Using SPLASH Description: SPLASH (Scientific Plotting and Analysis Shell) is a program for conveniently plotting and viewing the data in PDS label files and UCLA/IGPP flatfiles. SPLASH can be used to produce both time-series and XY plots with flexible formats, which may be edited interactively, and saved for subsequent viewing. It is particularly useful for displaying time-series data, because the user may scroll through the data sequentially, viewing only a selected time interval at a time. Some or all of the data columns in a file may be viewed simultaneously. Multiple data columns may be displayed on the y-axis of a plot, all plotted against a common x-axis variable. Values of multiple variables may be displayed at tic intervals along the X-axis. Getting started: SPLASH may be run on any PC running Windows 95 or Windows NT. To view the contents of a PDS Label File, start SPLASH, and select 'New' from the 'File' menu. In the dialog box which appears, make sure that 'PDS Label Files' are specified in the 'Files of Type' combo box. Select the file to view and press the 'Open' button. The SPLASH wizard will guide you through the process of selecting the data to display on each plot. It will prompt you to select the data to be displayed on the x-axis of each plot, and the traces to be displayed in the y-axes. Additionally, you will be able to select data to be displayed numerically below the axis of the bottommost plot (additional variables). The SPLASH wizard will only allow you to create plots which share a common x-axis, and which only have one variable plotted on the y-axis. To have more flexibility in creating plots, you may use the advanced plot creation dialog by selecting the 'Advanced Mode' button on the first page of the SPLASH wizard. For help in using this dialog to create plots, press the 'F1' key after the dialog appears. Getting help: Topic-specific on-line help may be found by selecting 'Help Topics' from the Help menu. Pressing 'F1' will also bring up the help topics dialog box. If a dialog box is open, pressing the 'F1' key will bring up the help topic which is specific to the dialog box being displayed. Setting the x-axis length (view interval): When initially displayed, time-series plots will display up to the first 1000 records in the file. To change the interval displayed on the plots, select 'x-axis options' from the 'Graph' menu. The x-axis range of the plot may be changed by typing in new values for the plot minimum and maximum. An XY plot will display all of the records in the file. The range of the plot may be set in the same fashion as for a time plot. Pressing the tab key will increase the range of a plot by one major tickmark, and pressing the backspace key will decrease the range of a plot by one major tickmark. Modifying the plot format: Once the selected plots have been displayed, their format may be modified by selecting the appropriate menu item from the 'Graph' menu. For example, to modify the appearance of the X or Y plot axes, select 'x-axis Options' or 'y-axis Options' from the 'Graph' menu. This will bring up a dialog box which allows you to edit the axis properties. Alternatively, the properties of a plot axis may be edited by clicking the left mouse button near the axis to be edited. To modify the properties of a plot, such as trace color or plot size, select 'Panel Options' from the 'Graph' menu. See the help topics for descriptions of the other menu choices on the 'Graph' menu. Manipulating time series plots: If the data on the x-axis plots is of type 'time', the user may scroll ahead one x-axis length in the data by pressing the 'Page Down' button on the keyboard. Similarly, the user may scroll backwards through the data by pressing the 'Page Up' key. The left and right arrows produce similar results, except the data is only shifted by the length of a major tickmark. Pressing the 'Tab' key will expand the x-axis range of the plot by one major tickmark, and pressing the 'Backspace' key will shrink the x-axis range by one major tickmark. A summary of the results of pressing various keyboard keys may be found in the help topics under 'hot keys' Viewing the numerical data values: The numerical value of the data on a plot may be obtained by passing the cursor over the plot. On a time-series plot, the value of the data at the cursor position will be displayed along the right-hand side of the plot. On an X-Y plot, the position of the cursor in X and Y coordinates will be displayed along the right hand side of the plot. To disable this feature, select 'No Panel Tracking' from the 'Graph' menu. To display the values at the cursor position simultaneously for all plots, select 'Track All Panels' from the 'Graph' menu. If 'Track Additional Variables' is selected from the 'Graph' menu, the value of any additional x-axis variables at the bottom of the page will be tracked with the mouse cursor as well. Saving plots: The plots produced by SPLASH may be saved to your hard drive. A saved SPLASH plot consists of two parts, a 'common display attributes' ('.cda') file containing the plot parameters, and the original file containing the data to be plotted. When a '.cda' file is created, it contains a pointer to the data set, so to redisplay the plots you will need the CD-ROM containing the data.