PLOT

User Guide
Version 11.6SP1

pdms1161/PLOT User Guide

issue 280605
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Contents

1 About this Manual.........................................................................................1-1

1.1 Who the Manual is Meant For .................................................................................... 1-1
1.2 How the Manual is Set Out......................................................................................... 1-1
1.3 Conventions Used in the Manual ............................................................................... 1-2
2 Introducing PLOT..........................................................................................2-1
2.1 What PLOT Does ....................................................................................................... 2-1
2.2 Input Formats That PLOT Can Accept ....................................................................... 2-1
2.3 Output Formats That PLOT Can Generate ................................................................ 2-2
3 How To Use PLOT.........................................................................................3-1
3.1 Before You Begin ....................................................................................................... 3-1
3.2 Running PLOT............................................................................................................ 3-1
3.3 General Command Line Options ................................................................................ 3-3
3.3.1 Specifying the Plotting Scale............................................................................. 3-3
3.3.2 Scaling the Plot to Fit the Paper........................................................................ 3-4
3.3.3 Setting the Drawing Size from the Graphics ..................................................... 3-4
3.3.4 Specifying How Arcs and Circles are Represented .......................................... 3-4
3.3.5 Specifying the Pen Selection Mode and Plotting Attributes .............................. 3-4
3.3.6 Dekink Filter ...................................................................................................... 3-7
3.3.7 Splitting a Large Plot ......................................................................................... 3-8
3.3.8 Adding a Plot Border ......................................................................................... 3-8
3.3.9 Adding Cutter Control Markers.......................................................................... 3-8
3.4 Creating your Own Device Drivers ........................................................................... 3-10
3.4.1 Soft Drivers ..................................................................................................... 3-10
3.4.2 Soft Driver Examples ...................................................................................... 3-11
3.4.3 Overriding Built-in Driver Defaults................................................................... 3-12
3.5 Messages Output by PLOT ...................................................................................... 3-12
3.5.1 Normal Run-Time Messages .......................................................................... 3-12
3.5.2 Warnings and Error Messages........................................................................ 3-13
3.5.3 Modifying PLOT’s Message File ..................................................................... 3-13
3.6 Getting Help about PLOT ......................................................................................... 3-15
3.6.1 Checking the Command Syntax...................................................................... 3-15
3.6.2 Checking the Program Version ....................................................................... 3-15
3.6.3 Checking Driver Options ................................................................................. 3-15
3.7 Summarising the Contents of Plot Files ................................................................... 3-15
3.8 Running on Windows ............................................................................................... 3-17
3.8.1 Screen Driver Printing ..................................................................................... 3-17
3.8.2 Screen Driver and Enhanced Metafile Output................................................. 3-17
3.8.3 Shortcuts and Browsing .................................................................................. 3-17
4 The Device Drivers........................................................................................4-1
4.1 BENSON .................................................................................................................... 4-2
4.2 CALCOMP.................................................................................................................. 4-2
4.3 DXF ............................................................................................................................ 4-5
4.3.1 Output File Contents ......................................................................................... 4-5
4.3.2 DXF Options...................................................................................................... 4-6

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4.4 Hewlett-Packard (HP or HPGL) .................................................................................. 4-7

4.5 HPGL2 ........................................................................................................................ 4-9
4.6 HOUSTON................................................................................................................ 4-11
4.7 LASERJET................................................................................................................ 4-11
4.8 LIST .......................................................................................................................... 4-13
4.9 PDMS ....................................................................................................................... 4-14
4.10 PENMAN .................................................................................................................. 4-14
4.11 PNG .......................................................................................................................... 4-15
4.12 POSTSCRIPT or PS................................................................................................. 4-16
4.13 SCREEN................................................................................................................... 4-23
4.14 XDUMP..................................................................................................................... 4-25
5 Driver Quick Reference................................................................................ 5-1

6 Changes to this Manual ............................................................................... 6-1

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1 About this Manual

1.1 Who the Manual is Meant For

This manual explains how to use the stand-alone graphical plotting

utility PLOT.
PLOT interprets plot files in a range of pseudo-code formats, as produced
by a number of AVEVA (and some third party) programs. It performs a
variety of conversions and other operations on the contents of the plot
file.
This manual is relevant to anyone who needs to translate, plot or view
such a file, regardless of the source. The manual is not restricted to users
of any specific program that generates plot files, as long as the file format
is compatible with PLOT’s input requirements.
No particular prior knowledge of plotting utilities is assumed, but it is
assumed that you are familiar with the basic operating system commands
for your computer.

1.2 How the Manual is Set Out

Chapter 2 summarises the function of PLOT and details the input and
output file formats that it can recognise.
Chapter 3 first explains some hardware considerations that you must be
aware of before you use PLOT. It then describes the range of facilities
available when using PLOT and the commands needed to control them.
Chapter 4 is a reference section that details the options available for
each of PLOT’s output formats.
Chapter 5 is a quick reference guide and summarises the driver specific
options and the options that apply to drivers generally.
Chapter 6 describes the recent to changes made to this manual.
If you are a new PLOT user, it is suggested that you should read, as a
minimum, Chapter 2 and the first three sections of Chapter 3. You will
also need to refer to at least one section in Chapter 4, depending on what
you intend to use the PLOT output for.

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1.3 Conventions Used in the Manual

The following conventions are used in the text:

• Command words are shown as a combination of uppercase and
lowercase characters, using a different typeface from that used for
normal text; for example, COMMandword. The uppercase part of the
word (COMM in the preceding example) is the minimum permissible
abbreviation. Where a command word is first introduced, or where its
use is defined, it will usually be shown in bold type, thus
COMMandword
• Command arguments are shown in lowercase italic type, for example
argument.
• Examples of interactive input and output sequences are shown in a
special typeface, thus
Example of Input/Output Sequence Typeface
Note: Examples of command syntax throughout the manual use
uppercase characters to make them easily identifiable within the
body of the main text. When running under some operating
systems, e.g. Unix, case is significant. You may need to enter the
commands using lowercase characters under such circumstances.

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2.1 What PLOT Does

The graphical plotting utility, PLOT, allows you to interpret pseudo-code

plot files generated by AVEVA programs and to translate them into a
range of standard formats. After translation, the plot file data may be
sent either directly to a hardware device, such as a pen plotter or laser
printer, or to another file, or to a graphics screen.
PLOT handles both the file format translation process and the
transmission of the resulting data to a specified hardware device,
including interaction with the output device where necessary to ensure
that data transmission protocol is correctly observed.
PLOT can recognise source files in any of the formats described in the
following section and translate them into any of a wide range of output
formats by using the appropriate device drivers built into the program.

2.2 Input Formats That PLOT Can Accept

PLOT can recognise the following input pseudo-code formats

automatically:
PDMS
The format generated by default by PDMS graphical output modules.
This gives a binary format file that can define fully the viewing
parameters and line graphics for engineering drawings in
device-independent terms.
HPGL
A Hewlett-Packard plotter code format recognised by a range of
commercial plotting and printing devices.
This gives an ASCII format file that can define fully the viewing
parameters, line graphics, arcs and circles of engineering drawings in
device-independent terms.

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HP-GL/2
This is the standardised version of the Hewlett-Packard Graphical
Language. It provides a more consistent functionality between plotters. It
supports many types of device including pen, laser and electrostatic. The
HP-GL/2 plotter code is compact, especially for vectors that have a special
encoding scheme. It is held in binary file format.
Although HPGL and HP-GL/2 are related, HP-GL/2 is not a strict
superset of HPGL. It is best for most purposes to regard them as entirely
different. HP-GL/2 is often available in a dual context with
Hewlett-Packard’s PCL.
DXF
This is the AutoCAD representation of a drawing in their DXF (drawing
interchange) file format. It is an ASCII file format, widely used to
exchange drawing file data. The file does not define the units that its
values are held in, so explicit scaling is needed when these values are not
in millimetres.
Data from all sections of the DXF file is interpreted. This includes the
LTYPE and LAYER tables, and the contents of the Blocks section for
expansion of INSERT entities.
GPGP (or GP2)
This gives an ASCII format file that can define fully the viewing
parameters, line graphics, text and symbols for engineering drawings in
device-independent terms.

2.3 Output Formats That PLOT Can Generate

PLOT can translate an input plot file into a format suitable for driving a
plotter or printer directly, or it can send the translated output to another
file in a format suitable for inclusion into, say, a word processor or
desktop publishing document. It can, alternatively, send the translated
output to a graphical window for immediate viewing.
The device drivers incorporated into PLOT, which determine the output
format, are as follows:
Driver Name Description
BENSON Pen plotter
CALCOMP Pen plotter
DXF AutoCAD drawing interchange file
HOUSTON Pen plotter
HP Pen plotter
HPGL Pen plotter
HPGL2 Pen and raster plotter
LASERJET HP PCL page description language
LIST Displays drawing contents

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PDMS PDMS plot file

PENMAN Turtle plotter
PNG Raster graphics file
POSTSCRIPT Postscript page description language
PS Postscript page description language
SCREEN On-screen plot file viewer
XDUMP X-windows bitmap file
These generic plot drivers determine the general format of the output
plot file only. The output generated is compatible with specific hardware
devices, as detailed in Chapter 4, but you may need to customise the
drivers to suit a particular plotter or printer. PLOT’s soft driver facility
allows you to do this.
You will notice that four of the output drivers (HPGL, HPGL2, PDMS
and DXF) match input file formats. This means that you may use PLOT
to translate plot files between these formats in either direction; for
example, to translate from PDMS format to HPGL format, and vice versa.
CAUTION:
The HPGL format can exist in slightly different dialects. If you wish to
input an HPGL file obtained from an outside source, you must ensure
that it is fully compatible with the HPGL format that is generated by
PLOT. If it is not, you may need to carry out some preprocessing on the
file before using PLOT to convert it to a PDMS plot file.

