Glossary

A key or sequence of keys on your keyboard that lets you access a function without using a menu. Most accelerators consist of the [Alt] or [Control] key followed by some letter of the alphabet; when available, accelerators are listed in the menu to the right of their corresponding function names.

A rectangular button at the bottom of a dialog box that lets you apply selections, open files, filter data, and so forth, as indicated by the label on the button. When you click MB1 on an action button, the action is initiated.

A simple dialog box that asks you for confirmation before performing a particular function or that alerts you to an error that has occurred. For example, if you try to rename a variable using an existing variable name, an alert appears asking if you want to overwrite the existing variable. You then choose either to perform the function or to cancel it.

A visual data analysis technique that can help you detect trends in data that occur over time. To produce this effect, you can use PV‑WAVE’s animation window to display multiple graphic frames in quick succession.

Graphics objects that are added to a view window to explain the meaning or purpose of the data. The title, subtitle, notes, lines, boxes, and legend entries are all examples of view window annotation.

An acronym for Application Programming Interface.

The Apply button appears on many PV‑WAVE dialog boxes. Select Apply to apply the current dialog box settings without removing the dialog box from the screen.

For any rectangular region, the ratio of the height to the width.

A characteristic of a view window, or a graphics object in a view window, which you can control. For example, font is a text attribute that you can change, and linestyle is a line attribute that you can change. All view windows have an Attribute menu that contains functions for modifying attributes for view windows and for graphics objects.

A small, rectangular object that represents a function or command. A click of the mouse button (usually MB1) on the button is equivalent to beginning the function or selecting that command. A button can contain either a text string or a bitmapped picture for a label.

A row of icons just below the menu bar in a VDA Tool. In general, these buttons are used to redisplay and edit graphics, select data, select objects, and annotate a plot. When you position the pointer over a button, the button’s name is shown.

In a bar chart, a discrete data element. In a histogram, a statistical sampling of data called a bin.

A “bar” in a histogram. The width of a bin represents a range in an independent variable’s values, and the height of a bin represents the number of data points in the original variable that fall within the bin width.

An 8-bit unsigned integer ranging in value from 0 to 255. In PV‑WAVE, images are commonly represented with byte data.

To exit a dialog box without implementing or using any of the selections that you made while that dialog box was displayed. Once a dialog box is canceled, it is removed from the desktop.

A menu accessed by pointing to a menu item that has a small right-pointing triangle near the right edge of the menu. Cascade menus display additional choices related to the menu item with which they are associated.

The position of a single data value displayed in a Tabular window. When viewing data in a Tabular window, PV‑WAVE displays a number next to each row and/or column of cells to clarify their ordinal position in the variable.

Initials that stand for Computer Graphics Metafile, a common format for storing graphics output.

A series of toggle buttons that you can either turn on or off. The setting of one button does not affect the setting of another button. See also toggle buttons.

To press and release a mouse button.

An unseen location for temporary storage of the graphical element(s) or data from the last “cut” or “copy” operation. The contents of the clipboard can be “pasted” back to the source VDA Tool, or, in some cases, to a different VDA Tool. Each new “cut” or “copy” overwrites the current contents of the clipboard.

A table of color values that associates color indices with predefined colors; also called a colormap. PV‑WAVE lets you modify the color table easily. This allows you to rapidly change the colors that represent different data values, which can be a powerful visual data analysis tool. Not all workstations support the display of color. See also HLS, HSV, and RGB.

A tool used to modify colors in the color table that is based on the HSV color model. The wheel is composed of two concentric circles with six radii, one at every 60 degree interval, starting with 0 degrees on the Red axis and rotating counter-clockwise.

On the color wheel, hue is controlled by the color selection position around the circle (the Red axis is 0 degrees, the Yellow axis is 60 degrees, and so on to 360 degrees); saturation is controlled by the relative (0 to 100%) radial length from the center of the circle to the selected point (the inner circle in the wheel represents 50% saturation); and value, which is similar to brightness is controlled between 0 (dark) and 100 (bright) using the Value slider in the controls areas of the Color Wheel dialog box. See also color table, HSV.

The text string displayed above a column of cells in a table. An entire column of table cells can be selected (highlighted) or deselected (unhighlighted) by clicking MB2 on the column label.

A container is a file format supported by the Hewlett-Packard Visual Engineering Environment (HP VEE) and PV‑WAVE. This file format is used to import data from HP VEE into PV‑WAVE.

