Re: Proposal: Saving graphs from Qt and wxt terminals

[Philipp K. J. <ja...@ie...>]

On Fri, 24 Oct 2014 08:58:31 -0700
sfeam <sf...@us...> wrote:

> On Friday, 24 October 2014 10:24:50 AM pl...@pi... wrote:
> 
> > In principal I agree that there is a need here. Firing up another 
> > program just to use its saveAs dialogue seems suboptimal.
> 
> It's quite painless in practice.  Try this:

Well, it appears painless because we gnuplot users
have been used to jumping through these hoops
for the last 25 years! Try explaining it to 
someone NEW to gnuplot and then watch their
reaction. Would we really design it the way it
is, if we starting over today?

I want to make sure my motivation is understood:
obviously, graphs can be saved from gnuplot. But
the way it's done is unnecessarily cumbersome and
not in line with current-day expectations.

I also don't suggest to replace the standard,
command-based process. 

Instead, my suggestion really boils down to this:
given that there already is the "copy-to-clipboard"
function, can we extend it and have it copy to a
file, instead of the clipboard? 

> 
> set term png
> set output "|display png:-"
> plot $whatever
> 
> # plot will appear on your screen.
> # if you like it and want to save it, then
> 
> set output 'itsakeeper.png'
> replot
> 
> 
> I use the "display" command from ImageMagick, but if you prefer some
> other viewer you can substitute the display command as appropriate.
> 
> 	Ethan
> 
>