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3.1 Before You Begin

If you are going to use PLOT to generate hard copy directly, this can be
done by printing from the graphical window created by the screen driver.
This method uses a normal Windows Print control to select, configure and
use any available print service.
It is also to send plot files directly to a printer or plotter using the
Windows print command. This method allows the user to take full control
of the printing operation, and responsibility for the compatibility of the
file type with the device. For example the command to send a PostScript
file to a printer service that supports and recognises this file format
would be as follows for a shared printer:
print /d:\\servername\printer_name plotfile.ps

3.2 Running PLOT

The basic information that PLOT needs in order to process a plot file is as
follows:
• The type of processing which is required; that is, the device driver
that is to be used for the file translation process.
• The name of the input plot file that is to be processed.
• The destination to which the resulting output file is to be sent.
The full syntax for the command to run PLOT is:
plot driver plotfile output [options]
The command arguments have the following significance:
• driver = the name of the output device driver.
The available device drivers are:
BENSON
CALCOMP
DXF
HOUSTON
HP or HPGL
HPGL2
LASERJET
LIST

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PDMS
PENMAN
PNG
POSTSCRIPT or PS
SCREEN
XDUMP
A full description of the functions of each of these is given in Chapter 4.
The Hewlett-Packard HP/HPGL and, to a lesser extent, the Calcomp
plotter codes have been adopted as industry standards, and many other
plotters are designed to emulate one or other of them. The corresponding
PLOT drivers may often be used successfully with such plotters, but only
when the emulation offers true compatibility with the standard.
• plotfile = the name of the pseudo-code file which is to be processed.
The file name must conform to the file naming conventions for your
computer.
PLOT automatically recognises the input plot file format used (PDMS,
HPGL, DXF or GPGP) by identifying some coding characters at the start
of the file, so there is no provision for you to enter this information.
• output = the destination to which the output data is to be sent.
This is either a file name or the command prompt window.
If you specify a file name, this must conform to the file naming
conventions for your computer. The command prompt window is specified
by setting the output to be –0 (minus-zero).
The output data file can for instance can be viewed later be sent to a
printer or plotter using operating system commands or it can be viewed
with a suitable program, including Plot itself.
Plot files can also be sent directly to a compatible printer or plotter with
the Windows print command.
• options = specific options to set values and control processing.
These allow you to control aspects of how the output files are produced.
Some options are general in their scope and apply to any output device
driver; these are described in Section 3.3 of this chapter. Other options
are relevant only to specific device drivers; these are described separately
in Chapter 4.
Note: The driver-specific options must be enclosed between quotation marks
and if there is more than one option, they must be separated by
commas.
Some Command Line Examples:
plot pdms plot12 ulay.pl

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This command sends data from the file plot12 to the file ulay.pl in PDMS
pseudo-code format. The latter file could then be used as an underlay in a
PDMS drawing module, for example.

plot screen plota2 -0

This reads graphical data from file plota2 and displays it in a window on
your workstation screen. Remember that line 0 always goes to the
command prompt window.

plot hp view.pl view.hp scale=0.8 "CE Y"

Plot reads data from view.pl and writes it to the file view.hp, applying a
general option to scale the output dimensions to be 0.8 of those of the
input file. Another driver option specifies that the plotter has a physical
coordinate origin at the centre of the paper.

3.3 General Command Line Options

The following options are applicable to all drivers and may be combined
with any of the driver-specific options described in Chapter 4. You can
use all of these options with the soft drivers described in Section 3.4.
If an option is specified more than once, the last occurrence is the one
that applies.

3.3.1 Specifying the Plotting Scale

By default, the output plot data represents the plotted drawing(s) on the
same scale as the input plot file.
To change the plotting scale during the data processing operation, use
either of the command line options
SCALE=factor
SCALE:factor
Here, factor is the required scaling factor (output scale)/(input scale).
For example, SCALE=0.5 will produce half-size output plots.
Note: This option is only valid on the command line, and is not
combined in the same string as the other options available with
soft drivers.
The option has no effect when drivers are scaling a plot to fill an
area. Drivers that do this are: Laserjet, PostScript, Screen and
Xdump.

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3.3.2 Scaling the Plot to Fit the Paper

Instead of predefining the plotting scale, as explained in Section 3.3.1,
you may instruct PLOT to adjust the output plot scale automatically so
that it will fit the available paper size. This option allows PLOT to handle
oversize input plots; without it (the default situation), processing will be
terminated with an error message.
To specify automatic reduction of oversize plots, use the option
ADJUst

3.3.3 Setting the Drawing Size from the Graphics

This facility causes any drawing size defined in the input file to be
ignored and replaced by the size of a rectangle enclosing all graphics in
the file. The whole input file is read an extra time for this purpose.
To set the drawing size from the limits of the graphics, use the option
AUTOsize
The AUTOSIZE option applies only to DXF, HPGL and HP-GL/2 input
files. It is useful in cases where the drawing size in the file is wrong for
any reason.

3.3.4 Specifying How Arcs and Circles are Represented

Most plotters are unable to plot true circular arcs and instead represent
them by a series of straight lines (chords). The more chords used, the
closer the approximation to a true arc.
By default, a complete circle is represented in a plot by 90 chords. To
specify a different representation, use the option
ARCSize integer
Here, integer is the number of chords per complete circle and must be in
the range 12 to 175.
For example, ARCS 120 will plot smoother arcs than the default setting;
ARCS 25 will plot less smooth arcs, but will reduce the plotting time.

3.3.5 Specifying the Pen Selection Mode and Plotting Attributes

By default, any logical pen numbers (which usually correspond to
particular colours), line styles and line widths defined in the source
pseudo-code file (plotfile) are passed unchanged to the output file or
device (output). You can intercept these settings, and modify them to
achieve independent control of the way in which the output is plotted, by
using the PENS and associated ATTR (attributes) commands. PLOT can
have up to 256 pens, and can operate in the following modes:

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'Pens Yes' Mode

The default mode, which may be reset by using the option
PEns Yes
This options causes pen numbers, line styles and line widths to be passes
directly from the input file to the output file.
To redirect one or more pens, use the command line option
ATTR integer1 integer2
This replaces input pen integer1 with output pen integer2. For example,
the options:
PENS YES,ATTR 1 4,ATTR 2 5,ATTR 3 6
This sets pens 1-3 in the input file to be replaced by pens 4-6 in the
output file, respectively. Line styles and line widths are passed
unchanged from the input file to the output file.

'Pens No' Mode

The option:
PEns No
This sets the individual pen numbers from the input file to be ignored
and all output to be plotted using pen 1. You might use this mode, for
instance, when the output is intended for a single-pen device.
To redirect the output to use a pen other than pen 1, use the command
line option:
ATTR 1 integer
Here, integer specifies the required output pen number. For example, the
options:
PENS NO,ATTR 1 3
This causes all output to be plotted using pen 3, regardless of any pen
settings defined in the input file. Line styles and line widths are passed
unchanged from the input file to the output file.

'Pens Attr' Mode

The option:
PEns Attr
This passes only the pen numbers from the input file to the output file.
All line style and line width settings in the input file are ignored, the
settings for these in the output file being determined by the attributes set
for the corresponding pen number.
To specify the line style and width corresponding to any output pen, and
to redirect pens if required, use the option:
ATTR integer1 integer2 linestyle linetype width

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This substitutes output pen integer2 for input pen integer1 and sets its
line style to linestyle and its line width to linetype with optional width
value.
Possible settings for linestyle are SOlid, DOt, DAsh, CHain or DChain.
The default, if linestyle is omitted, is SOLID.
Possible settings for linetype are Normal or Thick. The default, if linetype
is omitted, is NORMAL. THICK is optionally followed by the width value,
expressed in millimetres. If width is omitted the default line thickness is
set by the driver.
For example, the options:
PENS ATTR,ATTR 2 1 DOT,ATTR 3 1 CHAIN THICK
This sets input pen 2 to be output as dotted and normal thickness lines
and input pen 3 to be output as chained thick lines, both using output
pen 1.
'Pens Same' Mode
The option:
PEns Same
The causes all input pen numbers, line styles and line widths to be
ignored. All output is output with pen 1 only (unless redirected), and all
with the same line style and line width (solid and normal thickness by
default).
To redirect the output to use a different single pen, and to specify the line
style and line width for all output, use the command line option:
ATTR 1 integer linestyle linetype width
Here, integer specifies the required output pen number and the other
arguments set its line style to linestyle and its line width to linetype with
optional width value.
Possible settings for linestyle are SOlid, DOt, DAsh, CHain or DChain.
The default, if linestyle is omitted, is SOLID.
Possible settings for linewidth are Normal or Thick. The default, if
linetype is omitted, is NORMAL. THICK is optionally followed by the
width value, expressed in millimetres. If width is omitted the default line
thickness is set by the driver.
For example, the options:
PENS SAME,ATTR 1 4 CHAIN THICK 0.7
This causes all output to be output as chained thick lines with a width of
0.7 mm and pen 4. All pen settings, line styles and line widths defined in
the input file are ignored.

