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NAME x11 - spec graphics
under the X Window System
DESCRIPTION
You can have spec draw high resolution
graphics in X Window System windows by selecting high resolution
graphics (with the setplot macro) and setting the
GTERM global variable to x11. You can
set GTERM either as an environment variable in the
shell or by assigning it the "x11" string while
running spec. However, each time you start
spec, the environment variable will override a
previously assigned value to GTERM.
The process that spec creates (named
x11filt) to do the plotting looks at the
DISPLAY environment variable. The value of
spec's built-in variable named
DISPLAY will be propagated to the x11filt
process environment when it is spawned. Thus it is possible to
change the host on which the plots are drawn while running
spec by assigning new values to
DISPLAY. For example,
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DISPLAY="host1:0"; plot_cntl("filter1,open")
DISPLAY="host2:0"; plot_cntl("filter2,open")
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will create plot windows on two different hosts.
RESOURCE FILE ITEMS (.Xdefaults)
Some parameters associated with the X windows plot can be set
in an .Xdefaults file in your home directory. You can
include some or all of the following parameters:
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spec.geometry: =640x380-20+10
spec.Foreground: black
spec.Background: white
spec.Backstore: on
spec.Retained: off
spec.BorderWidth: 4
spec.Border: black
spec.Font: -*-*-*-r-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
spec.FontDebug: 0
spec.Colors: on
spec.AutoRaise: on
spec.DotSize: small
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The values for the parameters given above are the defaults.
Up to five X graphics windows may be used with
spec simultaneously. Parameters specified in
the .Xdefaults file with the keyword spec
will apply to all, unless overridden by the following.
Parameters specified with the keyword spec_1, will
apply to the window selected with the command
plot_cntl("filter1"), parameters specified with the
keyword spec_2 will apply to the window selected
with the command plot_cntl("filter2"), etc. An
additional x11filt process is created for each window.
The geometry parameter uses the conventional notation
to set the width and height of the window and the offsets from
the edges of the root window. All the values are in pixels.
The Background and Foreground parameters set
the colors associated with color numbers zero and one,
respectively.
The Backstore and Retained parameters select
how the image in the window will be saved when the window is
covered up by another window. The backing-store method can be
the most efficient way to preserve the window contents if the
graphics display supports it. For the retained-pixmap method,
the x11filt process performs all the drawing operations on
both the active display and an in-memory copy of the window, and
uses the in-memory copy to redraw uncovered portions of the
window on expose events. The retained-pixmap method is
generally not as efficient as using backing store, but may be
necessary if backing store is unavailable. If backing store is
requested, but unsupported by the display, the retained-pixmap
method is automatically used.
The BorderWidth and Border parameters select
the width and color of the window border, but are generally
ignored when a window manager (such as mwm) is running.
The Font parameter uses the standard notation for
specifying application fonts in X Windows. The default font uses
the * to wild card all fields except the fourth,
which selects a roman font. The graphics program selects
among all the fonts that match the pattern the one that best fits
the height and width of the window when the program first starts
and each time the window is resized. The font selected can be
limited to a single family in your .Xdefaults file with
syntax as in following examples,
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spec.Font: -*-lucidatypewriter-bold-r-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
spec.Font: -*-fixed-medium-r-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
spec.Font: -*-courier-medium-r-*
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Note, your choice of a font can be aided with the X utility
xlsfonts which lists all the available fonts, and the
utility xfontsel which can be used to inspect the
available fonts.
The x11filt program also supports scalable
fonts introduced in X11R5, when such a font is selected using the
.Xdefaults resources or the plot_cntl()
"font=" option described below. For scalable fonts,
the server uses an algorithm to fit the font to whatever size is
requested. Scalable fonts can be identified by the zeros in the
7th, 8th and 12th fields of their long name. For example,
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spec.Font: -adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
spec.Font: -adobe-courier-medium-r-normal--0-0-0-0-m-0-iso8859-1
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are a couple of possible scalable fonts.
Please note that on some older systems, the fonts.dir
files in the /usr/lib/X11/fonts directories aren't up to
date, so the x11filt graphics program will try to load a
font that doesn't exist. This problem can be fixed by having the
system administrator run the mkfontdir command.
Setting the FontDebug property to a nonzero value will
cause the x11filt filter process to display some font
diagnostics on the terminal screen, which may be useful if there
are problems with the font appearance. Debugging can be turned
off either by setting the property value back to zero or with the
plot_cntl() 9900 command described below.
The program will use color if it determines you are using a
color display. The Colors parameter lets you turn use of
colors off.
By default, the graphics window will be brought to the top of
the stacking order among its siblings each time its contents are
changed. To disable this feature, set the AutoRaise
parameter to off.
The DotSize parameter controls the size of the
smallest point drawn by spec. Possible values
are scaled pixel
small medium
large The pixel patterns are as follows:
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X
X X XXX XXX
XX X XXX XXX XXXXX
X XXX XXX
X
scaled pixel small medium large
(typical)
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The scaled points use the X library
XFillArc() routine to draw a filled circle. The
result depends on the platform and is often nonsymmetric. Before
being a configurable option, the default dot size was
scaled. The default is now small.
plot_cntl() COMMANDS
You can assign a title to the graphics window using the
command
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plot_cntl("title=This is a title")
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from spec. The title can be changed at any
time.
You can also change the size and position of the window at
any time using the plot_cntl() function as in
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plot_cntl("geometry=640x380-20+10")
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Fonts can be selected using
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plot_cntl("font=-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--20-140-100-100-m-110-iso8859-1")
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for example. If a non-scalable font is chosen this way, the font
size will no longer change to match the size of the window. Any
valid font name can be used, including short alias names, as in,
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Several special features can be accessed using
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(as of spec release 5.01.02-7) where the
following values for numb are recognized:
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9109 - turns auto-raise mode on
9110 - turns auto-raise mode off
9120 - selects scaled dot size
9121 - selects single pixel dot size
9122 - selects small dot size
9123 - selects medium dot size
9124 - selects large dot size
9666 - creates a detached window (see below)
9900 - turns font debugging off
9901 - turns font debugging on
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Also, the numb argument can be a space- or
comma-separated list of numbers.
DETACHING A WINDOW
You can make a detached copy of an active
spec X11 plot window by pressing the control key
and any mouse button while the mouse cursor is over the window
(as of spec release 5.01.02-7). A new X11
window will be created that contains the contents of the original
window. The contents of the new window will no longer change,
and the window will remain on the screen, even after
spec exits. Use the window manager close button
or menu item to delete the window.
SEE ALSO
colors
setplot
splot
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Last Updated 10/04/06
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