ORTEP-III Online Documentation
200 Series Instructions: Plotter Control


The 200 series is a group of instructions that control the device, real or virtual, that receives the information to output the ORTEP illustration. This may be, for example, an actual hardware plotter, a computer monitor, or a file of page description language instructions that will produce a hard copy of the illustration when the file is downloaded to a laser printer. Because no single word can describe all of the possibilities, the word "plotter" will be used.

The 200 instructions control plotter initialization, frame advance, color control, termination, and any other peripheral commands that are required for a particular equipment configuration or plotting package. When the program is modified for a different equipment configuration, the series 200 instructions, which are executed through subroutine F200, should be redefined to suit the user's requirements.

The 201 instruction initializes plotting and must be executed before any plotting can take place. It is a safe policy always to make this the first instruction card. If the 201 and 301 instructions are omitted, all calculations are carried out but no plotting is done.

The 202 instruction with no parameters is used to terminate plotting. With parameters, the 202 instruction may be used to shift the plot origin (frame advance).

The 201/202 (with no parameters) form an initialize/terminate pair and must always appear in pairs in the ORTEP input file. The pair may occur more than once (unlike OR TEP-II). Each call to 201 begins a new plot page.

Instruction 204 is used to change the color of (or plotter pen used for) subsequent plotting. The default value is 0 for black (or pen #1). The screen and Postscript drivers built into ORTEP-III define color value 2 as red, 3 as green, 4 as blue, 5 as cyan, 6 as magenta, and 7 as yellow. (The value of 1 is not defined in the Postscript driver.)

Instruction 205 is used to vary the thickness of the plotted lines. The unit for width is thousandths of an inch, and the default value is 5. For both the 204 and 205 instructions, if columns 10-18 contain "0" or are blank, the default settings are restored.

ColumnsInstruction 201 Instruction 202 Instruction 204 Instruction 205
  Shift plot originTerminate plotting    
7-9201202202204205
10-18-Shift along x (in.)- Color #
(or pen #)
Pen width
19-27-Shift along y (in.)- - -


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Page last revised: February 19, 1996