Excel / CSV → native-editable OriginPro project → verified publication exports.

Origin Plot Factory is a Windows automation engine for scientific figures that must stay editable in OriginPro. It treats an exported picture as only one part of the deliverable: the source data, native plot bindings, saved project, cold-reopen result, and final PNG/SVG are verified as one transaction.

The rule: a file existing on disk does not mean the figure succeeded.

What makes it different

Typical plotting script	Origin Plot Factory
Stops when a PNG appears	Closes and cold-reopens the saved OPJU
May embed a finished image	Requires native Origin plot objects
Trusts worksheet assignment	Audits plot-to-column bindings
Retries opaque COM errors	Records deterministic failure evidence
Relies on default export settings	Checks DPI, SVG vectors, physical size, fonts, and palette
Discovers APIs during delivery	Uses prequalified chart recipes for a five-minute target

Output contract

One render produces a self-contained evidence package:

regional-trend/
├── regional-trend.opju       # native-editable Origin project
├── regional-trend.png        # publication export, normally 600 dpi
├── regional-trend.svg        # vector export; embedded images rejected
├── normalized-input.csv      # exact data accepted by the renderer
└── render-audit.json         # bindings, dimensions, hashes, timing, gates

Verified lifecycle

flowchart LR
    A["Excel / CSV"] --> B["Schema + semantics"]
    B --> C["Normalized data"]
    C --> D["One owned Origin session"]
    D --> E["Native plots + bindings"]
    E --> F["Save and close"]
    F --> G["Cold reopen"]
    G --> H["Cell + binding mutation"]
    H --> I["PNG / SVG export"]
    I --> J["Physical + visual audit"]

Loading

The pipeline deliberately keeps validation outside the happy path. Invalid fields, missing values, duplicate keys, infinities, and unsafe matrix dimensions are rejected before Origin starts.

Chart families

The source tree currently contains fixed render paths for seven families:

Family	Native Origin strategy	Public snapshot status
dual_y_bar_line	column + line on explicit Y axes	locally qualified release
grouped_bar_error	separate X / Y / ED bindings	implementation; v2 requalification
stacked_bar_area	individual plots, explicit group + cumulative stack	implementation; v2 requalification
positive_negative_fill	two area plots with a zero baseline	implementation; v2 requalification
heatmap	matrix + native heat-map plot	implementation; v2 requalification
rainbow_scatter	native Sphere symbols + continuous colour mapping	implementation and qualification workflow
quadrant_bubble	numeric XY + area-scaled Sphere bubbles	candidate workflow

Statuses are intentionally conservative. A candidate is not called gold merely because it renders once. Local Origin templates and qualification artifacts are not committed because they may contain licensed Origin content or user data.

Install

Requirements:

• Windows 10 or 11;
• OriginPro 2024b, or a compatible version;
• 64-bit Python 3.11;
• a working OriginExt automation registration;
• administrator elevation only where the local COM registration requires it.

git clone https://github.com/beiming183-cloud/origin-plot-factory.git
Set-Location origin-plot-factory

py -3.11 -m venv .venv
& .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install -r requirements-lock.txt
& .\.venv\Scripts\python.exe -m pip install --no-deps -e .

Set portable storage locations instead of editing source code:

$env:ORIGIN_FACTORY_ROOT = "D:\OriginPlotFactory"
$env:ORIGIN_PIPELINE_OPERATIONS = "D:\OriginPlotFactory-Operations"
$env:ORIGIN_TEMPLATE_LIBRARY = "D:\OriginTemplateLibrary"

The qualified base.opju, registry, theme, and recipe assets must be installed under ORIGIN_FACTORY_ROOT before a production render. This repository publishes the reusable engine and qualification methodology, not proprietary Origin assets.

Render

& .\.venv\Scripts\draw-origin.exe render `
  --chart dual_y_bar_line `
  --data "D:\results.xlsx" `
  --sheet 0 `
  --theme competition-v1 `
  --name "regional-trend" `
  --strict

--strict enables the binding-mutation gate: a source value or label is temporarily changed, the figure response is observed, and the original value is restored before final export.

Gold qualification

A chart version may be promoted only after all of these gates pass:

1. schema and semantic-contract validation;
2. two genuinely different datasets;
3. minimum and maximum supported sizes;
4. invalid-input rejection before Origin startup;
5. native-object and source-binding inspection;
6. save, clean exit, and cold reopen;
7. worksheet or matrix cell comparison;
8. binding mutation and restoration;
9. 600 dpi PNG and vector-only SVG export;
10. SVG physical size, font, palette, and viewBox checks;
11. actual visual inspection at publication size;
12. ten consecutive successful runs with no residual Origin process;
13. P95 end-to-end duration below 300 seconds.

The most recent complete local engine regression passed 82 tests. The public, asset-free snapshot passes 53 tests with one expected skip for the local release record. GitHub Actions runs this portable suite because hosted runners do not include OriginPro or qualified template assets.

# Portable tests (also used by CI)
python -m pytest -q

# Full local suite (requires configured Origin assets)
python -m pytest -q

Design principles

• Native first: never put PNG/SVG into OPJU as a substitute for a plot.
• One task, one Origin strategy: do not mix originpro, Application(), and ApplicationSI() in one task-owned session.
• No blind retries: classify the failure, record evidence, then choose whether retry is safe.
• Immutable releases: candidate and gold directories stay separate; released versions are not edited in place.
• No silent overwrite: user projects are never overwritten by default.
• Production is boring: API discovery and template development happen before the timed render.

Repository map

origin_pipeline/   input contracts, renderers, session safety, audits, CLI
tests/             portable contracts and local Origin regressions
tools/             portable setup and qualification helpers
docs/              failure lessons, palette policy, and project artwork

Roadmap

• fixed-schema rendering engine;
• cold-reopen and binding-mutation audit;
• native Sphere highlight validation;
• SVG physical-dimension and palette gates;
• finish v2 requalification for four corrected page-size templates;
• publish synthetic, redistributable example template packages;
• expand the audited legacy inventory into fixed renderer families;
• document cross-version OriginPro compatibility.

Contributing

Reproducible OriginPro behaviour reports are especially valuable: plot bindings, matrix workflows, export dimensions, COM lifecycle issues, and cross-version differences.

Please use synthetic data and do not attach confidential datasets or proprietary .opju projects to public issues. See CONTRIBUTING.md and SECURITY.md.

If this project saves you from a broken editable figure, consider leaving a ⭐ — it helps other OriginPro users find the work.

License

MIT