Displaying a Plot in the Diagram Window
A 'live' plot and/or a link button to a particular Plot Window can be placed on the Diagram window or child Diagram window by selecting the Display Plot Window button in the toolbar.
The dialog window shown on the left will appear after clicking this toolbar button. The plot that is to be displayed (or linked to) is selected from the drop down list at the top of the dialog. The names appearing in this list are the names on the tabs of the Plot window. The dialog window provides two radio buttons.
Add Button to Link to Plot WIndow
If the Add button to link to Plot window radio button is selected (as shown in the left dialog), a button will be placed on the Diagram window. Clicking this button in Application mode will open and display the selected plot window. If the plot window does not exist, this button will do nothing. The location and size of the plot window access button can be specified in the plot window button dialog. Alternatively, the plot window access button can be dragged to any location when then toolbar is visible. Finer positioning is available by pressing the left, right, up, or down arrow keys which move the button one pixel for each press. The width and height of the button can be changed by holding the Ctrl key down while pressing arrow keys. The right arrow increases the button width by one pixel. Left arrow decreases the width. Down arrow increases the height and up arrow reduces the height.
The Professional license allows a picture that is stored in a bitmap (.bmp) or JPEG (.jpg) file to be displayed on the button. The picture option is selected with the drop-down control below the caption. A standard file selection dialog box to facilitate selection of the picture file that will appear when the picture option is chosen.
Show Plot in Diagram WIndow (Professional license)
If the Show Plot in Diagram window is selected (as shown on in the figure on the right), the selected plot will be displayed in the Diagram or child Diagram window and it will be automatically updated when the Plot window is updated. This capability is only available in the Professional license. The location and size of the plot can be specified using the edit controls at the bottom of the dialog. In addition, the plot can be dragged to a desired location and resized in the same manner as for any of the other graphic items while in the Development mode. If the Maintain aspect ratio check box is selected, the height to width ratio of the plot will be maintained when the plot is resized. If the Transparent background check box is selected, the plot will be drawn in the Diagram window in a transparent manner so that the contents of the Diagram window behind the plot can be seen.
Right-clicking on the plot or the plot window access button when the toolbar is visible (i.e., in Development mode) will bring up the dialog so that the characteristics of the plot access button (name, glyph, or position) or the plot position and size can be changed.
Plot Animation in the Diagram WIndow
The Professional allows a Name to be associated with the plot button or plot display, as shown below.
If a name is provided, EES will recognize the variables that are underlined in the dialog. Specifically, these variables are
myDiagPlot.left
myDiagPlot.top
myDiagPlot.width
myDiagPlot.height
myDiagPlot.hide
myDiagPlot.PlotTabNumber
where myDiagPlot is the name that you assign to the plot.
These attributes can be set in an EES program or in the Diagram window to control the position, size and visibility of the plot or plot button in the Diagram Window. One example of this capability is to show or hide the plot or plot button by setting myDiagPlot.hide.hide=true# or myDiagPlot.hide.hide=false#. Alternatively, starting in Version 8.298, you can enter myDiagPlot.hide.hide and myDiagPlot.hide.show. Each plot in the Plot Window is accessed with a tab at the top of the window. The variable myDiagPlot.PlotTabNumber is position of tab, with 1 being the first plot window. Changing myDiagPlot.PlotTabNumber in an EES program or in a Diagram Window control, such as a drop down list, will change the plot that is displayed in the Diagram window.
The values of the attributes can be copied to EES variables using the GetDiagramAttribute function.
Select "Display a live plot in the Examples|Diagram Window menu to see an example of this capability.