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3.3.6 Dekink Filter

The Dekink filter can streamline your plot files in a number of ways.
Plot files that are produced by some programs can contain instances
where the same line is drawn over a number of times (for example, where
an original wireline 3D model was involved). This extra information can
increase the size of the file unnecessarily. The coincidence removal
function of the Dekink filter corrects this problem, and so can reduce the
size of output files by a considerable amount.
The filter can employ either a travel or a connect method to re-order
the graphics. The travel method minimises the total pen travel distance,
whereas the connect method maximises the connection between vectors.
The filter travel method reduces the total distance that the pen needs to
travel, and the number of times that the pen is raised and lowered. This
can speed up the operation of pen plotters.
The filter connect method maximises the connection of vectors while
retaining all existing connectivity, including directions.
Note: For speed of processing, the filter makes most of its changes to the
plot file where items concerned are close to each other in the file.
Note that it may not remove all coincident lines when they are far
apart in the file.
The Dekink filter is selected by the option:
DEKInk resol coinc travel tabmin tabmax
The arguments are as follows and omitted parameters take their default
values:
resol Resolution value is specified in mm. Used to decide whether
lines are coincident or connected to each other.
Default: 0.025
coinc This selects whether coincidence removal is active or not.
The value is set to Y for yes and N for no.
Default: Y
travel This selects whether the travel method is active. Otherwise the
connect method is used.
Y = travel method; N = connect method.
Default: Y
tabmin This is the minimum size of the working table used by the filter.
Must be an even number in the range 10-600. The default value
is suitable for most purposes.
Default: 50
tabmax This is the maximum size of the working table used by the filter.
Must be an even number in the range 10-600. The default value
is suitable for most purposes.
Default: 200

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After the input file has been processed, a report is produced on the effect
of the Dekink filter. This gives the change in the total distance that the
pen needs to travel, and the change in the number of lines in the output
file (both as percentages). For example:
DEKINK reduced pen travel by 68.99% and number of lines by
43.93%

3.3.7 Splitting a Large Plot

The split option is a facility for dividing large plots into sheets. This is
particularly useful where an extra large plot needs to be divided into a
number of A0 sheets. The option is followed by two values that specify the
size of the constituent sheets in millimetres.
To split a plot, use the option
SPLIt width height

3.3.8 Adding a Plot Border

Where a plot has no border around its edges, you can add one with the
BORDER option.
This option has an integer parameter to define the pen number that you
want used for the border. Note that this is particularly useful when used
with the SPLIT option.
To create a border for a plot, use the option
BORDer integer

3.3.9 Adding Cutter Control Markers

This feature enables the Dahle 3625 Plot Cutter (or similar) to take roll
feed output from a plotter and automatically cut it into individual plots,
stacking each plot.
The CUTMARK option draws marks at the edge of the paper to control
the plot cutter, and repositions the plot away from the edge. This is used
with a roll feed plotter and the paper can be fed directly into the cutter
(which has sets of knives that operate on both axes). The CUTMARK
option can be used with any driver (but is probably only useful with the
Calcomp driver).
This feature can be used in conjunction with the WINDON option to
specify the distance that separates plots along the paper.
The CUTMARK option has up to eight parameters:
numstart This is the number of marks at the start of the plot.
Default: 0

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numend This is the number of marks at the end of the plot.

Default: 0
pen This is the number of the pen to draw the marks.
Default: 1
penwidth The pen thickness in millimetres.
Default: 0.1mm
offset The distance that the plot is shifted away from the edge of
the paper (in millimetres).
macross The mark size across the paper.
Default: 5.0mm
malong The mark size along the paper.
Default: 2.0mm
msep Separation distance between marks.
Default: 5.0mm

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Example

Paper Edge

Drwg No

Paper Edge

Figure 1 Cutmarks Example

Figure 1 shows six start marks and one end mark. This could be produced
by:
CUTMARK 6 1 1 0.1 8.0 5.0 2.0 5.0

3.4 Creating your Own Device Drivers

3.4.1 Soft Drivers

PLOT provides a soft driver facility that lets you define your own named
device drivers, each based on a combination of a standard driver and a
set of command options appropriate to that standard driver.
To define a soft driver, use the following command syntax:
soft_driver|standard_driver|option1, option2, ...
Here, soft_driver is the name to be allocated to your new driver,
standard_driver is one of the driver names listed in Sections 2.3 and 3.2,
and option1, option2, etc. are any command line options applicable to
standard_driver.
The three parts of the command are separated by | (vertical bar)
characters. The options (and any associated values) in the third part are
separated by commas. If the command line becomes too long, a \
(backslash) character may be used to allow continuation of the command
on the next line. Spaces at the start of continuation lines are ignored.

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The name soft_driver must not be the same as that of any of the standard
device drivers. Names are not case sensitive; that is, upper and lower
case characters are treated equally.
All soft driver definitions are held in the file PLOTDRIVERS. PLOT looks
for this file firstly in the directory defined by the CADC_PLOT_DIR
environment variable, then in the current directory and finally in the
same directory as the Plot Utility Program itself.

3.4.2 Soft Driver Examples

As an example, the soft driver definition:
PSRGB|POSTSCRIPT|BANNER Y,RGB,\
PTYPE 'statusdict begin 2 setpapertray end'
This defines a soft driver named PSRGB that uses the POSTSCRIPT
driver with options to switch on the banner page, select colour output and
set page type to select paper tray 2. The PTYPE string used here is a
fragment of PostScript that is specific to a particular model of printer.
For further details of the POSTSCRIPT driver options see Section 4.12.

The following command uses the soft driver definition:

plot psrgb plota22 plota22.out
It has exactly the same effect as the longer version:
plot postscript plota22 plota22.out
"BANNER Y,RGB,PTYPE 'statusdict begin 2 setpapertray end'"

As a further example, the following lines illustrate the use of the

continuation character (\) to enter a long command that defines all of the
former default postscript driver parameters:
PS_OLD|POSTSCRIPT|BA Y,LAY W,MAP 0 0 283.6333 197.2733,\
MONO,IG Y,PT a4,STEPS 300

When a plot driver has an RGB option to set the colour mix of pens, this
can be done with a soft driver. For example, the following driver sets the
default PDMS colours for the screen:
pdmsc|screen|RGB 1 .659 .659 .659,RGB 2 .8 0 0,RGB 3 .93 .604 0,\
RGB 4 .8 .8 0,RGB 5 0 .8 0,RGB 6 0 .93 .93,RGB 7 0 0 .8,\
RGB 9 .647 .165 .165,RGB 10 1 1 1,RGB 11 .803 .569 .62,\
RGB 12 .4 0 .6,RGB 13 0 .75 .8,RGB 14 .2 0 .4,RGB 15 0 0 0

Each line in the PLOTDRIVERS file is the definition of a soft driver or, if
it begins with a # character, it is a comment.

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When a soft driver is used with the command line options, the command
line options are placed after those from the soft driver and thus take
priority.
For example, the command:
plot psrgb plota22 plota22.out "BA N"
This has the same effect as the (similar) command above, except that the
banner page is switched off.

3.4.3 Overriding Built-in Driver Defaults

The PLOTDRIVERS file can also provide a method for changing the
default options of built-in drivers. This only applies when the driver is
used directly. It does not affect its use when used from a soft driver.

To change the default options of a built-in driver the usual soft driver
definition is used. However, both of the driver names are set to the built-
in driver name.
For example syntax:
screen|screen|RGB 0 0 0.2 0.2
This definition changes the background colour when the screen driver is
used with the plot command. Defaults defined in this way can be
modified by command line options.
The SCREEN and PNG drivers now have PDMS colours set as default
using this mechanism and the standard PLOTDRIVERS file. The
previous colours can be restored by deleting or commenting-out the
screen|screen|… and png|png|… definitions in that file.

3.5 Messages Output by PLOT

This section summarises the types of message that you may see displayed
at your command prompt window while you are using PLOT. The
messages are divided into two categories: those that you can expect to see
under normal operating conditions and those that you see only under
error conditions.

3.5.1 Normal Run-Time Messages

When PLOT begins to interpret a pseudo-code file it displays the message
to the command window
----- beginning of plot -----
When the file interpretation has finished it display the message

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----- end of plot -----

(See Section 3.5.3 for details of how you can change these messages.)

3.5.2 Warnings and Error Messages

Warning messages are displayed for information only. They tell you about
any constraints on your use of PLOT or advise you of actions that PLOT
has taken automatically.
All errors during PLOT's processing operations are fatal. When an error
occurs, PLOT displays an appropriate error message on your command
prompt window and then terminates its data processing.
Typical messages, and suggested responses, are as follows:
Error: Cannot create/open output file
Check that the named output file is valid, is not protected from access,
and is not already in use.
Error: Cannot open input file
Check that the file name has been correctly entered, that the file exists,
and that you have access rights to read it.
Error: Interpretation or data error
Check that the input file is in one of the acceptable formats: PDMS,
HPGL or GPGP. If it is, then the file may have been corrupted.
Error: Plot too large for media
Add the ADJUST option to the PLOT command line (see Section 3.3.2).
The output plot is too large for the actual paper size (if output is to a
plotter or printer) or for the defined paper size (if output is to a file).
Error: Unknown device type
Check that the device driver that you have specified matches one of the
standard drivers listed in Sections 2.3 and Section 3.2, or is a valid soft
driver name.
Warning: Plot is adjusted to media size
This message confirms that the ADJUST option has automatically
rescaled the output plot to suit its destination device or file. No action is
needed.

3.5.3 Modifying PLOT’s Message File

By default, PLOT uses its internally defined messages at relevant stages
of its processing operations. If you wish to display different messages,
such as messages in a different language, you can copy the standard
messages into a file, edit them, and then use this file as the source of
future messages.

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To copy PLOT's default messages into a file, enter the command

plot -message
This copies the messages into the file PLOT.MF in the current directory.
You may then edit this file to change the wording of any of the messages.
When PLOT needs to output a message, it looks for the file PLOT.MF,
first in the directory defined by the CADC_PLOT_DIR environment
variable, then in the current directory. It finds neither file it uses its own
default message definitions.

