[Tioga-users] Using the new pdf preview features in 1.2

[Ivars Finvers]

Bill (and Vincent),

Thanks for the example. I had looked sample files (and documentation)  
but had missed the entry_page function.

The new approach is definitely simpler to use (at least for me). Just  
what I needed.

Ivars

On 25-Oct-06, at 10:29 AM, Bill Paxton wrote:

>
> On Oct 24, 2006, at 4:02 PM, Ivars Finvers wrote:
>
>> I saw a message saying the Tioga 1.2.x has the ability to directly
>> produce a "final" version of a figure's pdf. A quick browse of the
>> documentation didn't reveal how to do this (or even, exactly what the
>> new commands are).
>>
>> For those of us who aren't intimate with the details of Tioga, would
>> it be possible to provide an example of using the new pdf mode?
>
>
> Hi Ivars,
>
> Thanks for the email.  It seems that the releases have gotten out  
> in front of the documentation again!
>
> Before going into details of commands, please allow me to take  
> another shot at explaining this talk about "final" versions of a  
> figure's pdf means.  For me, there's been a change of view not  
> unlike the famous visual illusion (is it a vase or is it a  
> reflected profile?):
>
> <vasemy1.gif>
>
> In the "old days", I thought of Tioga as producing intermediate  
> files (the *_figure.tex and *_figure.txt files) that would at some  
> later time be combined by TeX to create a figure in a TeX  
> document.  So, in that view, the "final" figure PDF was created by  
> TeX as part of typesetting a document.  However, I naturally wanted  
> to see what the figure looked like while I was debugging it, and so  
> there was a "preview" ability in Tioga as well.  And before long it  
> became clear that I was looking at things in the "wrong" way.
>
> So there was a reversal in my image, and now I think of the process  
> as Tioga producing the final PDF for the figure and, as part of  
> that, calling TeX as a subroutine to get the job done.  Then the  
> figure PDF can be used however you wish -- as part of a TeX  
> document of course, but for anything else as well.  There is no  
> longer any need for a "preview" and the *_figure files can be  
> deleted immediately since they're now just temporaries created to  
> drive TeX.
>
> There wasn't too much needed to provide better support for this new  
> view of things.  Mainly, you need to be able to specify exact sizes  
> for figure and fonts.
>
> Now for specifics.  Please take a quick look at tioga samples/plots/ 
> plots.rb that is part of the download.   At the end of the  
> initialize routine, at line 63, there is a new addition:
>
>         t.def_enter_page_function { enter_page }
>
> This tells tioga that whenever it is about to create a new PDF  
> page, it should call the 'enter_page' method which is defined in  
> the next few lines of the file:
>
>     def enter_page
>         t.page_setup(11*72/2,8.5*72/2)
>         t.set_frame_sides(0.15,0.85,0.85,0.15) # left, right, top,  
> bottom in page coords
>     end
>
> The page_setup routine takes the desired width and height in "big  
> points" (72 per inch).   So in this case, the PDF will be 5.5  
> inches wide and 4.25 inches high.  The set_frame_sides routine  
> takes fractional positions on the page (i.e., page coordinates).   
> If you wanted to change the fonts, you could do that in the  
> enter_page routine as well by adding a line like this:
>
>         t.set_default_font_size(14)
>
>
> I hope this helps to clarify things.
>
> Cheers,
> Bill
>
>