That part of a window where buttons, scales, text fields, and other items used to control the window’s display area are located. For example, the control area of the WzAnimate window contains buttons such as Play, Record, and Pause.

Initials that stand for Comma Separated Values, a format that uses commas to separate the values in an ASCII input or output file.

The cell in a Tabular window that is active for editing as evidenced by containing the cursor.

A rectangular viewing area used by a workstation to display output and receive input from one or more applications. In other words, the desktop is the screen of your workstation, including everything that is displayed there. The concept of a workstation desktop is analogous to the top of a desk when you are using tools such as a calculator, sheets of paper, a pen and pencil, your personal calendar, and so forth.

A rectangular area in which you select options or enter information to perform a particular function. Unlike a window, a dialog box has no menu bar, although it usually has one or more action buttons near the bottom.

To exit a dialog box or window without undoing any of the selections that you made while that dialog box or window was displayed. Once a window or dialog box is dismissed, it is removed from the desktop. See also cancel.

The portion of a view window where graphs, images, and surfaces are displayed.

A method for representing color differences on monochrome (black and white) output devices. PV‑WAVE lets you choose one of three dithering methods: Ordered, Threshold, or Floyd-Steinberg.

Another type of non-color output device is a gray-scale device. Unlike monochrome devices, however, gray-scale devices are able to produce many shades of gray. With a gray-scale device, dithering is not necessary because different colors can be represented by different shades of gray.

To press and release a mouse button twice in rapid succession. In text selection, such as in the Selection text field of a file selection dialog box or in a title or subtitle added to a view, double-clicking selects a word. Generally, you double click with MB1. See also multi-click.

A 64-bit number in the range ±1038, with approximately 14 decimal places of significance. See also real number and single-precision.

To press and hold down a mouse button while moving the mouse. Typically, you drag the mouse when making menu selections, positioning graphics objects, and resizing and moving windows.

A specific area in the file that contains the first value to be read into a PV‑WAVE variable during file import. See also text fields.

A curve that approximates the values in a variable but does not necessarily pass precisely through each value.

The style of type used for text. In PV‑WAVE, you can specify font type, size, plane, justification, and angle. All software fonts used by PV‑WAVE are listed in the PV‑WAVE Reference.

An interpolated shading technique that uses arbitrary polygons
for smoothing sharp discontinuities in graphic images. In PV‑WAVE, Gouraud shading may be used on surface views.

The graphical VDA Tools include WzContour, WzHistogram, WzImage, WzPlot, and WzSurface.

Any graphics in a view that are not part of the data representation. For example, a title and a box are graphics objects that you can add to a view. Other graphical elements include legend, line, ellipse, bitmap, and axes.

Use functions on the Create menu or the button bar to add graphical elements to the drawing area. Use functions on the Edit menu or the button bar to edit graphical elements. Some editing functions include copy, paste, cut, delete, and group.

To modify the attributes (for example, color, linestyle, or line thickness) of graphical elements, use functions on the Attributes menu.

An acronym for Graphical User Interface.

Many ASCII text files that contain data include a header, one or more lines at the top of the file that are used to identify the contents of the file. PV‑WAVE usually skips over the header, and begins reading on the first line containing numeric values.

A graph that shows the distribution of the values in a large amount of data. Histograms are different from bar charts because each “bar” in a histogram represents the results of a statistical sampling of the data, whereas each bar in a bar chart represents a discrete data element.

A color model that uses values of Hue, Lightness, and Saturation in specific ranges to define each possible color, including gray scales. See also HSV and RGB.

A file format supported by Hewlett-Packard’s Visual Engineering Environment (HP VEE) and PV‑WAVE. Use the Container file format to import data from HP VEE into PV‑WAVE.

A color model that uses values of Hue, Saturation, and Value in specific ranges to define each possible color, including gray scales. See also HLS and RGB.

The base color in the color wheel, as determined by the position, in degrees, around the circle in the counterclockwise direction starting at 0 degrees on the Red axis.

A way of linking related pieces of online information. In PV‑WAVE’s online Help system, hypertext links are shown in boldface text, and are provided so that you can move easily from help card to help card. Clicking on a hypertext link always takes you from one help card to another help card that contains details on the word or phrase that you clicked.

