set_contour

Context: contours

Synopsis

Modifies the attributes of an existing contour.

Syntax

set_contour([id,] values)

Description

id - an optional ChipsId structure containing values to modify the currency state for the command or a string id to modify a contour within the current plot.
values - a list containing attribute value pairs or a ChipsContour object.

The set_contour command sets the specified attributes to the provided values. The modified contour becomes current. Multiple contours may be modified with a single command by setting the currency to "all".

Customizing the Contour

There are several attributes that control the characteristics of contours. The set_contour command may be used to modify the attribute values of an existing contour at any time during a ChIPS session. See "ahelp attributes" and "ahelp setget" for more general information.

If multiple attributes are being set simultaneously and one of them fails, the entire command will fail and the contour will not be modified.

Please see the section "Contour Preferences and Attributes" below the examples for a list of the contour attributes.

Advanced Functions

The module of advanced ChIPS functions contains other commands for setting attribute values (refer to "ahelp chips" for information on loading the module):

set_contour_algorithm
set_contour_color
set_contour_depth
set_contour_interval
set_contour_levels
set_contour_mode
set_contour_numlevels
set_contour_style
set_contour_thickness
set_contour_transform

Setting the Contour Transform

The transform used to create contours is not controlled by an attribute of the set_contour command. It is specified with set_contour_transform, which is in the module of advanced ChIPS functions.

The command sets the transform to contour for future use and applys the transform to the contour. Contours currently only support a single transform. Multiple calls to this function will cause the transform already associated with the contour to be dropped and the the new transform to be set and applied. Passing "None" will cause the transform associated with the contour to be dropped.

Example 1

chips> set_contour(["thickness", 2, "color", "peach"])

Using attribute/value pairs, set the contour to display using a line thickness of 2 and with the color peach.

Example 2

chips> set_contour(["levels", [10,15,20]])
chips> print get_contour().mode
arbitrary

Change the levels being displayed by the contour (setting the levels attribute in this manner automatically changes the mode of the contour to "arbitrary").

Example 3

chips> s = ChipsContour()
chips> s.color = "red"
chips> s.style = "shortdash"
chips> set_contour("ctr1", s)

Populate the "s" structure with attribute values, then use it to set the contour with an id of "ctr1" to use red, short-dashed lines.

Contour Preferences and Attributes

The attributes associated with contours are given in the following table, where the "Set?" column refers to whether the attribute can be changed using the set_contour() command. To change the contour preference settings prepend "contour." to the attribute name.

Attribute	Description	Options	Default	Set?
algorithm	the contouring algorithm to be used	standard, marching	marching	Yes
color	contour color	name or hex; see the Color section of "ahelp chipsopt"	default	Yes
depth	Depth used for the contour object	see the Depth section of "ahelp chipsopt"	default	Yes
interval	Indicates the delta value from one contour level to the next whem mode=interval	Non-negative value	10	Yes
levels	When setting, this attribute controls the the contour levels to display when the mode is "arbitrary". When using get_contour() this attribute contains the actual contour levels displayed.	Array or list of numbers	[]	Yes
mode	How the contour levels are determined	arbitrary\|count\|interval\|limits\|nice; see the Tick Mode section of "ahelp chipsopt"	nice	Yes
numlevels	number of contour levels when mode is count	Non-negative integer	5	Yes
stem	Stem used for contour id	An alpha-numeric character sequence that does not contain a space	ctr	No
style	Stipple pattern used to draw the line segment	see the Line Style section of "ahelp chipsopt"	solid	Yes
thickness	Thickness of the line	0.5 to 10.0; see the Thickness section of "ahelp chipsopt"	1	Yes
wcs	The name of the coordinate system to use	"logical", "physical", "world". You can also use the names of the transforms, such as "sky" and "EQPOS".	"world", if available.	No

Bugs

See the bugs pages on the ChIPS website for an up-to-date listing of known bugs.