ScottPlot welcomes contributions from the open-source community! To report a bug, ask a question, or suggest a feature open an issue or ask in the ScottPlot Discord.
One of the most helpful things members of the open-source community can do is to lighten the burden on the core project developers by answering questions and providing feedback on open issues! Even if someone doesn't know how to resolve an open issue, engaging in conversation to more clearly define the issue and create a working code example that reproduces it is a big win. Join the ScottPlot Discord to get started!
Common first-time contributions include adding or fixing XML docs, creating new plot types, and adding new color palettes. See issues labeled Good First Issue (including closed issues) and the latest Hacktoberfest issue for code contribution ideas aimed at new contributors.
Too add a cookbook recipe, create a new class in one of the existing recipe namespaces. For example, ScottPlot4/ScottPlot.Cookbook/Recipes/Plottable/Scatter.cs
-
When you launch the demo application, the recipe will appear in the list.
-
When you run the test suite, the cookbook images and code are locally viewable as
src/ScottPlot4/ScottPlot.Cookbook/CookbookOutput/index.dev.html
Users can create their own classes that implement IPlottable then Add() them to a plot, as described in the ScottPlot FAQ: Create a Custom Plot Types. This does not require downloading this repository or modifying ScottPlot's source code, so it is easy for anybody to get started!
The ScottPlot FAQ is a collection of web pages generated from Markdown files that can be edited using GitHub. A Page Source link is at the bottom of all pages on ScottPlot.NET, and merged changes are automatically deployed to the website. To create a new page, create a new folder mimicking the format of existing pages. The ScottPlot.NET (the website) Repository has more information about building and testing the website locally for advanced users.
Consider creating an issue or posting on Discord to discuss your pull request before investing a lot of work into it. This is an opportunity to ensure your modifications (and their timing) will be consistent with the direction ScottPlot is going, also a good chance to get feedback and suggestions that may improve your implementation.
If your code is not auto-formatted, the build will fail when you create your pull request. Use autoformat.bat or run this command to autoformat all code in a solution:
dotnet format ScottPlot4.slnQuestions or bug reports provided without code that allows others to reproduce the issue are unlikely to be resolved quickly. Providing a reproducible code sample that allows others to evaluate the bug (and know when it's fixed) makes it easier for others to participate in the discussion and increases the likelihood the issue can be resolved quickly. Here are some example code samples that can be adapted to provide reproducible code for questions and bug reports:
dotnet new console
dotnet add package scottplot
// create a plot
ScottPlot.Plot plt = new();
plt.AddSignal(ScottPlot.Generate.Sin());
plt.AddSignal(ScottPlot.Generate.Cos());
// save the result as an image file
plt.SaveFig("demo.png");dotnet new console
dotnet add package scottplot
dotnet add package scottplot.winforms
<Project Sdk="Microsoft.NET.Sdk">
<PropertyGroup>
<OutputType>Exe</OutputType>
<TargetFramework>net6.0-windows</TargetFramework>
<ImplicitUsings>enable</ImplicitUsings>
<Nullable>enable</Nullable>
<UseWindowsForms>true</UseWindowsForms>
</PropertyGroup>
<ItemGroup>
<PackageReference Include="scottplot" Version="4.1.*" />
<PackageReference Include="scottplot.winforms" Version="4.1.*" />
</ItemGroup>
</Project>// create a plot
ScottPlot.Plot plt = new();
plt.AddSignal(ScottPlot.Generate.Sin());
plt.AddSignal(ScottPlot.Generate.Cos());
// display it in a Windows Form
Form form = new() { Width = 600, Height = 400 };
ScottPlot.FormsPlot formsPlot1 = new() { Dock = DockStyle.Fill };
formsPlot1.Reset(plt);
formsPlot1.Refresh();
form.Controls.Add(formsPlot1);
form.ShowDialog();