Using PGPLOT for interactive graphics under Linux

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Applications

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original in en Baybora Baran and Seckin Gokaltun

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We are two research assistants at the Informatics Institute of ITU. We work with engineering applications with computers and we use Linux for this... Seckin's, homepage is at www.be.itu.edu.tr/~seckin

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In this article you will learn how to build an interactive graphics program written in Fortran. PGPlot is the list of subroutines we need to use with our Fortran code. We will be describing the installation and some applications of PgPlot subroutines. Two examples are going to be demonstrated, with Fortran codes included, which will give you an idea of possible applications you can make with PgPlot.

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Introduction

What is PGPLOT?

The PGPLOT Graphics Library is a Fortran- or C-callable, device-independent graphics package for making simple scientific graphs. It is intended for making graphical images of publication quality with minimum effort. For most applications, the program can be device-independent, and the output can be directed to the appropriate device at run time.

The PGPLOT library consists of two major parts: a device-independent part and a set of device-dependent ``device handler'' subroutines for output on various terminals, image displays, dot-matrix printers, laser printers, and pen plotters. Common file formats supported include PostScript and GIF. PGPLOT itself is written mostly in standard Fortran-77.

PGPLOT subroutines can be called directly from a Fortran-77 or Fortran-90 program. A C binding library (cpgplot) and header file (cpgplot.h) are provided that allow PGPLOT to be called from a C or C++ program; the binding library handles conversion between C and Fortran. PGPLOT has been tested with UNIX (most varieties, including Linux, SunOS, Solaris, HPUX, AIX, and Irix) and OpenVMS operating systems.

PGPLOT is not public-domain software. However, it is freely available for non-commercial use. The source code and documentation are copyrighted by California Institute of Technology with a few non-standard, system-dependent subroutines. To get to the installation file and instructions just click here.

Some Examples

Below we present some simple examples of PGPLOT applications in order to demonstrate the capabilities of PGPLOT.

Example 1) Scatter Plots:
[Example1]

Example 2) Function Plots:
[Example2]

Example 3) Contour Maps:
[Example3]

Example 4) Images:
[Example4]

Example 5) Histograms:
[Example5]

Installation for Unix systems

Note: The following instructions refer to two directories, the distribution (source) directory which will contain the PGPLOT source code tree, and the target directory in which the machine-specific libraries, data files, and demonstration programs will be created. It is recommended that you create new, empty directories for these. They should not be the same directory. In the examples below, these directories are named

/usr/local/src/pgplot (distribution directory)
/usr/local/pgplot (target directory)

but you can use any name. Unusualy (root) privileges are not required to install PGPLOT, assuming you have write access to the directories. A single distribution directory can be used to install versions of PGPLOT for different architectures in different target directories.

Installing PGPLOT subroutines under Linux is briefly presented here, for further questions you can mail to tjp(At)astro.caltech.edu

Copy the distribution file

Copy the distribution file by anonymous ftp from Caltech. Use anonymous ftp (user: anonymous, password: your@email) to ftp.astro.caltech.edu. The distribution file is a UNIX tar file compressed with gzip. Issue the following ftp commands to retrieve the file:

cd pub/pgplot
binary
hash
get pgplot5.2.tar.gz

The text files in this directory are also included in the tar file.

The distribution file can also be fetched from the URL


    ftp://ftp.astro.caltech.edu/pub/pgplot/pgplot5.2.tar.gz

Decompress the files

Use gunzip and tar to decompress the archive and extract its contents. This will create the directory pgplot (and subdirectories) in the current directory. Make sure that your current directory is where you want to create the ``PGPLOT distribution'' directory tree.

cd /usr/local/src
gunzip -c pgplot5.2.tar.gz | tar xvof -

This example will create /usr/local/src/pgplot and subdirectories.

Create the target directory

Create a writeable directory in which the PGPLOT library and associated files will be created. One such directory is needed for each different operating system and compiler combination (``target system'') that you wish to support, e.g.,

mkdir /usr/local/pgplot

Do not try to create the PGPLOT library in the distribution directory.