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3.6 Getting Help about PLOT

3.6.1 Checking the Command Syntax

To see an on-screen summary of the command syntax, enter the
command:
plot
With no command line arguments this displays the following information:
PLOT Utility

usage: plot driver file output [options...]

Drivers are: benson calcomp dxf houston hp hpgl hpgl2 interleaf

laserjet list pdms penman png postscript ps
screen xdump

File is a PDMS, DXF, HPGL or other pseudo-code plot file.

Output is a file name or the command window.

e.g. plot postscript drwg3.plt plotout.ps
plot screen drwg3.plt -0

The SCALE=value option provides general plot scaling.

An options string is available for most drivers.
e.g. plot hpgl2 drwg3.plt drwg3.h2 scale=0.5

3.6.2 Checking the Program Version

To check which version number of the PLOT program you are using,
enter the command:
plot –version

3.6.3 Checking Driver Options

To check the driver options enter the command:
plot –drivers

This displays the driver quick reference information for PLOT that can
also found in Chapter 5 of this manual.

3.7 Summarising the Contents of Plot Files

The LIST driver is used to provide a textual summary of contents of the

plot file.
The information includes:

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The pseudo-code file format.

The file header block, if present.
Details of the drawing number, if available.
The dimensions of the drawing.
A list of the pens used to plot the drawing.
The total numbers of graphical primitives in the file: vectors, arcs,
circles, text strings and text characters.
For structured files there are the total numbers of definitions and
references, the maximum depth of reference nesting and the full list
of symbol names and reference counts.
For full details see the LIST driver section.

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3.8 Running on Windows

PLOT has functionality to use standard Windows facilities and services.

The SCREEN driver has the facility to use the Windows printing service,
including network printing. PLOT can be launched directly from a
shortcut on the desktop so that it can be used independently of other
products.

3.8.1 Screen Driver Printing

Start by displaying a view of a plot file by running PLOT with the
SCREEN driver. The view window can be selected with the normal pan
and zoom controls before a printing. A print is initiated with the
keyboard accelerator Control-P, the standard keyboard accelerator used
by Windows programs for PRINT. The SCREEN driver displays a
Windows print dialog to select the printer and set printing options.
The print dialog has a Print range group with the choices All and
Selection. Select All to print the whole drawing and Selection to print
the current view.

3.8.2 Screen Driver and Enhanced Metafile Output

The screen driver can produce Windows EMF (Enhanced Metafile) output
from the current plot file. EMF contains scalable graphics and is a later
version of the popular WMF (Windows Metafile) format.
EMF output is initiated with the keyboard accelerator Control-S, the
standard keyboard accelerator used by Windows programs for SAVE. The
SCREEN driver displays a Windows Save As dialog to select the EMF
output file name and directory. A copy of the output file is automatically
copied to the clipboard.
EMF output provides a method of inserting or pasting graphics into a
variety of document types.

3.8.3 Shortcuts and Browsing

Plot can be run directly from a shortcut from the desktop or menus. Here
is an example of a shortcut created on the desktop.

Target: C:\AVEVA\pdms\plot\plot.exe screen "*" –0 "AUTOSIZE"

Start in: C:\temp
Name: Plot

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Target defines the command line to run Plot with the screen driver. Note
that the full pathname of the plot program is used and that the input file
is replaced by "*".
Start in is set as the directory that is most used for plot files.
Name labels the shortcut.
When this command is run from the shortcut a Multiple-File Open dialog
and a Console window are created. Select one or more plot files and plot
will view them all in the order specified. At each stage the file can be
viewed and printed. Close the graphics window or press Q to move on to
the next file. After all files have been viewed Plot returns to the multiple-
file open dialog. Click Cancel to finish.
Other drivers can be used with the input file set to "*". For example the
list driver can be used to display summary information about the
graphical contents of the files.

Alternatively, the shortcut on the desktop can be used to drag and drop
plot files as well as browsing for them if the shortcut target is a small
batch file DragDropPlot.bat, containing lines such as the following:

set file=%1
if "%file%" == "" set file="*"
start /b C:\AVEVA\pdms\plot\plot.exe plot screen %file% -0 "AUTO"

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This is a reference chapter that describes each of the available PLOT

device drivers. The information in each section is organised under the
following headings:

Models
This lists the supported plotters or defines the translation done by PLOT.
For plotters, the list gives the definitive models for which the driver was
originally written, and any other plotters on which the driver has been
tested. The list also gives other models, from the same or another
manufacturer, if they are known to be fully compatible with the driver.

Description
This describes, in broad terms, the plotter device code or the translation.

Output
This describes the file format output by the driver.

Options
This describes any additional options or controls for the driver, for
example scaling or paper layout.
Note that such options must be enclosed between quotation marks in the
command line and if more than one option is used they must be separated
by commas.

Example
This shows the minimum command syntax applicable to the driver, using
the default settings for all user-configurable options.
If applicable, a further example shows the use of some of the more
commonly used options.
Note: The LIST driver differs in principle from the drivers described in
this chapter in that it does not translate input plot file data into a
different format, but instead provides summarised information
about the overall content of the file. The functions of the LIST
driver are explained in Section 4.8.

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4.1 BENSON

Models
This driver supports the Benson 1302 Plotter with intelligence level I0.
This is a drum plotter with a roll paper feed mechanism. The
code-compatible Benson 1322 plotter is also supported.

Description
The device code for these plotters is based on the relative positioning and
drawing commands of the symbolic Benson format.

Output
The output from this driver is device code that is sent directly to the
Benson plotter. This code is easy to read and the vectors are expressed
entirely as relative movements.
Files output by this driver are sequential and contain symbolic codes.
They are used only for maintenance purposes.

Options
None.

Example
plot benson view.pl -1

4.2 CALCOMP

Models
This driver produces code for the Calcomp 1040 series plotters using
906/907 plotter code. This data format is acceptable to most Calcomp
plotters.
The Calcomp 1040 series plotters are drum plotters with either cut sheet
or roll feed options, which can take media up to A0 size.

Description
The Calcomp device code produced by the driver is based on the use of
simple positioning, drawing, and pen selection commands. It can select
from up to eight pens.

Output
The output from this driver is device code that is sent directly to the
Calcomp plotter. The data is encoded and is unintelligible. The device
protocol means that the code is organised to include synchronising

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sequences and checksums. Transmission is synchronised by waiting for a

plotter response after each message.
The coded format for each data record is as follows:

( Preamble) 0-10 null padding characters

Sync One or two specified synchronisation characters

Bia s Bias character; always a Space

Data Value of number-encoding radix (64 or 95)

(Checksum) Checksum character

End-of-message End-of-message (EOM) marker

(Postamble) 1-10 null padding characters

Newline

The message $? is output to request a good, 0<cr>, or

(Response Request)
1<cr>, response. bad, A ba d response ca uses the da ta
to be tra nsmitted a ga in.

Files output by this driver are ASCII coded and record structured. Their
content comprises all the data shown above, except for the request for
plotter response and its reply.

Options
The CALCOMP driver allows you to use options to control all low-level
detail of the plotter code format (as shown in the preceding table). You
can specify these options either directly, as PLOT command line
arguments (see Section 3.2), or indirectly, as parameters in a soft driver
definition.
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
[Key: int = an integer; val = a real number; Y/N = Yes or No]
BUffer int Sets device to use int data buffers (int must be 2 or 16).
Default: BU 16
CHecksum Y/N Specifies whether or not checksum is enabled.
Default: CH Y

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EOm int Sets the end-of-message character to int (int must be in

the range 0-127).
Default: EO 3
HEader Y/N Specifies whether or not a search address is to be
included in the output header.
Default: HE Y
LIne int Sets the line length of the output data field to int
characters (int must be in the range 80-125).
Default: LI 119
NL Y/N Specifies that a newline code is to be output between
lines.
Default: NL Y
PAd int Sets the number of padding characters to be used before
SYNC and after EOM to int characters (int must be in
the range 0-10).
Default: PA 10
RAdix int Sets the number conversion radix to int (int must be 64
or 95).
Default: RA 95
RESponse Y/N Specifies whether or not a plotter response is expected
by the driver for output flow control.
Default: RES Y
SCale int Sets the plotter scaling factor to int. You can use this
option with STEPS to compress and expand the data to
reduce the size (and accuracy) of the device code.
Default: SC 1
STeps val Sets the number of plotter steps per mm (i.e. the plotter
resolution) to val.
Default: ST 80.0
SYnc int1 int2 Sets the number of Synch characters to int1 and the
Sync character itself to the control character
represented by int2 (int1 must be 1 or 2; int2 must be in
the range 0-31)
Default: SY 1 2
WAit Y/N Specifies whether or not the plotter is switched off-line
between plots.
Default: WA Y

WIndon val Sets the distance to be left blank between adjacent plots
to val mm.
Default: WI 20.0

The defaults specified in the standard CALCOMP driver are equivalent

to the following options string:
"BU 16,CH Y,EO 3,HE Y,LI 119,NL Y,PA 10,PE Y,\

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RA 95,RES Y,SC 1,ST 80,SY 1 2,WA Y,WI 20"

As an example, to remove the preamble and postamble padding
characters, and to select no response control of the output flow, you would
either enter a command line such as:
plot calcomp pdms.plot pdms.code "PA 0,RE N"
Alternatively, you could create the equivalent soft driver to do this.
For example:
calcompx|calcomp|PA 0,RE N
The new soft driver can then be used with the command:
plot calcompx pdms.plot pdms.code
Note: PLOT includes an alternative version of the CALCOMP driver
known as the CALCOMP64 driver. The latter version has the
following option defaults, almost all of which differ from those of
the standard CALCOMP driver:
"BU 2,CH Y,EO 13,HE N,LI 125,NL Y,PA 0,PE N,RA 64,RES N,\
SC 0,ST 40,SY 2 22,WA N,WI 20"

You may use the CALCOMP64 driver as the basis for your option settings
if it is closer to your desired final specification.

