Graph paper Printer : Frequently asked questions

 

How can I buy a license for Graph Paper Printer
This is a freeware program. No licensing is necessary to use it.

How can I resize the diagram
Left-click on the red square displayed in the top-right corner of the red frame and, keeping the left button down, move the mouse to get the size you want. More accurately, you can also enter the appropriate values in the fields of the panel "size".

How can I set the margins of the diagram
Left-click inside the red frame of the preview and, keeping the left button down, move the mouse to get the margins you want. More accurately, you can also enter the appropriate values in the fields "margins".

How can I create semi-log paper
Select the first variant of paper "Rectangular - Fixed graduations" and search the drop-down picklist "Ordinate scale" for "Logarithmic". Once it has been clicked, you can choose just underneath the range from 1 to 6 cycles. The abscissa scale can be either metric or imperial.

Why is my diagram smaller than the preset dimensions
The white surface represents the printable surface of the page. The outline you have defined is displayed as a red frame. The actual surface of the diagram may be smaller in two cases :
1) Metric and imperial axes. In these scales there is a rounding down to the nearest integer division (1 cm or 1/2 in). The diagram is centered in the red frame with two additional equal margins.
2) Graduated scales (time, log, square, square root, probability, Weibull, logit) : additional margins are taken from the surface of the diagrams to provide room to print the values of the graduations along the axes.

Why does the preview neither show the color nor the width of the lines
The screen resolution is too low to accurately display the width of the lines. To differentiate the light, medium and heavy lines on the preview, conventional colors are adopted (light = silver, medium = gray, heavy = black). The actual colors and widths are visible in a special panel on the right or in the zoomed preview.

I have changed the width of the lines but without any visible modification in the zoomed preview or on the printed paper
It originates from a limited resolution. In the zoomed preview, a one-pixel line represents all of the lines ranging from 0.01 mm to 0.39 mm width. With a 600 dpi printer, a one-dot line represents all of the lines ranging from 0.01 mm to 0.06 mm.

Why is the size of the diagrams limited to 32 cm
Windows 95/98 supports only 16-bit signed coordinates (range -32 768 to 32 767). Graph Paper Printer uses the hi-metric mode in which each logical unit is mapped to 0.01 millimeter. The maximum allowed size is therefore 32 768 * 0.01 = 327.68 mm.

Can I keep the design of the papers I have created
Yes, click on the button "Keep the current paper", give a name to your design and that's all. Later, you will be able to retrieve or edit your paper with all of its attributes among the "Personal papers".

How can I navigate between entry fields with the keyboard
Key in "Tab" to jump to the next field or "Shift + Tab" to return to the previous one. Note that the entries in the editor-fields are not acquired when pressing "Tab". You must use "Enter" or the relevant button "Apply".

I would like to print a unique sheet of paper with several different small diagrams
Create your diagrams one by one and transfer them to the same page of your favorite word-processor program through the clipboard using the button "Copy". You can also save your diagrams as a disk metafile with the button "Save" and reload them in your word-processor program.

I am a teacher and want to print a grid to write down 6 grades for each one of my 25 pupils
Select the type of paper "Table" and set the number of rows to 25 and the number of columns to 7 (one for the names plus 6 for the grades). When created, all of the columns have the same width. To widen the first one reserved to names, left-click on its right border-line. Then, keeping the left button down, move the mouse rightwards to position the limit of the column where you want with the help of the graduated bottom scale. To equalize the width of the 6 columns of grades, select them through a series of right-click of the mouse (they turn yellow) and press the button "Equalize selected columns".

I am wondering if I can set up the program to print out 14 squares per inch for cross stitching.
There is no ready-made 1/14 inch scale, but it can be easyly made with the type of paper "Rectangular -Custom graduations". Enter for "Space between thin lines" vertically and  horizontally the value 0.0714 inch (= 1/14 inch if you have chosen "imperial system" in the configuration dialog) or 0.1814 cm (= 2.54/14 cm if you have chosen "metric system"). Define the distribution of medium and heavy lines as you want. You can enter a high figure (e.g. 1000) to have only light lines. You could also enter 1 medium line every 7 light  lines and 1 heavy line every 2 medium lines to have a marker every inch and half-inch.

How can I add a title or a caption on the sheet
Simply copy/paste the diagram created by "Graph Paper Printer" on a new page of your usual word processor program and add the whished title or caption.

