[Graph-dev] bugfix/change request for Chart-Graph-3.2's Chart/Graph/Gnuplot.pm

[Ketan Desai]

Hi,  We recently upgraded our installation of Chart-Graph-3.2 and I ran into some problems.
I generally invoke this perl module inside a Perl/Tk application where the user expects to see
a plot on the screen (I use the gnuplot x11 device).

I tracked my problems down and have two changes to request.

1) gnuplot used to be invoked with a '-persist' flag.  The latest module seems to have just removed that flag.

    I would like to add a switch to allow the user to request that form of invocation.

2) The "output type" option previously could be set to 'undefined' .  This is necessary if one does not want to
    write to a file. (I chose not to hack an output type of 'x11' because presumably there are other graphical
    devices besides x11 that one might choose to use.)

    I would like to add this functionality back in.

Below I show the diff of my version of Chart/Graph/Gnuplot.pm and our installed version (which came from Chart-Graph-3.2).

Thanks for all your efforts, this module is very useful.

-K


*** <loc>/Chart/Graph/Gnuplot.pm 2007-01-10 12:09:40.723747000 -0500
--- /usr/local/products/perl/5.8.8/lib/site_perl/5.8.8/Chart/Graph/Gnuplot.pm   2006-06-07 17:09:33.000000000 -0400
***************
*** 63,69 ****
   # these variables  hold default options for gnuplot
   my %def_gnu_global_opts = (
                            "title" => "untitled",
-                            "persist" => 0,
                            "output type" => "png",
                            "output file" => "untitled-gnuplot.png",
                            "x-axis label" => "x-axis",
--- 63,68 ----
***************
*** 116,122 ****
   sub gnuplot {
       my ($user_global_opts_ref, @data_sets) = @_;
       my (%data_opts, %global_opts,);
!     my ($plottype, $output_file, $plot_file, $output_type, $data_set_ref, $qPersist);
       # create a new filehandle to be used throughout package
       my $handle = new FileHandle;

--- 115,121 ----
   sub gnuplot {
       my ($user_global_opts_ref, @data_sets) = @_;
       my (%data_opts, %global_opts,);
!     my ($plottype, $output_file, $plot_file, $output_type, $data_set_ref);
       # create a new filehandle to be used throughout package
       my $handle = new FileHandle;

***************
*** 358,364 ****
             $output_file = $value;
         }

!       if ($key eq "output type" and defined $value) {
             if (!($value =~ /^(pbm|gif|tgif|png|svg|eps(:? .*)?)$/)) {
                 carp "invalid output type: $value";
                 $handle->close();
--- 357,363 ----
             $output_file = $value;
         }

!       if ($key eq "output type") {
             if (!($value =~ /^(pbm|gif|tgif|png|svg|eps(:? .*)?)$/)) {
                 carp "invalid output type: $value";
                 $handle->close();
***************
*** 367,376 ****
             }
             $output_type = $value;
         }
-
-         if ($key eq 'persist') {
-           $qPersist = 1;
-         }
       }

       # create the data file
--- 366,371 ----
***************
*** 441,447 ****
       $handle->close();

       # gnuplot and convert pbm file to gif
!     if (not _exec_gnuplot($command_file, $qPersist)) {
         _cleanup_tmpdir();
         return 0;
       }
--- 436,442 ----
       $handle->close();

       # gnuplot and convert pbm file to gif
!     if (not _exec_gnuplot($command_file)) {
         _cleanup_tmpdir();
         return 0;
       }
***************
*** 765,772 ****
   #

   sub _exec_gnuplot {
!     my ($command_file, $qPersist) = @_;
!     my $status = system("$gnuplot", ($qPersist ? '-persist' : ()), "$command_file");

       if (not _chk_status($status)) {
         return 0;
--- 760,767 ----
   #

   sub _exec_gnuplot {
!     my ($command_file) = @_;
!     my $status = system("$gnuplot", "$command_file");

       if (not _chk_status($status)) {
         return 0;
***************
*** 1047,1053 ****
    |                |   'svg' or "eps $epsoptions"|                             |
    |'output file'   |  set your own output file,  |     'untitled-gnuplot.png'  |
    |                |   undef to output to STDOUT |                             |
-  |'persist'       |  0 or 1                     |     0                       |
    |'x-axis label'  |  set your own label         |     'x-axis'                |
    |'y-axis label'  |  set your own label         |     'y-axis'                |
    |'x2-axis label' |  set your own label         |     none                    |
--- 1042,1047 ----
***************
*** 1126,1135 ****

   Finally, data can be stored in a file.

- If the plot is to be displayed on a terminal, the "persist" option
- should be used so that I<Gnuplot> will be invoked with "-persist".
- The resultant plot window will persist until the user exits it.
-
   =head2 USING GNUPLOT TO READ AND PLOT DATE/TIME DATA DIRECTLY

   I<Gnuplot> now has the capability to read date/time data and to create
--- 1120,1125 ----