Autoplot Application (20160205a)

$v (version) and $x (wildcard) can be used in a URI without $Y (or other time fields) now.

Autoplot attempts to allow plotting of data from many data sources, including remote CDF files and OpenDAP servers. Datasets are identified with URIs, and by the URI's extension, data are loaded into the internal data model. Data are then displayed by guessing the rendering method and axis ranges to provide a reasonable, useful view of the data. Data can then be additionally processed with other operations like smooth and FFT, and Jython scripting provides a capable programming environment.

This is the Autoplot2015a branch. This is an update to the production version containing bugfixes and minor new features. Java 7 is now required. Java 8 will be required sometime soon.

Single-jar version, autoplot.jar, can be run without network access and from the command line.

Bugfixes (2016-02-04 r18258):

• setDepend0Cadence would not properly set the units
• webstart on Linux/Mint creates a launcher that likes pass in %U when there is no file argument. -open xx (with any two characters) is now ignored.
• 1517: Sebastian's script hangs when calling DataPointRecorder.save
• 1515: remove extraneous user permissions dialogs caused when user@ added to it automatically.
• add PENDING_CHECK_REJECT so that the waitUntilIdle function properly detects that the application is not idle. Thanks Kenzie!
• improve feedback while reading CDF file data, MMS has large datasets that take non-trivial time to extract
• update the crosshair digitizer when we install RBGImageRenderer, so that R,G,B values are reported.
• treat http://user@... the same as http://... when credentials are needed either way. PNGWalkTool had a bug where user@ was added automatically, causing a second login dialog.
• openBrowser code assumed that the Java 6 system could be used, but it isn't supported on Linux (Mint).
• 1512: I/O Error reading CDF files on 32 bit machines. Fall back to alternate method for opening files.
• RGB indication on crosshair renderer corrected for images without DEPEND_1 tags.
• 1511: resetting the data set URI in a stack of plots would reset the timerange. Thanks, Bill for pointing this out!
• relax timeout on read to 60 seconds, because sometimes the das2server would take more 10 seconds before sending out data.
• 1510: pngwalks of aggregations of sparse data, limitation is no longer needed, and we just don't look for gaps when this would be impractical.
• correction to PNGWalkTool thread sync bug, where check failed to see that thumbnail wasn't ready.
• keep track of separate control for HTTP read timeout, before there was just timeout for connection.
• pngwalk write to html corrected to make pngwalk more portable.
• 1506: allow subsequent repeat of lsd to reset the multiplier, fixing $Y$(m,delta=4)/$Y$m$d.dat
• grayPeaks didn't draw in StackedHistogram mode, because the lightGray.brighter() would result in white.
• undo operation was performed on event thread, which could easily lock the application
• CDAWeb result was missing CACHE_TAG, so result would be reloaded when it wasn't needed.
• CDAWeb uses web service to more accurately identify needed files.
• 1509: do sanity check to make sure new dialogs are not positioned outside of screen bounds.
• export to rich ascii will allocate name when dataset doesn't have name property.
• Screenshots tool would clip the pointer when it was partially outside of the GUI boundaries.
• 1437: export to rich ascii must preserve as much metadata as possible
• check for missing/problem with Rich PNG JSON, Where Dan's pngwalk contained bad metadata that showed in a demo at AGU.
• dashup tool gets quick-n-dirty rename variable code
• screenshots tool would clip the pointer when it was on the edge of window
• time unit t2000 works in das2stream again.
• clean up DataPointRecorder's use of threads, to avoid RTE.
• 1500: two autoplot script editors, pointing at same file, detect changes incorrectly
• 1498: pngwalk digitizer jumps ahead when delta=15 should have been used
• add typographicPoints unit, and correct meters to inches conversion, which was using inverse.
• bugfix: offline status wasn't respected in one code, causing hang.
• Netbeans is able to compile dasCore again, the project metadata was messed up.
• set the bounds properly when fontSize is used to enlarge font. Thanks Rich!
• add code to ensure that ephemeris data is monotonic and non-repeating.
• 1495: detect when maximized state should be used when restoring .vap files
• minor improvements to status bar messages
• 466: copy-n-paste plots. Feature now does error checking
• Updates to Rich ASCII parser to support Firebird files.
• "getParam (" wasn't parsed properly when generating GUI. Thanks Rich!
• Aggregation listings constrained to timerange, when timerange is in the URI.
• das2stream supports yFormat property
• annotations now visible in pngwalks and with the server.
• qds formatter also handles BIN_MINUS and BIN_PLUS
• corrections to autorange hints
• annotation bounds were not set properly for pngwalks and with the servlet.
• formatDataSet to CDF on Windows with Webstart failed because of move, so we fall back to copy.
• rte 1586184923: user exceptions were confusing because RTE dialog showed
• try/finally block used with web communication to get mime type.
• 1486: minor corrections to layout tab to improve usability
• corrections to Dashup tool caused by minus sign vs negation in Jython AST.
• "and" and "or" must be implemented as inline operators in Dashup tool
• introduce rank0 transform methods to support Jython rank 1 iterator returns rank 0 datasets instead of doubles, breaking Juno/Waves planning script.
• rfe 457: add hidden plot would intercept mouse events, making the connected plots difficult to work with.
• rfe 464: update the initial colors.txt template so that it is not confusing.

