Installing OpenTrack/JSvg

Being a Firefox extension, OpenTrack is relatively easy to install.  If you are already driving Firefox, you can simply point your browser here to download and install the latest edition.  The video below shows the installation process.


 (If you're not seeing a video, here is the link)

Due to Mozilla's very cool extension architecture, once OT is installed, updates are pushed out automatically unless you really don't want this.  Considering that many updates are either bug fixes or new features, it's not clear that you wouldn't want OT to auto update.

A note on this:  If you are like many people and never shut down your browser, you may not get automatic updates.  In which case, you can either click on Tools|Add-ons to get the following tab.

 Near the search bar on the upper right hand side, there is a tool symbol.  This can be clicked to check for updates.  Note that you can also turn automatic updates on or off.

Finally, to start up the Analysis Console, be sure your Firefox menu bar is visible at the top, go into the Tools pulldown menu, and select (in green, except for Mac) "Start Analysis Console."    This will open a window as shown below.

 

The Analysis Console exists to give you access to the statistics and graphics functions embedded in OpenTrack/JSvg.  At this point you have several options:

• If all you want to do is graph something without a lot of fanfare, click on the "Create Plot" button.  
• If you want to do some calculations (that are not persistent), click on the "Toggle Console" button.  The console works as a very nice line calculator. For example, you can type: "a = 2; b=3; c = a*b;" to do a simple math problem.
• If you want to write code, click on the "Open Scratchpad" button.  ScratchPad runs JavaScript code in the context of the window behind it. (The same is true for the Web Console.)  All of the functions and graphics commands of OpenTrack/JSvg are available to you so long as this is true.

 You can also see sample plots and very simple analyses as well as get a sense of some of the functions that are available by pressing the labeled buttons.    In the next post, I will go through some simple examples involving the use of JSvg.

[Edit] One functionality in this release has been curtailed by an internal change in variable.  Mozilla has now turned OS into an object, so my own OS sniffing is sometimes burping as of OT 0.11.3.  I've got a patch in the works, which seems to be working as of now.   I'll post an update tomorrow.