Plotpp

A plotting library for C++ that uses Gnuplot as a backend. Allows plotting from custom containers/vectors if they use begin() and end() iterators as well as plotting from built in arrays.

Documentation

Requirements

• Gnuplot: Homepage Windows Download Linux install:
  Note: The project can be build without gnuplot, since this library will only communicate with gnuplot through pipes. But you will need gnuplot to display the graphical plots.
• C++20

Dependencies

• {fmt}: GitHub, Documentation, Conan

A conan recipe is provided

Examples

You can see all examples in the examples/ folder.

Line Plot

int main() {
	std::vector<float> x = linspace<float>(-2, 2, 100);
	std::vector<double> y = apply_func(x, [](double x){return -x + x * x * x;});
	
	using namespace plotpp;
	
	Figure fig("Line Plot from XY");
	fig.add(line(&x, std::move(y)).label("f1"));
	fig.grid();
	fig.show();
	fig.save("line-plot.svg");
	
    return 0;
}

Arrow Plot

int main() {
	using namespace plotpp;
	
	double arrow_x1[] = {-1, -2, -3, -4, -5};
	double arrow_y1[] = {-1, -2, -1, -2, -3};
	double arrow_x2[] = {-2, -3, -4, -5, -6};
	double arrow_y2[] = {-3, -4, -2, -3, -5};
	
	Figure fig("Arrow-Plot");
	fig.add(arrows(&arrow_x1, &arrow_y1, &arrow_x2, &arrow_y2).label("arrow plot"));
	fig.show();
	fig.save("arrows.svg");
	
    return 0;
}

Multiplot

int main(){
	using namespace plotpp;
	
	const auto x = linspace(-3.1415, 3.1415, 50);
	
	Multiplot mplt(2, 2, "Multiplot");
	mplt.at(0, 0).add(line(&x, sin(x)).label("Top-Left"));
	mplt.at(0, 1).add(points(&x, cos(x))).label("Top-Right"));
	mplt.at(1, 1).add(line(&x, tan(x)).label("Bottom-Right"));
	mplt.show();
	mplt.save("multiplot.jpg");
	
	return 0;
}

Integration

CMake

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.15)
project(PROJECT_NAME CXX)

find_package(plotpp CONFIG REQUIRED)

add_executable(main src/main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(main plotpp::plotpp)

Conan TO be done

conanfile.txt

[requires]
plotpp/<version>

[generators]
CMakeDeps
CMakeToolchain

[layout]
cmake_layout

conanfile.py

from conan import ConanFile
from conan.tools.cmake import cmake_layout


class ExampleRecipe(ConanFile):
    settings = "os", "compiler", "build_type", "arch"
    generators = "CMakeDeps", "CMakeToolchain"

    def requirements(self):
        self.requires("plotpp/<version>")

    def layout(self):
        cmake_layout(self)

build instructions with conan

# install dependencies
conan install . --build=missing --output-folder build

# Optional: set your prefered compile
set CC=<path/to/C-compiler>
set CXX=<path/to/C++-compiler>
set LD=<path/to/Linker>

# generate build scripts (for the build tool e.g.: -G "Ninja Multi-Config")
cmake -S . -B build -DBUILD_EXAMPLES=ON -DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=build/Release/generators/conan_toolchain.cmake

# build the project
cmake --build build_gcc --config Release

Conan FAQ

• How can I make Conan use a different CMake generator?
  Add to your profile:

[conf]
tools.cmake.cmaketoolchain:generator=Ninja

• Conan selects the wrong compiler? Add to your profile:

[conf]
tools.build:compiler_executables={"c" : "gcc", "cpp" : "g++"}

• Where can I find the default profile?

conan profile path default

• I want to create a library but with conan create . --build=missing it cannot find the header files Enable transitive headers in your conanfile.py:

def requirements(self):
	self.requires("<library/version>", transitive_headers=True)

Manually with add_subdirectory

Manually download the library and add it via add_subdirectory.

add_subdirectory(path/to/Plotpp)
add_executable(PROJECT_NAME main.cpp)
target_link_libraries(YOUR_PROJECT_NAME PUBLIC plotpp)

Note: you would also need to add and link against fmt

Manual Build

• include the folder containing plotpp.hpp
• compile and link all *.cpp files in plotpp/

Build the Documentation

• Doxygen to analyse the code, extract all symbols and doc-comments.
• doxybook2 to convert the XML files from Doxygen into MarkDown pages.
• mkdocs to build the website
  • Material as a theme for mkdocs

Build the documentation with:

doxygen
if not exist $(MD_OUTPUT) mkdir docs\docs\API
doxybook2 --input docs\doxygen\xml --output docs\docs\API --config docs/doxybook2-config.json
mkdocs build -f docs/mkdocs.yml