Attributes

This page defines each of the element properties, or attributes, recognized in the FypML namespace. Each description includes: the attribute type and any restrictions on the allowed set of attribute values; the element or elements to which the attribute applies; and the attribute's meaning or usage in the context of the owning element. Note that many attributes are applicable to more than one element class. In some cases, the attribute's usage in one element is very different from its usage in another.

Attributes are listed here in alphabetical order: A-B  C-E  F-H  I-L  M-P  R-S  T-Z

align : Horizontal alignment of text.

For a label node, this property specifies the horizontal alignment of the label text with respect to its location as specified by the loc attribute. For a textbox node, it specifies how the laid-out lines of text are aligned within the bounding box: each individual line starts at the left margin, ends at the right margin, or is centered within the bounding box.

altFont : Generic substitute font.

This attribute specifies a generic font to use as a fallback when the font family listed in an element's font attribute is not installed on the host machine. At start-up, Figure Composer maps the three generic font types to installed fonts on the system.

auto : Enable auto-generation of a label for a calibration bar.

This flag enables or disables some automated annotation of a calibration bar. If auto==true, the bar will be automatically annotated with a text label of the form "N units", where "N" is the length of the bar as specified by its len attribute, while "units" is the units token associated with the corresponding graph axis.

autorange :Enable automated axis range adjustment on any combination of the three axes in a 2D graph.

If autorange is any value other than none, the ranges of the identified graph axes are recomputed whenever necessary. An auto-ranging cycle is triggered whenever a data presentation node is added or removed from the graph, or if an existing data presentation node's definition changes in a way that could possibly impact the data range for that node. If the current range of any axis is indeed modified during an auto-ranging cycle, the entire graph is re-rendered. [NOTE: As of v5.0.0 (schema v 21), auto-ranging is not supported for a 3D graph.]

avg : Enable mean counts-per-bin histogram display of a raster node. Enable display of the average polyline for a trace element in multitrace display mode.

For the raster element: This attribute is applicable only in the histogram display mode. If avg==false, then the histogram plots the total number of events per bin as counted over the entire raster data set collection. This is how histogram display mode worked for the raster node prior to the introduction of this attribute (app version 3.5.3 or earlier). If avg==true, then the histogram plots the mean number of events per bin (total event count divided by the number of individual rasters in the raster collection).

For the trace element: This attribute is applicable only in the multitrace display mode; it enables/disables rendering of the average trace on top of the individual data trace polylines.

backdrop : Backdrop style for a 3D graph.

This attribute governs the appearance of the 3D graph's backdrop and determines whether or not its axes and gridlines are rendered, and in what manner. In the box3D and openBox3D backdrop styles, a full 3D boxed backdrop is presented, with XY, XZ and YZ backplanes; X, Y and Z axes rendered along the outer edges of the box; and gridlines drawn in the backplanes. The only difference between the two styles is that the three edges that join at the frontmost corner of the 3D box are shown in the box3D style but not in openBox3D. In the xyPlane backdrop, only the XY backplane is rendered, along with the 3 axes and any gridlines contained in the XY plane. In the axesOuter backdrop, only the axes are drawn along the outer edges of the 3D box; no backplanes nor gridlines are rendered. In the axesBack backdrop, the axes emanate from the back-bottom corner of the 3D box; again no backplanes nor gridlines are rendered. Finally, if the backdrop style is hidden, nothing is rendered at all -- only the data presentation nodes and any other children in the graph3d container. 

barWidth : Histogram bar width in "user" units, or relative bar width (%) for a bar plot.

When the trace element is rendered as a histogram, this attribute specifies the width of each histogram bar in user units -- i.e., the implicit units associated with the coordinate system of the parent graph object. If zero, the bar is rendered as a line instead (for stem plots). If the bar width is greater than the absolute value of the bin size, then each histogram bar fills its corresponding bin. The attribute is ignored if the trace node is in any other display mode.

For the bar element (new in FC 4.6.1), this attribute defines the relative bar width as an integer percentage. This parameter, along with the display mode, governs the actual bar width and spacing of the bars comprising the bar plot. The algorithm used to compute the actual bar width and spacing is beyond the scope of this user guide, but it roughly follows the observed behavior of a typical Matlab bar plot.

baseline : Histogram base line in "user" units, or the Z coordinate of the stem base plane for a stem plot.

This attribute applies only when a trace or raster element is rendered as a histogram, in which case it specifies the common base line on which all histogram bars rest. It serves a similar function for bar and area charts (new in FC 4.6.1). For the scatter3d presentation node, it specifies the value Zo defining the "stem base plane", Z=Zo. A "stem line" is drawn from each data point location (X,Y) to the corresponding point (X,Y,Zo) lying in this plane (of course, if the node's stroke width is zero or its stroke color is transparent, stem lines are not drawn).

bkg : The background fill descriptor for an entire figure, for an individual text box, image, or shape, or for the marker symbols appearing in a 3D scatter plot.

