Grapher - Importing Points, and Help File problem.

Question

Level 4

1,121 points

Grapher - Importing Points, and Help File problem.

For some reason, I can't get the help file to load on Grapher to load. I have repaired permissions, but the thing will go no further than show me the entry page to Grapher help. Any searching just throws an error to the Console.

What I am actually trying to find out how to do is to import points into Grapher. There is an Edit Points option. From within the dialog that comes up, there is a button to import data to the application. I have been unable to get this to actually DO anything, and no error or alert is given despite what I provide as input.

Any ideas.

Grapher, btw. is a neat program, but the user interface is godawful. It really is organized pretty badly, IMHO.

iMac G5 20" 1.8 GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.4)

Posted on Mar 3, 2006 1:17 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Dr. Smoke

Level 9

56,586 points

Mar 4, 2006 5:58 AM in response to SkipHaughay

Hi, Skip.

1. You wrote:

"For some reason, I can't get the help file to load on Grapher to load. I have repaired permissions, but the thing will go no further than show me the entry page to Grapher help."

See the "Help Viewer links do not work" section of my "Troubleshooting Help Viewer" FAQ.

2. You wrote:

"What I am actually trying to find out how to do is to import points into Grapher. There is an Edit Points option. From within the dialog that comes up, there is a button to import data to the application. I have been unable to get this to actually DO anything, and no error or alert is given despite what I provide as input."

I played around with this a bit using the Default graph type.

It appears that the data set you import has to be formatted in columns of x, y, and z coordinates (two columns for 2D graph). It appears to assume a plain text file with the (x,y,z) triplets on individual lines (Return at the end of each line), and tabs between the x, y, and z coordinates for a given point. For example, a data set you could create in TextEdit.

The Import option permits you to specify other options for handling the data you are importing, such as using a comma as the separator (vs. tab) in (x,y,z) triplets, ala CSV (comma-separated values) data sets you might export from Excel and then want to import to Grapher.

Also, if you want to import points for a new data set so you can compare two different sets of data in a single graph, you first need to add (Click [+] in the lower-left border of Grapher) a new data set, then import the data into such. If you simply choose Edit Points > Import with an existing data set, the points you import are added to the currently selected data set in the Equations column.

None of this is documented in Grapher's Help. I basically had to experiment with it to discern the info above.

3. You wrote:

"Grapher, btw. is a neat program, but the user interface is godawful. It really is organized pretty badly, IMHO."

I agree. The application does need a good bit of improvement w.r.t. Help details and interface design. I suggest you submit a Mac OS X Feedback.

Good luck!

😉 Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

Reply