User Manual
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Getting Started

To run the program, launch the Terminal application. Navigate to the directory where the program files are contained (cd directoryName moves into a folder inside your current directory). Once you are in the directory containing display.py (which you can verify by typing ls into the terminal, and display.py should be one of the files listed), simply type 'python display.py'

Loading a File

Once you have started the program, you will see a blank window divided into two sections. To load in your data, select File-Open, and choose your file. It must be an Excel file, with the following format:

  • the first row has column headings (If they are in the format 'XXXX (XX)' then it will work best)
  • the depths should be listed down the first column as 'XXX-#' ASH works as 0, and the number of letters before the '-' does not matter.

Selecting the Variables to View

All that you will see initially is a list of compounds, trace elements, and ratios with checkboxes. As you check the boxes of elements that you would like to see displayed, they will be projected onto the space to the left. Unchecking a box will remove that element from the screen. Click the boxes in a planned order so that the elements will be displayed in an order most useful for your purposes.

Creating a Custom Ratio

Some common ratios are already provided, but any equation using compounds, elements, scalars, and common operators (+,-l*,/,^, and parentheses) may be created by clicking the "Custom Ratio" button. After creating a valid expression, a checkbox for it will be added to the list for convenience.

Understanding the Colors

The lowest concentration for each element/compound is black, and the highest is bright red. By default, the actual percentages or ppm's are displayed on the rectangles, but these can hidden by selecting "Options -- Show/Hide Values" from the menu bar at the top of the screen.