What is a "set of lines"
When you have defined the colors and widths for the heavy, medium and light lines of a graph paper, all of these parameters are automatically saved as a "set of lines" to be available later for another design of graph paper. Default sets of lines are provided at the first opening of the program. Each set of lines has a name. If you do not change the name of the current set of lines, it is simply edited when you press OK. If you enter a new name, a new set of lines is created and added in the list.
Test Page: The actual aspect of a line on a printed sheet is sometimes different from what was expected. The printout of a test page is provided that shows a series of lines with gradually increasing thicknesses in the three colors of the heavy, medium and light styles.

My printer is a non-color device
Preferably use the black color for your graph papers. According to the make of your printer, the colors may be interpreted in suitable shades of grey, but may also disappear or be turned in various hatched patterns. Beware of the ink-saving option. It can lead to faulty printouts.

What are subdivision lines
In non linear scales (log, square, square root, probability, logit, weibull), the axis range is divided in unequal intervals.The largest divisions can be subdivided if the checkbox "subdivisions" is ticked. The threshholds over which subdivisions are drawn can be changed through the button "Configuration".

When is an accuracy correction useful
According to the printer, the metric or imperial actual divisions can be a bit too wide or too narrow. An accuracy correction ranging in +/-1% is provided in the dialog "Configuration". Two independant factors for horizontal and vertical axes are to define.

Switching from metric to imperial system
Go in the configuration dialog and check the box imperial.

Distribution of lines

Scales Heavy lines Medium lines Light lines
Metric every 5 cm every 1 cm other lines
Imperial half-inch every 2.5 inches every inch/2 other lines
Imperial every inch every inch/2 other lines
N divided   every 10 divisions other lines
Time   1, 5, 10 … other lines
Logarithmic   1, 10, 100, … other lines
Quadratic   0, 10, 20, 50 other lines
Square-root   0, 10, 20, 50 other lines
Mercator every 60 light lines every 10 light lines other lines
Music paper beginning of scores bars staff lines
Weibull additional axes see note (*) other lines
Probability   see note (*) other lines
Logit   see note (**) other lines
Handwriting   Horizontal lines inclined lines

(*) Weibull and probability scales : The medium lines are used for the probabilities 0,001 - 0,010 - 0,100 - 0,200 ... 0,800 - 0,900 - 0,990 - 0,999.
(**) Logit scale : The medium lines are used for the probabilities 0.07 - 0.1 - 0.2 - ... - 0.8 - 0.9 - 0.97.

Printer problems
Some printer drivers cannot correctly manage the large graphs particularly when the lines are thick and tight. To cope with this problem you can :

What is Weibull paper
The Weibull plotting-sheet is designed for reliability data analysis. It linearizes the regression of the failure probabilities on the lifetimes.
Abscissa (lifetimes) : Plot on this logarithmic scale the lifetimes, either number of cycles before failure or failure times. Select in the dropdown pick-list the narrowest range (1 to 6 cycles) wider than the range of the failure data.
Left ordinate : This scale is provided to read reliability predictions. Graduations are the probabilities of failure (0.01 to 0.99). Each one is positionned on the axis with the transformation : Ordinate = ln(-ln(1-failure probability)).
Right ordinate : This scale is drawn when the checkbox "Median ranks scale" is ticked. It allows a direct plotting of the experimental cumulative number of observed failures for a given lifetime. Each cumulated number n (from 1 to N) is transformed by the scale in a median failure frequency with the median ranks formula. The position on the right ordinate axis follows the transformation : ln(-ln(1-(n-0.3)/(N+0.4))).
Additional axes : They are provided for a direct reading of the two parameters of the Weibull distribution (the scale parameter alpha, and the shape parameter beta).

Who uses Logit-Log regression
It is a data reduction method used in biology. The weighted logit-log technique linearizes most sigmoid curves. The ordinate transformation used is Logit(Y) = ln(Y/(1-Y)).

Has a new version of graph paper printer been released
Check my home page : http://perso.easynet.fr/~philimar. You can also subscribe to GPPinfo an announcement mailing list which informs about upgrade releases of the program : http://www.egroups.com/subscribe/GPPinfo. Do not be afraid of spamming. You will not receive more than 2 or 3 emails per year.

Feed-back from the users of "Graph Paper Printer"
I am an individual, not a company. I need therefore the help of all the users of my programs to find out the residual bugs and to add new features. Mail me your ideas or critics at
philimar@easynet.fr. Even if I cannot answer everybody , I will consider every suggestion.

This software does not suit me, how to erase it from my computer
You can either uninstall through Windows or launch the "Uninstall" command of the start menu or double-click on the name of the file Uninstal.exe stored in the installation sub-directory (default C:\GraphPap).