Unlike its 2D counterpart, the scatter3d presentation node includes the bkg attribute in order to support a gradient fill for the marker symbols drawn at the data point locations in the scatter plot. The primary reason for this feature is to let you specify a radial gradient with a circular or oval symbol shape -- which helps to reinforce the 3D nature of this plot.

border : The width of a figure's bordering rectangle.

This property specifies the line width of a rectangle bounding the figure. If zero width (the application-defined default value is "0in"), then no border is rendered.

cap : The end-cap adornment for a calibration bar or an error bar.

Selects what adornment is applied to both endpoints of a graph's calibration bar or any error bars rendered in conjunction with a data trace element. The adornment size is specified by the capSize attribute; if you do not want an end-cap adornment, then you must set capSize=0in.

clip : Enable clipping of content that lies outside a graph's data window, or text lines outside the bounding rectangle of a textbox.

All data presentation elements (function, trace, raster, heatmap) are rendered in the coordinate system mapped to the parent graph's data viewport -- typically, a rectangle defined by the graph's loc, width, and height attributes (however, for polar plots, the clipping shape is a circle or quarter circle, depending on the graph's current layout). If clip==true, the rendering of all such elements is clipped to that window. No other children of the graph are clipped -- only the data presentation elements!

For the textbox element, line breaks are calculated to ensure that each line of text content fits within the specified bounding box -- even if that means breaking a single word across two or more consecutive lines. If the resulting text block does not fit vertically within the bounding box, then it will continue past the top and/or bottom margins of the bounding box -- unless the clip flag is set.

cmap : The color map, or look-up table, assigned to a graph's Z axis, or to a 3D graph. Enable or disables color-mapping of a 3D surface.

The heatmap is a specialized data presentation node that renders 3D datasets conforming to the xyzimg data format. In this format, one independent variable Z is a function of two independent variables uniformly sampled over a contiguous range: Z=F(X,Y) for X = [A..B], Y=[C..D]. Such a data set may also be thought of as an image, and the heatmap node renders it as such by passing the data through an 8-bit color map. As of Figure Composer 3.1 (schema version 9), the color map C[0..N] (N=255), mapping mode (linear or logarithmic), and the mapped data range [R0..R1] are defined on the parent graph's third, or Z axis, as represented by the zaxis element. This attribute selects the color map to use.

Each datum Z in the heatmap's referenced data set is mapped to an RGB color as follows. First, any Z <= R0 maps to C[1] and any Z >= R1 maps to C[N] (saturation effect). For all other values, Z ==> C[(Z-R0)*N/(R1-R0)] in the linear mapping mode, or Z ==> C[N*log10(Z-R0+1) / log10(R1-R0+1)] in the logarithmic mapping mode.

Observe that all well-defined data are mapped to the color map index range [1..255] -- what about index 0? As of DataNav 3.4.0, the original entry in the color map, C[0], is replaced by the color specified by the zaxis's cmapnan attribute. This is the "NaN color": any ill-defined datum (NaN or infinity) in the xyzimg data set is mapped to colormap index 0, and that entry is set to the "NaN color". Prior to this change, ill-defined data were mapped to transparent pixels and well-defined data were mapped to [0..255] when preparing the onscreen rendering of the heatmap. However, this was never implemented in the Postscript rendering, so we introduced these changes so that onscreen and Postscript rendering would be the same while avoiding the complexity of trying to implement transparency in Postscript.

The rendering of a scatter plot node (introduced in version 4.6.2, schema 18) will also make use of the color map and mapping mode of the parent graph's zaxis when the scatter node's display type is colorBubble or colorSizeBubble -- and the underlying data source is the 3D point set format xyzset. For a data point (X,Y,Z), a symbol is drawn at (X,Y) and its fill color is selected by mapping Z to a color in much the same way as a heatmap image pixel. The only difference is that the cmapnan attribute is not used; if any coordinate in the data point (X,Y,Z) is not well-defined, no symbol is drawn for that point.

A 3D graph object, graph3d, was introduced in application v5.0.0 (schema version 21). The Z axis of a 3D graph is a normal axis like the X and Y axes; there is no special "color axis" (zaxis node). Thus, the color map associated with the 3D graph is specified by the cmap attribute on the graph3d element itself. Also note that there is no corresponding cmapnan attribute. The color map may be used by the surface and scatter3d data presentation nodes, neither of which requires a "NaN color".

The 3D surface object, surface, was likewise introduced in v5.0.0. The surface is rendered as a mesh of 4-vertex polygons, and the color assigned to each polygon may be the node's fillColor, or it may be mapped to a color (using the parent graph3d node's color map) based on the Z value assigned to the polygon (typically, this is the average of the Z values at the four vertices). The cmap attribute is a boolean value which enables or disables the color-mapped option.

cmapnan : The color to which an ill-defined datum (NaN, infinity) is mapped when rendering heatmaps.

