Trace Section


NameDescription
typetype of trace (see below)
xname of field from query to use as x value
yname of field from query to use as y value for single y value traces
y1name of field from query to use as first y value for dual y value traces
y2name of field from query to use as second y value for dual y value traces

For common plotting needs the x field to use will probably be specified in the plot section. For more complicated plots, the x values will be specified for each trace (if they are different). The most complicated scenario would be if each trace had a separate query. In this case there would be a query section inside the trace section. It would allow access to data from entirely separate data sources. One example might be if the main data was stored in an Excel spreadsheet and a separate .CSV file contained defined limit curves.

The trace type may be one of the following:

TypeDescription
dotdraws a single dot for each data point
linedraws connected lines between data points
monotonic-xlike line but starts a new segment when x decreases
monotonic-ylike line but starts a new segment when y decreases
banduses two y values to specify a band of values
markerused to plot logical values

The two monotonic styles are useful when you want to plot families of curves but do not want to specify each one as a separate trace. You can concatenate the data all together. When the x or y value (depending on whether monotonic-x or monotonic-y is used) jumps to a lower value it will be interpreted as the start of a different curve.

The marker style is useful for plotting logical values. When the y value has an absolute value greater than 0.5 a mark will be generated at the corresponding x value, when it is below no mark will be made. With the marker style the yaxis is meaningless and no units are generated.

An example trace configuration might be:

<trace> <type>line</type> <y>OutputPower</y> <\trace> <trace> <query> <dsn>FCCLimits<dsn> <sql>Select Freq, MaxP From XmtrLimits Order By Freq</sql> </query> <type>monotonic-x</type> <x>Freq</x> <y>MaxP</y> <\trace>