C.2.4 The Not Quite Final Version of print-Y-axis

The list constructed by the Y-axis-column function is passed to the print-Y-axis function, which inserts the list as a column.

(defun print-Y-axis (height full-Y-label-width)
  "Insert Y axis using HEIGHT and FULL-Y-LABEL-WIDTH.
Height must be the maximum height of the graph.
Full width is the width of the highest label element."
;; Value of height and full-Y-label-width
;; are passed by print-graph.

  (let ((start (point)))
    (insert-rectangle
     (Y-axis-column height full-Y-label-width))
    ;; Place point ready for inserting graph.
    (goto-char start)
    ;; Move point forward by value of full-Y-label-width
    (forward-char full-Y-label-width)))

The print-Y-axis uses the insert-rectangle function to insert the Y axis labels created by the Y-axis-column function. In addition, it places point at the correct position for printing the body of the graph.

You can test print-Y-axis:

1. Install

   Y-axis-label-spacing
   Y-axis-tic
   Y-axis-element
   Y-axis-column
   print-Y-axis
   

2. Copy the following expression:

   (print-Y-axis 12 5)
   

3. Switch to the *scratch* buffer and place the cursor where you want the axis labels to start.
4. Type M-: (eval-expression).
5. Yank the graph-body-print expression into the minibuffer with C-y (yank).
6. Press RET to evaluate the expression.

Emacs will print labels vertically, the top one being ‘10 - ’. (The print-graph function will pass the value of height-of-top-line, which in this case will end up as 15, thereby getting rid of what might appear as a bug.)