See the above discussion of the cmap attribute for usage details.

cmode : Color mapping mode assigned to a graph's Z axis.

Selects the way in which heatmap data in a graph are mapped to an RGB color in the rendered image via a color lookup table. See description of cmap attribute for details.

crop : The crop rectangle for an image.

The crop attribute must contain exactly 4 integers: "ulx uly w h", specifying the coordinates (ulx, uly) of the crop rectangle's upper-left corner, its width w, and height h. Both coordinates and dimensions are specified in "image space pixels", where (0,0) corresponds to the top-left corner of the original source image.

depth : The extent of a 3D graph's data box along its Z dimension.

The dimensions of a graph3d node's "data box" in 3D space are defined by the width, height, and depth attributes. The width attribute specifies the extent of the box along the X axis; height, along the Y axis; and depth, along the Z axis. Note that the minimum extent is 1in, not 0in. The rectangle bounding the 2D projection of the 3D data box will depend on these 3 extents, as well as the projection distance, rotation angle, and elevation angle.

dir : Direction of axis tick marks.

This property determines whether axis tick marks bisect the axis line (thru), or are drawn from the axis line toward (in) or away from (out) the graph's data window.

displace : The displaced-slice bit flags vector for a pie chart.

Each slice in a pie chart represents a separate datum in the underlying data source, and the author can choose to displace any or all of the slices radially from the chart origin. This attribute stores the state of the "displaced" flag for each slice. Slice N is displaced if bit N is set in this integer-valued property.

dx : The sample interval for a mathematical function or sampled data series.

For a function element, this attribute specifies the interval between the samples plotted when the mathematical function is rendered: { f(x0), f(x0+dx), f(x0 + 2*dx), ... }. For a set element, the dx attribute is no longer used because the series and mseries parameters sample interval dx and initial sample x0 are included in the base64-encoding of the raw data, which appears in the set element's content. However, if the set is part of a schema version 7 document, the data is still stored as a list of comma-separated tuples, and dx is interpreted as the sample interval whenever the data set format is a sampled data series (fmt=series or fmt=mseries). See the description of the set element for more information.

edge : The graph data window edge along which its Z axis is rendered.

When the Z axis is not hidden, it is rendered alongside one of the four edges of the parent graph's data window. This attribute selects the edge.

elevate : The elevation angle for a 3D graph (in degrees CCW).

The orientation of the 3D graph is controlled by two rotations: the rotate attribute specifies the first rotation about its Z-axis, while this attribute specifies the subsequent rotation about its X-axis.

end : The end of the coordinate range spanned by a graph axis or a tick mark set. The outer radius of a pie chart.

Together with the start attribute, this attribute defines the coordinate range for an axis or tick mark set, in "user" units. For the pie element, these attributes specify the inner and outer radii of the pie chart in "user" units.

fillColor : Current text or fill color.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the RGB color used to paint text or fill closed shapes, data point symbols, or end-cap adornments. In contrast, the strokeColor attribute specifies the color used to draw the shape or symbol's outline (stroking the outline of text glyphs is not supported). [As of version 4.5.2, a transparent color (value = "none") is permitted. As of v 5.0.2, translucent colors are also supported.]

fmt : Numeric format for automatic tick mark labels, or a data set format.

For the ticks element, this attribute selects the numeric format in which the automated labels for a tick mark set are prepared: none --> no label; int --> rounded to nearest integer; f1, f2, f3 --> floating-point with 1, 2, or 3 digits after the decimal point. For the set element, the attribute specifies the data set format: ptset, series, mset, mseries, raster1d, xyzimg, xyzset.  See the description of the set element for more information about these data formats.

font : Font family.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the family name of the font to be used when rendering any text in the owning element. Figure Composer interprets this token as the name of a font family on the host machine. If it does not identify a font resource installed on the local host, the generic font specified by the altFont attribute is used instead.

fontSize : Font size.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the font size, in typographical points (1 pt = 1/72 in) used when rendering any text in the owning element.

fontStyle : Font style.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the font style used when rendering any text in the owning element.

gap : Gap between tick marks and associated labels, or between the gradient bar of the Z axis and the data window of its parent graph. The inner margin for the bounding rectangle of a text box or image. The radial offset of a displaced "slice" in a pie chart.

For the ticks element, this property specifies the extent of the gap between the bounding box of a tick mark label and the end of the corresponding tick. If the tick mark is zero-length or is drawn on the opposite side of the axis line, then it specifies the gap separating the label from the axis line itself. For the zaxis element, it specifies the orthogonal distance separating the nearest parallel edge of the Z axis's "gradient bar" and the adjacent edge of the graph's data window. For the textbox and image elements, it specifies the size of the margin (same on all four sides) separating the content block (either a text block or the embedded image) from the element's outer bounding box.

