3.5.
Colors
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This section contains information about using colors in PHPlot. Functions described in
Section 6.3, “Colors and Line Styles” in the Reference chapter control the use of colors in
PHPlot.
This section describes Palette images. Starting with PHPlot-5.1.1, a second color model is
available in PHPlot: Truecolor images. Refer to Section 4.3, “Truecolor Images” for more
information.
3.5.1. Color Parameter Forms
Individual colors as arguments to PHPlot functions can take one of the following forms:
1. A color name, as defined by SetRGBArray or from a built-in color map if
SetRGBArray was not called. Note that color names are case sensitive.
2. Numeric color component values, in the form #rrggbb . Here rr is red, gg is green,
and bb is blue, and each component value is represented as a 2-digit hexadecimal
number between 00 and ff. For example, #0000ff is full-saturation blue.
3. A PHP array of red, green, and blue color component values, each value being in
the range 0 to 255 inclusive, for example array(0,0,255) for blue.
Additional color forms can be found in Section 4.3.4, “Color Parameter Form Extensions”.
Those forms are more useful with truecolor images.
Note
You cannot use the (red, green, blue) array form as a color value in those functions (like
SetDataColors) which accept either a single color or an array of colors. The functions are
unable to distinguish between an array of colors and a single color represented as an
array. However, you can work around this restriction by using an array containing the
array with the colors, for example: array(array(102, 0, 192)) .
3.5.2. Built-in Color Maps
There are 36 colors defined in the 'small' internal color map. This is the set of color
names which are available by default, unless SetRGBArray is used to load in a different
color map. The colors and their names are shown in the figure below.
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Here are the color names again.
DarkGreen DimGrey PeachPuff SkyBlue SlateBlue YellowGreen
aquamarine1 azure1 beige black blue brown
cyan gold gray green grey ivory
lavender magenta maroon navy orange orchid
peru pink plum purple red salmon
snow tan violet wheat white yellow
The color names and values in the 'small' internal color map are selected from the X11
RGB Color Database. If you use SetRGBArray to pick the 'large' color map, PHPlot loads a
much larger list of colors equivalent to the entire X11 RGB Color Database. Note that
there are some duplicate colors in the maps, as they include alternate spellings (like
'gray' and 'grey').
Note
You are not limited to only using colors from the color map. The color map contains a list
of color names that PHPlot can translate into color values, but you can use any color at
all by specifying the color value using one of the numeric representations described
above.
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3.5.3. Plotting Colors
Each data set plotted on a graph uses the next color in the Data Colors list. By default,
the Data Colors list contains the following 16 colors in order.
Data Set: Color Name: Color Sample:
1 SkyBlue
2 green
3 orange
4 blue
5 red
6 DarkGreen
7 purple
8 peru
9 cyan
10 salmon
11 SlateBlue
12 YellowGreen
13 magenta
14 aquamarine1
15 gold
16 violet
An additional color list is used with error plots. These have data type data-data-error or
data-data-yx-error (see Section 3.3.1, “Available Data Types”). The positive and negative
error bars use a color map that is set using SetErrorBarColors. By default, this color list
contains the same colors as the data color list, so each data set and its error bars will be
in the same color. If you change the data colors list with SetDataColors, you probably
want to change the error bar color list too, so you get the same colors for data sets and
their error bars.
Some plot types support data borders, which are outlines around filled areas. This
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includes the bars and squaredarea plot types, for example. Use SetDrawDataBorders
to enable or disable drawing of data borders. The colors used for data borders can be set
with SetDataBorderColors. By default, a black data border is used for all data sets, if
borders are enabled.
Note: PHPlot through version 5.0.7 used 8 colors in the default Data Colors list: SkyBlue,
green, orange, blue, orange, red, violet, and azure1. If plotting more than four data sets
with PHPlot-5.0.7 or earlier, you should use SetDataColors to define your own data colors
list. Otherwise you will get two data sets plotted in the same color, orange.
Instead of using sequential data colors for plotted data sets, you can control exactly
which data color is used for each data value using the data color callback. For more
information, see Section 4.5, “Custom Data Color Selection”.
Some plot types which only support a single data set still use multiple data colors, but in
a way that is specific to that plot type. This is described for each applicable plot type in
Section 3.4, “PHPlot Plot Types”. For example, the 3 OHLC financial plot types use the first
4 data colors for different parts of the marker at each data point, as well as to indicate
the overall direction (up or down). You can use the same methods - SetDataColors or a
data color callback - to change colors for these plot types.
