Switching from the DOS CoHort Programs to CoPlot 6 and CoStat 6

New Features:

• General:
  • All of the DOS programs were combined to make CoPlot 6. (Although, you can still buy CoStat separately.) As with CoDraw for DOS, CoPlot 6 starts with a blank drawing area. You then pick some type of object to create (graph, path, text, ellipse, etc.) and create one or more objects. You then edit the attributes of the objects until they look like you want them to look. This system makes it easy to work with multiple graphs and to annotate graphs with lines, arrows, text, etc. You can get access to CoStat via CoPlot 6's Datafile menu. This lets you see data in CoStat while you view the graph in CoPlot.
  • The drawings (graphs, paths, text, etc.) are now stored in ASCII text files. This makes it easy to view and/or edit the commands used to create the drawings. It makes it easy to send the drawings by email. It makes it easy for programmers to write programs (in any language) that generate drawings.
  • The programs have a new, modern (but familiar) graphical interface.
  • CoPlot, CoStat, and CoText now support a multiple document interface: this allows you to easily open multiple windows (see File : New Window) and work on multiple documents simultaneously. Of course, the new CoPlot also lets you easily work with multiple graphs within each document.
  • There is a new macro system that is a true language so you have the option of making more sophisticated macros. It supports control structures (for, while, do, if, etc.), procedures (called "methods"), variables, etc. The syntax is very much like Java (which is sort of like C without pointer manipulation).
• Graphics system changes:
  • Rectangular (not square) drawing areas.
  • Support for the operating system's fonts, which look better on-screen and on lower resolution printers.
  • Improvements to CoHort fonts (which are still used for unusual characters and symbols) so they look much better on-screen and on lower resolution printers.
  • One, unified palette of 145 colors for simple selection of common colors, or specify any of 16.7 million colors (0..255 for red, green, and blue).
  • 15 new line types.
  • New kinds of arrowheads (Fancy and Lines).
  • A new font with weather symbols.
  • You can make the interior of a filled area a different color from the edge (or have no edge at all).
  • 70 new kinds of markers.
• CoPlot
  • A new structure for .gra files (now called .draw files) -- ASCII text -- in an easy to read format, so they can be easily created, read, modified, shipped via email, etc.
  • Import many more kinds of external data files (e.g., from the latest versions of Excel and Quattro).
  • Support for rotating graphs to any angle (for example, for horizontal bar graphs).
  • Many graphs can be loaded and active on the screen simultaneously.
  • There is a Graph Array wizard for quickly setting up an array of graphs.
  • A new object type ("path") replaces CoDraw for DOS' lines, arrows, markers, splines, filled areas, Bezier, and filled Bezier objects. After specifying the points which define the path, you can specify the type of outline (line, spline, Bezier). The outline, the background, the hatching, the markers, and the arrows all have separate color attributes (including "notDrawn"). Paths can have sub-paths so that more complex objects (e.g., objects with holes in them) can be drawn
  • Support for more complex types of objects (e.g., objects with holes in them).
  • No limit to the number of points in an object, the number of characters in a text object, or the number of objects.
  • CoStat is completely integrated with CoPlot.
• CoStat
  • The data file's system of factors, treatments, and replicates is gone. There are only rows and columns. This greatly simplifies setting up ANOVAs. There can be any number of rows (as before) and columns (not just 99).
  • Treatment numbers for ANOVAs no longer need to be encoded (e.g., 1,2,3); you can use real names (e.g., Male, Female) or real numerical values (e.g., 0, 25, 50, 100, 200).
  • Data files now support several types of data, including string data. (Each string can be any length.) String data is useful for plotting text data on a graph. Boolean, byte, short, char, and int data types are useful for storing integer data compactly.
  • Data can be displayed in different ways. For example, date data can be stored as double reals, but displayed in a date format that you specify.
  • The statistical results are put into a copy of CoText which is running in another window so you can view, edit, file, and print them.
• CoText
  • The new editing options and style mimic the standard Windows and Mac text editors.
  • It handles lines of any length (not just 255 characters).
  • Here is a description of the new CoText.
• CoVis - Almost all of the animation features in CoVis are now available in the new CoPlot, so there will not be a separate new CoVis program. Hopefully, all of the CoVis features will be incorporated in the new CoPlot eventually.

