Plotchar_params(3NCARG)

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✨ Plotchar_params(3NCARG) ✨

okay bestie, welcome to the Plotchar_params page from NCAR GRAPHICS! this is your group-chat rundown of every internal parameter that controls Plotchar. no cap, we're keeping all the deets. 💅

NAME

Plotchar_params — this document briefly describes all the internal parameters of Plotchar.

DESCRIPTION

The following shows all of the internal parameters that affect the behavior of PCHIQU. Each entry includes the name of a parameter, its FORTRAN type, its default value, and a short description of the parameter.

Internal Parameters of PCHIQU

  • AS — Real — default 0. If you set this nonzero, it's giving extra space between characters. A negative value is interpreted in digitization units. A positive value is a multiplier of the nominal character width specified by the argument SIZE (and, in the case of the PWRITX database, one of PW, IW, or CW, whichever is appropriate).
  • BC — Integer array — default all -1's A three-slot array of "box colors". Slot 1 is the outline of the box, slot 2 is the fill, and slot 3 is the fill of the box shadow. The value -1 means "unspecified"; anything >= 0 picks a particular color index. To access slot 1, use BC(1); slot 2 is BC(2), etc. The name BC all by itself? That's slot 1, bestie.
  • BF — Integer — default 0 If this is nonzero, it's asking for a box around each string of characters written by PCHIQU. The value is a three-bit flag: add 1 to draw the outline, 2 to fill the box, and 4 to draw its shadow. (1 = "draw outline", 2 = "fill box", 3 = "fill box and draw outline", 4 = "fill shadow", 5 = "fill shadow and draw outline", 6 = "fill shadow and fill box", and 7 = "fill shadow, fill box, and draw outline".)
  • BL — Real — default 0. If this is greater than zero, it sets the line width used while drawing the box around a character string. Anything less than or equal to zero means "unspecified".
  • BM — Real — default .15 The width of box margins — that's the space between the characters and the outline of the box — stated as a fraction of principal character height.
  • BX — Real — default -.05 The X offset for box shadows, as a fraction of principal character height. This is actually an offset in the direction ANGD.
  • BY — Real — default -.05 The Y offset for box shadows, as a fraction of principal character height. This is actually an offset in the direction ANGD+90.
  • CC — Integer array — default all -1´s An array of color indices. Element 0 is the principal character color, and elements 1 through 16 are special colors for certain characters. The value -1 means "unspecified"; anything >= 0 is a particular color index to use. You can call the routine PCDLSC to define a standard default set of colors for elements 1 through 16. To access element 0, use CC(0); element 1 is CC(1), etc. The name CC by itself? That's element 0.
  • CD — Integer — default 0 The value 0 picks the complex dataset from the PWRITX database; 1 picks the duplex dataset.
  • CE — Integer — default 0 The value 0 selects centering of strings as specified by the argument CNTR, and 1 selects exact centering, using text-extent quantities. This works as desired only when QU is zero.
  • CH — Real — default 9. Digitized cartographic height. 💅
  • CL — Real — default 0. If it's greater than zero, this is the desired principal line width used while drawing characters. A value less than or equal to zero says line width is unspecified.
  • CS — Real — default 0. Constant-spacing flag. The high-quality character sets normally have variable spacing when written "across" the frame. When this is nonzero, it forces the centers of the characters to be a constant distance apart. A negative value: its absolute value specifies the spacing in digitization units. A positive value: it's a multiplier of the nominal character width specified by the argument SIZE (and, in the case of the PWRITX database, one of PW, IW, or CW, whichever is appropriate). Medium- and low-quality characters are not affected by this parameter.
  • CV — Real — default 14. Digitized cartographic vertical spacing. ✨
  • CW — Real — default 8. Digitized cartographic width. 🌸
  • DB — Real — default none Output only — distance from (XPOS,YPOS) to the bottom edge of the text-extent box for the last string drawn, in the fractional system.
  • DL — Real — default none Output only — distance from (XPOS,YPOS) to the left edge of the text-extent box for the last string drawn, in the fractional system.
  • DO — Integer — default 1 The drawing order for the characters. Positive value? Characters are drawn in the order they appear in the input character string; otherwise, opposite order. If the absolute value is 1, all shadows are drawn first, then all character bodies, then all outlines. If the absolute value is 2 or greater, each character is drawn completely — shadow, body, and outline — before moving to the next character. This can be used, together with SS, to "stack" characters so they apparently overlap one another.
  • DR — Real — default none Output only — distance from (XPOS,YPOS) to the right edge of the text-extent box for the last string drawn, in the fractional system.
  • DT — Real — default none Output only — distance from (XPOS,YPOS) to the top edge of the text-extent box for the last string drawn, in the fractional system.
  • FB — Real — default .00003 Fidelity parameter for Bezier curves used to draw the filled fonts. The value says how close the interpolated curve should be to the actual Bezier curve, as a fraction of the height of the plotter frame.
