<chapter id="savingandexporting">
<title>Saving and Printing</title>
<para>
&kst; provides various methods of saving and exporting data and plots.  These methods are described below.
</para>

<sect1 id="savingplotdefinitions">
<title>Saving Plot Definitions</title>
<para>
A plot definition is essentially a capture of a &kst; session.  It contains all the plots, data objects, and plot layouts
that are present at the time of saving.
</para>
<para>
To save a plot definition, simply select <guimenuitem>Save</guimenuitem> or <guimenuitem>Save As...</guimenuitem>
(depending on whether or not you wish to save to a new file) from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.  Browse to
the location you wish to save the plot definition, enter a filename, and click <guibutton>Save</guibutton>.
The plot definition will be saved as a <filename>*.kst</filename> file.
</para>

</sect1>

<sect1 id="exportingvectorsandgraphics">
<title>Exporting Vectors and Plots</title>
<para>
Vectors and plots in &kst; can be exported to files.  This can be useful, for example, in capturing plots of live data
or using generated vectors in a different application.
</para>
<sect2 id="exportingvectors">
<title>Exporting Vectors</title>
<para>
To export or save a vector to a file, select <guimenuitem>Save Vectors to Disk...</guimenuitem>
from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.  The vector will be saved as an ASCII data file.  The single column
of the file will contain the elements of the selected vector. See below for an example of an exported vector.
</para>
<informalexample>
<screen>
3776
5380
5245
2942
1861
2424
2520
1868
1736
1736
1174
499
</screen>
</informalexample>
</sect2>


<sect2 id="exportinggraphics">
<title>Exporting Plots</title>
<para>
To export a &kst; plot to a graphics file, select <guimenuitem>Export to Graphics File...</guimenuitem>
from the <guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.  The following dialog box will appear.
</para>
<screenshot>
<screeninfo>Export to Graphics File</screeninfo>
<mediaobject>
<imageobject>
<imagedata fileref="Screenshot-kst-exportgraphics.png" format="PNG" />
</imageobject>
<textobject>
<phrase>Export to Graphics File</phrase>
</textobject>
</mediaobject>
</screenshot>

<para>
The following settings and options are available when saving:
</para>
<variablelist>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>Save location</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The path to the graphics file.  Enter a location manually, or click the button to right of the
text box to browse to a location.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>File Format</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The format to use for the saved graphics file.  PNG is suggested if you are not sure which format to use.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>


<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>Size</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Select the dimensions, in pixels, of the graphic.  Check the <guilabel>Square</guilabel>
option if you wish for the length and width of the graphic to be equal.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>Windows</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Select whether to export only the plots in the current window, or all plots.  If <guilabel>All</guilabel>
is selected, one graphics file will be created for each window, each with filename <filename>file_n.fmt</filename>,
where <filename>file</filename> is the filename specified in <guilabel>Save location</guilabel>, <filename>n</filename>
is an index number assigned to each window, and <guilabel>fmt</guilabel> is an extension representing the selected
file format.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>Autosave</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
Check this option if you want &kst; to automatically save the plot to the specified file
on a specified time interval.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>
<term>
<guilabel>Save interval</guilabel>
</term>
<listitem>
<para>
The time interval used to perform autosave, in seconds.
</para>
</listitem>
</varlistentry>
</variablelist>


<para>
Click <guibutton>Save Once</guibutton> to immediately perform a save with the specified options and settings.
Click <guibutton>Close</guibutton> to close the dialog box (autosave will still be performed at the specified
intervals, if selected).

</para>

</sect2>


</sect1>



<sect1 id="savingandexportingprinting">
<title>Printing</title>
<para>
To print all the plots in the current window, select <guimenuitem>Print...</guimenuitem> from the
<guimenu>File</guimenu> menu.  A standard &kde; print dialog will be displayed. There are currently no
options to select for printing.  The printed page will be in landscape orientation and contain the arrangement of plots in
the current window. A footer containing the page number, window name, and current date is included as well.
</para>
</sect1>


</chapter>