Select device drivers

Configure PGPLOT by selecting device drivers from the available list. First copy the file drivers.list from the distribution directory to the target directory, and then use a text editor to select device drivers. This file contains one line for each available device driver: delete the exclamation mark (!) at the beginning of the line to include the driver, or ensure that an exclamation mark is present if you want to exclude the driver. Many of the drivers can be used only on certain operating systems (see notes in drivers.list), so include only the drivers you plan to use. PGPLOT can later be reconfigured by restarting the installation at this step. Most installations should include: the null device (/NULL), PostScript printers (/PS, /VPS, /CPS, and /VCPS), Tektronix terminals (/TEK, /XTERM, and possibly other variants), and, if the X window system is available on the target, the X window drivers (/XWINDOW, /XSERVE). You may also wish to include drivers for GIF files (/GIF, /VGIF) or some of the other printers.

    cd /usr/local/pgplot
    cp /usr/local/src/pgplot/drivers.list .
    vi drivers.list         (or use your preferred editor)

Create the makefile

The PGPLOT installation procedure for UNIX uses a script, called makemake, to generate a standard UNIX makefile for your operating system, compilers, and list of selected PGPLOT device drivers. Operating-system and compiler information is obtained from a configuration file. Configuration files are available for the following systems. If your configuration is not one of those listed, or if you have trouble using the generated makefile, see below for information about creating your own configuration file.

Note that the configuration files are for particular compilers, on particular operating systems. If, for example, you have set up your system so that the command f77 invokes the GNU g77 compiler, then you cannot use a configuration file designed for, say, a SPARC f77 compiler. You will have to create a special configuration file. In the following table, Arg#2 is a code for the operating system, and Arg#3 is a code for the Fortran and C compilers. For more information about the supported systems, see the file pgplot/sys_*/aaaread.me, where * stands for one of the options for Arg#2.

    Arg#2   Arg#3
    ------  ------
    aix     xlf_cc
    alliant fortran_cc
    bsd     g77_gcc
    convex  fc_cc
    cray    cf77_cc
    epix2   f77_cc         (Control Data EP/IX 2.x)
    freebsd f77_cc
    fujitsu uxpm_frt_cc
    fujitsu uxpv_frt_cc
    hp      fort77_c89
    hp      fort77_gcc
    irix    f77_cc
    linux   absoft_gcc
    linux   f77_gcc
    linux   g77_elf
    linux   g77_gcc
    next    af77_cc
    next    f2c_cc
    next    g77_cc
    next    gf77_cc
    osf1    f77_cc
    osf1    f77_cc_shared
    sol2    f77_cc         (Solaris 2.x, SunOs 5.x)
    sol2    f77_gcc
    sol2    f90_cc
    sol2    g77_gcc
    sun4    f77_acc        (SunOS 4.x)
    sun4    f77_cc
    sun4    f77_gcc
    ultrix  f77_cc

If your system is one of those listed, proceed as follows: Make the target directory your current default directory, e.g.,

    cd /usr/local/pgplot

Execute the script makemake from the distribution directory: e.g.,

    /usr/local/src/pgplot/makemake  /usr/local/src/pgplot  linux

The first argument supplied to makemake is the name of the distribution directory. Note that when you run makemake, your current default directory should be the target directory, i.e., the directory in which you want to put the compiled library.

The second argument is the name of the operating system (Arg#2 from the above table); if you omit it or supply an unrecognized name, makemake will indicate the allowed values. On some operating systems, where more than one Fortran or C compiler is available, a third argument is required (Arg#3 from the above table); usually this is composed of the two compiler names separated by an underscore. If you omit it, makemake will indicate the allowed values.

Once you have supplied valid arguments, makemake may complain that it can't find the drivers.list file. Go back to step 4!

Example

baybora@bilgi>../pgplot/makemake ../pgplot linux g77_gcc
For additional information, read file ../pgplot/sys_linux/aaaread.me
Reading configuration file: ../pgplot/sys_linux/g77_gcc.conf
Selecting uncommented drivers from ./drivers.list
Found drivers NUDRIV PSDRIV XWDRIV
Creating make file: makefile
Determining object file dependencies.

The script makemake generates a file makefile for subsequent use, a Fortran file grexec.f that calls the selected device drivers, and a text file rgb.txt that contains color definitions for use by routine PGSCRN. (If you already have a file rgb.txt, possibly modified with your own custom definitions, makemake does not modify it.) It also copies two Fortran include files that will be needed during compilation. So at this stage you will have at least the following files:

drivers.list
grexec.f
grpckg1.inc
makefile
pgplot.inc
rgb.txt

You should check that these files have been created, and you should also check that the list of drivers that makemake says that it found corresponds to those you selected in drivers.list. If your UNIX system is not one of the supported systems listed above, create your own configuration file in the target directory, with name local.conf. It is best to copy one of the configuration files provided (from pgplot/sys_*/*.conf, and then edit it following the comments in the file. The makemake procedure will use local.conf if it exists in the current directory, and if you do not specify Arg#3. Note that you must still specify Arg#2 (operating system).