Specific Topics

DOS CoPlot and DOS CoDraw

The features of DOS CoPlot and CoDraw are now combined in CoPlot 6. CoPlot 6 works basically like DOS CoDraw did: it is a drawing program. You create drawings by creating drawing objects and manipulating their attributes. CoPlot 6 has a new object type that DOS CoDraw didn't have, Graph. With it, you can create one or more graphs in the drawing. See CoPlot's Help : Lesson 1.

DOS CoStat

The DOS CoStat is replaced very directly by CoStat 6, which exists as a separate program and as a fully-integrated part of CoPlot. CoPlot's Datafile menu lets you load and work with up to 15 data files per drawing. See CoStat's Help : Getting Started.

DOS CoText

The DOS CoText is replaced very directly by CoText 6, which exists as a separate program and a fully-integrated part of CoPlot and CoStat (where it captures and displays results from statistical procedures). See CoText's Help : Getting Started.

Menus

The DOS programs had their own unique graphical user interface. CoPlot 6 uses a more standard interface with a menu and various dialog boxes with standard widgets. See the Menu Tree.

What!? The DOS keystroke menu system is gone!

Yes. Sorry. We liked it, too. You could work very quickly if you knew the programs well and were a touch typist. But most users nowadays want to see a typical Windows/Mac/UNIX graphical user interface, so we have done our best to meld the two styles. Once you get used to it, you will see that all of the features of the DOS programs are still there, often with basically the same names, but with a somewhat altered interface.

DOS CoPlot's Graph : File and DOS CoDraw's Global : File Menus

are replaced by CoPlot 6's File menu. For example, DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Save is replaced by CoPlot 6's File : Save.

CoPlot's and CoDraw's Update Screen Menus

are replaced by CoPlot 6's Drawing menu (for settings related just to the current drawing) and CoPlot 6's Screen menu (for settings related just to the screen and for all drawings).

DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's Update Screen : Coordinates Menu

is replaced by CoPlot 6's Drawing : Coordinates dialog box. That dialog box also controls the scaling and positioning of the drawing on the printed page (which used to be part of DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's printing procedure).

DOS CoDraw's Line, Arrow, Bezier Line, Marker, Spline, Filled Area, Rectangle, Bezier Filled Area and Spline Filled Area Objects

All of those DOS CoDraw object types are replaced by CoPlot 6's Path object type. A path is a series of points and a set of attributes describing how the object should be drawn. By changing the attributes, you can draw anything the DOS objects could have drawn, and much more. There is an attribute which specifies if the points should be connected by straight line segments, spline sections, or used as Bezier control points. There are separate attributes for the background color, fill (hatch) color, and line (perimeter) color. There are many other attributes.

DOS CoDraw's Circle and Pie

are replaced by CoPlot 6's Ellipse object. Like the Path object, Ellipse objects have many attributes so they can be used to draw many different types of objects.

DOS CoPlot Always Had One Graph

In DOS CoPlot, there was always one active graph on the screen. But initially, CoPlot 6 shows you an empty drawing with no drawing objects, not even a graph. If you want to draw a graph, you must first use Create : Graph (or press the graph icon on the left edge of the main window) to create a graph.

DOS CoDraw's and CoPlot's Menus

In DOS CoPlot, there was only one active Graph, so the menu system was focused on that one graph. At any time, you could identify a part of a graph (for example, the X Axis : Title) and then edit the attributes of that part of the graph. In CoPlot 6, there may be many graphs (and other drawing objects) in the drawing, so you must first pick the graph (identify it as the drawing object you want to edit). Then you can identify a part of the graph (for example, X Axis : Title 1 on the Edit : Graph dialog box) and edit its attributes.

DOS CoDraw's Edit Procedure

To pick an object by clicking on it, use CoPlot 6's Edit : Pick One procedure or the Pick One button on the toolbar. Or, if no dialog boxes are open, just right click on the object.

DOS CoDraw's Variety Edit Procedure

To pick a variety of objects of different types, use CoPlot 6's Edit : Any Type procedure or the light blue 'E' button on the left side of the main window.

DOS CoDraw's Just Edit Procedure

To identify a type of object and then click on objects of that type which you want to edit, use one of the Edit : Type options or use one of the light blue 'E' buttons on the left side of the main window.

