Graph 2D View

The 2D View Options dialog for a TableCurve 2D Graph itself incorporates a copy of the current graph. Changes made in any of the view options are immediately reflected in the graph. This option is used to control a graph's layout, the state of its status bar and XY hints, how the Y and Y2 axes are to be arranged, the state of all titles and labels, and the state and size of grids.

Primary Layout

The Fixed Frame option uses a fixed graph area that never varies relative to its position within the overall frame. This option would normally only be used for final output. Sufficient room exists to handle the font sizes of most titles. This option is directly available in the tool bar of most graphs.

The Floating Frame option seeks to create the largest possible graph area while accommodating all titles and labels. This layout seeks to preserve aesthetics, and yet at the same time, provide a large canvas for the graph information. The actual graph frame floats in size, depending on the space requirement of the various elements outside the graph frame. This option is also directly available in the tool bar of most graphs.

The Maximum Area option discards all external titles and labeling, using only small internal X and Y labels. This option offers the greatest possible graph area. It was designed to maximize the amount of curve-fit information. It is the default for non-output graphs in TableCurve 2D. This option is likewise available in the tool bar of most graphs.

The Border option controls the state of a graph's outermost bounding frame. When copying graphs to the clipboard or saving graphs as image files for importing into other applications, you may not wish to have an external border. This option is disabled on maximized area graphs since they do not have an external frame.

The Status option controls whether or not the graph's status bar should be displayed.

The XY Hints option controls whether or not the X,Y data hints appear below the cursor when moving it across graphs.

Y - Y2 Layout

These options will be available if a given graph has both a Y and a Y2 plot, and it is possible to separate the two plots.

The Split item controls whether the Y2 graph is to appear separately, above the Y graph, or whether the Y and Y2 plots are to be plotted within the same area.

The Invert item enables the Y2 graph to appear on the bottom and the Y graph to appear on top. This option is only available when the Y and Y2 plots are split.

The 50:50, 67:33, and 75:25 options specify the relative areas of split plots.

Titles

You may set the state for any title in a TableCurve 2D Graph. It is usually simpler to turn a title off than to use the Custom Titles option to clear it. When All is clicked on, all titles are toggled on. When it is clicked off, all titles are turned off. Titles 1-5 are those above the graph. The Y and Y2 titles on both the left and right sides of the graph can be independently controlled.

Labels

You may also set the state for any axis label in a TableCurve 2D Graph. Axis labels are the numeric values plotted along the X and Y axes. You may also set the label precision (Prec) from a low of 3 significant digits to a high of 8 digits.

The font size of the axes labels is set in the Custom Titles dialog.

Grids

The state of the grids used in the graph are similarly set. You may also set a grid Level from 0 to 10. A grid level of zero draws a simple line. For all other levels, the grid is drawn as a series of dots. This enhances the appearance of the grid in printed output. A level of 1 skips every other pixel. An level of 10 skips 10 pixels for each one drawn. As such, the grid intensity decreases as the level value increases.

When printing, you may encounter a problem with some printers with the dot-type grids. In this instance, you will need to set a level of zero and use simple line grids.

The intermediate grids with log scaling are automatic. If a logarithmic axis has a large number of decades, however, the intermediate log grids will not be drawn.

Saving a 2D View

The Save item is used to save the current 2D View to a disk file. These are binary files with [V2D] extensions. Since each graph in TableCurve 2D contains its own settings, you may wish to save a 2D View to disk if you wish to use it for a number of the program's graphs.

Importing a 2D View

The Read item is used to update the current graph with the settings in a previously saved [V2D] custom view file.

Reset

The Reset button restores the current 2D View to the state existing when the dialog was opened.