3.5.4. Transparency
You can designate one color in the color map to be transparent. This is most often used
to make a plot with a transparent background. Use SetTransparentColor to designate the
color, and SetBackgroundColor to use that color for the background. Use a color which is
not otherwise used in the plot.
For transparency to work, the output format (see SetFileFormat) must support
transparency, and the the user's viewer or browser also must support transparency. If
transparency is not supported, the user will see the actual color which was designated as
transparent (so don't use red, for example). Most viewers support transparency in GIF
format, and newer viewers should support transparency in PNG format. JPEG format
does not support transparency.
3.5.5. Plot Element Colors
The following table shows the function(s) used to set the color of each element on a plot,
and the default color if no functions are used to change it. Where multiple function
names are shown, they are listed from highest to lowest priority. (That is, if the first
function is not used, the color is set with the second function, etc.)
Function(s) used to set
Plot element: color: Default color:
Data borders SetDataBorderColors black
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Function(s) used to set
Plot element: color: Default color:
Data elements SetDataColors See Section 3.5.3, “Plotting
(points, lines, area Colors”
fill, etc.)
Data value labels SetDataValueLabelColor, black
SetDataLabelColor,
SetTextColor
Error bars SetErrorBarColors Same as data colors. See
Section 3.5.3, “Plotting
Colors”
Image background SetBackgroundColor white
Image border SetImageBorderColor #c2c2c2 gray
Legend background SetLegendBgColor, white
SetBackgroundColor
Legend color box SetDataColors N/A
fill or shape marker
Legend color box SetTextColor or black
borders SetDataBorderColors (see
notes)
Legend border SetGridColor black
Legend text SetLegendTextColor, black
SetTextColor
Main title SetTitleColor black
Pie chart data SetPieLabelColor, black
labels SetGridColor
Pie segment SetPieBorderColor, black
borders SetGridColor
Pie segment fill SetDataColors N/A
Plot area SetPlotBgColor white, but disabled by
background default
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Function(s) used to set
Plot element: color: Default color:
Plot border SetGridColor black
X axis line SetGridColor black
X axis data labels SetDataLabelColor, black
SetTextColor
X data label lines SetLightGridColor gray
X grid lines SetLightGridColor gray
X tick marks SetTickColor black
X title SetXTitleColor, SetTitleColor black
Y axis lines SetGridColor black
Y data label lines SetLightGridColor gray
Y grid lines SetLightGridColor gray
Y tick marks SetTickColor black
Y title SetYTitleColor, SetTitleColor black
The following notes apply to the table of plot element colors above:
Data borders refers to the borders, or outlines, around bars in a bars or
stackedbars plot. Data borders are also available with the area , squaredarea ,
stackedarea , and stackedsquaredarea plot types.
SetPieBorderColor was added in PHPlot-6.0.0. In prior releases, pie segment
borders (which were available only on unshaded pie charts) used the color set with
SetGridColor. The new function is backwards compatible, as the borders default to
the grid color if SetPieBorderColor is not used.
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SetDataLabelColor, SetDataValueLabelColor, SetPieLabelColor, and
SetTickLabelColor were added in PHPlot-5.7.0. Through PHPlot-5.6.0:
Tick labels and axis data labels all used the color set with SetTextColor.
Data value labels (incorrectly) used the title color set with SetTitleColor.
Pie chart labels used the grid color set with SetGridColor.
Except for data value labels, the defaults are backwards compatible. That is, if you
use SetGridColor() and do not use the new SetPieLabelColor() , your pie chart
labels will display in the same color with all releases.
The legend background uses the overall image background color set with
SetBackgroundColor by default. Starting with PHPlot-6.0.0, you can set the legend
background color separately with SetLegendBgColor.
The legend color box borders use the color set with SetTextColor by default.
Starting with PHPlot-6.0.0, you can use the colors set with SetDataBorderColors
instead. See SetLegendColorboxBorders.
Legend text uses the general text color set with SetTextColor by default. Starting
with PHPlot-6.0.0, you can set the legend text color separately with
SetLegendTextColor.
This version of the manual was produced for the PHPlot
Sourceforge project web service site, which requires the logo on
each page.
To download a logo-free copy of the manual, see the PHPlot project downloads area.
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