Tk-PlotDataset

PlotDataset is a quick and easy way to build an interactive plot widget into a
Perl application.

FEATURES

The widget is an extension of the Tk::Canvas widget that will plot
LineGraphDataset objects as lines onto a 2D graph. The module includes the
following features:

- Plots multiple datasets.
- Plots are zoomable.
- Axes can be automaically scaled or set by the code.
- Optional second y-axis (Y1).
- Axes can be linear or logrithmic.
- Graphs have a legend.
- Includes a feature for highlighting plots when the cursor is held over the
  plot or its name in the legend.
- Point values are shown when the cursor is held over a point on the graph.
- The fonts, colours, line style and layout of the graph are all configurable.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

- If no data on the graph is plotted on the y-axis, i.e. the y1-axis is used
instead, then it is not possible to zoom the graph.

- In the case where the number of points in the x and y axes are different the
points with missing values are not plotted.

- Currently, if zero or negative numbers are plotted on a logarithmic scale
their values are set to the value of -logMin. This can produce strange looking
graphs when using mixed type axes. A future improvement would be to provide an
option to omit non-valid points from the graph.

- The widget does not work with the Tk::Scrolled module.

Please report any bugs via http://rt.cpan.org.
Alternatively the authors can also be contacted via the company website
http://www.itdev.co.uk

OPERATING SYSTEM COMPATIBILITY

The module is written enitrely in Perl/Tk and therefore should work on any
system that supports Perl/Tk. However the module has only been extensively
tested with Windows XP.

PREREQUISITES

Carp
Tk::Balloon
Tk::Canvas

The Tk::LineGraphDataset module is also needed to create the dataset objects
that the module plots.

INSTALLATION

To install this module, run the following commands:

    perl Makefile.PL
    make                # or 'nmake' on Win32
    make test
    make install

NOTES FOR WINDOWS USERS

If you are using Microsoft Windows, you will probably need the 'nmake' utility
before installation. It's available at:

    ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/Softlib/MSLFILES/nmake15.exe

If you are connected to the internet, "perl Makefile.PL" is can automatically
fetch it, and install into your windows directory; all you have to do is to
answer 'y' to this question:

    Required executable 'nmake' not found. Install it? [Y/n]:

However, if you are not online, or wish to install 'nmake' into another
directory, then please download the file manually, save it to a directory in
%PATH (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\COMMAND), then launch the MS-DOS command line shell,
"cd" to that directory, and run "nmake15.exe" from there; that will create the
'nmake.exe' file needed by CPANPLUS.

You may then resume the installation process above, but replace 'make' with
'nmake' in the last three lines.

SUPPORT AND DOCUMENTATION

After installing, you can find documentation for this module with the perldoc
command.

    perldoc Tk::PlotDataset

You can also look for information at:

    Search CPAN
        http://search.cpan.org/dist/Tk-PlotDataset

    CPAN Request Tracker:
        http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/Bugs.html?Dist=Tk-PlotDataset

    AnnoCPAN, annotated CPAN documentation:
        http://annocpan.org/dist/Tk-PlotDataset

    CPAN Ratings:
        http://cpanratings.perl.org/d/Tk-PlotDataset

SAMPLES AND TUTORIALS

Currently there are no samples or tutorials for this module.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENCE

Copyright (C) 2007 I.T. Dev Ltd.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the same terms as Perl itself.

Any code from the original Tk::LineGraph module is the copyright of Tom
Clifford.