For the pie element only (as of v4.7.1), this property defines the radial offset of a displaced slice in the pie chart as an integer percentage of the chart's outer radius (given by the end attribute).

height : Vertical extent of a figure, graph, text box, image, or shape. The height of a hash mark representing a single sample in the rendering of a raster train. The Y-axis extent of a 3D graph.

This attribute sets the height of the rectangular box bounding a figure, graph, textbox, image or shape element. For the graph element, the bounding box defines the "data window"; the axes are typically drawn outside this box. For the raster element, this attribute specifies the height of a vertical raster hash mark in stroke-width units (applicable only to the trains and trains2 display modes).

For the 3D graph container (graph3d node), the height attribute specifies the measured extent of its "data box" along the Y dimension in the 3D world. Analogously, the width attribute specifies the measured extent in the X dimension; the depth attribute, in the Z dimension. Note that a minimum extent of 1in is required. The rectangle bounding the 2D projection of the 3D data box will depend on these 3 extents, as well as the projection distance, rotation angle, and elevation angle.

hide : Visibility flag.

If this flag attribute is set (hide=="true"), then the owning element will not be rendered.

id : The identifier for a data set stored in the FypML document, or for a particular graphic object in the figure.

For the set element, this is an identifier assigned to the data set stored within the element so that it can be referenced by one or more data presentation objects in the containing figure. To avoid ambiguity, Figure Composer requires that every set node in the document have a unique identifier. The identifier must meet the following criteria: (1) Length restricted to 1-40 characters; cannot be an empty string. (2) Only ASCII alphanumeric characters and selected punctuation marks -- $_[](){}+-^!=@|.<>  -- are allowed.

For selected graphic elements (see list above), id is an optional attribute that serves to identify the graphic object within a figure that could contain many other such objects. Its default value is an empty string, meaning that no identifier has been assigned to the graphic object. Again, FC requires that every non-empty graphic object ID be unique (however, a graphic object ID can duplicate a data set ID, because a set is not considered a graphic object) so there's no ambiguity. Unlike data set IDs, graphic object IDs can contain any character supported in FypML except the tab, carriage-return, and line-feed characters. The primary purpose for the graphic object ID is to support script-based modification of a figure. For more information, see the description of the Matlab utility put2fyp().

intv : Tick mark interval.

This attribute defines the interval between tick marks within a tick set, in user units. The interval is additive when the parent axis is linear. When logarithmic, the nominal value should be a power of 10 greater than 0 (or a power of 2 if the logarithmic base of the parent axis is 2 instead of 10 -- see log2 attribute) ; if it is not, then Figure Composer will use the power of 10 (or power of 2) that's closest to the value provided.

labelOffset : Distance separating an axis line and its auto-generated label, or separating the line segment and companion label for each entry in a graph's automated legend.

If the owning axis has an auto-generated label (i.e., its title attribute is not an empty string), then this attribute sets the orthogonal distance between the middle of the axis line and the label's bounding box. The label is always centered with respect to the axis line and is always placed on the side of the axis opposite the graph's data viewport.

(As of schema v14, app version 4.4.0) For an automated graph legend, this attribute specifies the horizontal distance separating the right endpoint of each entry's trace line and the start of the entry's text label. In previous versions, this offset was "hard-coded" at 0.1in. The attribute is optional, and 0.1in is the default value. The user can also set a preferred value for this attribute that is saved in his DataNav application settings.

layout : The chosen layout for a graph's coordinate system.

This attribute determines how the axes are positioned relative to the graph's data window. In the first- and second-quadrant layouts of a graph, the horizontal axis lies below the data viewport, while the vertical axis lies to the left (quad1) or right (quad2) of the viewport. In the third- and fourth- quadrant layouts, the horizontal axis is above the viewport, while the vertical axis lies to the left (quad4) or right (quad3). In the four-quadrant layout (allQuad), the axes are rendered such they intersect at the center of the graph's bounding box. This last layout is most useful for polar plots in which the radial axis is hidden (the angular axis is never rendered for a polar graph).

legend : Visibility of the legend entry for a graph trace.

This attribute controls the visibility of the presentation node's entry in the parent graph's automated legend (if that legend is turned on). If legend==true, a corresponding entry is included in the graph legend; otherwise, it is omitted. Note that legend entries are not currently supported for the heatmap presentation node in 2D graphs, and the surface node in 3D graphs.

len : Length of a tick mark, a calibration bar, or a sample trace line in a legend entry.

In the case of a calibration bar, the length is specified in user units. Thus, if you change the range of the corresponding axis in the parent graph, the length of the calibration bar will adjust accordingly.

levels : List of levels at which contour lines should be generated for a contour plot

Specifies the different levels at which contours should be generated for a contour node. Note that the attribute is optional; if implicit or if set to an empty string, the contour node will automatically select the contour level list based on the Z data range of the node's underlying xyzimg data source. Up to 20 distinct contour levels may be specified; any repeat or out-of-range values are ignored.

limit : The mesh size limit for a 3D surface.

