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soundar
32 Posts |
 Posted - 02 Mar 2009 : 00:24:45
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I do not know if I am the only one confused when using the QuinnCurtis tools but whenever I go back to using the tools after even a month or so, I cannot figure out easily how to do something. The documentation is sketchy at best and I find the API very difficult and not at all intuitive. The sequence of getting a plot output is not easily understood and is very confusing.
In particular I would appreciate some help/user guide/documentation tells me in simple, clear terms
1. Just what is a process (RTProcessVar)?
2. What is a transform?
3. What is a scrolling frame?
4. How do all of these relate to each other and what is the correct sequence to use them?
5. How does a plot (LinePlot, Scatter plot etc) relate to all of the above?
Can someone point me out in the right direction? |
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quinncurtis
1164 Posts |
Posted - 02 Mar 2009 : 08:59:58
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WE are confused by your confusion, because there are chapters written on each of these in the manuals. Also, based on other questions from user Soundar, you have already created some sophisticated graphs over tha last year.
1. RTProcessVar - QCRTGraph manual, Chapter 4.
2. A transform is a coordinate system - QCChart2D manual Chapter 4
3. Scroll frames - QCRTGraph manual, Chapter 12
4. There are hundreds of examples, in the manuals and the example programs of how to use these classes, in the proper sequence.
5. LinePlot, ScatterPlot and other simple plot objects are described in the QCChart2D manual, Chapter 10. Their use in real-time plots, in conjunction with RTScrollFrame, is describe in the RTGraph manual, Chapter 12.
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soundar
32 Posts |
Posted - 02 Mar 2009 : 15:41:40
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Perhaps I came off as being too critical.
First let me say that QC's technical support is outstanding and the examples are plenty and varied. I know of the reputation of these tools from my friends who have been using them for decades! (ever since it was available on a floppy disk, in Fortran!) That is why I decided to use the QC library for my projects. And so far the performance (not ease of use) has been very satisfactory.
I have written some useful code (I wouldn't call them sophisticated, I am aware of my limitations as a programmer). I could not have finished any of the tasks without technical support from QC. In my opinion, the object hierarchy is confusing. For example, if a transform is a coordinate axis, why do you need it as a parameter for
plotbackground = new background(..transform...,....)
I would have thought background should be the background of the plot object or the chartvu object itself.
How come the axis objects are directly attached to the chart instead of the coordinate system?
I am sure that there are reasonable explanations to the way object hierarchy was designed, but I find it hard to remember and navigate the hierarchy, that's all. Whenever I come back to writing some code after an interregnum, I have to read the examples / my old code to see how it was done and it still does not make any logical sense to me.
By the way, is there a document somewhere that lists the entire object hierarchy (ALL the objects)? I could not find it in the manual. Maybe if I can find one, it will serve as a useful reference.
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quinncurtis
1164 Posts |
Posted - 02 Mar 2009 : 16:14:57
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The software is not simple to use, we know that. That is the tradeoff we made in order to create a product with the power and flexibility we required. We will tell anybody who asks that is for intermediate level programmers or better.
There is logic behind everything. All you need to do is ask.
Transforms - a transform defines the coordinate system, and it also defines the position of the coordinate system in the ChartView. The drawing of the background of the plotting area (the area bounded by the axes) is dependent on the position of the coordinate system.
How come the axis objects are directly attached to the chart instead of the coordinate system? All plot objects are added to the ChartView, not just axes. They all reference a coordinate system as a parameter. It seems that being consistent this way is makes more sense than having some objects added to the ChartView and others added to some sort of coordinate view. Plot objects are drawn in the ChartView, using the ChartView graphics context, using the scaling information in the coordinate system.
QCChart2D hierarchy - Last page of Chapter 2 - Class hierarchy, of the QCChart2D manual
QCRTGraph hierarchy - Page 11 of Chapter 2 - Class hierarchy, of the QCRTGraph manual
You will also find the class hierarchy in the help files we supply: QCChart2DNetCompiledHelpFile.chm and QCRTGraphNetCompiledHelpFile.chm. Just load the help file and click on the Namespace hierarchy hyperlink.
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Is anyone else as confused as I am?
