diff --git a/JKQtPlotterBuildAllExamples.pro b/JKQtPlotterBuildAllExamples.pro
index afd32ab3b5..6c2e2d01b9 100644
--- a/JKQtPlotterBuildAllExamples.pro
+++ b/JKQtPlotterBuildAllExamples.pro
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ SUBDIRS += jkqtplotterlib \
jkqtmathtext_simpletest \
jkqtplot_test \
jkqtplotter_simpletest \
+ test_multiplot
jkqtplotterlib.file = lib/jkqtplotterlib.pro
@@ -20,6 +21,9 @@ jkqtplot_test.depends = jkqtplotterlib
jkqtplotter_simpletest.file = test/simpletest/jkqtplotter_simpletest.pro
jkqtplotter_simpletest.depends = jkqtplotterlib
+test_multiplot.file = test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.pro
+test_multiplot.depends = jkqtplotterlib
+
defineTest(addSimpleTest) {
test_name = $$1
SUBDIRS += jkqtplotter_simpletest_$${test_name}
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index f3af7bbdd5..70c0819f8c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,6 +47,12 @@ All test-projects are Qt-projects that use qmake to build. You can load them int
| [![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/screenshots/jkqtplotter_simpletest_imageplot_opencv_small.png)](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/simpletest_imageplot_opencv) | [1-channel OpenCV cv::Mat Image Plot](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/simpletest_imageplot_opencv) | `JKQTPColumnMathImage`
image data copied from OpenCV cv::Mat-structure into a single column of the internal datastore |
| [![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/screenshots/jkqtplotter_simpletest_rgbimageplot_opencv_small.png)](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/simpletest_rgbimageplot_opencv) | [RGB OpenCV cv::Mat Image Plot](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/simpletest_rgbimageplot_opencv) | `JKQTPColumnRGBMathImage`
image data copied from OpenCV cv::Mat-structure into three columns of the internal datastore |
+### GUI Tools and Plot Layout
+
+| Screenshot | Description | Notes |
+|:-------------:| ------------- | ------------- |
+| [![](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/screenshots/test_multiplot_small.png)](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/test_multiplot) | [Layouting Several Plots](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/tree/master/test/test_multiplot) | Combining plots in Qt Layouts
linking plot axes
copy data from a `std::map` int the datastore |
+
### Tools and Special Features
| Screenshot | Description | Notes |
diff --git a/screenshots/test_multiplot.png b/screenshots/test_multiplot.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..79032773ea
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diff --git a/screenshots/test_multiplot_printpreview.png b/screenshots/test_multiplot_printpreview.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ff6201b4aa
Binary files /dev/null and b/screenshots/test_multiplot_printpreview.png differ
diff --git a/screenshots/test_multiplot_small.png b/screenshots/test_multiplot_small.png
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..58cb49a8c3
Binary files /dev/null and b/screenshots/test_multiplot_small.png differ
diff --git a/test/test_multiplot/README.md b/test/test_multiplot/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b8a9e7fffb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_multiplot/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
+[Back to JKQTPlotter main page](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/)
+
+# JKQtPlotter
+
+## Layouting Several Plots
+This project (see `./test/test_multiplot/`) shows how several JKQtPlotter widgets can be combined to in a layout (based on the [Qt layouting system](http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/layout.html)). It also shows how axes in such a layout can be linked to improve user experience.
+
+The source code of the main application can be found in [`test_multiplot.cpp`](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/blob/master/test/simpletest_stepplots/test_multiplot.cpp).
+
+First three plots are generated and put into a [QGridLayout](http://doc.qt.io/qt-5/qgridlayout.html):
+
+```c++
+// 1. create a widget
+ QWidget mainWidget;
+ mainWidget.setWindowTitle("JKQtPlotter(s) in a QGridLayout");
+
+ // 2. Create a QGridLayout for the plots and add it to the widget.
+ QGridLayout* layout=new QGridLayout();
+ mainWidget.setLayout(layout);
+
+ // 3.1 create a main plotter widget and add it to the layout
+ JKQtPlotter* plotMain=new JKQtPlotter(&mainWidget);
+ layout->addWidget(plotMain, 0,0);
+ JKQTPdatastore* ds=plotMain->getDatastore();
+
+ // 3.2 create a second and third plotter widget and add them to the
+ // layout below and at the bottom right of the plotMain.
