Files related to Workspace Objects

Introduction

This page lists the various files that may comprise a workspace object. Each workspace object must have a unique keyword (unique in the sense that in any given Rave installation, each keyword must be unique). For this reason it is suggested that if you code your own workspace object and intend to distribute it to others, you give it a keyword that is specific enough to almost guarantee uniqueness. Conversely, the workspace objects that are distributed with Rave have very generic keywords. You may find it useful to code your workspace objects as specialized versions of these generic objects, by making copies of their folder and all its files, renaming them to have a new keyword, and making whatever changes are necessary. (Keep in mind that any modifications you make to the existing Rave files can only be distributed under the GPLv2 license.)

The files described below are named for a workspace object whose keyword is KEYWORD. All files related to this object must be placed in a folder named KEYWORD that is placed in one of the six folders below the graphics directory (rave\graphics\). Any time KEYWORD appears in a file name you must replace it with the unique keyword for the object you are coding. Otherwise, the filenames must be exactly as they appear below or Rave will not recognize them. Note that some file names do not include the keyword---Rave recognizes these by their location within the KEYWORD directory.

General File Info

All files must be functions except as indicated. None of the functions should have outputs. Each function must take two inputs. The first (usually called "src") is a handle to a graphics object in the main Rave window. The sole purpose of this input is to retrieve the handles structure. The second input (usually called "ev") is empty and unused, but must appear in the function definition at the top of the file. If you need to make additional functions used by any of the files below, you could include them as subfunctions inside one of the files listed below, or in separate files. Note that the preferred practice is to reserve the main identifying words that appear in the file names below (e.g. create, initialize, tab, etc...) for the files described below. To avoid confusion, other files you create should not include these words in their names.

Workspace Object Categories

Each type of object must fit into one of these six categories (folders):

• discrete - graphics whose primary purpose is to show data from a data set on coordinate axes
• continuous - graphics whose primary purpose is to show data that is generated on the fly by a user-supplied function
• special - everything else. Includes images, maps, etc.
• table - graphics whose primary purpose is to display numerical/text data in a table
• annotation - simple drawn objects such as text boxes, frames, shapes, arrows, etc.
• control - objects that give the user control over other workspace objects

"special" covers anything that doesnt fit neatly into one of the other categories

Each type of object gets its own folder that goes in one of these folders. That folder's name should be the objects's keyword

IMPORTANT: The object folders may optionally start with some numbers whose only purpose is to change the alphabetical order of the folders, and consequently, the order in which the objects are listed in the Create New Workspace Object gui. Be aware that if you change the number in front of an existing graph, you'll get a warning the next time you start MATLAB. Just type "savepath" at the command prompt to remove this warning in the future.

File List

graphinfo.txt (required)

A plain text file. The first line of this file must contain only the (long) name of the workspace object as it will appear when selected in the New Workspace Object gui. The remainder of the file must contain a short (a few lines) description of the object, which also appears in the New Workspace Object gui.

sample.png (optional)

A 400x400 pixel png image that will appear in the "New Workspace Object" gui as a preview. If sample.png is not supplied, no preview image will be shown.