Better axis controls in charts
This issue was created automatically from an original Mantis Issue. Further discussion may take place here.
More, more, MORE! One of the most imperative things about making plots is the ability to set the scale on the axis. The user should be able to double-click on an axis and get a dialog box that allows him to change the scale and the spacing of the tics. Perhaps an easier alternative might be to put the controls in the Display tab of the object inspector.
Granted, the current zoom controls more-or-less allow you to do this. But there are several shortcomings:
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Often a user will have a specific region in mind to look at, and it's easier to just insert the values in a dialog box.
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The region the user wants to see make be far enough away from the axis that if he zooms into it, he won't be able to see the markings on the axis.
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The charts often pick "weird" values for the ticks on the axis. Even if the chart did a better job of picking more aesthetically pleasing values, the user is likely going to want to occasionally change them.
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Some of the zoom controls are "hidden" features that most users will assume do not exist. For example, I spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to scale the Y axis of a histogram down, and went as far as to report a bug about it (bug #4523 (closed)). Turns out, the answer was an alt-middle button drag. I could have used PV for years without ever trying that.
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In a very short amount of time several people are going to ask for logarithmic scales. Implementing this should be straightforward so long as there already is a mechanism to provide the user a way to choose the scale (and, no, shift+ctrl+triple-right-click does not count).
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If you are printing or exporting an image of a plot, you are going to want the axis set up to the range you are interested in rather than zoomed in and shooting off of the end of the image.