October 2008 - ntg-context - NTG Mailing Lists

\startvariables failed after the current update
by Zhichu Chen 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

Hi there, I haven't updated my ConTeXt distribution for a very long time (for the internet connection problem here) and somehow my network worked, so I use ctxtools --update to make an update. During the updating, I got some error message like "I can't find mult-def.tex" and some other files more. Weird, because I do have those files and kpsewhich can locate them. I just input the needed files WITH the path and seemed OK. To make sure, I made another ctxtools --update and this time no error messages. Anyway, I compiled a used-to-be-working file and failed because some "Undefined control sequence" and I found the "undefined" macros are the \c!xxx and \v!yyy macros which I defined them in \startvariables all yyy: yyy \stopvariables \startconstants all xxx: xxx \stopconstants any explanations? -- Best Regards Chen ---------------------------------------------------------------- Zhi-chu Chen | Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility No. 2019 | Jialuo Rd. | Jiading | Shanghai | P.R. China tel: 086 21 5955 3405 | zhichu.chen.googlepages.com | www.sinap.ac.cn ----------------------------------------------------------------

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tikz and metapost
by Alan BRASLAU 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

Following some exchange off-list (trying to figure out how tikz under context got broken), the subject of understanding pgf/tikz with respect to metapost came up. I am posting a follow-up here as it may be of interest to others on the mailing list, those who know metapost very well as well as those, like myself, who are still learning how to use different graphics tools. On Sunday 26 October 2008 11:46:22 Mojca Miklavec wrote: > > I am just starting to learn about metapost, and I can't judge yet > > what pgf/tikz has as advantages and disadvantages. > > Advantages of TikZ: > 1.) many many many many "libraries" that are ready-to-use. Just take a > glimpse through the manual and it will be evident to you in the first > glimpse. If you want to draw a graph, you can do it with a few > commands. (one command draws you axis, one for function, ...) > You can achieve the same with metapost, but you need to do everything > from scratch. However, it's really easy to write your own libraries. > 2.) some special effects like smooth shading works in metapost only > conditionally (does not work with XeTeX at the moment), and you have a > wider range with TikZ > > Advantages of metapost: > 1.) rich mathematical machinery (you can write a set of equations and > metapost will calculate your coordinates) > 2.) easy to write your own macros I thought that a major interest of pgf/tikz was the production of portable graphics (using many different motors). > I use metapost when I need to program something, and TikZ when I need > to do something fancy very quickly. Another option is export to TikZ > in Geogebra. > > As an experiment, I did try comparing making a graph using > > pgfplot and metagraph, and I did *not* like the result of the second. > > metagraph is old as earth. graph.mp,v 1.2 2004/09/19 Current estimates place the age of the earth at around 4.6 billion years... > If I draw graphs is meapost, I do that > manually. Or I use gnuplot module to draw graphs for me, but graph > drawing is much easier & more flexible with TikZ if you have > datapoints ready. I myself find gnuplot to be fatally flawed and have never liked using it. (I still sometimes produce graphics using an old program written in K&R C that generates HPGL for pen plotters, with a filter that then creates postscript. Now THAT is almost stone age! But this program can also handle an arbitrary number of points VERY efficiently, only limited by the size of your storage device.) > If you need some complex curve, TikZ is improving in > that area, but in metapost it's out-of-the-box to draw it. Why did Till Tantau write pgf/tikz? Clearly he knew metapost, so another route could have been to develop a standard library of metapost macros. I'm asking these questions here as there seems to be a preference (or prejudice) towards metapost amongst the context community. Indeed, it appears pretty powerful. But as Mojca wrote about glimpsing at the pgf/tikz manual, it too is very rich and I have yet to learn about all of the new features that were introduced in pgf-2.0. Thus, I am trying to figure out where to invest my learning efforts. Do any other metapost and/or pgf-tikz experts have something to contribute to this query? -- Alan Braslau

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Load context format at runtime (from luatex)
by Mildred Ki'Lya 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