+ // Also configure it to use the same datastore as plotMain
+ JKQtPlotter* plotResid=new JKQtPlotter(false, &mainWidget, ds);
+ layout->addWidget(plotResid, 1,0);
+ JKQtPlotter* plotResidHist=new JKQtPlotter(false, &mainWidget, ds);
+ layout->addWidget(plotResidHist, 1,1);
+
+ // 3.3 set relative sizes of the plots via the layout (small plots have 1/3 the width and height of the large plot
+ layout->setRowStretch(0,3);
+ layout->setRowStretch(1,1);
+ layout->setColumnStretch(0,3);
+ layout->setColumnStretch(1,1);
+```
+
+With this simple setup, all three plots would be arranged by the QLayout, but they were all independent. This example could be part of a data fitting application, where the main plot shows data and a fit curve. A plot below that will display the residulas (errors) of the fit. Now if a user zooms one of the plots, he would expect that athe x-axes of the two plots are synchronized. The same for a third plot on the rhs of the residuals, which will show a residual histogram. This linking of the axes can be achieved by the following code:
+
+```c++
+ // 3.4 synchronize width/x-axis of plotResid to width/x-axis of plotMain
+ plotResid->get_plotter()->synchronizeToMaster(plotMain->get_plotter(), true, false, true, true);
+
+ // 3.5 synchronize y-axis of width/plotResidHist to y-axis of width/plotResid
+ plotResidHist->get_plotter()->synchronizeToMaster(plotResid->get_plotter(), false, true, true, true);
+```
+
+Finally: When printing or saving an image of the plots, the plotter will no know anything about the arrangement of the plots and the plots cannot be printed/drawn in the same arrangement as in the window. If you want to arrange the plots in the same layout in a printout, as in the window, you will have to tell the main plot, in which arrangement to print the plots:
+
+```c++
+ // 3.6 ensure that the plot are printed/exported in whole, when printing in plotMain
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->set_gridPrinting(true);
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->addGridPrintingPlotter(0,1,plotResid->get_plotter());
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->addGridPrintingPlotter(1,1,plotResidHist->get_plotter());
+```
+
+In the first line, grid-printing (i.e. the layouted printing of several graphs) is activated. Then the arrangement of the two slave plots `plotResid` and `plotResidHist` is defined as (`x,y`)-shifts with respect to the master plot `plotMain`.
+
+Now some data is generated and several curves are added to the graphs. See [`test_multiplot.cpp`](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/blob/master/test/simpletest_stepplots/test_multiplot.cpp) for the full source code.
+
+Finally the axes and plots need a bit of formatting to make them look nicer:
+
+```c++
+ // 6.1 axis labels, distributed over the several plots
+ plotMain->get_yAxis()->set_axisLabel("y axis");
+ plotResid->get_xAxis()->set_axisLabel("x axis");
+ plotResid->get_yAxis()->set_axisLabel("residuals");
+ plotResidHist->get_xAxis()->set_axisLabel("frequency");
+ // 6.2 switch off the tick labels on the axes that directly face another plot
+ plotMain->get_xAxis()->set_drawMode1(JKQTPCADMticks);
+ plotResidHist->get_yAxis()->set_drawMode1(JKQTPCADMticks);
+ // 6.3 show tick labels on the rhs y-axis of the residual histogram plot
+ plotResidHist->get_yAxis()->set_drawMode2(JKQTPCADMticksAndLabels);
+ // 6.4 hide keys in all plots but the main plot
+ plotResid->get_plotter()->set_showKey(false);
+ plotResidHist->get_plotter()->set_showKey(false);
+ // 6.5 hide position label and toolbars in the plots except main plot
+ plotResid->set_displayToolbar(false);
+ plotResid->set_displayMousePosition(false);
+ plotResidHist->set_displayToolbar(false);
+ plotResidHist->set_displayMousePosition(false);
+ plotMain->set_toolbarAlwaysOn(true);
+```
+
+As a last step, the axes are scaled automatically, so the data fills the plots:
+
+```c++
+ // 7. scale plots automatically to data
+ plotResid->zoomToFit();
+ plotResidHist->zoomToFit();
+ plotMain->zoomToFit();
+```
+
+The result looks like this:
+
+![test_multiplot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/screenshots/test_multiplot.png)
+
+You push the print button (![test_multiplot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/lib/jkqtplotterressources/images/jkqtp_24_print.png)) to open a print preview dialog, which will give an impression of how the three plots will be arranged in a printout:
+
+![test_multiplot](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/master/screenshots/test_multiplot_printpreview.png)
+
+
+
+
+[Back to JKQTPlotter main page](https://github.com/jkriege2/JKQtPlotter/)
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.cpp b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.cpp
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..3287a5dce1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.cpp
@@ -0,0 +1,153 @@
+#include
+#include "jkqtplotter/jkqtplotter.h"
+#include "jkqtplotter/jkqtpelements.h"
+#include "jkqtplotter/jkqtpparsedfunctionelements.h"
+#include "jkqtplotter/jkqtpbarchartelements.h"
+#include
+#include
+
+int main(int argc, char* argv[])
+{
+ QApplication app(argc, argv);
+
+ // 1. create a widget
+ QWidget mainWidget;
+ mainWidget.setWindowTitle("JKQtPlotter(s) in a QGridLayout");
+
+ // 2. Create a QGridLayout for the plots and add it to the widget.