The surface node renders a 3D data set as a polygonal mesh. As the data set size grows, rendering size can increase dramatically. For example, if the underlying xyzimg set has a data grid of 100x100, then the surface is comprised of 10000 mesh polygons, each of which is rendered separately. To reduce rendering time at the expense of fidelity, the author can set the mesh size limit to a value smaller than the data grid extents. If the maximum data grid extent is smaller than the current mesh limit, then all mesh polygons are rendered; otherwise, the underlying data set is subsampled. Note that the maximum allowed mesh limit is 500; it can take several seconds in 2015-era PCs to render a surface mesh of that size.

lineHt : Text line height, to control line spacing in multi-line text blocks

This attribute specifies the element's text line height (baseline to baseline) as a fraction of its font size. It gives the user control over the spacing between consecutive lines in a multi-line text block, which can appear in the textbox element or the auto-generated label for an axis or zaxis node. The default (implicit) value is 1.2.

loc : The location of an element with respect to its parent container's viewport.

Locates the element within the viewport of a containing element. In the case of a figure element, the "container" is the printed page, and this attribute specifies the location of the figure's bottom-left corner relative to the bottom-left corner of the printable rectangle (inside the current margins) in the current page setup. For a graph element, it specifies the location of the bottom-left corner of the graph's data window within the containing figure, prior to any rotation applied (see rotate attribute description). Note that % units are no longer permitted when specifying the graph's location, but user units are (as of v3.6.1, Apr 2011). For a legend element, it locates the bottom-left corner of the legend within the containing graph's viewport, again prior to any rotation applied. For a calib element, it is interpreted as the location of the calibration bar's midpoint in the graph viewport. For a shape element, it defines the location of the center point for the "design box" that bounds the rendered shape. For a textbox or image element, it specifies the bottom-left corner of the element's outer bounding box. Finally, it specifies the "cursor position" about which the text for a label element will be horizontally and vertically aligned (and optionally rotated, too).

For the graph3d element -- introduced in app v5.0.0 (schema version 21) --, the attribute specifies the location of the origin

of the 3D graph's XYZ coordinate system within the containing figure. As you modify the dimensions and orientation of the 3D graph, this location remains unchanged, while the rectangle bounding the 2D projection of the graph will change significantly.

log : Determines whether a 3D graph axis is linear or logarithmic.

In a 2D graph, whether an axis is linear or logarithmic depends on the coordinate system type for the graph2d node; for example, the X axis is linear when the coordinate system is cartesian, semilogy, or polar; it is logarithmic when the coordinate system is semilogx or loglog. The graph3d node does not have a coordinate system type; instead, whether a 3D graph axis is linear or logarithmic is set by the axis node's own log attribute. Note that this attribute only applies in a 3D context; if defined for an axis child of a graph element, it is simply ignored.

log2 : Selects the logarithmic base for the primary or secondary axis of a graph.

If log2==true, the logarithmic base for the axis is 2; otherwise, it is 10. Ignored when axis is not logarithmic.

mid : Show symbol at midpoint of trace line in a legend entry.

Each entry in the automated graph legend includes a short line segment depicting the stroke used to render the associated data trace or function in the parent graph, along with the symbol (if any) used to mark the individual data points. If this mid==true, then the marker symbol is rendered at the midpoint of the line segment in the legend entry; else, symbols are rendered at the endpoints.

mode : Display mode for a data trace, raster, contour, bar,  or scatter plot.

For a trace element, this attribute selects one of five supported display modes: polyline (polyline with optional symbols and error bars), staircase (same as polyline, except that consecutive data point are connected by a "sample-and-hold" step instead of a straight line),  errorband (no symbols, standard deviation depicted as an error band), histogram, or multitrace (for a data set that contains multiple individual sets, this mode displays each set as an individual polyline with marker symbols, then renders the average across the sets as a separate polyline). For a raster element, it selects one of three display modes: trains (a series of vertical hash marks drawn at the raster sample values), trains2 (a slightly different version of trains mode), or histogram (a histogram calculated from the raster data). For the contour element (new in FC 5.0.0), it selects one of four display modes: levelLines (color-mapped contour level-curves), filledContours (color mapped contour bands with level curves traced in stroke color), heatMap (heat map image representation of 3D data set), contouredHeatMap (the heat map image with level-curves superimposed). For the bar element (new in FC 4.6.1), it selects one of four display modes: vgroup (vertical grouped bars), vstack (vertical stacked bars), hgroup (horizontal grouped bars) , or hstack (horizontal stacked bar). Finally, for the scatter and scatter3d elements (new in FC 4.6.2 and 5.0.0, respectively), it selects among four possible modes: scatter, sizeBubble (marker size varies with Z-coordinate of 3D data point (X,Y,Z)), colorBubble (fill color varies with Z), or colorSizeBubble (both size and fill color vary).

