# 2.5.41 pickpts

## Brief Information

Pick XY data points from a 2D graph.

Minimum Origin Version Required: 8.1 SR3

## Command Line Usage

1. pickpts npts:=3;
2. pickpts gp:=[Graph2] npts:=5 plot:=<new>;

## Variables

Display
Name
Variable
Name
I/O
and
Type
Default
Value
Description
Input Graph gp

Input

GraphPage

<active>
Specifies the graph to pick points from
Number of Points to Get npts

Input

int

10
Specifies the number of points to pick from the input graph

Input

int

0
Specifies the type for picking points

Option list:

Picks points in Data Reader mode. It only picks up data points existed in the source worksheet.
Picks points in Screen Reader mode. It allows you to pick up points located anywhere on the graph and reads their XY coordinates from graph.
X Coordinates x

Output

vector

<new>
Specifies the output range for picked points’ X coordinates.
Y Coordinates y

Output

vector

<new>
Specifies the output range for picked points’ Y coordinates
Plot Name plot

Output

vector<string>

<optional>
Specifies the output range for plot name(s) of the picked data points. It is accessible only when Data Reader is selected for Reader Type.
Point Index index

Output

vector

<optional>
Specifies the output range for data points’ indices. It is accessible only when Data Reader is selected for Reader Type.

## Description

This X-Function allows you to pick XY data points from a graph using the Data Reader type or Screen Reader type and gets related coordinate information.

 Starting with Origin 2018 SR0, there is a GUI tool that uses the pickpts X-Function. The tool is opened by right-clicking on the data point tooltip that shows when you mouse over a data point in a line, scatter, line + symbol or column/bar chart.

## Examples

The following scripts shows how to pick data points from multiple layers.

### Output pickpts data to new sheet

// create a new worksheet window based on ORIGIN.OTW
win -t;
// fill the worksheet with row numbers in the first two columns
col(A) = data(1,10);
col(B) = data(1,10);
// fill the third and forth columns with normal random numbers
col(C) = Normal(10);
col(D) = Normal(10);

// highlight second to forth columns
worksheet -s 2 0 4 0;
// plot a 3Ys_Y-Y-Y graph from the selected three columns
run.section(Plot,3Ys_Y-Y-Y);

// pick up 5 points from graph, and output their XY coordinates, plot names and indices
pickpts npts:=5 plot:=<new> index:=<new>;

With the graph active, double-click on data points of interest to select them:

After the selection is done, the results are automatically output to a new worksheet:

### Output data to existing sheet

In this example, we have a three panel (layer) graph, with each layer containing a plot of Assymmetric Gaussian data. We use pickpts to pick the peak point in each and output the result to Book2. Note that we are using a variable of type StringArray to store and output the plot names. Also, see StringArray (object).

// create datasets dsx and dsy
dataset dsx, dsy;

// create StringArray dsn
StringArray dsn;

// call the pickpts X-Function, use Data Reader to pick 3 points.
// Put X coordinates in dsx, y coordinates in dsy, point index in dsi, and plot name in dsn
pickpts npts:=3 type:=data x:=dsx y:=dsy index:=dsi plot:=dsn;

// define output sheet range with 4 columns
range wks = [Book2]Sheet1!;
wks.ncols=4;

// assign long names to each column
wks.col1.lname$= X Coordinate; wks.col2.lname$ = Y Coordinate;
wks.col3.lname$= Plot Name; wks.col4.lname$ = Point Index;

// create range variables for each output variable
range aa = [Book2]1!1;
range bb = [Book2]1!2;
range cc = [Book2]1!3;
range dd = [Book2]1!4;

// output coordinate and index values to Book2
aa = dsx;
bb = dsy;
dd = dsi;

// copy StringArray dsn to range cc ([Book2]1!3;)
dsn.CopyTo(cc);
 Note: Since Origin 2017 SR0, we can also use a variable of type Dataset to store and output the plot name. For instance, we can change the above example as follows: Create a Text & Numberic dataset dsn to store the plot name. //Create a Text & Numberic dataset instead of using StringArry dataset -a dsn; After pick the points, then output the plot name to Book2 directly. //Output the plot name directly instead of using the CopyTo method. cc = dsn;