ploticus: chron prefab

## chron prefab | Welcome Gallery Handbook |
| Manual page for chron_prefab(PL)

Click here to skip over examples

## EXAMPLE 1 - Dates

    pl  -prefab chron  data=data14  x=1  y=2  datefmt=yy/mm/dd  xinc="1 month" \
         stubfmt=M  xyears=yyyy  yrange="0 25"  barwidth=line  color=red  \
         title="# hits per day"  omitweekends=yes

    The data14 file:
    	00/12/21 1
    	00/12/22 1
    	00/12/23 2
    	00/12/27 1
            ...etc.

## EXAMPLE 2 - Dates - tabulated by week

    pl  -prefab chron  data=data14  x=1  y=2  datefmt=yy/mm/dd  xinc="1 month" \
          stubfmt=M  xyears=yyyy  color=green  tab=week  title="# hits per week"

## EXAMPLE 3 - Dates - tabulated by week

    pl  -prefab chron  data=data19  x=2  y=1  datefmt=mmddyy  xinc="1 month" \
    	stubfmt=M  xyears=yyyy  color=green  tab=week  include2=annot \
    	title="# website visitors per week"  rectangle="1 1 4 2.5"  ygrid=yes  \
    	mode=line step=yes fill=red

    The data19 file:
      18 071301
      16 071401
      15 071501
      34 071601
      ...etc.

In the above example, notice that rectangle (new in 2.02) was used to set a smaller size, and a file containing script code for the annotation is included.``

## EXAMPLE 4 - Dates - tabulated by month

    pl  -prefab chron  data=data14  x=1  y=2  datefmt=yy/mm/dd  xinc="1 month"  \
    	stubfmt=M  xyears=yyyy  color=powderblue  tab=month  tabmode=first  \
    	nearest=month  barwidth=0.2  curve=yes

## EXAMPLE 5 - Datetimes - tabulated by hour

    pl -prefab chron  data=data16  x=1  tab=hour  datefmt=yy/mm/dd  xinc="1 day" \
    	barwidth=line  stubfmt=MMMdd  unittype=datetime  timefld=2  \
    	title="# hits per hour"

    The data16 file:
    	01/09/05	09:43:35
    	01/09/05	09:43:40
    	01/09/05	13:15:00
    	01/09/05	13:15:11
    	...etc.

    Note that a file such as this (data13) could also be used, and timefld
    would not need to specified:
    	01/09/05.09:43:35
    	01/09/05.09:43:40
    	01/09/05.13:15:00
    	01/09/05.13:15:11
    	..etc.

## EXAMPLE 6 - Times - tabulated by hour

    pl -prefab chron  data=data15  x=1  tab=hour unittype=time xinc="1 hour" \
    	nearest=hour  barwidth=0.2  stubfmt=HHA  \
    	title="# events per hour"  color=coral

    The data15 file:
    	07:47:49
    	07:47:52
    	07:47:54
    	..etc.

## EXAMPLE 7 - hourly temperature readings plotted for one week

    pl -prefab chron data=data22 header=yes x=1 y=2 datefmt=mm/dd/yyyy  \
      xinc="1 day" mode=line unittype=datetime title="temperatures this week"

    The data22 file has data for one week and begins like this:
    datetime temp
    12/08/2002.00:00 22
    12/08/2002.06:00 24
    12/08/2002.12:00 31
    12/10/2002.00:00 30

How to run these examples

## DESCRIPTION

chron is a prefab for plotting chronological data.`` Data may be expressed as dates , times (seconds portion is optional) , or a combination of date and time called datetime .`` chron can produce bar or line plots, and can plot explicit values or tabulate by week, month, day, hour, etc.`` Time is shown along the X axis.`` The data file must be in chronological order.``

## PARAMETERS

  Standard prefab parameters are all supported except err. data and x are always required.`` Data field x must contain dates, times, or datetimes.`` Data field y may contain values.`` xinc supports constructs such as `"1 month"`; if only a number is given, it is assumed to be days (the default for xinc is 7 days).``
  unittype specifies the type of chronological scaling.`` Default is `date`. Allowable values are `time`, `datetime` and datetime .``
  mode is either `bars` (the default) or `line`.``
  datefmt is the date format you are using. This must be specified unless using the default format (as set in a config file , otherwise `mmddyy`).`` If plotting datetime values, datefmt specifies only the date portion.`` If plotting time values, datefmt is ignored.``
  stubfmt is the date format or time format to be used for X axis stubs.`` The defaults are `MMMdd` (date) and `HHa` (time).`` You can use `stubvert=yes` to render stubs vertically.``
  xyears allows years to be displayed along X axis below date X stubs. Use `yy` for 2 digit year eg 01, `yyy` for eg '01, and `yyyy` for eg `2001`.``
  omitweekends may be specified as `yes` to allow the graph to be drawn such that Friday is followed immediately by Monday. Any data points falling on a Saturday or Sunday are silently adjusted to the nearest weekday.``
  tab tabulates data by `hour`, `day`, `week`, `month`, `quarter-year`, or `year`. If a y data field is being used, the y values will be totaled; otherwise, instances will be counted.`` Tabulation is done by internally adjusting dates and then counting.``
  tabmode is used with tab.`` Allowable values are `mid` and `first` (default is `mid`).`` `mid` causes tabulations to be based on a date or time in the middle of the interval; for `first` the beginning of the interval is used.`` `mid` is appropriate for some types of plots while `first` is better for others.``
  timefld specifies a data field that holds time values. When doing tabulations, this parameter may be used to indicate that the time and date will be in two separate fields (normally when plotting datetimes the date and time is combined into one data field, separated by a period).``
  nearest may be used to specify cutoffs for automatic scaling in X.`` For example, `nearest=month` would cause X min and max to fall on month boundaries.`` Allowable values are `hour`, `day`, `month`, `quarter`, and `year`.``
  curve may be specified as `yes` or as a linedetails value , and causes a moving average curve to be fit and drawn. order (default = 5) may be used to control the number of points considered when computing the moving average curve (higher value = smoother curve).``

If mode is `bars`:

  barwidth controls the width of bars This is a value in inches, or may be given as `line` for very thin bars.``
  color controls the color of bars, if `mode=bars`.``
  crossover may be specified as the value in Y where bars begin to point downward instead of upward. For instance, `crossover=0` is often useful when dealing with financial income, to show loss using downward bars.``

If mode is `line`:

  linedet controls the appearance of the line, if `mode=line`.``
  step may be given as `yes` to get a stairstep line.``
  fill may be given as a color , resulting in the area under the line being filled.``
  gapmissing may be specified as `yes` or `small`.`` If `yes`, missing data will cause a gap in the line (normally the line connects plottable points without a gap). `small` is the same as `yes` except that it leaves a small overhang.``

Note: Because filter processing is applied to data as they are read, tabulate cannot be set from within the data file.`` If tabulate is used, x, y and datefmt cannot be set from within the data file.``
data display engine
Copyright Steve Grubb

Markup created by unroff 1.0, `` `` December 10, 2002.