+ QGridLayout* layout=new QGridLayout();
+ mainWidget.setLayout(layout);
+
+ // 3.1 create a main plotter widget and add it to the layout
+ JKQtPlotter* plotMain=new JKQtPlotter(&mainWidget);
+ layout->addWidget(plotMain, 0,0);
+ JKQTPdatastore* ds=plotMain->getDatastore();
+
+ // 3.2 create a second and third plotter widget and add them to the
+ // layout below and at the bottom right of the plotMain.
+ // Also configure it to use the same datastore as plotMain
+ JKQtPlotter* plotResid=new JKQtPlotter(false, &mainWidget, ds);
+ layout->addWidget(plotResid, 1,0);
+ JKQtPlotter* plotResidHist=new JKQtPlotter(false, &mainWidget, ds);
+ layout->addWidget(plotResidHist, 1,1);
+
+ // 3.3 synchronize width/x-axis of plotResid to width/x-axis of plotMain
+ plotResid->get_plotter()->synchronizeToMaster(plotMain->get_plotter(), true, false, true, true);
+
+ // 3.4 synchronize y-axis of width/plotResidHist to y-axis of width/plotResid
+ plotResidHist->get_plotter()->synchronizeToMaster(plotResid->get_plotter(), false, true, true, true);
+
+ // 3.5 ensure that the plot are printed/exported in whole, when printing in plotMain
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->set_gridPrinting(true);
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->addGridPrintingPlotter(0,1,plotResid->get_plotter());
+ plotMain->get_plotter()->addGridPrintingPlotter(1,1,plotResidHist->get_plotter());
+
+ // 3.6 set relative sizes of the plots via the layout (small plots have 1/3 the width and height of the large plot
+ layout->setRowStretch(0,3);
+ layout->setRowStretch(1,1);
+ layout->setColumnStretch(0,3);
+ layout->setColumnStretch(1,1);
+
+
+
+ // 4. now we create some (artificial) data:
+ // - in plotMain we show an exponential curve and and some datapoints
+ // - in plotResid we show the residuals, i.e. the difference between the curve and the datapoints
+ // - in plotResidHist we will show a histogram of the residuals (calculated in histogram)
+ std::random_device rd;
+ std::mt19937 gen(rd());
+ std::normal_distribution<> d(0,0.5);
+
+ std::vector dataX, dataY, dataRY;
+ std::map histogram;
+ const int Ndata=60;
+ for(int n=0; n(Ndata)*static_cast(n)-0.5;
+ const double y=2.0*(1.0+cos(x));
+ const double yd=y+d(gen);
+ dataX.push_back(x);
+ dataY.push_back(yd);
+ dataRY.push_back(y-yd);
+ // calculate a simple type of histogram in a std:map, bins are 1/4=0.25 wide
+ const double hbin=std::round((y-yd)*4.0)/4.0;
+ if (histogram.find(hbin)==histogram.end()) {
+ histogram[hbin]=0;
+ } else {
+ histogram[hbin]++;
+ }
+ }
+
+ // 5. and add the data to the datastore
+ size_t cX=ds->addCopiedColumn(dataX, "dataX");
+ size_t cY=ds->addCopiedColumn(dataY, "dataY");
+ size_t cRY=ds->addCopiedColumn(dataRY, "residY");
+ std::pair cH=ds->addCopiedMap(histogram, "histX", "histY");
+
+ // 5.1 plot of the data
+ JKQTPxyLineGraph* graphD=new JKQTPxyLineGraph(plotMain);
+ graphD->set_xColumn(cX);
+ graphD->set_yColumn(cY);
+ graphD->set_drawLine(false);
+ graphD->set_symbol(JKQTPcross);
+ graphD->set_symbolSize(10);
+ graphD->set_title("measurement data");
+ plotMain->addGraph(graphD);
+
+ // 5.2 plot of the graph as an interpreted function, set as string "2*(1+cos(x))"
+ JKQTPxParsedFunctionLineGraph* graphFit=new JKQTPxParsedFunctionLineGraph(plotMain);
+ graphFit->set_function("2*(1+cos(x))");
+ graphFit->set_title("fit");
+ plotMain->addGraph(graphFit);
+
+ // 5.3 residuals plot
