Table Of Contents

Graph ► Tools ► Skins

Each graph within the Tasks is defined by a specialized Graph IDE document called a skin. By having a task use your own skin you can make the graph have distinctive qualities that are otherwise unavailable with the limited controls of the task. Making a skin is described below, but first lets explain how to get a skin into a task.

Click the Skins tool to bring forward a sheet like that shown below.

The Primary Skin defines the graph attributes while the Color Table Skin defines colors associated with distinct elements of the data graphics, such as curves. To import a skin type its location as a URL into the corresponding field and then click the respective Fetch button, then click Done. The graph of the current task will be updated to reflect the new skin.

URL Types

There are two types of URLs that can be used as defined here:

• File: A file URL begins with "file://" and the rest of the URL is the path to the skin file. Since paths are absolute there are three leading slashes, such as: "file:///Users/steve/skins/distinctive-line.book" (without the quotes). Notice that the path extension is "book".

• Web: A web URL begins with "http://" and the rest of the URL is the path to the skin document, such as: "http://www.vvi.com/skins/distinctive-line.book" (without the quotes). Notice that the path extension is "book". This is the same URL that you would type into a web browser to download the skin. You can use the skin directly in this manner, or first download it and then use the File type URL. Either way, the skin file must be a resource of the web server that the URL points to, either as a static file or a dynamic URL that retrieves the skin file bytes from other places.

Constructing Skins

A Skin file is simply a Graph IDE document that has specialized graphical elements. To facilitate the retrieval of the document it should be exported as a Skin type using the menu item  Graph IDE  ►  File  ►  Export To...  and choosing the Skin type on the resulting panel. That exported file must have a book extension. The export converts the Graph IDE document, which is a bundle of resources, into a compressed binary flat archive which can be efficiently transferred.

The hard part in making a skin is understanding the "specialized graphical elements" on the document. For that consult the Vvidget Code Reference Manual.