Re: change handling of time data for 5.0?

[Karl R. <ra...@un...>]

Am 05.10.2014 15:27, schrieb Karl Ratzsch:
> i just checked out the latest 5.1 cvs, and it seems to work just nicely.
> 

One more :

Coordinates given for e.g. "set arrow" still need "xdata time":

 set timefmt "%H:%M:%S"
 set arrow 1 from "12:31:01.4",10 to "12:31:01.7",35

This is alright for backward compatibility, however the new syntax
cannot decide if a string is just a numeral stored as a string variable
or a timestring that needs to be interpreted according to the format
string set by "set timefmt".

To resolve this, i propose to give the function strptime() a default
format e.g. -1 which refers to the momentary "set timefmt" setting.

 set arrow 1 from strptime(-1,"12:31:01.4"),10 \
		to strptime(-1,"12:31:01.7"),35

For actual use, the doc can then suggest defining a function

 TSx(timestr) = strptime(-1,timestr)

to save typing.

   Karl


P.S. Should there be a threat about a possible future removal of "set
xdata time" in the docs? Perhaps not. The underlying input/output
problem should be resolved, and for people who plot a lot of time scales
it is just quite convenient.

P.P.S. I noticed this while working on gnuplot.doc but will stop now
until this is decided.