Proposal:  plot properties dialog
lazarus / 55-TAChart

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madepabloh · 2012-10-14 14:03

Just an idea for the developers of TACHART component.

It could be nice to have a "ChangePlotProperties" dialog.

I mean, a dialog for the user of a chart to modify the characteritics
of a plot (Line type, color, width, labels color, frame, brush,
font,... and so on). May be it could be also related to the
ChartStyle, what could contains all this characteristics, and the user
modify them by a dialog, or event to create new styles...

The programer should be able to select what properties allow to modify
to the user (only colors, color and width,...). It could be a
procedure such as:
Code: [Select] if ChangePlotProperties.Execute then
begin
Chart1SerieLine1.Properties;
end;or something like this, or caling to the ChartStyle...

I am not an expert at all on programing, so i don´t know how complet
it could be, but multiple grapher programs have similar dialogs or
tools.

Just only an idea for the experts.

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wp · 2012-10-14 15:28

I had that same idea a long time ago when working with Delphi's
TeeChart and wrote many dialogs to modify line styles, axis limits
etc. When it came to reusing these dialogs in another project,
however, it turned out that they did not meet the specific needs of
the new application. It is very difficult to find a general solution
that fulfills all requirements.

What might be useful, however, are special comboboxes for selecting
linestyles and pointerstyles. When I have some time I could try to
convert my Delphi versions of these comboboxes.

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madepabloh · 2012-10-14 15:46

Great @wp!

Yes, i am agree. I work with many different softwares to plot an graph
data, and it is very huge the number of possibilities..., so try to
program this could be also complex such as you really know.

Since i will follow working with those softwares, i could capture the
screen showing their tools to modify chart and plot options and share
them here, just to store different posibilities.

Thanks!

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Ask · 2012-10-14 17:52

I agree with wp -- general "chart editor" is cumbersome to implement
and maintain while having relatively small reusability potential.
I have designed TAChart to be less monolithic than TeeChart,
and one of reasons for that was the desire to use standard Object
Inspector.

I can theoretically see a role for "wizard" editors, which provide
step-by-step interfaces for some selected tasks, as well as "chart
stylists" mentioned by madepabloh, which would apply a pre-defined set
of "visually nice" properties to all chart elements. Those can be made
in a modular fashion, and even placed in a separate package.

Note also that Object Inspector itself may be reused in your
application,
although its interface is of course less suitable for end-users.

Quote from: wpspecial comboboxes for selecting linestyles and
pointerstylesLinestyle combobox is already present in object
inspector.
Similar comboboxes for pointer styles and mark shapes may indeed be
useful.

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wp · 2012-10-14 18:34

QuoteLinestyle combobox is already present in object inspector.How can
they be accessed in a user program?

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Ask · 2012-10-15 08:43

By using GraphPropEdits unit.
Unfortunately, I do not see an easy way to create a property editor
without full object inspector. Perhaps some developer more familiar
with this area can help.

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taazz · 2012-10-15 14:19

Here are 2 combo boxes 1 for color selection and 1 for pen style.
Both should work with GTK,QT,Win32 and generally most of the widget
sets I have made sure to stay in the lcl boundaries for those.

They where my test cases when I started with lazarus I hope some one
finds them useful.

Code: [Select]uses
  Classes, SysUtils, FPCanvas, Controls, StdCtrls, Graphics, LCLType,
  LCLStrConsts, typinfo;

type

  { TEvsColorComboBox }

  TEvsColorComboBox = class(TCustomComboBox)
  private
    FColorValues    : array of TColor;
    FUseKnownColors : Boolean;
    FPopulated      : Boolean;
    function GetItemColor(Index : Integer) : TColor;
    function GetSelectedColor : TColor;
    procedure SetItemColor(Index : Integer; aValue : TColor);
    procedure SetUseKnownColors(aValue : Boolean);
  protected
    procedure DrawItem(Index : Integer; ARect : TRect; State :
TOwnerDrawState); override;
    procedure GetItems; override;

