to write to. so basically you're just telling her where to put the art. iconic. 🎨

---

✨ OPTIONS ✨

• tablix2_plot --conv-fitness [ --scale SCALE ] [ PREFIX ] ... — plot the population convergence graph using convergence data in files conv*.txt in the current directory. one line is drawn for each computing node, and it shows the fitness value of the best timetable versus generation count. 📈
  • use the PREFIX option if you used the -o option with Tablix. you can use more than one PREFIX option to plot multiple convergence graphs in one window — multitasking queen 💅
  • use the SCALE option to adjust the vertical scale.
• tablix2_plot --fit-fitness [ --scale SCALE ] [ PREFIX ] ... — same as --conv-fitness above, except that an exponential function is also drawn on the graph using least squares fitting. this can be used to get a rough estimate of the time required to find a solution. 🔮
  • the SCALE parameter is used to adjust the horizontal scale in this case. yes, horizontal here, vertical up there, don't mix them up bestie 😭
• tablix2_plot --functions [ --scale SCALE ] CONVFILE — plot the return value of each fitness function versus generation count. return values of mandatory fitness functions are plotted with thicker lines (they're the main characters, obviously 👑).
  • CONVFILE must be a file with Tablix population convergence data (usually named conv*.txt).
  • use the SCALE option to adjust the vertical scale.

---

🍓 EXAMPLES 🍓

okay so say Tablix was started with this command:

tablix2 -o u1_ sample.xml

then this command plots the population convergence graph:

tablix2_plot --conv-fitness u1_

want the Encapsulated postscript version of that same graph? in a bash shell, do this:

EPSOUTPUT="graph.eps" tablix2_plot --conv-fitness u1_

and to see which mandatory restriction is preventing Tablix from finding the solution, use the per module plot — possibly with a small vertical scale:

tablix2_plot --functions --scale 100 u1_conv0.txt

see? detective work. sleuthing. she ate. 🔥

---

💀 BUGS 💀

ngl, this is the part where we hold hands 🫶

in addition to gnuplot, the tablix2_plot utility depends on a number of common UNIX programs (mktemp, grep, sed, awk, ...) that may not be available on all systems. and the script is not currently capable of properly detecting if any required programs are missing. so like, if something's missing, she won't tell you, she'll just suffer in silence. tragic. 😭

bestie warning: don't assume she'll warn you about missing dependencies, because she literally cannot. check your system yourself. 💅

---

🌟 AUTHOR 🌟

Tomaz Solc (tomaz.solc@tablix.org) — the legend, the blueprint, the moment. 🙌

---

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

• tablix2(1)
• Tablix User's Manual
• Tablix modules HOWTO
• Tablix on Morphix HOWTO

---

and that's the whole page bestie, we did it, we got through it together 🥹

Tomaz Solc wrote this one back on 2005-09-03, and it lives in the TABLIX(1) section of the manual — so go forth, plot your convergence graphs, and remember: she's been serving since 2005 and she's still iconic. mwah. 💖✨🎀