Use `make' to compile the code

Now use the UNIX make command to compile the PGPLOT library following the instructions in makefile:

make

By default, make will generate: an object-module library, libpgplot.a; a shareable library (if possible on the selected operating system), the binary PGPLOT font file grfont.dat, the demonstration programs pgdemo*, and a documentation file pgplot.doc. In addition, if the /XWINDOW and/or /XSERVE driver was selected in step 4, it will generate a program pgxwin_server, and if the /XDISP driver was selected, it will generate a program pgdisp. If this step proceeds satisfactorily, you may want to type

make clean

to remove not needed intermediate files. You will then have the following files in the current directory:

drivers.list
grexec.f
grfont.dat (binary font file)*
libpgplot.a (PGPLOT library)*
libpgplot.so (shared library, optional)*
makefile
pgdemo1 ... pgdemo16 (demonstration programs)
pgdisp (required by /XDISP driver)*
pgplot.doc (ASCII documentation file)
pgxwin_server (required by /XWINDOW driver)*
rgb.txt (color name database)*

If you requested XMDRIV or TKDRIV, you will also have some of the following files:

pgmdemo (executable demo program)
libXmPgplot.a (object library required by PGPLOT/Motif applications)*
XmPgplot.h (header file required by PGPLOT/Motif applications)*
libtkpgplot.a (object library required by PGPLOT/Tk applications)*
pgtkdemo (executable demo program)
pgtkdemo.tcl (script used by demo program)
tkpgplot.h (header file required by PGPLOT/Tk applications)*

If you want to copy the compiled version of PGPLOT to another directory, you must copy at least the files marked with an asterisk (*). The documentation file contains the PGPLOT subroutine descriptions, which are also available in the manual.

Run the demonstration programs

Run the demonstration programs on your selected devices and verify that they run satisfactorily. Before running any PGPLOT program, you must ensure that the environment variable PGPLOT_DIR is correctly defined. This is the name of the directory in which PGPLOT will look for the files grfont.dat and rgb.txt (unless environment variables PGPLOT_FONT and PGPLOT_RGB are defined to override this default behavior), and, if needed, the X-window server program pgxwin_server:

UNIX csh or tcsh: setenv PGPLOT_DIR /usr/local/pgplot/
UNIX sh or bash: PGPLOT_DIR="/usr/local/pgplot/"; export PGPLOT_DIR

It is also convenient, but not essential, to define a default PGPLOT device with environment variable PGPLOT_DEV, e.g.

UNIX csh or tcsh: setenv PGPLOT_DEV /xwindow

When using a UNIX shared library (e.g., on Solaris 2.x), you may also need to put the PGPLOT directory in your loader search path, defined in environment variable LD_LIBRARY_PATH. To run a program, type its name (with directory if the current directory is not in your path):

./pgdemo1

All the demonstration programs prompt for a device name and type. Type a question mark ? to see a list of the available device types and verify that PGPLOT has been configured properly. Points to check for: the PGPLOT program correctly reads the font file and displays superscripts, subscripts and special characters (pgdemo2); the PGPLOT program can read the color database (pgdemo10); on interactive devices, the cursor works correctly (pgdemo5, pgdemo6).

How to compile your code?

After you have installed the PGPLOT subroutines library into your system, you can use the PGPLOT subroutines in your Fortran code, like the example below:

      PROGRAM EX1
      INTEGER PGOPEN, I
      REAL XS(9), YS(9), XR(101), YR(101)

C Compute numbers to be plotted.

      DO 10 I=1,101
          XR(I) = 0.1*(I-1)
          YR(I) = XR(I)**2*EXP(-XR(I))
 10   CONTINUE
      DO 20 I=1,9
          XS(I) = I
          YS(I) = XS(I)**2*EXP(-XS(I))
 20   CONTINUE

C Open graphics device.

