Mathematica needs better support for automatic zooming into a plot
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg108658] Mathematica needs better support for automatic zooming into a plot
- From: "Nasser M. Abbasi" <nma at 12000.org>
- Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 05:37:02 -0500 (EST)
In another system (starts with the letter M and ends with the letter B), one can easily zoom within a plot using the mouse, by making a rectangular shape to select the zoom region, and the plot is then replotted to fit into the new area. Then using the mouse, one can unzoom back to the original scale. These functionalities are build into each figure which is generated, using a build-in menu attached to each figure window. Now, I do zooming, by having sliders which I moves around, and then I change the axis plot range accordingly, then replot. But this is not as nice. I looked at few other options, but all seem convoluted to me. For example, I thought of the following: Try to use LocatorPane with 2 locators, one for each opposite corner of the rectangular, and user would adjust these, and then using Dynamics, I can read the coordinates of each corner and this gives the new plot range. But I think need to superimpose this LocatorPane on top of the plot itself to make it user friendly, and worry about mapping coordinates and all that, and it is starting to get too complicated. Or may be use Slider2D, one for one corner and another for the second corner. The point is, I think Mathematica should have a build-in support for these sorts of things, the user do not need to code this each time from scratch. once a plot is made, there should be an automatic way for someone, using the mouse to select an area on the plot. May be add another menu, like the menu that comes up when one right-click on a plot, next to the graphic inspector, to do this. May be for version 8? This is one feature I always wondered why Mathematica, with all its graphics functions, does not support for out-of-the-box. --Nasser