Example
plot calcomp view.pl –1
plot calcomp64 view.pl –1
plot calcomp view.pl –1 "HE N,LI 110,PE N,WI 25"

4.3 DXF

This driver outputs a plot as an AutoCAD drawing in DXF (drawing

interchange) file format.

4.3.1 Output File Contents

This is an ASCII file, and is record structured. The records are organised
in pairs and these are called groups. Each group contains a group code
(an integer), and a group value that is in a format that depends on the
group code.
A DXF file is made up of four sections:
• Header. This is preceded by a number of comment lines (as suggested
in the NEDC recommendations). This includes the units employed in
the drawing, and the date the file was formed. The Header section
itself includes the $LIMMIN, $LIMMAX, $EXTMIN and $EXTMAX
variables to specify the limits of the drawing and its extents.

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• Tables. This section contains an LTYPE line types table defining the
definition of the line patterns available to the Entities section. It also
contains a LAYER and a style table.
• Blocks. This is empty.
• Entities. This contains all of the graphical elements of the drawing
and their attributes. The entity types are LINE, CIRCLE, ARC, TEXT,
POLYLINE and VERTEX.
Note: Sometimes the first three sections are omitted, depending on the
type of data and the purpose for which it is to be used.

4.3.2 DXF Options

Several options are available that allow you to control the output from
this driver. These can be specified as command line arguments, or as
parameters in a soft driver definition.
The syntax of each option is as follows (NOTE: individual options are
separated by commas):
HEader filename The contents of the supplied filename are copied
into the DXF output file in place of the Header,
Tables and Blocks sections that would normally be
generated by the driver.

If the filename is omitted, or the file cannot be

read, the driver will suppress the production of
these sections.

The file can be a complete DXF file. The copy is

stopped before the "0" "SECTION" "2" "ENTITIES"
sequence that starts the Entities section.
POlylines Y/N Specifies whether the driver outputs lines and arcs
as LINE and ARC entities, or as POLYLINE
entities.
Default: POLYLINES Y
UNits value Sets the type of coordinates in the DXF output file
as INCHES or MM.
Default: UNITS MM
ZAxis value Selects the output of a Z value with all XY
coordinates. The value parameter defines the
constant Z coordinate value.
Default: No Z coordinate.

Example
plot dxf view1.pl view1.dxf "UNITS INCHES"

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4.4 Hewlett-Packard (HP or HPGL)

Models
PLOT incorporates two Hewlett-Packard drivers, HP and HPGL, both of
which support all Hewlett-Packard pen plotters and the standard HP-GL
file format. The reference device supported by these drivers is the
HP7580B plotter, but they also support the HP7586 plotter, with or
without a roll feed option, the HP7550 plotter, which has an automatic
sheet feed, the IBM 6184 and 6186 plotters, and many other plotters
which use HP-GL code. The drivers also support the HP7475 plotter,
which has more restricted line style capabilities than the HP7580.

Description
The difference between the two drivers lies in the type of HP-GL code
which each uses:
• The HP driver uses only vectors and absolute positioning, and uses straight-
line chords to simulate arcs and circles. Each draw and move operation is
output on a separate line of the file. This makes this form of the code easier to
interpret.
• The HPGL driver uses vectors and relative positioning, and uses true arcs
and circles. Draw and move commands are merged together, and as many
commands as possible are put into each line of the file. These features make
this the more compact code of the two
The drivers derive the plotter model number by interrogating the device,
so that they allow for use with the HP7475 with its limited functionality.
They similarly determine the paper handling capabilities if used with an
HP7586 plotter, to allow it to be used with cut-sheet as well as roll-fed
paper. They make special provision for producing long plots on roll feed
versions of the latter plotter.

Output
The output from this driver is device code which is sent directly to the HP
plotter.
These drivers do not mix the two types of HP-GL command, namely
graphical commands and communication commands, within a line of
output.
Files output by this driver are ASCII coded and record structured. They
can be used as input to other conversion programs to produce device code
for otherwise unsupported devices.

Options
Several options are available which allow you to control the output from
these drivers. You can specify these options either directly, as PLOT

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command line arguments (see Section 3.2), or indirectly, as parameters in

a soft driver definition (see Section 3.4).
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
[Key: val = a real number; Y/N = Yes or No; x y = x,y coordinates in
mm]
CEntre Y/N Specifies if the physical coordinate origin for the plotter is at
the centre (Yes) or corner (No) of the paper after the default
positions of the scaling points P1 and P2 have been
established.
Plotters that use HPGL can be of either of these types. The
driver itself corrects for the type in the output file, by use of
the HPGL IP (Set P1 and P2) and SC (Scale) instructions.
Default: CE N for both HP and HPGL
High If selected, this allows the use of high-level commands and
compacted output code. If not selected, only low-level
commands and one command per line formatting are used.
Default: HI not selected for the HP driver
HI selected for the HPGL driver
MAp Derives the size of the plot from the plot file.
MAp x y Defines the position of the plot on the paper (x and y
coordinates of its origin expressed in mm). It derives the size
of the plot from the plot file.
MAp x y val1 val2 Defines the position of the plot on the paper (x and
y coordinates of its origin expressed in mm). It
defines the plot dimensions as val1 wide by val2
high.
Default: MA for both the HP and HPGL drivers
STeps val Sets the number of plotter steps per mm (i.e. the plotter
resolution) to val.
Default: ST 40.0
WAit Y/N/P Specifies actions to take place between plots.
Y selects that the plotter is switched off-line and waits for
the operator.
P selects that the plotter completes the present plot and then
advances to start the next. N selects no special action.
Default: WA Y
The defaults specified in the standard HP driver are equivalent to the
following options string:
"CE N,MA 0 0 1109.5 787.0,ST 40,WA Y"
The defaults specified in the standard HPGL driver are equivalent to the
following options string:
"CE N,HI,MA,ST 40,WA Y"

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Note: All of the options are applicable when the plot output is sent to a
file, but only the HIGH and WAIT options apply when the plot is
sent directly to a plotter.

Example
plot hp view.pl plot1.plt (output to a file)
plot hp view.pl -1 (output direct to plotter)
plot hpgl view.pl plot1.plt (output to a file)
plot hpgl view.pl -1 (output direct to plotter)
plot hp view.pl plot1.plt "CE Y,MA"

4.5 HPGL2

This driver supports HP-GL/2, which is the standardised version of the

Hewlett-Packard Graphical language. This attempts to provide a
consistent functionality between plotters and caters for pen, monochrome
and colour electrostatic and other devices. The code is compact, especially
for vectors that have a special encoding scheme. HP-GL/2 is a binary
format.
Although HPGL and HP-GL/2 are related, HP-GL/2 is not a strict
superset of HPGL. It is best for most purposes to regard them as being
entirely different.
HP-GL/2 is often available in Dual-Context plotters that also have
Hewlett-Packard's PCL. The HP-GL/2 behaves differently under these
conditions and a driver option for PCL is necessary to ensure correct
behaviour.

Options
These options enable you to control the output of this driver. You can
specify these options either directly, as PLOT command line arguments
(see section 3.2), or indirectly, as parameters in soft driver definition (see
section 3.4).
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
[Key: Y/N = Yes or No; x y etc. coordinates in mm and other values; n
and pen are integers.]
COpies n Print n copies of each drawing in the plot file.
Default: COPIES 1
FF Y/N Specifies whether the formfeed character is output at
the end of the HP-GL/2 file. This is a communication
character was required previously for direct operation
of the plotter but may need to be omitted when a print
spooler is being used.

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Default: FF Y
ECutter Y/N Enables the automatic cutter that operates after each
plot is completed.
Default: ECUTTER N
HIgh If selected the driver outputs higher level graphical
primitives such as arcs, circles, and line styles.
Default: HIGH is not selected.
MAp Derives the size of the plot from the plot file.
MAp x y w h Defines the position and size of the plot on the paper.
The default is to use the plot given in the plot file.
Default: MAP
PCL Y/N Specifies that the plotter is operating HP-GL/2 with
PCL in a dual context.
Default: PCL Y
PWidth w1 [w2] Specifies the widths of the thin and thick lines in mm.
The thinnest line width possible is selected by
specifying it as zero.
Default: PWIDTH 0.0 0.35
QUality n Sets the percentage quality level required from the
plotter. Where this is available the plotter will trade
quality for speed or reduced toner usage.
Default: QUALITY 100
RGb pen r g b Selects colour mode and defines the red/green/blue
colour mix for the specified logical pen number (pen
must be in the range 0-256). The colour values are in
the range 0 to 1.
Default: Monochrome
ROtate n Rotate the plot by 0, 90, 180, 270 degrees
counter-clockwise about the plotter coordinate system
origin.
Default: ROTATE 0
The defaults specified in the standard HP-GL/2 driver are equivalent to
the following options string:
"CO 1,EC N,MAP,PCL Y,PW 0.0 0.35,QU 100,RO 0"
Examples:
plot hpgl2 view.pl plot1.plt

plot hpgl2 view.pl plot1.plt "COPIES 3,ROTATE 90"

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4.6 HOUSTON

Models
This driver supports the Houston Hiplot DMP-40 and DMP-42 pen
plotters. These are drum plotters with media movement and registration
controlled by knurled gripping areas of the drum; they take A3 and A1
media sizes, respectively.
These plotters use Houston DM/PL III firmware, which is upwardly
compatible with DM/PL and DM/PL+.

