Dataplot: Macros

The links for these file are to the NIST ftp site. If you have downloaded and installed Dataplot, local copies of the files are available in the "MACROS" subdirectory of the Dataplot auxillary directory. For Windows, the default auxillary directory is "C:\DATAPLOT". For Unix/Linux, the default auxillary directory is "/usr/local/lib/dataplot".

1. Provide useful capabilities that can be applied to your own data sets.
2. Serve as guides for writing your own Dataplot macros.

CALL <name>

LIST <name>

If the Dataplot auxillary directory is not in the default location, you can define the environment variable DATAPLO$ (on Windows and Unix/Linux platforms) to tell Dataplot where the Dataplot auxillary directory is actually located. The Dataplot installation notes contain instructions for defining this variable for Windows and Unix/Linux platforms. For other platforms, contact your local system installer for guidance.

The last table lists a number of macros that are described as "Menu Macros". These macros explicitly prompt the analyst for the needed information. The use of menu macros is particularly helpful for macros that you are writing for others to use.

Note that menu macros should not be called if you are running the graphical interface (GUI) version of Dataplot. The GUI will hang if you try to do any "terminal reads", and terminal reads are a key component of menu macros. As an alternative for the GUI, you can extend the GUI menus. This is described in the Extending Dataplot web page.

Windows Operating System

There are several ways to create file associations. If you are unfamiliar with how to create file associations, the following is one way to do it (you only need to do this once).

1. Right click on one of the files and select the "Save link as ..." option. This option allows you to save the file. Select a convenient location to save the file (for our purposes here, the exact location is not important).

2. Once you have saved the file, open the File Explorer and bring up the directory containing the saved file, right click on the saved file and then select "Properties".

3. Under the "General" menu, look for the "Opens with" line and left click on the "Change" menu.

4. This menu will let you select what application to open the file with. You will most likely want to select a program that allows you to edit ASCII files. We do not recommend using Notepad as it is sensitive to the end-of-line convention used in the file. Most other applications (e.g., WordPad, Notepad++) are not sensitive to the end-of-line convention used.

Linux Operating System

Under Linux, the method for specifying a file association will depend on the variant of Linux and the specific desktop/browser you are using. If you are unfamiliar with how to create a file association for ".DP" file extensions, we recommend doing a google search based on your specific Linux variant (e.g., Fedora, Ubuntu) and the specific file manager and browser being used. Most of the common applications for editing ASCII files will not be sensitive to the end-of-line convention used in the file.

• Basic statistics and graphics
• Distributional and reliability analysis
• Experiment design
• Fitting
• Interlaboratory/SRM
• Menu macros
• Multi-factor (two or more) analysis
• Multivariate analysis
• One factor analysis
• Plot identification, plot control and annotation macros
• Quality control analysis
• Time series analysis
• Univariate analysis