For more information on these display modes, see the element descriptions for the relevant data presentation nodes.

nbins : Number of bins in the histogram computed from raster data.

In the histogram display mode for a raster element, the rendered histogram must be computed from the underlying raster sample data. This attribute specifies the number of bins that should appear in this computed histogram.

note : An optional figure description.

Introduced in V4.7.0 (schema v19), this property allows the author to enter some notes about the figure. It is intended only for the author's use and is never rendered in any way. Possible applications: (1) Description of how figure was generated, if it was created with a Matlab script. (2) When there are several very similar versions of the same figure, this note could provide information to help distinguish them. In fact, the note is part of a figure's "preview" in Figure Composer's Workspace Browser and in the figure file chooser dialog.

(As of V4.7.1) The note text can include tab characters, in case you need to present some information in tabulated format.

p0,p1 : Locations of the endpoints of a line segment with respect to the parent element's viewport.

perLogIntv : Tick mark locations within one decade on a logarithmic axis.

This attribute defines the placement of tick marks within one multiplicative interval (see intv attribute) when the parent axis is logarithmic and the multiplicative interval is a power of 10. Ignored otherwise. Example: Suppose that the multiplicative interval is 100, and we're calculating tick locations across the range [10..30000]. If perLogIntv = "1 2 4 8", then tick marks would be placed at 10×(1) = 10, 10×(100×0.2) = 200, 10×(100×0.4) = 400, 10×(100×0.8) = 800, 1000×(1) = 1000, and 1000×(100×0.2) = 20000.

primary : Identifies the graph axis with which a calibration bar is associated.

If this flag attribute is set, the owning calib element is associated with the primary axis of its parent graph (the X-axis, or the angular axis in a polar plot); otherwise, it is associated with the secondary axis (the Y-axis, or the radial axis in a polar plot). This determines the calibration bar's orientation, horizontal or vertical. In a polar plot, horizontal calibration bars are not rendered at all (they would be circular arcs), while vertical calibration bars -- corresponding to the graph's radial axis -- are rendered horizontally. Calibration bars associated with a logarithmic axis are not rendered.

pscale : The projection distance scale factor for a 3D graph.

One of the parameters defining the perspective projection of a 3D graph onto the 2D figure canvas is the distance of the "camera" from the projection plane. This attribute specifies a scale factor P such that the actual projection distance (in 3D space) is P times the maximum dimension of the graph's 3D data box. The physical dimensions of the box are set by the width (X), height (Y), and depth (Z) attributes. The projection is more distorted for smaller values of P.

psFont : Font family used when exporting to Postscript format.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the Postscript font family used to render any text in the owning element when the DataNav figure is exported as a Postscript or Encapsulated Postscript document. Choices are restricted to font families from the standard set of 35 fonts supported by almost all PS 2.0 products.

rotate : Orientation of an element with respect to its parent viewport; rotation about Z axis of a 3D graph.

This attribute specifies a rotation angle (in degrees) applied to orient the owning element within its parent container. The rotation is applied after the element is translated in accordance with the loc attribute. The effect of the rotation depends on the element class and the effects of other attributes -- such as the text alignment attributes for a label node. Positive values produce a counterclockwise rotation.

For the graph3d element, the rotate attribute takes on a different meaning. The orientation of the 3D graph's XYZ coordinate system with respect to the "projection camera" is determined by two rotations: a rotation about its Z axis as defined by this attribute (in degrees CCW), followed by a rotation about its X axis as set by the elevate attribute. The rotation and elevation angles are among a number of other parameters that govern the perspective projection of the 3D graph onto the 2D figure canvas.

size : Size of a marker symbol, or the width of the Z-axis "gradient bar".

Specifies the real size of a square "design box" bounding a marker symbol. For the legend element, it defines a uniform symbol size to apply when rendering entries in a a graph's automated legend (since different data set elements in the parent graph could have different sized marker symbols); in this case, if it is zero, Figure Composer will render each legend entry using the marker size specified on the symbol child of the corresponding function or trace element. For the zaxis element, this attribute defines the width of the "gradient bar" in the rendering of a graph's Z-axis.

For the scatter element, size represents the maximum marker symbol size. When the display mode is such that symbol size is constant, all marker symbols in the scatter/bubble plot are drawn at this size. When the display mode is sizeBubble or colorSizeBubble, the symbol size is proportional to the Z-coordinate of the data point: S=size*Z/Zmax, where Zmax is the maximum observed Z-coordinate value in the source data set (which must be a 3D point set).

skip : Plot skip interval for a data trace.

Defines an integer N such that every N-th point in the data trace is plotted when the element is rendered. Useful when rendering a data set that is very large with closely spaced points.

smooth : Enable smooth image interpolation in the rendering of a heat map image.

