Array versus vector signals plotting behavior

[Pierre Haessig <pierre.haessig@…>]

I've discovered the neat new feature "array plot"in the 1.12 branch (*). I didn't experience bugs so far, but got slightly frustrated when working with vectors signals. I call "vector signals" the kind of arrays, often of small dimension, where it makes no sense to make an array plot, only time domain plots. For example i_abc={ia, ib, ic}, the concatenation of three currents in a three phased electrical systems.

Behavior in 1.12: when a regular (time domain) plot tab is active, I expect that clicking on an array i_abc would plot all elements (ia, ib, ic). As of 1.12, it opens instead a new array plot windows. I find this confusing. Also, compared to 1.11, there is now one more click required to plot (ia, ib, ic), because one needs to expand the i_abc tree.

I propose instead that when clicking on an array when the active plot is a regular plot, it simply selects/unselects all the array components to make a time domain plot.

One may argue that this diminishes the discoverability of the new "array plot" feature. One possible solution would be to add a Information popup when clicking on an array (with a text like "Do you know that you can use an array plot instead" .... with "Don't show this message again" checkbox).

(*) as a side note, I haven't seen this new feature advertised in the 1.12 release notes (​https://openmodelica.org/newss/186-october-31-2017-openmodelica-1-12-0-released)

[Jan Kokert]

Maybe one can add an option at which point the vector or the array behavior should be active, depending on the vector/array size... A default value of 3 seems reasonable for me.

[Pierre Haessig <pierre.haessig@…>]

I also first thought of janK's proposal: adding a threshold on the array size to switch between time plot and array plot. However, after some rethinking, I find this solution too implicit (data dependent rather than GUI state dependent). Also, maybe in some application domains it is useful to plot many trajectories from a single large array (plot of stochastic scenarios for example ?).