$Header: /users/ctlsys/davidw/CVSROOT/rtp/README,v 1.2 2000/03/16 06:46:45 davidw Exp $
README file for rtp, Version 1.0

Copyright (c) 1999, David Watt <wattd@elcsci.com>

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA


INTRODUCTION

rtp stands for Real Time Plotter.  X-Y data points are accepted from
stdin and plotted connect-the-dots style into an X window.  rtp will
update the plot as new points come in, while allowing the user to adjust
the scaling and view mode with the mouse.


BUILDING

rtp was developed under Red Hat Linux, and relies on the Qt libraries
and header files.  This version was developed under Qt version 1.44.
The Makefile assumes that the Qt headers are in /usr/include/qt.  You may
need to adjust the Makefile if this is not the case.

To build, simply type "make" from within the same directory this README
file lives in.  Until there is reason to port rtp to other platforms,
I don't plan on using GNU Autoconf or Automake.  For now all you've got
is an old fashioned hand-maintained Makefile.

You may also want to run "make" in the demo_drivers subdirectory.  All
that's there at present is a program that generates points for a
never-ending outward circular spiral.


USING

Normally, rtp is used at the end of a pipeline to accept generated data
points.  It reads pairs of ASCII white space separated floating point
numbers from stdin.  Of each pair, the first number is the X location,
and the second number is the Y location.  Any floating point numbers
should be valid; rtp takes care of scaling automatically.

For example, if you do a "make" in the demo_drivers subdirectory, you will
get the spiraldrive and lorentz programs.  Then, (assuming you've successfully
built rtp), run the following from the same directory this README file lives
in:

$ demo_drivers/spiraldrive | ./rtp

or:

$ demo_drivers/lorentz | ./rtp

When rtp is running, it will start in the auto-scaling mode.  In this
mode, the plot is automatically resized to accomodate all points.
To fix the view window to a certain region, draw a box with the mouse
(hold the left button down, drag out a box, then release the button).
You can do this repeatedly to zoom in on a region of interest.

To track new points, without rescaling the plot to include all points,
press the tool button with the three arrows pointing to the right.
This will cause the view window to track new points received, while
maintaining the current X and Y scale factors.

To return to the default auto-scaling mode, press the tool button with
the four outward pointing arrows.


REPORTING BUGS, FEATURE REQUESTS

For now, please report bugs and feature requests to the author, David
Watt, at wattd@elcsci.com.  Although the GPL allows anyone to hack
this code and redistribute it at will, I would appreciate receiving any
improvements people make for possible incorporation into future releases.