    procedure EnumColors(const s:AnsiString);
  public
    constructor Create(TheOwner : TComponent); override;
    procedure AddColor(const aColorName:String;const aColor:TColor);
    property Colors[Index:Integer]:TColor read GetItemColor write
SetItemColor;
    property SelectedColor : TColor Read GetSelectedColor;
  published
    property UseKnownColors : Boolean read FUseKnownColors write
SetUseKnownColors default True;

    property Align;
    property Anchors;
    property ArrowKeysTraverseList;
    property AutoComplete;
    property AutoCompleteText;
    property AutoDropDown;
    property AutoSelect;
    property AutoSize;// Note: windows has a fixed height in some
styles
    property BidiMode;
    property BorderSpacing;
    property BorderStyle;
    property CharCase;
    property Color;
    property Constraints;
    property DragCursor;
    property DragKind;
    property DragMode;
    property DropDownCount;
    property Enabled;
    property Font;
    property ItemHeight;
    property ItemIndex;
    property Items;
    property ItemWidth;
    property MaxLength;
    property OnChange;
    property OnChangeBounds;
    property OnClick;
    property OnCloseUp;
    property OnContextPopup;
    property OnDblClick;
    property OnDragDrop;
    property OnDragOver;
    property OnDrawItem;
    property OnEndDrag;
    property OnDropDown;
    property OnEditingDone;
    property OnEnter;
    property OnExit;
    property OnGetItems;
    property OnKeyDown;
    property OnKeyPress;
    property OnKeyUp;
    property OnMeasureItem;
    property OnMouseDown;
    property OnMouseEnter;
    property OnMouseLeave;
    property OnMouseMove;
    property OnMouseUp;
    property OnStartDrag;
    property OnSelect;
    property OnUTF8KeyPress;
    property ParentBidiMode;
    property ParentColor;
    property ParentFont;
    property ParentShowHint;
    property PopupMenu;
    property ReadOnly;
    property ShowHint;
    property TabOrder;
    property TabStop;
    property Visible;
  end;

  { TEvsPenStyleComboBox }

  TEvsPenStyleComboBox = class(TCustomComboBox)
  private
    FLineStyle : TPenStyle;
    function GetPenStyle : TPenStyle;
    procedure SetPenStyle(aValue : TPenStyle);
  protected
    function GetStyle(const aIndex:Integer):TPenStyle;
    procedure GetItems; override;
    procedure DrawItem(Index : Integer; ARect : TRect; State :
TOwnerDrawState); override;
  public
    constructor Create(TheOwner : TComponent); override;
  published
    property PenStyle : TPenStyle read GetPenStyle write SetPenStyle;

    property Align;
    property Anchors;
    property ArrowKeysTraverseList;
    property AutoComplete;
    property AutoCompleteText;
    property AutoDropDown;
    property AutoSelect;
    property AutoSize;// Note: windows has a fixed height in some
styles
    property BidiMode;
    property BorderSpacing;
    property BorderStyle;
    property CharCase;
    property Color;
    property Constraints;
    property DragCursor;
    property DragKind;
    property DragMode;
    property DropDownCount;
    property Enabled;
    property Font;
    property ItemHeight;
    property ItemIndex;
    property Items;
    property ItemWidth;
    property MaxLength;
    property OnChange;
    property OnChangeBounds;
    property OnClick;
    property OnCloseUp;
    property OnContextPopup;
    property OnDblClick;
    property OnDragDrop;
    property OnDragOver;
    property OnDrawItem;
    property OnEndDrag;
    property OnDropDown;
    property OnEditingDone;
    property OnEnter;
    property OnExit;
    property OnGetItems;
    property OnKeyDown;
    property OnKeyPress;
    property OnKeyUp;
    property OnMeasureItem;
    property OnMouseDown;
    property OnMouseEnter;
    property OnMouseLeave;
    property OnMouseMove;
    property OnMouseUp;
    property OnStartDrag;
    property OnSelect;
    property OnUTF8KeyPress;
    property ParentBidiMode;
    property ParentColor;
    property ParentFont;
    property ParentShowHint;
    property PopupMenu;
    property ReadOnly;
    property ShowHint;
    property TabOrder;
    property TabStop;
    property Visible;
  end;

resourcestring
  rsUnknownStyle = 'Unknown Style %S';
implementation

const

  cTxtStyle : TTextStyle =(Alignment:taLeftJustify; Layout:tlCenter;
SingleLine :True;
                           Clipping : True; ExpandTabs : False;
ShowPrefix :False;
                           Wordbreak : False; Opaque :False;
SystemFont : false;
                           RightToLeft : False; EndEllipsis :True);