Description
The DM/PL device code produced by the driver for these plotters is based
on simple absolute positioning and drawing commands and assumes that
there is a single pen.

Output
Files output by this driver are not record structured, but contain ASCII
codes. They are used only for maintenance purposes.

Options
None.

Example
plot houston view.pl view.out

4.7 LASERJET

Models
This driver produces output suitable for any printer that can interpret
Hewlett-Packard’s PCL page description language, such as the Laserjet
Series II devices.
Laserjet printers have a maximum resolution of 300 dots per inch (dpi),
but can also work at 150, 100 or 75 dpi

Description
Laserjet and compatible printers may be used to produce black and white
hard copy from graphical plot files. The PCL language has no facilities for
expressing graphical elements such as vectors; it provides instead a
group of raster graphics commands.

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Output
The output from this driver is in device code that may be sent directly to
any PCL-compatible laser printer. Where the output is to a file, it
contains the complete PCL code needed to reproduce the printable
document defined by the pseudo-code plot file. This comprises a mixture
of PCL command escape sequences and 8-bit data that is not formatted
and not easy to inspect.
The Laserjet driver uses compression techniques to reduce the size of its
output files and, hence, the time needed to send them to the printer.
Further reductions in file size and data transfer time may be achieved by
specifying a lower raster graphics resolution (i.e. a lower dpi setting).
When multiple copies of a drawing are required, use of the COPIES
option gives increased speed by using the inbuilt printer facilities rather
than by repeated data transmission.
The drawing is scaled to a size that fills the printable area of an A4 sheet.
It is drawn automatically in portrait or landscape orientation to make the
best use of the available area.

Options
You can specify the LASERJET driver options either directly, as PLOT
command line arguments (see Section 3.2), or indirectly, as parameters in
a soft driver definition (see Section 3.4).
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
COpies integer This prints integer copies of each drawing in the plot
file. The default is 1 copy.
DPi integer Sets the printer resolution to integer dots per inch,
where integer may be 300, 150, 100 or 75. The default is
150 dpi, which usually gives a suitable compromise
between image quality, file size and data transmission
speed.

Examples
plot laserjet view.pl plot1.plt (output to a file)
plot laserjet view.pl -1 (output direct to printer)
plot laserjet view.pl -1 "CO 3,DPI 300" (print 3 copies of
each drawing at 300
dpi resolution)

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4.8 LIST

The LIST driver differs from the others in that it does not translate input
plot file data into a different format, but instead provides summarised
information about the overall content of the file.
The information derived from the file includes:
• The pseudo-code format in which the file is written (PDMS, HPGL,
HP-GL/2, DXF or GPGP)
• The file header block (if it is a PDMS file)
• Details of the drawing in the file, namely:
- The drawing number, with its identifying number in brackets if it is a
GPGP file
- The dimensions of the drawing, in mm
- The total number of vectors that make up the drawing
- The number of arcs and circles
- The numbers of text strings and text characters
- The numbers of block definitions, block references (or inserts), and the
maximum depth of block reference nesting. The DXF input file format
can contain blocks.
- A list of the pens needed to plot the drawing
- The full list of symbol names. Symbols are shown with a prefix
character to indicate how often they are referenced:
Prefix References
none unreferenced
+ once
* one or more times
The information may be sent to an ASCII file, or it may be listed at your
command prompt window (by specifying output to line 0).
For example, the command:
plot list pdmsplot.pl -0
This would list the content of the PDMS pseudo-code plot file
pdmsplot.pl, containing an A1 drawing, thus:
Interpreter: PDMS
File Header: piper 18/07/04 12.25
Drawing: 1
Size 841 by 594 MM
Vectors 3403
Pens 1 2
The list driver does not use any options but will display any that are
specified on the command line or from a soft driver as a combined options
string.

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4.9 PDMS

Models
This driver generates output in PDMS plot file format (i.e. PDMS
pseudo-code).

Description
This file format (which is also one of PLOT’s valid input formats) is
intended primarily for transferring graphical data between the modules
of PDMS. PLOT’s PDMS output driver also allows you to transfer data to
PDMS from other sources that generate HPGL or GPGP formatted
graphics.

Output
Files output by the PDMS driver are in binary format and comprise a
textual header block followed by the graphical data.
The header block contains:
• A user identifier - up to 6 characters - derived from the login user
name (truncated if longer than 6 characters).
• The current date - in the format DDMMYY.
• The current time - in the format HHMM.
The graphical data is a sequence of coded items, including pen moving
and drawing commands, pen changes, and paper size definitions. The
code is made more efficient by the provision of special codes for short line
drawing and moving operations, and for drawing horizontal or vertical
lines.

Options
None.

Example
plot pdms view.pl ulay2.pdms (output must be to a file)

4.10 PENMAN

Models
This driver outputs directly to the Penman Turtle Plotter.

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Description
The Turtle plotter has a pen with an up/down mechanism mounted on a
wheeled carriage that is connected for power and control via a flying
cable. It uses a home marker that it can detect optically to register its
origin.

Output
The output from this driver is device code that is sent directly to the
Turtle plotter. The device code uses simple absolute positioning and
drawing commands. Periodic returns to the origin, to re-establish a
datum point, limit the build up of positional errors during plotting.
Files output by this driver are ASCII coded and record structured. They
are used only for maintenance purposes.

Options
None.

Example
plot penman view.pl -1

4.11 PNG

Models
This driver generates output in PNG file format.

Description
The PNG (Portable Network Graphics) format is a patent-free
replacement for GIF and can also replace many common uses of TIFF. It
provides a means for the lossless, portable storage of well-compressed
raster images.
PNG is designed to work well in online viewing applications, such as the
World Wide Web, and for user interface and general usage.
Note that the standard PLOTDRIVERS file changes the default for this driver
to use PDMS colours. To find out how to restore the colours to their previous
state and other details about modifying the default options of the built-in
drivers see the section on creating your own device drivers.

Output
Files output by the PNG driver are in binary format.
Options
The syntax for each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):

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BItmap width height Defines the size of the bitmap image in pixels.
Sizes should be greater than 16 x 16 and the
upper size limit is 8000 x 8000. The default size
is 600 x 400.

LAyout type Defines how the image is placed in the bitmap,

where type is one of the following:
FIT reduces the width or height of the bitmap
so that it fits the image exactly. This is the
default.
CENtre places the image in the centre of the
bitmap.
CORner places the image at the top left corner
of the bitmap.
RGb pen r g b Selects colour mode and defines the
red/green/blue colour mix for the specified
logical pen number (pen must be in the range 0-
15). The colour values are in the range 0 to 1.
The background colour of the image is black by
default but this can be changed by defining pen
0, e.g. RGB 0 1 1 1 sets it to white.
SIze width height Defines the minimum plot size in millimetres
that is scaled to fill the bitmap image.
Increasing the size of a number of plots to a
common value means that their pixel scaling is
also the same. This is important if the bitmap
files are to be manipulated by other programs.
TRan Sets the image background to be transparent.

Example
plot png in.dxf out.png "BITMAP 32 32"

4.12 POSTSCRIPT or PS

(The POSTSCRIPT and PS drivers are identical.)

Models
These drivers produce output suitable for any printer that can interpret
the Postscript page description language.
The driver default options give output suitable for immediate use with
the commonest laser printers, which take A4 paper and which produce

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monochrome and grey-scale output at a resolution of 300 dots per inch

(for example, the QMS-810 printer).
The drivers provide a very wide range of options that may be used with
PLOT’s soft driver facility to create drivers for other forms of Postscript
output (see Section 3.4). For example, printers with different paper sizes
or with paper tray selection.

Description
Postscript is a widely used page description language that efficiently
describes the appearance of text, images and drawings on the printed
page.

Output
The output from these drivers is an ASCII record structured file that
conforms to the standard structuring conventions for Postscript
multiple-page documents. It contains the complete Postscript program
needed to print the document defined by the input pseudo-code file.
The output is in device code that may be sent directly to the laser printer
or may be included in another document as an illustration. The laser
printer is treated as a plotter with a single pen, grey-scale pens or colour
pens, which can draw vectors in all line styles for both normal and thick
lines.
The drawing is scaled to form an image that fills the specified paper size,
with options to set margin widths, page orientation, and so on. Other
options allow you to control features such as a summarising banner page,
page headers and footers, and page layout.
It may be useful to override the parameters of this driver in the
PLOTDRIVERS file, for example to use PDMS colours by default. See the
description of this file for further details.

Options
The POSTSCRIPT/PS drivers provide many options. You can specify
these either directly, as PLOT command line arguments (see Section 3.2),
or indirectly, as parameters in a soft driver definition (see Section 3.4).
For convenience, the descriptions of the driver options are split into two
functional groups:
• Layout options, which control the overall page presentation.
• General options, which control the banner page and the detailed
graphics plotting (including monochrome/grey-scale/colour, scaling,
resolution, etc.).
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):

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[Key: int = an integer; string = a text string]

Layout Options
LAyout type Defines the output page layout as type, where type is one of the
following:

Drawing - this produces a PostScript file that takes dimensions

from the input plot file and the output is matched to the
input. It is unscaled and is not rotated. This layout is
suitable for use when a PostScript file is to be used later
to produce a pdf file.
Landscape - uses the whole page for graphics. The drawing is
rotated by 90 degrees and is positioned into the bottom
right-hand corner of the image area of the page. If the
width and height allow it the drawing will be output
unscaled and the message '1:1 SCALE' is displayed and
is repeated in the annotation of the output file. If the
drawing is oversize it will be rescaled to fill the page
(retaining the original width/height ratio).