If this flag attribute is set ("true"), the contour node uses a bicubic image interpolation algorithm to smooth the heat map image when it is rendered onscreen. The flag is applicable only for those display modes that render the image (mode=heatMap, contouredHeatMap). The resulting image looks "nicer" but can give the impression that the underlying data is smoother than it really is. If the flag is cleared ("false"), a nearest-neighbor interpolation algorithm is used, which results in a blocky image onscreen. Image smoothing in the Postscript rendering behaves the same way, but the actual smoothing algorithm is dependent on the implementation of Postscript in the rendering device (aka, printer); in fact, some older printers may not support smoothing at all.

spacer : The space between an axis and the graph's data window, between consecutive entries in a graph legend, or between the baselines of consecutive raster trains.

For an axis element, this attribute specifies the orthogonal distance between the axis line and the nearest parallel edge of the parent graph's data box. For a zaxis, it is the distance between the axis line and the nearest parallel edge of the Z axis's "gradient bar"; another attribute (gap) controls the space between the gradient bar and the adjacent edge of the graph's data box. For a legend, this attribute sets the vertical distance between the midlines of successive legend entries. For a raster, it specifies the vertical separation, in stroke-width units, between consecutive rasters in the trains display mode.

src : A locator token identifying the data set associated a data presentation element.

This is the mechanism by which a data presentation node references the actual data to be rendered in a graph. Currently, it is formatted like a URL fragment identifier: "#{srcid}", where {srcid} is the value of the id attribute of a set element in the containing figure's ref node.

start : The start of the coordinate range spanned by a graph axis or a tick mark set. The inner radius of a pie chart.

Together with the end attribute, this attribute defines the coordinate range for an axis or tick mark set, in "user" units. For the pie element, these attributes specify the inner and outer radii of the pie chart in "user" units. A pie chart with a non-zero inner radius is a "donut" chart.

stemmed : Draw "connect-the-dots" trace line or individual stem lines on a 3D scatter plot.

When this attribute is true, a stem line is drawn from each valid 3D data point in the scatter plot to the plot's "stem base plane". If false, the data points are connected, in the order they appear in the data source, by a piecewise continuous trace line. The stem lines or the trace are styled IAW the stroking properties of the scatter3d element. If you do not want either to be rendered, simply set the element's stroke width to 0 or its stroke color to transparent. 

strokeCap : Current line or stroke end-cap decoration.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the manner in which the endpoints of an unclosed path -- and the individual dashes within a non-solid stroking pattern -- are decorated. A butt-ended stroke has no end-cap decoration at all. A rounded end-cap is a filled half circle with a diameter equal to the stroke width and with its center located at the endpoint. A square end-cap simply extends the stroke past the true endpoint by half a stroke width. This style was exposed in Figure Composer version 3.2.0 (Oct 2009); prior to this version, strokes were always butt-ended. When a non-solid stroking pattern is used in conjunction with a round or square stroke endcap, every dash segment in a stroked path is extended by one half of a linewidth in both directions; so each dash is one linewidth longer than the design value. At the same time, every gap in the path is one linewidth shorter than the design value because of the end-caps on the adjacent dashes. To (partially) compensate, Figure Composer currently increases each gap value in a stroking pattern by one linewidth whever the strokeCap style is round or square.

strokeColor : Current line or stroke color.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the RGB color used to stroke all lines and general paths drawn when rendering the owner element. It does not apply to text rendering, as DataNav does not currently support "outlining" text.  [As of version 4.5.2, a transparent color (value = "none") is permitted. As of v 5.0.2, translucent colors are also supported.]

strokeJoin : Current line or stroke join style.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the manner in which adjacent straight-line segments of a path -- or the first and last segments of a closed path -- are connected. In a mitered join, the outer corners are extended until they meet, and the interior space is filled. If the miter limit (ratio of miter length to stroke width) exceeds 10, the join is beveled instead. In a rounded join, a filled circle with diameter = stroke width is rendered at the point of intersection between the two line segments. In a beveled join, the outer corners are connected by a straight line and the interior space filled. This style was exposed in Figure Composer version 3.2.0 (Oct 2009); prior to this version, stroke joins were always mitered.strokePat : Dash-gap pattern used when stroking a line.

This attribute defines an integer-valued dash-gap array of the form "dash1 [gap1 dash2 gap2 dash3 gap3]", where each integer is restricted to the range [1..99] and represents a distance expressed in 0.1 linewidths -- that way the pattern stays consistent as the strokeWidth is changed. The common line style names are simply synonyms for particular dash-gap patterns: solid = "10", dotted = "10 30", dashed = "30 30", dashdot = "30 30 10 30", and dashdotdot = "30 30 10 30 10 30". [Note: The last three synonyms were changed as of DataNav v3.2.0; in prior versions, these were equivalent to "99 50", "99 50 10 50" and "99 50 10 50 10 50", respectively.] Like other graphic style attributes, this attribute is inheritable -- you can even set a dotted strokePat on the figure node, but it makes little sense to do so! Note that stroke end-cap decorations effectively increase the length of each dash and reduce the length of each gap by one linewidth. DataNav make adjustments accordingly -- see the description for the strokeCap style attribute.

strokeWidth : Current line or stroke width.

