Whilst Don gave the Java spin, let me mention some of the Jython side
things that are available:
1) Can VisAD set line styles (continuous, dotted, dashed,
dotted-dashed...)? If yes, how do I find out existing choices
of line styles.
There is a 'makeLineStyle(style, width)' method that makes a ConstantMap
for use with line drawing. The options are 'solid', 'dash', 'dot', and
'dashdot', plus the line width.
2) Is there an *existing* set of shapes for the user to use
as data points in the plot? I see there is support for creating
any shapes and there is an example as how to do this for those
who want to make a shape from scratch. I have tinkered with
the tutorial example P2_06 and tried to map the example realTypes
into Display.Shape, but I don't see anything showing up.
In the 'subs.py' there is a class named "Shapes" which provides a few
built-ins. Also, a 'textShape()' method for making a Shape out of a
text string (useful when moving the text around or changing it;
otherwise, 'drawString()' is more straight-forward.
4) how to change the plotting box aspect ratio without
changing other components? The Display.setProjectionControl()
"streches" or "compresses" all component being drawn. This
is not what I ask for. What I ask for for example, is
how to change the aspect of the box without changing the width
of the ticks, data curves, font and any other thing on the plot.
setAspectRatio(display, ratio) will do it (ratio is width/height).
You had previously asked a question about making "fancy" 2D graphs. If the
screen shot Ugo sent still falls short of your needs, you might consider
this: It is quite practical to interface VisAD Data objects with other
graphing packages: I've done a few examples for specific Data types
using both Ptolmey graphics (AWT) and the Scientific Graphing Toolkit
(SGT). They both allow a higher degree of customization (including some
legends), but come with their own set of quirks and limitations.
Hope that helps...
Tom Whittaker (tomw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Space Science and Engineering Center
Cooperative Institute for Meteorological Satellite Studies