Hi, I would like to run (if possible) the context format at runtime. In fact, I'd like to create a custom format for my own document and I want my format to inherit ConTeXt (mostly because of utf-8 support). At the beginning of my document, I added: \input format And at the beginning of format.tex, I added: \input context But now, when I execute the document using (pdf)luatex, I get an error in some lua chunk: pdfluatex document.tex This is LuaTeX, Version snapshot-0.25.4-2008091110 (Web2C 7.5.7) (document.tex (format.tex (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/context.tex (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/syst-pln.tex) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/syst-prm.tex) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/luat-env.tex ! LuaTeX error [string "luas[0]"]:1: attempt to call field 'luafilechunk' (a ni l value). \ctxluabyteload ...nvironment.luafilechunk("#1") } \ ...fproductionrun \else \ctxluabyteload {#1}{#2} \fi \global \everyloadluac... l.168 \registerctxluafile{luat-env}{1.001} ? If I use context instead of (pdf)luatex, it seems there is an infinite loop when context.tex is loaded from my format in the file /usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/syst-prm.tex If I remove the inclusion of context in my format (the \input line) I get another error (but I can't find where it is). The last lines looks like: context document.tex MtxRun | loading configuration for /usr/share/texmf/web2c from /home/mildred/luatex-cache/context/6300afb4995fe38c77e9b86ed1ef1028/trees/f7d1b3c25487ab1e1035aff1c53b90da (./document.tex ConTeXt ver: 2008.05.21 15:21 MKIV fmt: 2008.10.27 int: english/english language : language en is active report >> utilityfile: not present system : cont-new loaded (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/cont-new.tex systems : beware: some patches loaded from cont-new.tex (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/cont-new.mkiv lua : used config path - /usr/share/texmf/web2c/texmf.cnf lua : used cache path - /home/mildred/luatex-cache/context/6300afb4995fe38c77e9b86ed1ef1028 ) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/cont-mtx.tex)) system : cont-old loaded (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/cont-old.tex loading : Context Old Macros ) system : cont-fil loaded (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/cont-fil.tex loading : Context File Synonyms ) system : cont-sys.rme loaded (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/user/cont-sys.rme (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/type-tmf.tex) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/type-siz.tex) (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/type-otf.tex)) bodyfont : 12pt rm is loaded specials : tex loaded system : document.top loaded (./document.top specials : loading definition file tpd (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/spec-tpd.tex specials : loading definition file fdf (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.tex (/usr/share/texmf-dist/tex/context/base/spec-fdf.mkiv)) specials : fdf loaded ) specials : fdf loaded ) (./format.tex) ! Missing } inserted. <inserted text> } <to be read again> \endgroup \stopitemgroup ...mdepth }\egroup \else \endgroup \global \advance \itemdept... l.28 ? Do you know how I can create my format based on ConTeXt? It doesn't seems that easy :/ And I would prefer not to be dependant from ConTeXt (that is if I want to use another format for my document instead of ConTeXt, I want to be able to do that). And I also would prefer using the generic (pdf)luatex instead of context. Thanks. Mildred -- Mildred Ki'Lya ╭───────── ｍｉｌｄｒｅｄ５９３＠ｏｎｌｉｎｅ．ｆｒ ────────── │ Jabber, GoogleTalk: <mildred(a)jabber.fr> │ Site: <http://ki.lya.online.fr> GPG ID: 9A7D 2E2B │ Fingerprint: 197C A7E6 645B 4299 6D37 684B 6F9D A8D6 9A7D 2E2B

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--arrange vs. --pdfarrange
by Marcin Borkowski 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

This might be a stupid question, but: what's the difference between the --arrange and --pdfarrange options for texexec? Greets, -- Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl) - Why are vim users so terribly egocentric? - Because they begin every sentence with `I'.

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Reference to a subitem
by Diego Depaoli 28 Oct '08

28 Oct '08

Hi all, referencing a subitem I get also the item (1.a, 2.c and so on). Can I split them or get only the subitem? \starttext \startitemize [n] \item [number] one \startitemize [a] \item [letter] letter \stopitemize \stopitemize Look at number \in[number] letter \in[letter] \stoptext Normal output: Look at number 1 letter 1.a Wanted result Look at number 1 letter a Many thanks -- Diego Depaoli

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footnote n=0 error
by Michael Green 27 Oct '08