A small, graphic representation of an object, usually a window. Using the features of the window manager, you can minimize windows to an icon. This ability allows you to organize and manage the appearance of your workstation desktop. See also desktop.

A PV‑WAVE view window type that displays a picture, usually generated from 8-bit (byte) unsigned integer data. Each byte value is displayed by one pixel on the screen according to a color assigned by the color table.

To load data from a file into PV‑WAVE. If you know the organization and data type of the data file, you can import it directly. If you do not know this information, but do know that it is an ASCII data file, you can import the data using the Preview window. PV‑WAVE’s Preview window allows you to interactively specify such things as variable size, data type, and number of dimensions, without understanding the data format specifications used by most application programs.

The portion of the desktop where input from the keyboard or mouse is directed. In other words, the window, dialog box, or menu with input focus is the one that accepts and interprets user input.

A PV‑WAVE data type for representing 16-bit signed whole numbers. Integers are numbers without decimal points. Integers can represent numbers in the range {–32,768 ... +32,767}.

Linestyle is a convenient way to distinguish one or more lines in a view window from surrounding lines. Although linestyle can be adjusted for graphics objects and lines representing data, it cannot be changed for axis lines.

Linewidth is another way of distinguishing between otherwise similar lines in a view. PV‑WAVE’s default linewidth is one pixel wide; you can obtain thicker lines by typing in numbers greater than 1.0.

A PV‑WAVE data type for representing 32-bit signed whole numbers. Integers are numbers without decimal points. Long integers can represent numbers in the range of approximately –2 billion to +2 billion
{–2,147,483,648 ... +2,147,483,647}.

The important thing to remember about the $MAIN$ program level is that $MAIN$ is where variables created at the WAVE> prompt are placed. In general, VDA Tools work with variables that exist on the $MAIN$ program level.

$MAIN$ is the name of the top PV‑WAVE program level. All variables created at the WAVE> prompt exist on the $MAIN$ level and are only known to the $MAIN$ program level.

Marker symbols can be used to accentuate individual data values displayed in a variable data line. The marker symbols available from within PV‑WAVE are:

To change a window’s size so that it fills the entire desktop, obscuring all other windows.

The three buttons of a three-button mouse. On a right-handed mouse, MB1 is the left-most mouse button, MB2 is the middle mouse button, and MB3 is the right-most mouse button. On a left-handed mouse, the locations of MB1 and MB3 are swapped. See also mouse.

The notation MB1, MB2, and MB3 does not work for a two-button mouse. If you have a two-button mouse, MB1 refers to the left mouse button and MB3 refers to the right mouse button. In general, MB2 is mapped to <Shift>-MB1 (e.g., press <Shift> and the left mouse button).

A list of options from which you select an item or an action to be performed.

The area of a window where its menu buttons are located. For example, the menu bar of the graphical VDA Tools contains menu buttons for the File, Edit, Attribute, Create, and Help menus.

The rectangular region at the bottom of a window where messages and information about activity in the window are displayed.

Look in the message area for information on the current selection mode, the status of an operation, or information on selected data points and ranges.

To force a window to be represented by an icon.

A handheld device that lets you guide a pointer around on the computer screen and select functions by clicking its buttons. See also MB1, MB2, MB3.

To press and release a mouse button several times in rapid succession. In text selection, such as in the Selection text field of a file selection dialog box, in a title or subtitle added to a view, or in the editing area of the MacroTool, double-clicking selects a word, triple-clicking selects an entire line, and quadruple-clicking selects an entire paragraph. Generally, you multi-click with MB1. See also double click.

The Navigator provides a single interface for a collection of VDA Tools. The Navigator allows you to start individual VDA Tools, associate VDA Tools with templates, and save and restore sessions. A Navigator Tool is provided with PV‑WAVE.

A button that indicates the presence of a menu of related, yet mutually exclusive, choices (options). The button contains 1) a label that indicates the currently selected choice, and 2) a small narrow rectangle. To display a different option, move the pointer to the option that is displayed, and click MB1. This posts an option menu that lists the other options; other options are selected by clicking on them. See also option menu.

A menu that is associated with an option button; it lists two or more related (but mutually exclusive) choices. The option button only displays one alternative at a time, so you use the option menu to choose a different alternative. Click MB1 on the option button label to post the option menu. See also option button.

The smallest element of a display surface that can be independently assigned a color or intensity.

An array of pixel values that maps multiple bits per pixel.

