CoPlot Without the GUI
(Or, how to convert one type of graphics file into another from the command line,
batch files, shell scripts, pipes, Java programs, Perl, Python, Rexx, Tcl, etc.)

You can bypass the graphical front end of CoPlot in order to convert drawings in various types of graphics files (notably .draw files) into other types of graphics files (notably .gif files) from the command line, batch files, shell scripts, pipes, Java programs, Perl, Python, Rexx, Tcl, etc. You can also render the graphics file and send it to the printer.

When you run CoPlot, you are really running a graphical front end to a Java class called Drawing. It is Drawing that actually maintains the list of drawing objects, draws them to an Image (which CoPlot draws on the screen), creates various types of graphics files, etc.

The Drawing program (which is included with CoPlot) is a text mode program that reads in some type of graphics file (for example, .draw, .dra, .gra, .wmf, .cgm, .gif, .jpg) (or reads system.in) and writes out to an image file (for example, .gif, .jpg) or vector graphics file (for example, .cgm, .wmf, .eps) (or to system.out instead of to an actual file) (or to the default printer). This can be very useful on servers.

A different approach to getting the services of the Drawing program is to use Drawing directly from a Java program, or from a program in a different language (for example, Perl, Python, Rexx, or Tcl) that can access Java objects.

Documentation and examples of this are in the CoPlot manual (see "Drawing Program" in the index).