27 Oct '08

\setupfootnotes[n=0,columndistance=3em,] seems to cause a problem with context ver: 2008.10.23 When it's commented out, everything is fine. When it is left in, I get the error below. Thanks! mjg ConTeXt ver: 2008.10.23 17:32 MKIV fmt: 2008.10.27 int: english/ english [snip] fonts : resetting map file list {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf-context/ fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-empty.map} fonts : using map file: original-base {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf-context/ fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-base.map} fonts : using map file: lm-math {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/ dvips/lm/lm-math.map} fonts : using map file: lm-rm {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf/fonts/map/ dvips/lm/lm-rm.map} fonts : using map file: original-ams-base {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf-context/ fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-ams-base.map} fonts : using map file: original-ams-euler {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf-context/ fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-ams-euler.map} fonts : using map file: original-public-lm {/Volumes/Data/Users/mjg14747/Applications/context/tex/texmf-context/ fonts/map/pdftex/context/original-public-lm.map} [1.1] ! Missing } inserted. <inserted text> } <to be read again> \unvbox \doplacenoteinserts ...ing \unvcopy \else \unvbox \fi \currentnoteins \or \i... \next3 ...oprocessnotes {\doplacenoteinserts }{#1} \doprocesscommaitem <argument> \relax footnote, endnote,linenote \doprocesscommalist ...aitem \gobbleoneargument #1 ,]\relax \global \advance ... ... l.120 \stoptext

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Re: [NTG-context] bib module error with context 2008.10.23
by Michael Green 27 Oct '08

27 Oct '08

Taco Hoekwater wrote: > Michael Green wrote: >> >> I noticed that the modules.contextgarden.net/bib page says you're >> editing the apa style. Here are two corrections I made. Perhaps they >> will help. > > I just uploaded a new version to the garden, with your patches > for bibl-apa.tex. Please give it a try: > > http://modules.contextgarden.net/bib > > Best wishes, > Taco Thanks! It works fine. I found a different problem with footnotes that I'm pretty sure is unrelated. I'll post a separate message. mjg

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Re: [NTG-context] bib module error with context 2008.10.23
by Michael Green 27 Oct '08

27 Oct '08

Taco Hoekwater wrote: > Hans Hagen wrote: > >> Michael Green wrote: >> >>> After updating the minimals for OSX-intel, I get an error when using >>> the bib module. Here's the relevant bit of the log. >>> >> >> you need a new bib module >> > > Not just that, you need a bib module that doesn't exist yet. > I will do a new upload to modules.contextgarden on monday. > > Best wishes, > Taco Great! I noticed that the modules.contextgarden.net/bib page says you're editing the apa style. Here are two corrections I made. Perhaps they will help. 1. line 286: changed \insertpublisher{. }{.}{.} to \insertpublisher { }{.}{.} Why: prevents double periods after the title. It's what you did for several other publication types in the version you sent me on August 10. 2. line 384: commented out insertpublisher line Why: this is the entry for unpublished documents so I wasn't sure why it was there. More importantly, if it is left uncommented, there are two periods after the title. Thanks! mjg

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A problem with itemizations
by Marcin Borkowski 27 Oct '08

27 Oct '08

Hi, I have a problem with \startitemize ... \stopitemize. Sometimes (I have no idea when, but this effect is fully repeatable!) I get a page break just before a \startitemize. It is nested (second level) and follows one line of another item at the 1st level. It seems that adding [intro] won't help. The problem occurs with [columns,two]; I don't know whether this has any influence - when I change the setup (in the preamble) the page breaks fall in different places, and all my 2nd level itemizations are 2nd level (and I have quite a lot of them). Any ideas? I know that the above is rather vague, but it's difficult to prepare a minimal example etc. Also, Hans, do I get it correctly that the itemization code will get rewritten in MkIV? If yes, is there any chance of having unpacked itemizations in 2 and more columns? And any chance of having an explicit column break (or a preference) in multicolumn itemizations? Thanks & greets -- Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl) #### #### #### _ __ __ __ _ __ __ __ ## ## ## ## ## ## | \ | / \ | \ / \ | \ | / \ | \ / \ | #### #### #### |_/ | | | | | | | |_/ | | | | | | | | ## ## ## ## ## ## | \ | |--| | | |--| | \ | |--| | | |--| | #### #### #### |_/ | | | |__/ | | / |_/ | | | |__/ | | .

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Page arranging: 2SIDE, 2UP, 2DOWN, 2*2, 2**2
by Marcin Borkowski 27 Oct '08

27 Oct '08

What is the difference between the above? In particular, do I get this correctly: (*) 2SIDE just puts 2 pages onto one sheet, in the following order: 1 2 3 4 ... (*) 2UP prepares a booklet I'm not sure if I understand the rest. I tried 2DOWN, but got only even pages (?). And with 2*2 and 2**2 got the same (?) arrangement, but I'm not sure what it's for. Thanks & greets! -- Marcin Borkowski (http://mbork.pl) People can be divided into 10 groups: those who like the binary system and those who don't.

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