scales and axes

[Fenichel]

Here's yet another related issue. When I create a new axis to be an auxiliary scale on the right, it looks strange, because

• As previously discussed, the title appears to the left of the scale, when it should be to the right. This will be fixable by using your new Distance parameter.
• The ticks and labels are to the left of the axis, when they should be to the right. I don't think any existing user-accessible parameter controls this.

What might be good is to add a Side property to tChartAxis, with values [Left, Right, Top, Bottom]. Then when a user created a new axis with Side=Right, the axis's ticks & labels would automatically be on the right of the axis, and the default position of the axis title would be to the right of the labels. I wouldn't make such an axis have the PositionPercent behavior of RightAxis, but I suppose you might feel obligated to do that for a sort of consistency.

I'll put my latest demo code up on my site in the next few minutes.

[Fenichel]

Oops. I seem to have sent this twice. Delete whichever version you choose.

Here is another related issue. Your new Distance parameter will allow the title of right-sided auxiliary axes to be moved to the right of those axes, but the ticks and labels of those new axes will still come out on the left. As my latest demo (at https://www.fenichel.net/programs/ScaleTest.zip) shows, that doesn't look right.
What might be good is a new tChartAxis.Side parameter, with values {Left, Right, Top, Bottom}. Then a new axis with Side=Right could automatically get its title, ticks, and labels all to the right of the axis, with the title's horizontal position still tunable with Distance.

[Yeray]

Hello,

I believe I haven't correctly understood the initial issue.
This is what I see with your example:

axes_scales.png (32.72 KiB) Viewed 50359 times

So I don't see any axis at the right.

If you want an axis to be at the right side of the chart, you may want to set its OtherSide property to true. This way, the labels and title related to it will also change their side:

mstsc_dE7DnYtLv9.gif (108.07 KiB) Viewed 50359 times

[Fenichel]

I think you are not looking at the latest version of my demo. When I run it I see

But you're right; I hadn't noticed the OtherSide parameter. Should it be mentioned in the Axis chapter of the tutorial?

[Yeray]

Hello,

Indeed I'm afraid I was looking at the wrong version of your project.
Adding a boolean property (ie OthSide) to your tScale and mapping it to the Axis OtherSice property seems to solve it for me here. Note I also had to modify your OuterPercent peorperty, which maps to PositionPercent:

Code: Select all

             sideRight: begin (* right *)
                          //...
                          OuterPercent       := -20;
                          //...
                          OthSide            := true;
                        end   (* right *);

axes_scales.png (28.5 KiB) Viewed 50274 times

[Fenichel]

The solution is even simpler than that. Once OtherSide is in play, no OthSide is needed. Since my tScale is a descendant of tChartAxis, I can just set

Code: Select all

              OtherSide        := TheParentAxis.OtherSide;

around the same time as I set

Code: Select all

              Horizontal       := TheParentAxis.Horizontal;

inside tScale's constructor.
My old ToggleGrid went through various hoops to move the RightAxis and any right-sided tScale around, but now it is straightforward. As you can see from the latest version of my demo (same location), all it needs now is Distance.

Thanks for your responsiveness. This level of user support is appreciated.

[Yeray]

Hello,

We've just implemented the new Distance property, closing the ticket #2740.

Since you own the sources, you can apply the main changes to your copy of the sources, at TeEngine.pas and rebuild&reinstall the sources with TeeRecompile.

Code: Select all

diff --git a/TeEngine.pas b/TeEngine.pas
index cffb80a4..64525987 100644
--- a/TeEngine.pas
+++ b/TeEngine.pas
@@ -435,17 +435,19 @@ type
 
   TAxisTitlePosition=(tpStart, tpCenter, tpEnd);
 
   TChartAxisTitle=class(TCustomTextShape)
   private
+    FDistance     : Integer;
     FPosition     : TAxisTitlePosition;
 
     IDefaultAngle : Integer;
 
     function GetCaption:String;
     Function IsAngleStored:Boolean;
     Procedure SetCaption(Const Value:String);
+    Procedure SetDistance(Const Value:Integer);
     Procedure SetPosition(Const Value:TAxisTitlePosition);
   public
     Constructor Create(const AOwner: TCustomTeePanel); override;
 
     Procedure Assign(Source:TPersistent); override;

@@ -453,10 +455,11 @@ type
     function Clicked(x,y:Integer):Boolean; overload;
     Function Clicked(const P:TPoint):Boolean; overload;
   published
     property Angle stored IsAngleStored nodefault;
     property Caption:String read GetCaption write SetCaption;
+    property Distance:Integer read FDistance write SetDistance default 0;
     property Font;
     property Position:TAxisTitlePosition read FPosition write SetPosition default tpCenter;
     property TextAlignment default taCenter;
     property Visible default True;
 
@@ -3508,10 +3511,11 @@ end;
 Procedure TChartAxisTitle.Assign(Source:TPersistent);
 Begin
   if Source is TChartAxisTitle then
   With TChartAxisTitle(Source) do
   Begin
+    Self.FDistance:=FDistance;
     Self.FPosition:=FPosition;
   end;
 
   inherited;
 end;
 
