Mapping Style and Creation

6 - 1 Mapping Style and Creation

Line plots are composed of the graphs of one or more pairs of variables (XY pairs in XY Line plots or Theta-R pairs in Polar Line plots). These pairs and their dependency relations are referred to as mappings. Mappings are defined for each frame; the same dataset can have a different set of mappings in each frame it is attached to.

Mappings can include any combination of the following mapping layers:

• Lines - Can be drawn as linear segments or curve that fit the data points.

• Symbols - Each data point is represented by a symbol.

• Error Bars (XY only) - Error bars are drawn for each data point. The error bar value is determined by a third variable.

• Bar Charts (XY only) - Each data point is represented by a vertical or horizontal bar.

XY Line plots can have up to five x-axes and five y-axes simultaneously. Polar Line plots can have only one Theta-axis and only one R-axis.

Open the Mapping Style dialog by clicking the Mapping Style button on the Plot sidebar to set attributes for lines and symbols and, in XY Line plots, bar charts and error bars. Initially, any linemaps selected in the workspace are selected in the Mapping Style dialog. You may also double-click a line in your plot to open the dialog with that mapping selected. You can set the style of any mapping independently of all other mappings.

Each page of the Mapping Style dialog is divided into three color-coded regions. The blue columns (Map Number, Map Name, and Show Map) apply to the mapping itself and are repeated on each page. The green and orange columns represent primary and secondary settings specific to the selected mapping page.

You can also use the line map context menu and toolbar to change some of these settings quickly and easily by right-clicking on a line on your plot. The toolbar allows you to turn on or off the line, symbol, and error bars for the selected line map by clicking the icons. You can also adjust the attributes of these (for example, line color, symbol shape, or error variable) using drop-down menus to the right of each icon.