      IF (PGOPEN('?') .LT. 1) STOP

C Define coordinate range of graph (0 < x < 10, 0 < y < 0.65),
C and draw axes.

      CALL PGENV(0., 10., 0., 0.65,  0,  0)

C Label the axes (note use of \u and \d for raising exponent).

      CALL PGLAB('x', 'y', 'PGPLOT Graph: y = x\u2\dexp(-x)')

C Plot the line graph.

      CALL PGLINE(101, XR, YR)

C Plot symbols at selected points.

      CALL PGPT(9, XS, YS, 18)

C Close the graphics device.

      CALL PGCLOS

      END

This plots the following graph:

[example]

In order to execute the code above successfuly, you need to link the PGPLOT library and the X11 libraries with your code. The following script achieves that:

g77 your_code_name.f -L/X11directory/ -lX11 -L/PGPLOTdirectory/ -lpgplot

You need to include the following files into the directory where you are running your code:

grfont.dat
rgb.txt
pgwin server

just copy these files from the pgplot directory to the directory where you are running your code.

Application 1: Circle passing through 3 points

In this application, our aim was to mark three points on the screen via clicking with the mouse and then let Fortran code draw the circle passing through these three points. This problem was an assignment in our Computational Geometry class, conducted by Dr.Serdar Celebi (mscelebi(at)itu.edu.tr).

The following routines define the background and setting for the area that the graph is going to be plotted on. Detailed usage of these subroutines are explained in the PGPLOT manual. (see link to the PGPLOT homepage at the end)

..
...
call PGSCR(0,1.0,1.0,1.0) !set color representation
call PGENV(-50.0,50.0,-50.0,50.0,1,1) !set window and viewport and draw labeled frame
call PGSCI(1) !set color index
call PGSFS(2) !set fill-area style
...
..

We use the following routine, PGPT1, to draw a pointer at the point we want to mark with the mouse.

..
... 
WRITE (*,*) 'Cursor mode:', MODE
             GOTO 10
          END IF
           CALL PGPT1(X, Y, 3)  !draw one graph marker
        ic=ic+1    
        xp(i)=x
        yp(i)=y

After we marked 3 different points on the screen, the Fortran code calculates the center and then draws the circle passing through these 3 points.

    ..
    ...
    c-----find the radius----------------
     r=(xcenter-xp(1))**2+(ycenter-yp(1))**2
     r=r**0.5
    c-----draw the circle-------------------
     call PGCIRC(xcenter,ycenter,r) !draws a circle
     goto 1
    ...
    ..

We draw the circle with the routine shown above, "PGCIRC". You can clear the pre-drawn circle and assign the points from the beginning to draw another circle on the same drawing area. The complete code is included in the references (see Ref. circle.f).

Application 2: Drawing porcupines on an approximation curve

In this application, our aim was to plot an approximation curve through the various discrete points marked by the mouse on the screen and then to draw the porcupine lines on this curve.

The porcupines are the lines that are used to detect unwanted inflection points, flat parts of a curve, and discontinuities in curvature. That's why it is an important concept in Computational Geometry.

We developed a code that uses least square approximation to draw a curve of the desired order (1~4) through a set of points which can be randomly generated by the user through a graphical interface by using the mouse. It has the ability to draw porcupines on the curve (whose frequency can be adjusted by the user) is an indicator to the curvature of the curve.

Skipping the details of the Fortran code we have written, we present here the graphical results (You find the code at the end of the article).

We first enter discrete points on the screen with the mouse and the Fortran code takes the coordinates of these points and stores them in an array. Then it approximates the curve passing through these points at the degree the user indicates.(1-4)

Then the porcupine lines are drawn on the curve. The number of porcupine lines can be modified by the user, and without changing the background or the points the new set of porcupines can be drawn on the same curve.

The frequency of the porcupines can also be increased as seen below. Also the program can draw a new curve on the same set of data.

Conclusion

In this text, we wanted to show how an interactive drawing program, PGPLOT, can be installed under Linux and how wide the application areas of it can be. With this list of subroutines you are totally independent and it really saves time if you need to see graphical output frequently at each run of your code. With embedding these routines in your code, postprocessing becomes very fast and robust.

References

The official PGPLOT homepage: PGPLOT homepage
The source code for application 1):circle.f
The source code for application 2):porcup.f
A technical report about application 2):601_2.pdf
Computational Geometry class homepage Dr.Serdar CELEBI

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