One of the inheritable style attributes, this specifies the width of the pen used to stroke all paths drawn when rendering the owner element. It does not apply to text rendering, as Figure Composer does not currently support "outlining" text.

title : A single-line text string representing the title of an element.

In most cases, the string specified in this attribute serves to name the element within the Figure Navigator tree in the Figure Composer user interface. Judicious use of the attribute helps an author navigate the tree view more easily. For the figure, graph, graph3d, bar, area, pie, contour, and surface elements, it serves no further purpose (it is not rendered as a title!). For the label element, the attribute holds the text of the label. For the axis and zaxis elements, it serves as an auto-generated label. If the string is empty, no axis label will be generated. Otherwise, the label is centered along the axis line, oriented parallel to the line on the side opposite the graph's data window, and offset from the line in accordance with the labelOffset attribute. If the label string contains any linefeed characters, then the label will be broken across multiple lines. For a shape element, the attribute also serves as an auto-generated label; in this case, the label string is centered both horizontally and vertically about the center point of the shape's "design box". Furthermore, the label is drawn using the shape element's strokeColor rather than the fillColor -- because the shape's interior is painted with the latter and would thereby make the label invisible. The usage is similar for a symbol element, except that only the first letter in the string token is used; this is the mechanism by which Figure Composer supports lettered marker symbols. Finally, for the data presentation elements function, trace, raster, scatter, and scatter3d, the string defined by this attribute will appear in the corresponding legend entry if the element's legend attribute is "true" and the parent graph's automated legend is not hidden.

type : Coordinate system type for a graph. Adornment type for a marker symbol or a general shape.

For a graph element, this attribute selects the kind of graph rendered from among six supported choices: cartesian, semilogX, semilogY, loglog, polar, and semilogR (a polar plot with a logarithmic radial axis). For a shape, symbol, or scatter element, the attribute is simply an instance of the Adornment attribute type, selecting which of the supported DataNav adornments is rendered as the shape or marker symbol. For the scatter plot node, all adornment types are allowed, although closed symbols like circle or box are most appropriate.

units : The coordinate units for a graph's primary or secondary axis.

This attribute provides a short string describing the units of measure associated with the axis element. Currently, it is used only when preparing the auto-generated label for a parallel calibration bar. [It should probably also appear in the axis's own auto-generated label.]

using : The identifier of a set element referenced by another set that uses the same data.

Suppose two data sets stored in the ref node of a figure document are identical in every way except for their identifiers. In such a circumstance (rare, but certainly possible), it would be extremely wasteful to write the actual data twice, especially if the data set in question was large. The using attribute was introduced to address this problem. If this attribute is explicitly defined for set "A", its value is the identifier of another set element "B" which defines the actual data used by set "A"; the text content of set "A" will be an empty string:

   <ref>

      <set id="A" using="B"></set>

      <set id="B">

         {base64-encoded data set}

      </set>

   </ref>

valign : Vertical alignment of text.

For a label node, this property specifies the vertical alignment of the label text with respect to its location as specified by the loc attribute. For a textbox node, it specifies how the laid-out text block is aligned within the bounding box: each first line of the block starts at the top margin, the last line of the block is aligned with the bottom margin, or the text block is vertically centered within the bounding box.

width : Horizontal extent of a bounded element. The X-axis extent of a 3D graph.

Specifies the width of the rectangular box bounding a figure, graph, textbox, image, or shape element. For the graph element, the bounding box defines the "data viewport"; axes are typically drawn outside this box.

For the 3D graph container (graph3d node), the width attribute specifies the measured extent of its "data box" along the X dimension in the 3D world. Analogously, the height attribute specifies the measured extent in the Y dimension; the depth attribute, in the Z dimension. Note that a minimum extent of 1in is required. The rectangle bounding the 2D projection of the 3D data box will depend on these 3 extents, as well as the projection distance, rotation angle, and elevation angle.

x0, x1 : The X-coordinates of the first and last samples of a mathematical function.

Together, these two attributes specify the X-coordinate range (or the θ-range for a polar graph) over which the mathematical function is evaluated. Always in "user" units.

xoff : Arbitrary offset applied to the x-coordinates of all data points in the rendering of a data trace or raster train.

This attribute provides flexibility in positioning a trace or raster within a graph. For example, it might be used to horizontally offset two overlapping traces that follow a similar time course. Always in user units.

yoff : Arbitrary offset applied to the x-coordinates of all data points in the rendering of a data trace.

This attribute provides flexibility in positioning a trace within a graph. For example, it might be used to vertically offset two overlapping traces that follow a similar time course. Always in user units.