  • FC — Character — default ':' (a colon) Function-code character. 🎀
  • FN — Character or Integer — default 0 Font number. The default value, 0, implies the use of the PWRITX database. Use a positive value n to force the use of fontcap database n. Use a character-string font name, as shown in table 2 in the programmer document for PLOTCHAR, in a call to PCSETC; a call to PCGETC will return one of these font names. The list of font names is also reproduced later in this man page.
  • IH — Real — default 13. Digitized indexical height. 💜
  • IS — Real — default 7. Offset used when subscripting or superscripting a character of indexical size, in digitization units.
  • IV — Real — default 20. Digitized indexical vertical spacing. 🌈
  • IW — Real — default 12. Digitized indexical width. ⭐
  • MA — Integer — default 0 The mapping flag. The value zero says no mapping is to occur; nonzero values say that PCMPXY is to be called and select particular mappings.
  • OC — Integer — default 1 The outline color specifier. The value -1 says outline color is unspecified; a value of 0 or greater selects a particular color index.
  • OF — Integer — default 0 The outline flag. The value 0 says outlines are not to be drawn; a nonzero value says outlines are to be drawn.
  • OL — Real — default 0. The outline line width. A value less than or equal to zero says outline width is unspecified; a value greater than zero is the desired line width, as a fraction of "normal".
  • OR — Real — default 0. The out-of-range flag. The value 0. says that no values returned by the routine PCMPXY are "out of range"; any other value is the value to use as an out-of-range signal, indicating that a point to be mapped is invisible under the current mapping.
  • PH — Real — default 21. Digitized principal height. 👑
  • PS — Real — default 10. Offset used when subscripting or superscripting a character of principal size, in digitization units.
  • PV — Real — default 32. Digitized principal vertical spacing. 🦋
  • PW — Real — default 16. Digitized principal width. 💖
  • QU — Integer — default 0 Quality flag. The value 0 means use the high-quality characters, 1 means use the medium-quality characters of PCMEQU, and 2 means use the "low-quality" characters of PCLOQU.
  • ´SA´ — Real, default .88888888... — a multiplier for the sizes of all characters written directly by PCHIQU. It was introduced in version 3.2 of NCAR Graphics so that characters written by PCHIQU are the same size as those written by PCMEQU. The default value is (16/21)(7/6). If you're one of those users who wants PCHIQU to produce the same size characters it did before, you can set ´SA´ to 1., but bestie, this is not recommended. 💅
  • ´SC´ — Integer, default 0 — the shadow color specifier. The value "-1" says that shadow color is unspecified; a value of 0 or greater selects a particular color index.
  • ´SF´ — Integer, default 0 — the shadow flag. The value 0 says shadows are not to be drawn; a nonzero value says shadows are to be drawn.
  • ´SL´ — Real, default 0. — the shadow line width. A value less than or equal to zero says that shadow line width is unspecified; a value greater than zero is the desired line width, as a fraction of "normal".
  • ´SS´ — Real, default 0. — the subtract-space flag. When this parameter is nonzero, it reduces the space between characters. If a negative value is used, it's interpreted in digitization units. If a positive value is used, it's interpreted as a multiplier of the nominal character width specified by the argument SIZE (and, in the case of the PWRITX database, one of ´PW´, ´IW´, or ´CW´, whichever is appropriate).
  • ´SX´ — Real, default -.05 — the X offset for character shadows, stated as a fraction of principal character height. This is actually an offset in the direction ANGD.
  • ´SY´ — Real, default -.05 — the Y offset for character shadows, stated as a fraction of principal character height. This is actually an offset in the direction ANGD+90.
  • ´TE´ — Integer, default 0 — the text-extent computation flag. Zero means do not compute text-extent quantities, nonzero means do compute them. If ´TE´ is nonzero and the value of the argument ANGD, in a call to PCHIQU, is exactly 360. instead of 0., no characters are drawn, but the text-extent quantities are still computed. This provides a way to get these quantities prior to actually drawing a particular string.
  • ´UN´ — Integer, default 3 — this used to be the FORTRAN logical unit number to be used in reading the data defining the various character sets. It is no longer used for anything. 🙈
  • ´XB´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The X position at the beginning of the last string written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.
  • ´XC´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The X position at the center of the last character written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.
  • ´XE´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The X position at the end of the last string written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.
  • ´YB´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The Y position at the beginning of the last string written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.
  • ´YC´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The Y position at the center of the last character written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.
  • ´YE´ — Real, default 0. — for retrieval only. The Y position at the end of the last string written by PCHIQU, in the fractional system.

