Macro Sample
this page demonstrates how to use the Plot macro language to import a custom data file and automatically apply style attributes to the document.
Our sample data file (download) contains the dollar exchange rate in DM and has the following format:
19710104 36434 19710105 36450 19710106 36439 19710107 36433 19710108 36424 19710111 36414 19710112 36416 19710113 36402 19710114 36390 ...
The first column is the date formated as YYYYMMDD and the second the dollar exchanged rate (rate*10000). Our script needs to convert the time string to a time values which is known by Plot, convert the exchange rate and apply graphic attributes. The import is made with a inline Perl script followed by some Plot macro commands to apply the style:
delete all
PERL
use Time::Local;
open(IN,$file);
while(<IN>) {
if (/(\d\d\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)\s*(.*)$/) {
$t=timelocal(0,0,0,$3,$2-1,$1-1900);
$data[0][$n][0]=$t-978307200.0;
$data[0][$n][1]=$4/10000;
$n++;
}
}
close(IN);
PERL
browse
perlimport $file
aformat 1 2
atext 2 'Dollar Exchanged Rate (DM)'
atext 1 'Date'
atickdist 2 0.1
atextfont all Helvetica-Bold 18
anumfont all Helvetica 12
asetticks all no
asetminticks all no
aminsteps 2 2
asetgrid 2 yes
agridwidth 2 0.3
asetgrid 1 yes
agridwidth 1 0.3
atextoffset all 15
adecplaces 2 2
adecplacesauto 2 no
rescale
upscale 0 25
bcolor 0.7 0 0 all
The result look as follows:
Dollar Exchange Rate Sample