DOS CoDraw's Individual Edit

DOS CoDraw's Individual Edit offered a quick way to edit individual objects or individual points within an object. Those procedures are replaced by CoPlot 6's Edit : Objects and Edit : Points procedures. Procedures like these which are specific to Path objects (Insert Point, Delete Point, Break Path, Join Paths) can be found in the Edit : Path dialog box.

Importing .dra and .gra Files

Use CoPlot 6's File : Open : CoDraw DOS (.dra) or File : Open : CoPlot DOS (.gra) to convert .dra or .gra files into CoPlot 6's .draw file format. .dra imports work quite well. .gra imports work pretty well, but there may be small imperfections in the converted graphs that you will need to fix by hand. CoPlot 6's .draw files are ASCII files; so if you need to, you can edit them with a text editor.

.dt Data Files

DOS CoStat encouraged you to describe the data file in terms of variables, replicates, and factors with treatments. CoStat 6 just has rows and columns. DOS CoStat only stored double precision floating point numerical data. CoStat 6 lets you store different types of data, including text data.

Importing .dt Files

Use CoStat 6's File : Open : CoStat (.dt) to import older .dt files into CoPlot 6's newer .dt file format. The new .dt files support many different data types (not just double precision real numbers), including Strings of any length. Strings are handy in CoPlot because they allow you to plot text labels beside data points.

DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's .fnt Font Files

CoPlot 6 can use the DOS .fnt font files if you copy them into the new cohort6 directory. It is best if you have three files for each font family: name (the regular weight font), name-l (the light weight font), name-b (the bold font). DOS CoPlot and CoDraw's Update Screen : Font Load is replaced by CoPlot 6's Drawing : Load Fonts. Unfortunately, CoPlot 6 does not yet have a character editor to replace the one in DOS CoDraw. CoPlot 6 supports system fonts on screen and when saving to some types of graphics files (notably PostScript).

DOS CoPlot's .mp* Map Files

CoPlot 6 can use the DOS .mp* map files if you copy them into the new cohort6 directory.

Saving CoPlot 6's .draw Files As .dra or .gra Files

Sorry. You can't. CoPlot 6 has so many new features that it would be impossible to do even a reasonably good job of generating .gra files. It would be possible to do a simplistic job of generating .dra files, but too much information would be lost and the results would be hard to work with and not what you are hoping for. Please move forward to the new programs, not back to the old programs.

Saving CoStat 6's .dt Files As DOS CoStat .dt Files

Sorry. You can't. CoStat 6 supports String data (DOS CoStat didn't), so data would be lost. If you really need to get data from CoStat 6 into DOS CoStat, use CoStat 6's File : Save As : File Type : ASCII - Comma Separated. At least the numeric data can be transferred.

Colors

In DOS CoPlot and DOS CoDraw, there were 9 palettes of 16 colors each. In CoPlot 6, there is one palette of 142 colors. And you can also create and use any custom color that you want.

CoPlot's Top X Axis and Right Y Axis

If you just want to have the same ticks and labels on the Top X axis or the Right Y axis, use CoPlot 6's Edit : Graph : X (or Y) Axis : Overview : Visible : Both Axes. Or you can use the Visible : Both Axes setting for individual parts of the graph, for example the X Axis : Labels.

If you want a different axis range, different ticks, different labels or you want to plot a dataset with the Right Y axis, you need to make two graphs.

1. Create one graph which plots one of the datasets and uses the left Y axis only.
2. Press the X Axis button and set Low and High to specific numeric values.
3. Use Copy on the Edit : Graph dialog box to make a copy of the graph without moving it.
4. Now that the second graph is the picked graph, change the Dataset's Y variable and press the Y Axis button and set Visible to Opposite axis.
5. For future editing, remember that you can use the Pick List procedure to pick either or both of the graphs.

DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Group and Quick Switch

Now that Graphs are just another type of drawing object, it is easy to have multiple graphs in a drawing. There is no longer a need for DOS CoPlot's Grouped Graph (to sort-of get multiple graphs on the screen) or Graph : File : Quick Switch (to quickly switch between several different graphs). In CoPlot 6, you can get multiple graphs in a couple of different ways:

• Use Create : Graph repeatedly.
• Use Edit : Graph : Copy to make copies of an existing graph.
• Use the new Create : Graph Array to make an array of graphs in one step.