@@ -3549,10 +3553,19 @@ end;
 function TChartAxisTitle.Clicked(x,y:Integer):Boolean;
 begin
   result:=Visible and (Caption<>'') and ClickedShape(TeePoint(x,y),ShapeBounds);
 end;
 
+Procedure TChartAxisTitle.SetDistance(Const Value:Integer);
+begin
+  if FDistance<>Value then
+  begin
+    FDistance:=Value;
+    Repaint;
+  end;
+end;
+
 { TChartAxisPen }
 
 Constructor TChartAxisPen.Create(const OnChangeEvent:TNotifyEvent);
 Begin
   inherited;
   
@@ -7802,10 +7815,11 @@ Procedure TChartAxis.CalcRect(var R:TRect; InflateChartRectangle:Boolean);
 var tmp : Integer;
     t   : Integer;
     tmpMargin : Integer;
     tmpTitleSize : Integer;
     tmpHasTitle : Boolean;
+    tmpDistance : Integer;
 begin
   // If this axis has any child subaxes, process them first:
 
   if Assigned(FSubAxes) then
   for t:=0 to FSubAxes.Count-1 do
   
@@ -7829,11 +7843,28 @@ begin
     if tmpHasTitle then
     begin
       with FAxisTitle do
            tmpTitleSize:=InternalCalcSize(FAxisTitle,Angle,Caption,FTitleSize);
 
-      FPosTitle:=CalcLabelsRect(tmpTitleSize);
+      tmpDistance:=0;
+      if FAxisTitle.Distance<>0 then
+      begin
+        if Horizontal then
+          if OtherSide then
+             tmpDistance:=-FAxisTitle.Distance
+          else
+             tmpDistance:=FAxisTitle.Distance
+        else
+          if OtherSide then
+             tmpDistance:=FAxisTitle.Distance
+          else
+             tmpDistance:=-FAxisTitle.Distance;
+
+        InflateAxisRect(R,FAxisTitle.Distance);
+      end;
+
+      FPosTitle:=CalcLabelsRect(tmpTitleSize)+tmpDistance;
     end;
 
     if FLabels.Visible then
     begin
       // Reset to zero, to force recalculation at SizeLabels

[Fenichel]

Are there instructions somewhere for TeeRecompile? I tried to run it naively, and I got various errors. I can post the error messages here, but maybe pointing me to some instructions would take less of your time.

[Fenichel]

Here is a screenshot of errors from TeeRecompile:

[Yeray]

Hello,

According to the error message (Tee97.dpk), you seem to be compiling TeeChart Standard v2024.40 for Delphi 7.
I've just tried it here and worked fine:

TeeRecompile_TeeChartStd_2024.40_D7.png (42.54 KiB) Viewed 49425 times

Have you modified those sources to add the new Distance property? Make sure the changes are correct.

[Fenichel]

I can't tell what the problem is.

• I can successfully run TeeRecompile with TeEngine.pas unmodified.
• As carefully as I could, I re-edited TeEngine.pas to incorporate the changes you list in your post, and I get the same error messages.
• That Repaint is undeclared is especially weird, since that is such a core Controls method.
• Could I be checking the wrong boxes when I run TeeRecompile? Before I click Begin it looks like

Could you put a copy of the correctly-edited TeEngine.pas somewhere for me to download?
Incidentally, in TChartAxis.CalcRect,

Code: Select all

              if Horizontal then
                if OtherSide then
                   tmpDistance:=-FAxisTitle.Distance   // H+O+
                else
                   tmpDistance:=FAxisTitle.Distance    // H+O-
              else
                if OtherSide then
                   tmpDistance:=FAxisTitle.Distance   // H-O+
                else
                   tmpDistance:=-FAxisTitle.Distance;  // H-O-

could be simplified to

Code: Select all

if OtherSide = Horizontal then
  tmpDistance := -FAxisTitle.Distance
else
  tmpDistance := FAxisTitle.Distance

[Fenichel]

TeeRecompile now works for me. I must have been making some stupid transcription error in editing TeEngine.pas.

Distance works imperfectly for me.

• It does fine with LeftAxis and RightAxis.
• I haven't tried it on the top or bottom axes.
• It seems to be ignored by auxiliary axes (my tScales).

As usual, my demo code is on my Web site at https://www.fenichel.net/programs/ScaleTest.zip.

[Yeray]

Hello,

Manually created axes do have their ResizeChart property set to false by default.
However, setting it to true will cause other side effects.
I'll investigate if there's anything else we can do.

[Yeray]

By the way,

could be simplified to

Code: Select all

if OtherSide = Horizontal then
  tmpDistance := -FAxisTitle.Distance
else
  tmpDistance := FAxisTitle.Distance

I've just simplified that to:

Code: Select all

        tmpDistance:=InflateAxisPos(0,FAxisTitle.Distance);

[Yeray]

Hello,

Manually created axes do have their ResizeChart property set to false by default.
However, setting it to true will cause other side effects.
I'll investigate if there's anything else we can do.

After setting ResizeChart property to true for a custom axis, you can play with the Texts.MarginToAxis as well as the already mentioned Title.Distance and PostionPercent properties to adjust them as you wish:

mstsc_PjpJJ9G8ns.gif (427.1 KiB) Viewed 47601 times