Plot Module Question
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From: E.D.G. on 2 Aug 2010 18:47 Question: What Perl language plotting modules would be good candidates for the following applications? ActiveState Perl 5.10 is being used with PCs running XP and Vista. The Perl programs being developed will also be running on a Web server computer. The PC versions of Perl programs that are presently running send plot data to the Gnuplot plotting program. However, an effort is underway to modify the Perl programs so that they will run on a Web server. I don't believe that Gnuplot can run on a Web server though I am not certain of that. And even if it would run there, for a number of reasons it would be better to do the plotting using a Perl plotting module if possible. --- The plotting module needs to be able to run on a Windows PC with XP, Vista, or Windows 7 in both pl and exe Perl programs. I already know how to generate standalone exe programs using the original Perl code. --- It needs to run on a Web sever that runs Perl programs. --- It would be nice if it would also run using other versions of Perl on other types of computers with other operating systems. --- The plotting functions will not be especially complex. The plotting module does not need to do 3D work. However, it should be able to do relatively simple things such as draw hollow or filled circles. --- On the PC it needs to be able to both generate plots that display on the computer monitor and produce copies of those plots as PNG, GIF, and BMP picture files. However, if it could generate PNG and not BMP files for example, that might still work. The files can be converted if necessary. --- On the Web server computer it needs to be able to generate some type of fairly high quality picture file such as PNG. --- When it creates plots for the Windows computer monitor it should have the ability to automatically display the plots as full window (maximum) or partial window (normal) plots.
From: Jim Gibson on 2 Aug 2010 19:26 In article <mr2dnW1gttZ618rRnZ2dnUVZ_g-dnZ2d(a)earthlink.com>, E.D.G. <edgrsprj(a)ix.netcom.com> wrote: > Question: What Perl language plotting modules would be good candidates for > the following applications? > > ActiveState Perl 5.10 is being used with PCs running XP and Vista. > The Perl programs being developed will also be running on a Web server > computer. > > The PC versions of Perl programs that are presently running send plot > data to the Gnuplot plotting program. However, an effort is underway to > modify the Perl programs so that they will run on a Web server. I don't > believe that Gnuplot can run on a Web server though I am not certain of > that. And even if it would run there, for a number of reasons it would be > better to do the plotting using a Perl plotting module if possible. Gnuplot can indeed run on a server, as the gnuplot program is available for many platforms, including the two most popular web server platforms: windows and unix. Whether or not gnuplot is available on your particular server is up to your service provider. I do not have a feel for the probability of gnuplot being available in commercial web servers. I suspect it is low, however. A CGI program desiring to display gnuplot-generated graphs would start a gnuplot session, send it commands to generate a graph and send the output to a PNG file, then put a link in a returned HTML page to display the PNG file as an image. <http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-gnuplot/index.html?ca= dgr-lnxw07dth-AIX&S_TACT=105AGX59&S_CMP=grlnxw07> Other than gnuplot, your best bet is probably the GD module, if it is available. I have never had any luck installing GD on my system. The Perl GD module is an interface to the GD library, and the library must be installed on your server for the module to work. -- Jim Gibson
From: E.D.G. on 2 Aug 2010 20:10 "Jim Gibson" <jimsgibson(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:020820101626433712%jimsgibson(a)gmail.com... >> Question: What Perl language plotting modules would be good candidates >> for the following applications? > Gnuplot can indeed run on a server, as the gnuplot program is available > Other than gnuplot, your best bet is probably the GD module, if it is > available. I have never had any luck installing GD on my system. The Hi Jim, Thanks for the input. I will take a look at what the GD module offers. So far I have not seen any information regarding Gnuplot on the Web server I am using. In a day or two I am planning to ask some of the Web specialists about that. I need to also get some Perl application information from them. One of the problems with using Gnuplot with Perl on a Windows machine pertains to sending Gnuplot information. Perl has to store the plot data in a file and then tell Gnuplot to start running and process those data. Perl can send Gnuplot commands through a pipe. That works quite well. However, it has been my experience that sending Gnuplot large amounts of plot data though the pipe is not a good idea. The process is slow and prone to errors. Windows experts have told me that this can also be done by having Perl and Gnuplot use a shared section of the computer memory. But that might then not work with other operating systems etc. So, if the right Perl plotting module can be found then that would seem to me to be the way to go. Also, this is part of a proposed effort that involves creating a type of SCIENCE module for Perl. It would not actually have to be a true module but might instead be a text file containing information regarding which modules researchers would need to install with their Perl program so that they can do various things such as use certain math functions that don't come with the original Perl program, and generate PNG files using plot data. Perhaps it would be a good idea to even create a Perl FAQ section that was specifically intended for science researchers. It would discuss all of those things in detail. Right now they need to search through the various FAQ sections looking for that information instead of having it in a single location. And, certain topics such as generating PNG files from plot data etc. might not even be discussed at the present time in any of the FAQ sections. I went looking for information regarding that in the FAQ files and could not find anything. It can probably be found in the documentation for different modules. But a person would first need to know which modules to check. These are personal opinions.
From: HASM on 2 Aug 2010 21:31 Jim Gibson <jimsgibson(a)gmail.com> writes: > A CGI program desiring to display gnuplot-generated graphs would start > a gnuplot session, send it commands to generate a graph and send the > output to a PNG file, then put a link in a returned HTML page to > display the PNG file as an image. I do exactly as above, but I run the webserver in a linux box I control, so gnuplot is available ... -- HASM
From: Mumia W. on 3 Aug 2010 02:44
On 08/02/2010 07:10 PM, E.D.G. wrote: > [...] > Perhaps it would be a good idea to even create a Perl FAQ section that > was specifically intended for science researchers. It would discuss all > of those things in detail. Right now they need to search through the > various FAQ sections looking for that information instead of having it > in a single location. And, certain topics such as generating PNG files > from plot data etc. might not even be discussed at the present time in > any of the FAQ sections. I went looking for information regarding that > in the FAQ files and could not find anything. It can probably be found > in the documentation for different modules. But a person would first > need to know which modules to check. > Perhaps you should create that FAQ. This is user-supported software. > These are personal opinions. > |