Older Bugfixes:

• progress monitor cleaned up when aggregation is used as events list in events list tool.
• webstart jar files resigned with this year's signature
• external script editor save detect failed on Windows, this is fixed.
• 1482: vaps with two time-series-browse datasets, each listening to plot.context property
• pngwalks with images without timeaxes would incorrectly use xaxis ranges instead of filename
• arrow is included in the annotation bounds.
• finally name dark green and purple color.
• huge scatter uses 1-pixel connecting line when zoomed in closely.
• 1479: format then parse in time range event firing could cause very deep stacks.
• 1480: old bug where change in component (|slice) wouldn't properly lock the application is fixed.
• add TailBundleDataSet, which allows bundle(alpha,red,green,blue) to work with rank 2 datasets.
• rte_0553700540: index out of bounds exception when "|log10" was missing parens, this is allowed now.
• rte_2066281934: catch IndexOutOfBoundsException when trying to parse "...+...+...", now throws parse exception.
• rte_1417924229: transitional state produced NullPointerException
• 1478: slice and unbundle operations properly preserve units, eq and ne operators improve support for nominal data.
• PNG support corrects problems with alpha channel when reading and formatting PNG files.
• TimeParser $(subsec) had a bug with rounding.
• 1473: create pngwalk by orbit without rescale fails
• 1472: HTTPFileSystem fails to query for username after typo
• 1470: de-internationalize the three codes that were accidentally internationalized.
• 1468: Chris pointed out the setting for the default browser in the settings, which pointed out that Java handles this now, since Java6.
• 1465: check before closing an editor with changes.
• invokeScriptSoon dialog would leave progress monitor hanging if there's a exception thrown in the script..
• remove extra question mark when reporting data was exported.
• corrections to hrinterval and time format, correctly using the stop time and supporting end modifier.
• clean up address bar as vap is loaded.
• "2014-001 to 2015-001 UTC" is supported now.

Features:

• Autoplot servlet experiment with checking for exceptions in the plot and putting them in the response headers.
• 472: allow $x to be used in aggregation without time fields.
• About screen includes a bullet explicitly identifying 32bit Java and provides a link to fix this.
• html version of pngwalk uses precalculated thumbnails.
• 470: DasProgressPanel shows the thread name to improve serviceability
• CDAWeb now shows availability.
• StackedHistogram gets style panel
• StackedHistogramRenderer name fixes
• CDF editor dialog indicates internal type to improve transparency and support creating new files.
• 468: unplot can use iso8601 times.
• Canvas size GUI supports "7 inch" or "30 centimeters" for dimensions, not just pixels.
• add LSpec rebin that uses bundle of buckshot (T,L,Z) for the input.
• 467: add accessory to allow override timerange when loading vap files.
• das2server items can now be a comma-delimited list of indeces.
• Single filesystems can be reset now, double-clicking in FileSystem manager will trigger reset.
• format to QDS supports BIN_PLUS and BIN_MINUS properies
• 443: autorange hint log=T supported, corrections to initial implementation of center and includeZero
• 466: copy-n-paste plots.
• script editor allows entry into data source editors with right-click→actions→"inspect URI"
• ISO8601 parser now supports time zone offsets.
• Clean-up and logging of OpenDap code so more predicatable failures can be studied.
• nc4 extension is recognized as NetCDF.

Less recent features:

• crosshair digitizer supports meta-C copy, putting the X,Y,Z values into the paste buffer.
• crosshair digitizer reports R,G,B values for images.
• hugeScatter zooms in to one-pixel width connector, when connector is used
• StackedHistogram mode added to support Voyager and ISEE datasets from U. Iowa Plasma Wave Group
• Color dialog allows colors to be sampled from other applications on the screen.
• inline jython editor has syntax highliting and completions.
• purple-yellow colorbar added. Thanks, Chris!
• style editor for digital renderer added, controls are now formatted to vap file.
• contour plot is finally added to list of plot types.
• AUTOPLOT_DATA/config/colors.txt allows new colors to be added to palette.
• add experimental caching of intermediate results in process string.
• introduce histogram2d process
• dashup removeValues introduced. Finish off the original list of functions.
• 313: remember dialog size and positions
• plot visible property no longer hides the data renderers.
• axes and plots now have fontSize property, which works like the annotation fontSize property, so '2em' is twice the canvas font height.
• putValues method added to support Dashup and also to match putProperty method.
• rfe456: jython editor detects external changes
• dashup can be enabled with environment variable "enableDashup=true" in config/system.properties.
• rfe453: axis tab has timerange editor for when the timerange isn't an axis.
• rfe454: support arbitrary rank data with HDF5 plugin.
• pngwalk allows &timerange= in URI to constrain the image timeranges.
• 451: keep track of running script so buffer doesn't swap
• 345: first go at annotations
• improvements to $(enum) in timeranges, providing code to read out the enumerated values.

Known issues:

• see Source Forge

This completes the feature set for the new production branch. No major features will be added before branching this version. A production branch will be started in a couple of weeks, and the "Start Autoplot" link at the top of autoplot.org will run this version. Feedback on the function and quality of this release is greatly appreciated!

Data is input from:

• ASCII files (.dat,.txt)
• CSV files (.csv)
• Binary files (.bin)
• CDF files(.cdf)
• Excel spread sheets (.xls)
• das2Streams (.d2s or .das2Stream)
• ViRBO's TSDS server
• CDAWeb data server (vap+cdaweb:)
• das2servers (vap+das2server:)
• QStreams (.qds), QDataSet on a das2Stream
• Plasma Wave Group das2 Server
• NetCDF files (.nc,.ncml)
• HDF5 files (.h5,.hdf5)
• DODs servers (.dds)
• Cluster Exchange Format files (.cef)
• Fits Format Files
• Images (.jpg, .png, .gif)
• Wav audio files (.wav)

This is not complete, and limitations include:

• Quantities of rank 3 dimensionality (e.g. flux(Time,Energy,pitch) are plotted by slicing.
• Quantities of rank 4 dimensionality (e.g. flux(Time,Energy,azimuth,sector) are plotted by slicing twice.

autoplot.org is the wiki website, and contains more information than this launch page.