The output file is a complete PostScript document that

may contain many pages and may start with a banner
page.

The values from the MAP option are used directly with
this option. There are no margin or other adjustment
factors. The positioning is applied before the rotation,
its x values increase to the right, and y values increase
upwards.
Portrait - this is identical to the Landscape layout except that it is
positioned into the bottom left-hand corner of the image
area of the page and there is no rotation of the drawing.
Whole - uses the whole page for graphics, except for a 7 mm
margin on all four sides. The drawing is rescaled
(retaining the original width/height ratio) and rotated to
fill the page as efficiently as possible. The output file is
a complete PostScript document that may contain many
pages and may start with a banner page.
Margin - uses the whole page for graphics, except for a 26 mm
margin on all four sides (to allow for punch holes and
header/footer texts, etc.). The drawing is rescaled
(retaining the original width/height ratio) and rotated to
fill the page as efficiently as possible. The output file is
a complete Postscript document that may contain many
pages and may start with a banner page.

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Figure - this layout is identical to MARGIN, except that the

drawing is not rotated.
Include - produces a file suitable for inclusion in another
PostScript document. The layout is identical to FIGURE,
but the file contains none of the general Postscript
commands to print pages etc. (since these will be
provided by the document in which the file is included).
Default: LA L.
The LAYOUT MARGIN and LAYOUT FIGURE settings provide locations
for three header texts and three footer texts at the left, centre and right
of the page, in the top and bottom margins, respectively. These are set as
follows:
TL string Sets the left-hand header text (TL=Top Left) to string.
Default: empty string.
TC string Sets the central header text (TC=Top Centre) to string.
Default: empty string.
TR string Sets the right-hand header text (TR=Top Right) to string.
Default: empty string.
BL string Sets the left-hand footer text (BL=Bottom Left) to string.
Default: empty string.
BC string Sets the central footer text (BC=Bottom Centre) to string.
Default: empty string.
BR string Sets the right-hand footer text (BR=Bottom Right) to string.
Default: empty string.
Note: If a header or footer text is to include spaces, string must be
enclosed between single quotes.
You may include the following special characters within header and
footer texts:
# is replaced in the printed output by the current page number (with
pages being numbered automatically, starting from a number which
you may define).
% is replaced in the current date (in the format day, month, year).
PAge int Defines an initial page number for the translation of the #
character when using automatic page numbering. The
default is PAGE 1.
As an example of the page layout options as part of a command:
plot ps drg.pl drg.out "LA M, TL 'Page #', TR Figure, BC %"
This sets the page layout as follows:
• Layout is of the type 'Margin' (i.e. 26 mm margins all round).
• Left-head header reads 'Page 1', 'Page 2', etc.

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• Right-hand header text reads 'Figure'.

• Centred footer shows the current date.

General Options
BAnner Y/N Specifies whether or not a banner page is output at the
head of the document.
Default: BA Y
EOt Y/N Specifies whether the EOT character is output at the
end of the PostScript file. This is a communication
character required previously for direct operation of a
printer but may need to be omitted when a print spooler
is being used.
Default: EOT Y
IGraphics Y/N Allows the use of the initgraphics command. (You
should not normally need to change this setting.)
Default: IG N
PType string Sets page type to string. Where string is a sequence of
printer specific PostScript commands to be inserted into
the output file at the point where paper size and tray
selection might take place. This option does not affect
anything else (e.g. scaling).
For example, below is an example of the PostScript
command to set up a printer to select a particular paper
try, perhaps one containing A3 sized paper. The
PostScript string used with PTYPE is not standard and
needs to be obtained for each model of printer. Below
are two examples showing how the printer specific
commands might look like to select a particular tray
and to select manual feed.
PTYPE 'statusdict begin 2 setpapertray end'
PTYPE 'statusdict begin /manualfeed true def end'

Default: PT
MAp x y val1 val2 Defines the position of the plot on the paper (x and y
coordinates of its origin expressed in mm). It defines
the plot dimensions as val1 wide by val2 high.
Default: MA 0 0 283.6 197.3
STeps val Sets the printer steps per inch (i.e. the printer
resolution) to val.
Default: ST 300
GRay Selects grey-scale output to represent colours.
MOno Selects monochrome output.
RGb Selects RGB colour output (using default
colour definitions).
Default colour representation: MONO

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RGb pen r g b Selects RGB colour mode and defines the red/green/blue
colour mix for the specified logical pen number (pen
must be in the range 0-15).
Default: The colours of the graphics screen device (see
following table).

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Number Colour Red Green Blue

0 White 1 1 1
1 Black 0 0 0
2 Orange 1 0.5 0
3 Green 0 1 0
4 Red 1 0 0
5 Blue 0 0.78 1
6 Magenta 0.78 0 1
7 Yellow 1 1 0
8 Sand 1 0.78 0
9 Yellow 1 1 0
10 Cyan 0 1 1
11 Indigo 0 0 1
12 Violet 0.5 0 0.5
13 Light Grey 0.75 0.75 0.75
14 Mid Grey 0.5 0.5 0.5
15 Dark Grey 0.25 0.25 0.25
FOntname string
This specifies the font name to be used for text. It is present
in the plot file (not as vectors) if the HIGH option is selected.
This font is also used for the user name on the banner page.
Default: FONT Courier
FLush Changes the format of the output file so that a new line is
used for each graphical primitive instead of packing each
output line. The resulting output file is slightly larger as a
result.
Default: Not selected.
HIgh Specifies that higher-level primitives may be used for text
and other output.
Default: Not selected.
As an example a command with the general Postscript control options:
plot ps drg.pl drg.out "BA Y,MA 5 5 250 175,ST 400,RGB 9 0 1 0.5"

This has the following effects on the printed output:

• The banner page is printed.
• The graphical plots have their origins moved 5 mm in each direction
from the page origin and the plot sizes are reduced to 250 mm wide by
175 mm high (landscape format).
• The printer resolution is set to 400 dots per inch.
• The colour for logical pen number 9 is redefined as the colour mix (0
red)/(1 green)/(0.5 blue).
The overall default settings for all POSTSCRIPT/PS driver options (both
layout and general options) are equivalent to:
"BA N,LA L,MA 0 0 283.6 197.3,MO,IG N,PT,ST 300"

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Example
plot ps view.pl fig1.ps (Output to file, e.g. for inclusion in
another file)
plot postscript view.pl fig1.ps
(Output to file, e.g. for inclusion in
another file)
plot postscript view.pl -2 (output direct to printer)
plot ps view.pl -2 "LA M,BR 'Page #',MA 10 40 100 70"
(Note nested quotation marks.
These are needed as 'Page #' is all
one string)

4.13 SCREEN

Models
The SCREEN driver displays plot files on a workstation graphics screen.

Description
This driver provides a convenient plot file viewing facility, allowing you to
preview your plot files before plotting or printing hard copies.

Output
This driver always creates a new graphics window to view the input plot
file. There is no output file and –0 takes its place on the command line. If
the output drawing comprises more than one page, the display pauses at
each page until you press a key or button.

User Interaction
The SCREEN driver is an interactive plot viewer with zoom and pan
actions under mouse control with appropriate cursors and
'rubber-banding'. To use the viewer:
• To pan the view by a specified distance, press and hold down the
left mouse button while you move the mouse. Release the button to
pan the view by a specified distance. A cursor 'rubber-band' shows you
the move while you are holding the button.
• As an alternative to scroll bars press and release the left mouse
button without moving the mouse to 'snap' the current point under the
cursor to the centre of the screen.
• To select a new view, press and hold down the middle button of your
mouse while you move it between the opposite corners of its boundary.
• To snap the current point to the centre of the screen and then
zoom in by a fixed amount, press and then release the middle
mouse button (without moving the mouse).

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• Snap the current point to the centre of the screen and then
zoom out by a fixed amount, press and release the right mouse
button without moving the mouse.

Command Summary
Key/button Description
Home View all of the drawing
Shift-Home Refresh the window
Arrow keys Pan down/left/right/up by 10% of window
Control-Arrow Pan down/left/right/up by 2% of window
Shift-Arrow Pan down/left/right/up by 50% of window
H or ? Display help text
X Toggle cursor style, small cross and crosshair
/ Toggle cursor style, ISO and crosshair
N or Space Next drawing from plot file
Q or Return Quit viewer
0 to 9 Set cursor colour (1=white)
Mouse 1 Press/Move/Release pans around drawing. Press/release
(no move) centres this position in the window.
Mouse 2 Press/Move/Release zooms in on the box cursor.
Press/release (no move) centres this position in the
window and zooms in by 20%.
Mouse 3 Press/Move/Release zooms in on the box cursor.
Press/release (no move) centres this position in the
window and zooms out by 20%.
Note that for a 2-button mouse the effect of the middle button can be
achieved by pressing both buttons together.

Options
Note that the standard PLOTDRIVERS file changes the default for this driver
to use PDMS colours. To find out how to restore the colours to their previous
state and other details about modifying the default options of built-in drivers see
the section on creating your own device drivers.
The syntax for using each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
MAp x y val1 val2
Defines the position of the plot on the screen (x and y
coordinates of its origin expressed in pixels). It defines
the graphics window dimensions as val1 pixels wide by
val2 pixels high.
Default: To match the graphics screen device.
CUrsor n Sets the long cursor pen number and must be in the
range 1-15. The default value is 4.
RGb pen r g b Defines the red/green/blue colour mix for the specified
logical pen number (pen must be in the range 0-15).