DOS CoPlot's Graph : File : Save As Draw

In DOS CoPlot, if you wanted to draw something other than a graph, you had to use Graph : File : Save As Draw and then use DOS CoDraw. In CoPlot 6, the graph is already part of a drawing, so you can use the various Create options to draw other things on the drawing. See Help : Lesson 1.

In DOS CoPlot, you also had to use Graph : File : Save As Draw to edit the parts of a graph in unusual ways in CoDraw. In CoPlot 6, you can use Edit : Graph : Graph : Save As Drawing Objects to convert a graph into a collection of drawing objects and immediately edit them.

DOS CoPlot's Origin Graph

In DOS CoPlot, this was a separate graph type. In CoPlot 6, use an XY graph, but set Edit : Graph : Graph : Overview : Draw XY Graph As Origin Graph.

DOS CoPlot's Histogram and 3D Histogram Graphs

In DOS CoPlot, these were separate graph types. In CoPlot 6, Histogram is just one type of dataset representation on XY graphs, and 3D Histogram is just one type of Dataset Representation on 3D graphs.

DOS CoPlot's Grouped Bars, Stacked Bars, 100% Bars Graphs

In DOS CoPlot, these were separate graph types. In CoPlot 6, they are just different Dataset Representations on XY graphs. When CoPlot 6 draws a graph, it notices if these representations are in use, looks for all of the datasets which are using each of these, and plots them appropriately. An advantage of this approach is that you can easily mix these representations with other representations on the same XY graph.

DOS CoPlot's N-Channel, Matrix, Multivariate Bar Graphs

In DOS CoPlot, these were a separate graph types that were plotted as what looked like an array of XY graphs. In CoPlot 6, they are all replaced by Create : Graph Array which helps you set up and manage a 2D array of XY graphs. An advantage of this approach is that you can make different Y Axis ranges for each of the graphs. Or, you can put two datasets in one of the graphs.

DOS CoPlot's Data Indicates

• For the dataset, select Representation : Markers/Labels.
• Set Labels to the column with the values you want to display. You might want to use CoStat's Edit : Insert Columns and Transformations : Indices To Strings to make a new column with values derived from some other column.
• Select Position: 5) Center Center.
• Set Marker Type to one of the unused markers (#48?).

CoPlot and CoDraw's Embedded Text Commands

DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's embedded text commands which generated unusual characters are replaced by CoPlot 6's HTML-like character entities, which all start with '&' and all end with ';'. For example, Á generates Á. In every situation where character entities can be used, CoPlot 6 has a '&' button which pops up a window to help you pick the characters from lists. Or, you can just type the names into the textfields. All of the characters which were available in the DOS programs are available in CoPlot 6, and more.

DOS CoPlot's and CoDraw's embedded text commands which were formatting commands are replaced by CoPlot 6's HTML-like embedded text tags, which all start with '<' and all end with '>'. For example, '<b>' makes subsequent text bold and '</b>' makes subsequent text not bold. In every situation where tags can be used, CoPlot 6 has a '<>' button which pops up a window to help you pick the tags from a list. Or, you can just type the tags into the textfields. All of the formatting commands which were available in the DOS programs are available in CoPlot 6, and more.

DOS CoStat's and CoPlot's Equations

CoStat 6 and CoPlot 6 support equations which are very similar to DOS CoStat's and CoPlot's equations (see Using Equations), but the new equations support a much larger number of built-in functions and can be used for String processing as well as numeric processing. See also 'Differences from the DOS CoHort Equation Evaluator'.

Macros

Macros in CoPlot 6 and CoStat 6 are just as easy to use as macros in the DOS programs (start recording with Macro : Record; later play them with Macro : Play). But the new macros can be greatly extended because they stored named commands (not just keystrokes) and because they use a language (see The Macro Language) which supports variables, control structures (if, else, for, while etc.), procedures, etc.

Because the DOS macros just stored keystrokes, there is no way for CoPlot 6 or CoStat 6 to automatically convert them for use in CoPlot 6 or CoStat 6. We recommend you open the old macro files in a text editor (like CoPlot's Edit : Show CoText) so you can view them while recording replacement macros in CoPlot 6.

The DOS macros supported a feature called Display Yes/No/Off. Currently, there is no comparable feature in the new programs.

Technical Support

Technical support remains the same - free. See Support.

Problems, Comments, Questions, or Suggestions?