A symbol, frequently an arrow, that appears on the screen to indicate the movement of the mouse. The pointer changes its appearance depending on the current state and the type of function being performed.

A left pointing arrow indicates selection mode. It appears when you choose the graphics or data selection functions.

A cross hair pointer indicates that you are in graphics creation mode. This cursor appears when you choose one of the graphics creation functions, such as line, box, or legend.

The action of displaying a menu. For example, in a menu bar, you post a menu by moving the pointer to an individual menu title and clicking MB1. Once posted, the menu will remain visible until you 1) make a selection from the menu, 2) press the <Esc> key, or 3) move the pointer off the menu and click to dismiss the menu without making any selection.

The Image window’s Profile function provides a way to view a cross section of an image as a 2D line, which appears in a separate, temporary viewing window. The line shows changes in intensity across the image.

These controls operate much like the buttons of a car radio. You make a selection from a series of diamond-shaped boxes. When you make a selection, the previous selection is unselected.

A number that contains a decimal point. Real numbers can be expressed in either single-precision (32 bits) or double-precision (64 bits) form. PV‑WAVE uses the data type FLOAT for expressing real numbers in single-precision (32 bits) and the data type DOUBLE for expressing real numbers in double-precision (64 bits) form. See also single-precision and double-precision.

Record-based files are data files where each line in the file contains a group of values that are related to one another. The record is the smallest portion of the file that contains a complete “set” of import data (e.g., one value from each variable extracted from the file).

The window decoration that can be used to resize windows. The window decorations are part of the window frame that is placed around PV‑WAVE windows and dialog boxes by the Motif Window Manager; the resize border is the outermost edge of this frame.

A color model that uses values of Red, Green, and Blue in specific ranges to define each possible color, including gray scales. See also HSV and HLS.

The text string displayed at the left side of a row in a table. An entire row of table cells can be selected (highlighted) or deselected (unhighlighted) by clicking MB2 on the row label.

The second of three qualities that make up the HSV color model. The level of saturation increases as the chosen position is moved from the circles’ center to the outer edge of the outer circle. The inner circle marks the 50% saturation position, and the outer circle represents 100% saturation. See also color wheel, HSV.

A rectangular region divided into two parts by a movable slider; the relative amounts on either side of the slider represent a value. You can change the scale’s value interactively by dragging the mouse or by entering values into an associated text field (if one is provided).

Usually found along an edge of a window or other object, the scroll bar allows you to control what portion of a larger object is displayed. The position of the slider inside the scroll bar represents the relative position of the displayed portion with respect to the entire object. The size of the slider represents the relative portion of the object that is currently visible. The arrow buttons at either end of the scroll bar are used to control the movement of the scroll bar.

To move the pointer to an area or object on the screen and then click MB1.

Variables on the variable selection list.

A 32-bit number in the range ±1038, with approximately 7 decimal places of significance. This is the default precision for the PV‑WAVE data type FLOAT. See also double-precision and real number.

A parametric polynomial curve whose points obey certain mathematical constraints. A splined curve is generally smoother than an unsplined curve. The PV‑WAVE spline feature is available in the WzContour VDA Tool.

In a histogram plot, the top outline of a bin. The top portion of a histogram plot generally resembles ascending and descending stair steps.

A sequence of text characters, up to 32,767 in length.

To break a variable into “chunks” of data using view window selection buttons or processes that allow you to programmatically specify array subscript ranges.

Text added to a view to clarify or supplement the information contained in the view’s title.

A template is a file in which a custom configuration for a VDA Tool is saved. For instance, in a graphical VDA Tool, you can customize such attributes as color, number of axes, text, legend, and bitmaps.

For example, you can import a company logo bitmap into an instance of the WzPlot VDA Tool and then save a template file. Then, whenever you start an instance WzPlot tool with that template, the logo bitmap will appear.

Two ways to start a VDA Tool with a template are:

at the command line using the Template keyword with the VDA Tool command (e.g., WAVE> WzPlot, var, Template = 'mytemp.tpl')

from the Navigator Tool. The Navigator has a feature that allows you to associate VDA Tools with templates, so that whenever you start a VDA Tool from the Navigator the proper configurations are retrieved.

note	A template differs from a VDA Tools save file in that a save file restores a complete VDA Tool in exactly the state it was in when it was saved. Everything is restored from a save file, including data associated with the VDA Tool when it was saved.