+ JKQTPxyLineGraph* graphResid=new JKQTPxyLineGraph(plotResid);
+ graphResid->set_xColumn(cX);
+ graphResid->set_yColumn(cRY);
+ graphResid->set_drawLine(false);
+ graphResid->set_symbol(JKQTPplus);
+ graphResid->set_symbolSize(10);
+ graphResid->set_drawLine(true);
+ graphResid->set_lineWidth(0.5);
+ graphResid->set_title("residuals");
+ plotResid->addGraph(graphResid);
+
+ // 5.3 residual histogram plot
+ JKQTPbarHorizontalGraph* graphResidHist=new JKQTPbarHorizontalGraph(plotResidHist);
+ graphResidHist->set_xColumn(cH.second);
+ graphResidHist->set_yColumn(cH.first);
+ graphResidHist->set_title("histogram");
+ plotResidHist->addGraph(graphResidHist);
+
+ // 6.1 axis labels, distributed over the several plots
+ plotMain->get_yAxis()->set_axisLabel("y axis");
+ plotResid->get_xAxis()->set_axisLabel("x axis");
+ plotResid->get_yAxis()->set_axisLabel("residuals");
+ plotResidHist->get_xAxis()->set_axisLabel("frequency");
+ // 6.2 switch off the tick labels on the axes that directly face another plot
+ plotMain->get_xAxis()->set_drawMode1(JKQTPCADMticks);
+ plotResidHist->get_yAxis()->set_drawMode1(JKQTPCADMticks);
+ // 6.3 show tick labels on the rhs y-axis of the residual histogram plot
+ plotResidHist->get_yAxis()->set_drawMode2(JKQTPCADMticksAndLabels);
+ // 6.4 hide keys in all plots but the main plot
+ plotResid->get_plotter()->set_showKey(false);
+ plotResidHist->get_plotter()->set_showKey(false);
+ // 6.5 hide position label and toolbars in the plots except main plot
+ plotResid->set_displayToolbar(false);
+ plotResid->set_displayMousePosition(false);
+ plotResidHist->set_displayToolbar(false);
+ plotResidHist->set_displayMousePosition(false);
+ plotMain->set_toolbarAlwaysOn(true);
+
+
+ // 7. scale plots automatically to data
+ plotResid->zoomToFit();
+ plotResidHist->zoomToFit();
+ plotMain->zoomToFit();
+
+ // 8. show plotter and make it a decent size
+ mainWidget.show();
+ mainWidget.move(32,32);
+ mainWidget.resize(800,600);
+
+ return app.exec();
+}
diff --git a/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.pro b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.pro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c48573fe36
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot.pro
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+# source code for this simple demo
+SOURCES = test_multiplot.cpp
+
+# configure Qt
+CONFIG += qt
+QT += core gui xml svg
+greaterThan(QT_MAJOR_VERSION, 4): QT += widgets printsupport
+
+# output executable name
+TARGET = test_multiplot
+
+
+# include JKQtPlotter source code
+DEPENDPATH += . ../../lib
+INCLUDEPATH += ../../lib
+CONFIG (debug, debug|release):LIBS += -L../../lib/debug -ljkqtplotterlib
+CONFIG (release):LIBS += -L../../lib/release -ljkqtplotterlib
+
+
+# here you can activate some debug options
+#DEFINES += SHOW_JKQTPLOTTER_DEBUG
+#DEFINES += JKQTBP_AUTOTIMER
diff --git a/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot_and_lib.pro b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot_and_lib.pro
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..83fc904dae
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/test_multiplot/test_multiplot_and_lib.pro
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+TEMPLATE = subdirs
+
+SUBDIRS += jkqtplotterlib test_multiplot
+
+jkqtplotterlib.file = ../../lib/jkqtplotterlib.pro
+
+test_multiplot.file=$$PWD/test_multiplot.pro
+test_multiplot.depends = jkqtplotterlib