How to use iPlot 1. Begin with opening a new terminal window. 2. In the new window, type "idl" to launch IDL 3. The IDL command line should look like this: IDL> In the IDL command line type "iplot". This will open the IDL iPlot window. 4. On the menu bar, click "Insert" --> "Visualization" 5. The Insert Visualization window will appear. Before plotting, the data must be imported into the program. Click on the "Import File..." button at the bottom of the window. 6. The File Import window will appear. The name of the data file is now needed. You can type the file name and directory under "File Name:" and Click "OK" or click on the folder at the end of the line to browse the system for the file a. Your home directory will automatically be displayed. If the file was saved under your home directory, the file will appear in the "Files" window. Double-click on the file or highlight it and click "OK", and click "OK" again on the File Import window. b. If the file was saved into a folder within your home directory, double-click or hightlight that folder in the "Directories" window and click "Filter" to see the contents of the file in the "Files" window. When correct data file is found, double-click on the file or highlight it and click "OK", and click "OK" again on the File Import window. NOTE: If the wrong directory was selected, double-click the ".." to navigate back to the previous directory. 7. The ASCII Template window should now appear. In step 1, select the "Delimited Width" option. Leave the "Comment String to Ignore:" option blank. Often, the file will include a header or labels for the data. In the "Selected Text File:" box, locate the beginning of the data after the header/labels. a. If there are no headers or labels, click "Next >>". b. If the data starts on a line further down, scroll down to find and click on the first line of data in the "Selected Text File:" box to change the "Data Starts at Line:" box or just type in the line number corresponding to the first line of data in the "Data Starts at Line" box, and click "Next >>". (NOTE: The window only displays data in 50 line increments. If the data starts on a line further than 50, click the "Get next 50 lines..." button above the "Selected Text File:" box until the first line of data is available.) 8. iPlot should automatically detect the number of columns of data, but make sure the "Number of Fields Per Line:" box is the same as the number of columns of data, and change the number if neccessary. Under "Delimiter Between Data Elements:", select "White Space" or the appropriate option used to seperate the data. Select the "IEEE NaN" option after "Value to Assign to Missing Data:" unless instructed to do otherwize and click "Next >>". 9. Each column of data will be listed in the upper left box. The name of the data can be changed from the default name by clicking and highlighting the desired data and changing the name in the "Name:" box to the right of the box. The "Type:" option should be "Floating Point" which can be selected by clicking on the box and selecting it from the dropdown menu if not already done so. Click "Finish" when the data looks correct. 10. You are now back to the Insert Visualization window. In the upper left box, the name of your data file should be listed under the "Data Manager" folder. Clicking on the "+" next to the folder will reveal each data set in the file. To set data to an x or y variable, click and highlight the desired variable in the box below the "Data Manager". Now go back up and click to highlight the data set and double-click or click the "down arrow" button to place the data in the correct parameter. This process can be repeated to place data in any of the "Parameters" boxes. Click "OK" to display the plot. NOTE: If incorrect data is set to a parameter, click and highlight the data and click on the "X" button above. 11. To display another data set on the same plot, click "Insert" --> "Visualization..." on the menu bar. Follow the procedure outlined in 13 to plot the desired additional data sets. 12. The plot can be enlarged or moved by clicking on an area of the plot without data points and clicking and dragging the boxes surrounding the plot or clicking and holding to move the plot. 13. To change the color of the data display, click on any point of the desired data. You will know you have selected the correct data because it will have blue dots hightlighing the data set. Now right-click and select "Properties". In the new window, scroll down to the box labeled "Color". By clicking on the box to the right of it (defaulted as black with [0,0,0]) you will activate a dropdown menu. Click on the dropdown arrow and click on the desired color. The color will be automatically displayed. Close the window when finished. NOTE: To deselect any part of the plot, click on a blank part of the window. 14. Adding labels to the axes is done in a similar fashion. Click and highlight the desired axis. Right-click and select "Properties". The "Title" box is near the bottom of the scroll menu in the new window. Type in the desired title, press enter, and it will be automatically applied. Other characteristics of the axis can be adjusted in this window such as the text color, font, style, and size. Ticks can also be adjusted in various ways. 15. To create a legend click and highlight the entire plot. Click "Insert" --> "New Legend". A legend will appear in the upper right corner. Adjusting the legend is done in a similar way to adding color or creating axis labels. Click and highlight the legend or desired part of the legend and right-click. To rename, select "Properties". In the new window, after the box labeled "Text", type the name of the data and press enter. Close the window when finished. 16. The plot can be given a title by clicking on the "A" in the tool bar and clicking on the window where you would like the text to begin. The location of the title can be adjusted by clicking and dragging the title. 17. When finished plotting, the "IDL iPlot" window can be closed. To exit IDL, type "exit" on the command line and press enter. 18. Note that currently you cannot print directly from iplot. Save your plot to a file by hitting "Save as". Choose PNG (or another graphics format) for the file type. Then open the file from another program (either double click on the file from the file manager or pick a graphics program like GIMP). Print the file from that other program.