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Default: The colours of the graphics screen device (see

following table).
Number Colour Red Green Blue
0 Black 0 0 0
1 White 1 1 1
2 Orange 1 0.5 0
3 Green 0 1 0
4 Red 1 0 0
5 Blue 0 0.78 1
6 Magenta 0.78 0 1
7 Yellow 1 1 0
8 Sand 1 0.78 0
9 Yellow 1 1 0
10 Cyan 0 1 1
11 Indigo 0 0 1
12 Violet 0.5 0 0.5
13 Light Grey 0.75 0.75 0.75
14 Mid Grey 0.5 0.5 0.5
15 Dark Grey 0.25 0.25 0.25

Example
plot screen logo.plt -0 "CUR 10,MA 20 40 250 150"

4.14 XDUMP

This driver outputs the plot to a specially formatted bitmap image file,
such as that produced by the X-Windows utility, xwd and displayed by
xwud.

Description
This driver produces a bitmap image file. This is always a single plane
image that represents the plot in monochrome, with the graphics from all
pens drawn in the foreground colour.
This form of output file can be used to compare whether two plots look
the same, regardless of overdrawing and the order in which the graphical
elements are drawn.

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Output
Files output by this driver are in binary format and consist of a header
and data sections. See the X-Windows and xwd utility for references to
its format definition.
The drawing is scaled to a size that fills the bitmap. It is automatically
rotated by 90 degrees if this makes better use of the available area.

Options
The syntax for each option is as follows (individual options must be
separated by commas):
BItmap width height Defines the size of the bitmap image in pixels.
Sizes should be greater than 100 x 100. The
default size is 1000 x 800, and the upper size limit
is 9600 x 5000.
Size width height Defines the minimum plot size in millimetres that
is scaled to fill the bitmap image. Increasing the
size of a number of plots to a common value means
that their pixel scaling is also the same. This is
important if the bitmap files are to be manipulated
by other programs.

Example
plot xdump view.pl view.px "BITMAP 200 200"

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PLOT DRIVERS AND PARAMETERS

The following options apply to drivers generally. Options can be abbreviated to a minimum of 4
characters, except where specified otherwise.
This summary is also displayed if plot –drivers is entered on the command line.
option description
ADJUST Scale the plot to fit the paper
ARCSIZE n Set the circle and arc approximation
ATTR n s [s] [s] [v] Set pen attributes
BORDER [n] Draw the plot border using the pen number
CUTMARK ... Draw marks for automatic cutters
DEKINK ... Select the dekink output filter
PENS [s] Set the pen selection mode (Abbreviation PE)
SPLIT w h Split drawings into sheets

The drivers are listed below in alphabetic order. The driver specific options can be abbreviated to 2 or
more characters, except where specified otherwise.

BENSON Driver
No options

CALCOMP Driver
Default: BU 16,CH Y,EO 3,HE Y,LI 119,NL Y,PA 10,PE Y,RA 95,
RES Y,SC 1,ST 80,SY 1 2,WA Y,WI 20
option description
BUFFER n Number of data buffers
CHECKSUM [Y|N] Checksum enabled
EOM n End of message character
HEADER [Y|N] Include search address in header
LINE n Line length
NL [Y|N] Output newline after each line
PAD n Number of padding characters
RADIX n Data conversion radix, 64 or 95
RESPONSE [Y|N] Plotter response used for flow control (Abbreviation RES)
SCALE n Plotter device scale factor
STEPS v Plotter device steps per MM
SYNC n n Number of sync characters and the sync character
WAIT [Y|N] Plotter to wait at the end of each plot
WINDON v Wind-on distance between plots in MM

CALCOMP64 Driver
This is equivalent to the CALCOMP driver with the options
BU 2,CH Y,EO 13,HE n,LI 125,NL Y,PA 0,PE N,RA 64,RES N,SC 0,
ST 40,SY 2 22,WA N,WI 20

DXF Driver
Default: POLY Y,UNITS MM
option description
AUTOSIZE Set drawing size from extent of graphics
HEADER [s] File supplying header, tables and blocks sections
POLYLINES [Y|N] Lines and arcs are output within polyline entities
UNITS [s] Define units as MM or INCHES
ZAXIS v Define the constant Z-axis value

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HOUSTON Driver
No options

HP Driver
Default: CEN N,MAP,STEPS 40,WAIT Y
option description
AUTOSIZE Set drawing size from extent of graphics
CENTRE [Y|N] Physical coordinate origin position
HIGH Use higher level graphics primitives
MAP x0 y0 [w h] Define the position and size of plot
STEPS v Plotter steps per MM
WAIT [Y|N|P] End of plot action

HP7580B Driver
This is an alternative name for the HP driver.

HPGL Driver
This is equivalent to the HPGL with the following options
CEN NO,HIGH,MAP,STEPS 40,WAIT Y

HPGL2 Driver
Default: COP 1,ECUT N,FF Y,MAP,PCL Y,PWI 0.0 0.35,QUA 100,ROT 0
option description
COPIES [n] Print multiple copies
ECUTTER [Y|N] Enable cutter
FF [Y|N] Formfeed after HP-GL/2
HIGH Use higher level graphics primitives
MAP x0 y0 [w h] Define the position and size of plot
PCL [Y|N] Dual HP-GL/2 and PCL context
PWIDTH v [v] Pen widths for thin and thick pens (MM)
QUALITY n Quality level, percentage
RGB n r g b Define red/green/blue mix for pen number
ROTATE n Rotate plot by 0/90/180/270 degrees

INTERLEAF Driver
Default:
option description
HEADER s Select file header, default or RAPPORT
HIGH Use higher level graphics primitives

LASERJET Driver
Default: COP 1,DPI 150
option description
COPIES n Print multiple copies
DPI n Printer resolution, dots per inch
LIST Driver
No options

PDMS Driver
No options

PEGS Driver
Default: LAYERS 11 20 11 20,POLY Y,TSCALE 1.0
option description
FLAT Output without symbol structure
LAYERS n n [n n] Select Pegs layers for output
POLYLINES [Y|N] Lines are output as connected polylines
TSCALE v Text size relative scale factor

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PENMAN Driver
No options

PNG Driver
Default: BITMAP 600 400,LAY FIT
option description
BITMAP w h Set the bitmap dimensions
LAYOUT [FIT|CENTRE|CORNER] Define bitmap layout of the graphics
RGB n r g b Define red/green/blue mix for pen number
SIZE w h Set the minimum plot size in MM
TRANSPARENT Set the bitmap background transparent

POSTSCRIPT Driver
Default: BA N,EOT Y,LAY L,MAP 0 0 283.6333 197.2733,MONO,
IG N,PT,STEPS 300
option description
BANNER [Y|N] Print banner page
BC s Bottom centre label
BL s Bottom left label
BR s Bottom right label
EOT [Y|N] EOT after PostScript
FONTNAME s Graphical text font
FLUSH Graphical primitives start on new lines
GRAY Grayscale output, see MONO and RGB
HIGH Use higher level graphics primitives
IGRAPHICS [Y|N] Include an "initgraphics" command
LAYOUT [L|P|W|M|F|I|E|D] Define the page layout
MAP x0 y0 [w h] Define the position and size of plot
MONO Monochrome output, see GRAY and RGB
PAGE n Set the initial page number
PTYPE [s] Include a page type command
RGB n r g b Define red/green/blue mix for pen number
STEPS v Plotter device steps per inch
TC s Top centre label
TL s Top left label
TR s Top right label
PS Driver
This is an alternative name for POSTSCRIPT

SCREEN Driver
Default: DEV 13
option description
CURSOR n Set the long cursor colour
MAP x0 y0 [w h] Define the window position and size
RGB n r g b Define red/green/blue mix for pen number
XDUMP Driver
Default: BITMAP 1000 800
option description
BITMAP w h Set the bitmap dimensions
SIZE w h Set the minimum plot size in MM

PLOT User Guide 5-3

Version 11.6SP1
Driver Quick Reference

5-4 PLOT User Guide

Version 11.6SP1
6 Changes to this Manual

This revision of the manual has a number of objectives. It starts by

describing a number of new features that have been introduced to the Plot
Utility Program. Content that no longer reflected printing and plotting
practice on current platforms has been revised replaced or removed. There
has also been a general revision of the document to improve details of the
layout to make the text easier to read.

Here is a summary of the changes:

• Added Chapter 5 to provide a quick reference to all the driver options.

• Added Chapter 6 (this one) to summarise the changes to the manual.
• Driver Defaults:
The PLOTDRIVERS file can now be used to change the default
parameters of built-in drivers.
The directory containing the Plot Utility Program has been added as an
extra place to look for the PLOTDRIVERS file. This means that soft
drivers are much easier to configure and use.
The Screen and PNG drivers are set to the default PDMS colours in the
standard PLOTDRIVERS file. The previous driver colours can be
restored by commenting out these lines in the file.
• Screen Driver:
The standard PLOTDRIVERS file now changes this driver to use PDMS
colours by default.
New option to set the cursor pen number.
New ISO cursor style is available.
Added the description of a desktop drag and drop shortcut.
• PostScript Driver:
Added the LAYOUT D option to the driver to create PostScript files for
conversion to PDF files easier.
Changed the PTYPE examples to avoid ambiguity.
• PNG Driver:
The standard PLOTDRIVERS file now changes this driver to use PDMS
colours by default.
The background colour can be changed by setting the colour of pen 0.
• Details of the PLOT.MF messages file directory search have been
corrected.
• References to the Unix specific run_plot script have been removed.
• Details about serial line operation have been withdrawn.

PLOT User Guide 6-1

Version 11.6SP1