Areas, usually in dialog boxes, where you can enter textual information. The “active” text field is marked with an insertion point (in Motif, an I-shaped cursor) to show where the text will be entered. Motif uses a caret-shaped cursor (^) to mark an inactive text field. PV‑WAVE may or may not fill in text fields for you, depending on the function you are performing or the default options you have specified.

An acronym for Tag Image File Format, a format for representing pictures in digital form. Many different application programs, including PV‑WAVE, can recognize and produce TIFF files.

Text added to a view that identifies or summarizes the primary purpose of the view.

The rectangular area along the top of a dialog box or window, typically flanked by buttons at both ends. The title bar of PV‑WAVE windows displays the name of the dialog box or window and identifies any windows and menus that were selected to display it.

Small rectangular buttons, usually occurring in sets, representing choices that can be either enabled or disabled. When the appearance of the button indicates that it is “on”, that choice (or option) is enabled; when the appearance of the button indicates that it is “off”, that choice (or option) is disabled. See also check boxes.

The variable selection list (also called the selected variables list) is maintained by the VDA Tools Manager.

Variables are added to the variable selection list when they are selected in the WzVariable Tool, when a variable is created by the WzImport or WzPreview Tool, or when a subsetted variable is created after a data selection.

The variable(s) on this list are automatically displayed when a VDA Tool is opened from the Navigator.

PV‑WAVE is a Visual Data Analysis (VDA) tool. It lets you process large amounts of data and display the data simultaneously in a variety of ways, such as images, surfaces, 2D line plots, contours, and animated sequences.

A VDA Tool is a PV‑WAVE application with a Motif or Microsoft Windows graphical user interface (GUI). You can call VDA Tools from the command line or from another application, such as a Navigator Tool. VDA Tools are completely independent and you can run multiple instances of the same Tool simultaneously, while also permitting a rich level of inter-tool communication. Some of the VDA Tools that come with PV‑WAVE include a 2D plot tool, image processing tool, contour tool, and table tool.

A view object is a graphical element found only in the WzMultiView Tool. A view object is a rectangular window that you create inside WzMultiView. You can then display graphics from a selected VDA Tool inside the view object. You can create multiple plots for presentations and reports by creating, arranging, and annotating several view objects in the WzMultiView Tool.

In the Filter text field of a file selection dialog box, you can user the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) wild card characters to filter the files or subdirectories shown in the corresponding list box. The two characters differ in the following way:

For example, you could search for all files with the filename extension .dat by entering *.dat into the Filter text field. In this way, the Files list box would display only the files with a .dat extension.

The system program that controls the size, placement, and operation of windows on the desktop of the workstation. The window manager is responsible for managing all PV‑WAVE windows. The window manager is usually provided by the work-station manufacturer and is not a product of Rogue Wave Software, Inc.

This VDA Tool is used to display a series of images in rapid succession. It can also be used to capture images displayed in other VDA Tools, and then animate them.

The WzBar Tool creates three types of bar charts: simple bar charts from 1D arrays; stacked or grouped bar charts from 2D arrays; and stacked and grouped bar charts from 3D arrays.

The WzBar3D Tool is used to visualize relative quantities in small 2D datasets. This tool produces a three-dimensional looking array of bars.

This VDA Tool is used to change and manipulate the color table used for images and plots.

This VDA Tool is used to plot 2D contour data.

This VDA Tool is used to export the data in a variable to a file.

This VDA Tool is used to plot a histogram.

This VDA Tool is used to display and process image data.

This VDA Tool is used to import data from a file to a PV‑WAVE variable.

This VDA Tool lets you arrange and annotate multiple plots in a single drawing area. The multiple plot can then be printed for use in reports or presentations.

The WzPie Tool is used to visualize relative quantities in small 1D datasets as a pie chart.

This VDA Tool is used to plot one or more variables.

This VDA Tool is used to plot an independent variable against one or more dependent variables.

This VDA Tool is used to display an ASCII file and specify which parts of the file are to be read into PV‑WAVE variables.

This VDA Tool is used to plot 3D surface data.

This VDA Tool is used to view and modify the numeric values of a variable in a table.

This VDA Tool is used to select variables.

A PV‑WAVE data export option. XDR (eXternal Data Representation) is a way to transfer binary data between different machines using an industry-standard format. Machines supporting XDR (such as Sun and DEC workstations) have the ability to convert between it and their own internal representation.