{$REGION ' TEvsPenStyleComboBox '}

procedure TEvsPenStyleComboBox.SetPenStyle(aValue : TPenStyle);
var
  vIdx : Integer;
  vStr : string;
begin
  vStr := GetEnumName(TypeInfo(TPenStyle),Ord(aValue));
  vIdx := Items.IndexOf(vStr);
  if vIdx > -1 then ItemIndex := vIdx
  else raise Exception.CreateFmt(rsUnknownStyle,[vStr]);
end;

function TEvsPenStyleComboBox.GetStyle(const aIndex : Integer) :
TPenStyle;
begin
  Result :=
TPenStyle(GetEnumValue(TypeInfo(TPenStyle),Items[aIndex]));
end;

function TEvsPenStyleComboBox.GetPenStyle : TPenStyle;
begin
  Result := GetStyle(ItemIndex);
end;

procedure TEvsPenStyleComboBox.GetItems;
var
  Cnt : TFPPenStyle;
begin
  if Items.Count > 0 then Exit;
  for Cnt := Low(TPenStyle) to High(TPenStyle) do
    Items.Add(GetEnumName(TypeInfo(TPenStyle), Ord(Cnt)));
end;

procedure TEvsPenStyleComboBox.DrawItem(Index : Integer; ARect :
TRect;
  State : TOwnerDrawState);
var
  vPenClr     : TColor;
  vPenStyle   : TPenStyle;
  vBrushStyle : TBrushStyle;
  vFontClr    : TColor;
  vHeight     : Integer;
  vStyle      : TTextStyle;
begin
  if Assigned(OnDrawItem) then OnDrawItem(Self,Index,ARect,State)
  else begin
    vPenClr     := Canvas.Pen.Color;
    vPenStyle   := Canvas.Pen.Style;
    vBrushStyle := Canvas.Brush.Style;
    vFontClr    := Canvas.Font.Color;
    if odFocused in State then begin
      Canvas.Brush.Color := clHighlight;
      Canvas.Pen.Color := clHighlightText;
      Canvas.Font.Color := clHighlightText;
    end;
    Canvas.FillRect(ARect);
    try
      vHeight := ARect.Bottom-ARect.Top;
      if (odSelected in State) or (odFocused in State) then
Canvas.Pen.Color := clHighlightText else Canvas.Pen.Color := clBlack;
      Canvas.Brush.Style := bsClear;
      Canvas.Pen.Style := GetStyle(Index);
      Canvas.Rectangle(ARect.Left+1, ARect.Top+1,
ARect.Left+(vHeight*2)-1,ARect.Bottom-1);
      Canvas.Pen.Style := vPenStyle;
      Canvas.Pen.Color := vPenClr;
      Canvas.Brush.Style := vBrushStyle;
      ARect.Left := ARect.Left+(vHeight*2)+2;
      vStyle := cTxtStyle;
      Canvas.TextRect(ARect,ARect.Left,
ARect.Top,Items[Index],vStyle);
    finally
      Canvas.Pen.Color   := vPenClr;
      Canvas.Pen.Style   := vPenStyle;
      Canvas.Brush.Style := vBrushStyle;
      Canvas.Font.Color  := vFontClr;
    end;
  end;
end;

constructor TEvsPenStyleComboBox.Create(TheOwner : TComponent);
begin
  inherited Create(TheOwner);
  Style := csOwnerDrawFixed;
  ItemHeight := 13;
end;
{$ENDREGION}

