ASPECT Attributes

ASPECT provides a set of attributes that let you customize the appearance and organization of your visualizations. These attributes include:

  • Styles allow you to group graphical parameters (such as colors, line widths, or fill patterns) under a reusable name.

  • Layers control the drawing order, making it easy to place elements in the background or foreground.

  • Labels let you attach text or images to shapes without manually computing coordinates.

Styles

Styles are named collections of graphics parameters. These styles correspond to TikZ graphical properties/options in LaTeX.

Syntax:

aspect_style(styleName, parameterKey, parameterValue)

  • styleName: the style identifier. Valid identifiers are integer number or generic strings. If an identifier contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

  • parameterKey: the key (name) of a TikZ parameter; e.g. fill, draw, color, width (for images), etc. If a key contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

  • parameterValue: the value of the graphic parameter; e.g. gray, black, 1pt, 50. If a value contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

Define multiple attributes for the same style by repeating aspect_style with the same styleName. If a parameter is defined more than once for a style, the first occurrence takes precedence.

Examples:

aspect_style(black, fill, gray).
aspect_style(black, draw, red).
aspect_style("Queens", width, 50).

Layers

Layers control the drawing order. Each layer is identified by a layerName. The drawing order is controlled by index, a positive integer: lower indices are rendered first (background), higher ones later (foreground). The layerName may be an integer number or a generic string. If it contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

Syntax:

aspect_layer(layerName, index)

Examples:

aspect_layer(tiles, 0).
aspect_layer(queens, 1).

Labels

Labels let you attach text or an image to a figure without computing coordinates yourself. You define a label once, then reference its name in the attributes parameter of any drawing atom (together with style and layer ids). ASPECT and TikZ will handle alignment (e.g., centering) for you.

Text Labels

Syntax:

aspect_label(labelName, text, [attributes])

  • labelName: the label identifier. If an identifier contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

  • text: the label text (quote it if it contains spaces or special characters).

  • attributes (optional): a single style attribute (see Styles) or a tuple of style attributes to control things like font size/color or to assign the label to a layer.

Examples:

% Define the label
aspect_label(lab, "Q", labelStyle).

% Style for the label text
aspect_style(labelStyle, color, red).

% Draw a rectangle, attach the label by name
aspect_rectangle(0, 0, 2, 2, lab).

Image Labels

Syntax:

aspect_image_label(labelName, image, [attributes])

  • labelName: the label identifier. If an identifier contains whitespace, special characters, or starts with an uppercase letter, it must be quoted.

  • image: the file path to the image.

  • attributes (optional): a single style attribute (see Styles) or a tuple of style attributes to control things like width or to assign the label to a layer.

Examples:

% Define the image label
aspect_image_label(imglab, "./queen.png", imgStyle).

% Optional style for the image label (example: set a target size, opacity, etc.)
aspect_style(imgStyle, opacity, 0.9).

% Draw a rectangle, attach the image label
aspect_rectangle(0, 0, 2, 2, imglab).