You can use ANY color plot routine you want in your module. PaPCo does not force you to use it's functionality or to adhere to its conventions. However, if you want to have your module ``look good'' when used in combination with other modules (which is the whole purpose of PaPCo!) then using some of the PaPCo conventions makes sense. For color plot routines, these conventions mainly concern the use of color tables, in order to support the PaPCo color scheme (5.4).
To make life easier PaPCo supplies a set of color plot routines as part of
its library in papco_XX/papco_lib/color plot. These routines have
evolved over time, and all the ones ever used are still available. The
module template plot_type always uses the latest set of these
routines.
These routines come from many sources and are provided here as a service - but use at own risk. The current ``standard'' set of color plot routines are
papco_plot_colorspec.pro
and
papco_colorbar.pro
These routines came from the POLAR HYDRA module and are written and maintained by Jeremy Faden at University of Iowa.
This routine is fairly sophisticated and tested by now, and should serve well. It supports the PaPCo color scheme and makes an attempt at creating small postscript files. It also support either fixed or variable bin size in both x and y direction, and allows full control over the actual plot resolution.
For documentation on the color plot routine refer to the header in the file
papco_XX/papco_lib/color plot/papco_plot_colorspec.pro.
This routine is used to place a color bar at the right-hand side of the panel. It supports the PaPCo color scheme and uses ``nice'' labeling.
For documentation on the colorbar routine refer to the header in the file
papco_XX/papco_lib/color plot/papco_colorbar.pro.