SPANA: Printing Diagrams & Making Figures for Reports
Files with extension plt contain a
diagram in a device-independent plot-file format.
Plot files may be displayed and printed and they may be converted to other
file formats with the program SPANA.
Printing diagrams: The quickest and easiest way is the
Menu / Print in a diagram window.
This prints the diagram with standard margins and size in order to fit the page.
A Windows-printer must be installed in order to use this method.
Convert to PDF: diagrams may be distributed
as pdf-files to colleagues that do not have “Chemical Equilibrium Diagrams” installed.
Pdf-files may be viewed and printed using software freely
available in the Internet.
Making it pretty: To create a figure for a report you
might wish to make some changes in the diagram
- Change the size and font in menu Preferences /
Diagram windows of the SPANA program.
- It is possible to modify a plt file directly
with a text editor: e.g. remove
or move labels, remove the heading, etc.
See plot-file format.
Use Menu / Redraw in the diagram to display the changes.
- Convert the diagram first into another file format (for example: bmp or eps) as
described below and then modify the new file with a graphics or text editor,
depending on the new format.
Insert a diagram in a publication (for example in a MS-Word document):
- Copy/Paste: Copy to the Clipboard with the Menu /
Copy as ... in the diagram window. Paste the diagram in in the document.
Different copy-to-clipboard methods are available for different system.
On the document you may click on the image and drag one of the edges to resize it.
A metafile image is a high quality image that is
independent on enlargement.
-
Save a Bitmap file with the Menu / Export to bitmap file
in the diagram window. Different formats are available on different computer systems.
These files may be edited with some graphics programs. Bitmap-files may be
inserted in documents but they have a fixed resolution and the printed
result depends on enlargement.
-
Convert to encapsulated PostScript using the Menu /
Convert to ... in the diagram window:
Encapsulated PostScript files may be inserted in a document
and then printed. PostScript files may be edited to add, delete
or move labels. Note: some word processors may not display these
files on the screen (only a rectangle is then shown where the picture will
be placed, the diagram however appears when printed).