{$REGION ' TEvsColorComboBox '}

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.SetUseKnownColors(aValue : Boolean);
begin
  if FUseKnownColors = aValue then Exit;
  FUseKnownColors := aValue;
end;

function TEvsColorComboBox.GetItemColor(Index : Integer) : TColor;
begin
  if (Index < 0) or (Index>=items.Count) then raise
Exception.CreateFmt(rsIndexOutOfBounds,[Color,Index,Items.Count-1]);
  Result := FColorValues[Index];
end;

function TEvsColorComboBox.GetSelectedColor : TColor;
begin
  Result := FColorValues[ItemIndex];
end;

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.SetItemColor(Index : Integer; aValue :
TColor);
begin
  if (Index < 0) or (Index>=items.Count) then raise
Exception.CreateFmt(rsIndexOutOfBounds,[Color,Index,Items.Count-1]);
  FColorValues[Index]:= aValue;
end;

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.DrawItem(Index : Integer; ARect : TRect;
  State : TOwnerDrawState);
var
  vPenClr  : TColor =clDefault;
  VbrshClr : TColor = clDefault;
  vStyle   : TTextStyle;
  vItmH    : TColor;
  VbrshStl : TBrushStyle;
  vFontClr : TColor;
begin
  if Assigned(OnDrawItem) then OnDrawItem(Self, Index, ARect, State)
  else begin
    vPenClr := Canvas.Pen.Color;
    VbrshClr := Canvas.Brush.Color;
    VbrshStl := Canvas.Brush.Style;
    vFontClr := Canvas.Font.Color;
    if odFocused in State then begin
      Canvas.Brush.Color := clHighlight;
      Canvas.Pen.Color := clHighlightText;
      Canvas.Font.Color := clHighlightText;
    end;
    Canvas.FillRect(ARect);
    try
      vStyle:= cTxtStyle;
      vStyle.RightToLeft := BiDiMode in[bdRightToLeft,
bdRightToLeftNoAlign];
      if (odFocused in State) or (odSelected in State) then
Canvas.Pen.Color := clHighlightText;
      Canvas.Brush.Color := FColorValues[Index];
      Canvas.Brush.Style := bsSolid;
      vItmH := (ARect.Bottom-ARect.Top);
      Canvas.Rectangle(ARect.Left+1, ARect.Top+1,
ARect.Left+vItmH-1,ARect.Bottom-1);
      Canvas.Brush.Color := VbrshClr;
      Canvas.Pen.Color := vPenClr;
      Canvas.Brush.Style := VbrshStl;

      ARect.Left := ARect.Left+vItmH+2;
      Canvas.TextRect(ARect,ARect.Left,ARect.Top,Items[Index],
vStyle);
    finally
      Canvas.Pen.Color   := vPenClr;
      Canvas.Brush.Color := VbrshClr;
      Canvas.Brush.Style := VbrshStl;
      Canvas.Font.Color  := vFontClr;
    end;
  end;
end;

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.GetItems;
begin
  if FPopulated then Exit;
  if FUseKnownColors then begin
    SetLength(FColorValues,300);
    GetColorValues(@EnumColors);
    SetLength(FColorValues, Items.Count);//trancate extraspaces;
  end;
  inherited;
  FPopulated := True;
end;

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.EnumColors(const s : AnsiString);
var
  Tmp:string;
begin
  if Items.Count >= Length(FColorValues) then
SetLength(FColorValues,length(FColorValues)+300);
  Tmp := Copy(s,1,2);
  if SameText(tmp,'cl') then Tmp := Copy(s,3,length(s)) else Tmp := s;
  FColorValues[Items.Add(Tmp)] := StringToColor(s);
end;

constructor TEvsColorComboBox.Create(TheOwner : TComponent);
begin
  inherited Create(TheOwner);
  FUseKnownColors := True;
  Style := csOwnerDrawFixed;
  ItemHeight := 13;
  FPopulated := False;
end;

procedure TEvsColorComboBox.AddColor(const aColorName : String;
  const aColor : TColor);
begin
  SetLength(FColorValues,Length(FColorValues)+1);
  FColorValues[Items.Add(aColorName)] := aColor;
end;

{$ENDREGION}

I had to do some clean up to remove some dependencies on some of my
units but you shouldn't have any problems with them if you do, I'll
try to fix them as time permits.