✨ Internal Parameters of PCMEQU ✨

The internal parameter ´HW´ specifies the desired ratio of the character height (the height of a capital) to the character width (excluding white space). The default value of ´HW´ is 1.75, reflecting the fact that the capitals are digitized to be 7 units high and 4 units wide and 1.75 is therefore their natural aspect ratio. Negative values of ´HW´ may be used. The absolute value will be used as the ratio, but, in addition, PCHIQU will be prohibited from changing ´HW´ (which it otherwise does when the quality flag ´QU´ is set to 1).

PCMEQU reacts properly to nonzero values of ´MA´ and ´OR´, which are used to request mapping of characters through the routine PCMPXY, as described for PCHIQU, above. Characters that are partly visible and partly invisible are clipped at the visible/invisible boundary.

✨ Internal Parameters of PCLOQU ✨

PCLOQU reacts to nonzero values of ´MA´ and ´OR´, which are used to request mapping of characters through the routine PCMPXY, as described for PCHIQU, above. However, it doesn't react in quite the same way: Mapping will affect the position of the string written by a call to PCLOQU, the angle at which it is written, and the size of the characters used. The shape of the characters will not be affected (and cannot be, since the characters are drawn by calling the GKS routine GTX instead of GPL). If the point (XPOS,YPOS) is visible under the mapping, the whole string is considered to be visible; otherwise, the whole string is considered to be invisible. The results can be pretty crude; for that reason, mapping is not recommended.

✨ A List of Font Names for Use in Calls to PCSETC That Set ´FN´ ✨

  0    'PWRITX DATABASE   '
  1    'DEFAULT           '
  2    'CARTOGRAPHIC_ROMAN'
  3    'CARTOGRAPHIC_GREEK'
  4    'SIMPLEX_ROMAN     '
  5    'SIMPLEX_GREEK     '
  6    'SIMPLEX_SCRIPT    '
  7    'COMPLEX_ROMAN     '
  8    'COMPLEX_GREEK     '
  9    'COMPLEX_SCRIPT    '
 10    'COMPLEX_ITALIC    '
 11    'COMPLEX_CYRILLIC  '
 12    'DUPLEX_ROMAN      '
 13    'TRIPLEX_ROMAN     '
 14    'TRIPLEX_ITALIC    '
 15    'GOTHIC_GERMAN     '
 16    'GOTHIC_ENGLISH    '
 17    'GOTHIC_ITALIAN    '
 18    'MATH_SYMBOLS      '
 19    'SYMBOL_SET1       '
 20    'SYMBOL_SET2       '
 21    'HELVETICA         '
 22    'HELVETICA-BOLD    '
 25    'TIMES-ROMAN       '
 26    'TIMES-BOLD        '
 29    'COURIER           '
 30    'COURIER-BOLD      '
 33    'GREEK             '
 34    'MATH-SYMBOLS      '
 35    'TEXT-SYMBOLS      '
 36    'WEATHER1          '
 37    'WEATHER2          '
121    'O_HELVETICA       '
122    'O_HELVETICA-BOLD  '
125    'O_TIMES-ROMAN     '
126    'O_TIMES-BOLD      '
129    'O_COURIER         '
130    'O_COURIER-BOLD    '
133    'O_GREEK           '
134    'O_MATH-SYMBOLS    '
135    'O_TEXT-SYMBOLS    '
136    'O_WEATHER1        '
137    'O_WEATHER2        '

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

  • Online: pcdlsc, pcgetc, pcgeti, pcgetr, pcpnwi, pcrset, pcsetc, pcseti, pcsetr, ncarg_cbind.
  • Hardcopy: NCAR Graphics Fundamentals, UNIX Version

Copyright (C) 1987-2009 University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The use of this Software is governed by a License Agreement.

okay that's the whole page bestie! this little legend comes from the UNIX manual, March 1993, and it's all about Plotchar_params(3NCARG). stay iconic, stay mapped, and may your characters always be exactly the size you expect 💖✨

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