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Direction(axis) - Display axis in conventional direction?

Description:
This attribute is a boolean value which suggests how the axes of a Frame should be displayed (e.g.) in graphical output. By default, it has the value one, indicating that they should be shown in the conventional sense (increasing left to right for an abscissa, and bottom to top for an ordinate). If set to zero, this attribute indicates that the direction should be reversed, as would often be done for an astronomical magnitude or a right ascension axis.
Type:
Integer (boolean).
Class Applicability:
Frame
The default Direction value supplied by the Frame class is 1, indicating that all axes should be displayed in the conventional direction.
SkyFrame
The SkyFrame class re-defines the default Direction value to suggest that certain axes (e.g. right ascension) should be plotted in reverse when appropriate.
FrameSet
The Direction attribute of a FrameSet axis is the same as that of its current Frame (as specified by the Current attribute).
Plot
The Direction attribute of the base Frame in a Plot is set to indicate the sense of the two graphics axes, as implied by the graphics bounding box supplied when the Plot was created.
Notes:
  • When specifying this attribute by name, it should be subscripted with the number of the Frame axis to which it applies.

  • The Direction attribute does not directly affect the behaviour of the AST library. Instead, it serves as a hint to applications programs about the orientation in which they may wish to display any data associated with the Frame. Applications are free to ignore this hint if they wish.


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AST A Library for Handling World Coordinate Systems in Astronomy
Starlink User Note 211
R.F. Warren-Smith & D.S. Berry
24th May 2011
E-mail:ussc@star.rl.ac.uk

Copyright (C) 2009 Science \& Technology Facilities Council