MP Graph and texnum.mpx

MP Graph and texnum.mpx

[Adam Lindsay]

Hi ConTeXters,

I've been using the MPGraph part of MetaPost and its corresponding m-
graph ConTeXt module this week. I've been getting very attractive results
that I will encourage my partner to use in her PhD.

I was baffled for a while why I could get graphing to work beautifully in
one directory, but in no others. I finally tracked it down to the system
requiring texnum.mpx in the current working directory. I believe this
file contains the MP-ified numbers that MPGraph puts on the axes. 

My question is: why should this be? I *think* I have done everything else
necessary to get MP working in ConTeXt. How can I automatically generate
texnum.mpx in a way that 1) another user doesn't have to worry about it
or 2) it sits in the path permanently?


Some system details: I'm running a fresh TeXLive 7 install, with the
latest ConTeXt from the website. I have \write18 enabled,
\runMPfraphicstrue, \runMPTEXgraphicstrue, and MPXCOMMAND = texexec --
mptex. On the slightly unusual side, I have \forceMPTEXgraphictrue, which
seemed necessary at one point, and no \recycleMPslotstrue, which seemed
unnecessary.

I'm thrilled with the integration of MetaPost's Graph capabilities,
beyond this strange behaviour that took a long time to track down. It was
very easy to get very attractive results from simple data files.


As a side question, would I have to fiddle with texmf/metapost/base/
texnum.mp to affect the font of the x- and y-axis numbers on an MPGraph
plot? They seem to stick to CMR no matter what I do to defaultfont in
MetaPost.

Thanks,
adam

--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
 Adam Lindsay                  +44(0)1524 594 537
 atl@comp.lancs.ac.uk
 http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/users/atl/
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Re: MP Graph and texnum.mpx

[Hans Hagen]

At 04:12 PM 10/27/2002 +0000, Adam Lindsay wrote:
>Hi ConTeXters,
>
>I've been using the MPGraph part of MetaPost and its corresponding m-
>graph ConTeXt module this week. I've been getting very attractive results
>that I will encourage my partner to use in her PhD.
>
>I was baffled for a while why I could get graphing to work beautifully in
>one directory, but in no others. I finally tracked it down to the system
>requiring texnum.mpx in the current working directory. I believe this
>file contains the MP-ified numbers that MPGraph puts on the axes.
>
>My question is: why should this be? I *think* I have done everything else
>necessary to get MP working in ConTeXt. How can I automatically generate
>texnum.mpx in a way that 1) another user doesn't have to worry about it
>or 2) it sits in the path permanently?
>
>
>Some system details: I'm running a fresh TeXLive 7 install, with the
>latest ConTeXt from the website. I have \write18 enabled,
>\runMPfraphicstrue, \runMPTEXgraphicstrue, and MPXCOMMAND = texexec --
>mptex. On the slightly unusual side, I have \forceMPTEXgraphictrue, which
>seemed necessary at one point, and no \recycleMPslotstrue, which seemed
>unnecessary.

get the latest version from out site, and load graph module:

\usemodule[graph]

This will provide you with integration of the graph package (with a few 
advantages, like properly typeset labels and so);

As a side question, would I have to fiddle with texmf/metapost/base/
>texnum.mp to affect the font of the x- and y-axis numbers on an MPGraph
>plot? They seem to stick to CMR no matter what I do to defaultfont in
>MetaPost.

no, texnum cum suis are actulay spoiling the game, but it should work ok now

Hans
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE | pragma@wxs.nl
                       Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
  tel: +31 (0)38 477 53 69 | fax: +31 (0)38 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        information: http://www.pragma-ade.com/roadmap.pdf
                     documentation: http://www.pragma-ade.com/showcase.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: MP Graph and texnum.mpx

[Adam T. Lindsay]

Hi Hans.

Hans Hagen said this at Mon, 28 Oct 2002 13:35:33 +0100:

>>Some system details: I'm running a fresh TeXLive 7 install, with the
>>latest ConTeXt from the website. I have \write18 enabled,
>>\runMPfraphicstrue, \runMPTEXgraphicstrue, and MPXCOMMAND = texexec --
>>mptex. On the slightly unusual side, I have \forceMPTEXgraphictrue, which
>>seemed necessary at one point, and no \recycleMPslotstrue, which seemed
>>unnecessary.
>
>get the latest version from out site, and load graph module:
>
>\usemodule[graph]
>
>This will provide you with integration of the graph package (with a few 
>advantages, like properly typeset labels and so);

Oh, sorry I wasn't clear about this. I've been using the cont-tmf from
2002.10.11. m-graph.tex from that version is the same version as what
currently up there (2002.10.23) . I have indeed been using 
\usemodule[graph], and getting generally good results once texnum.mpx is
around. 

I'd call it a very repeatable bug (installation issue?). When there is no
texexec.mpx in the current directory: no MP graphs; if there is: fairly
nice results. The labels are correctly typeset, but the axis numbers are
not (the cmr problem below).

If you're saying that it should be taken care of, then there's probably
something wrong with my installation that's not dynamically generating
texnum.mpx when it's supposed to.

>As a side question, would I have to fiddle with texmf/metapost/base/
>>texnum.mp to affect the font of the x- and y-axis numbers on an MPGraph
>>plot? They seem to stick to CMR no matter what I do to defaultfont in
>>MetaPost.
>
>no, texnum cum suis are actulay spoiling the game, but it should work ok now

Hmm. Seeing as everything that relies on m-graph is working fine, I'm
more convinced it's in the on-the-fly generation of mpx files. I had
problems with it with MPXCOMMAND as both makempx and texexec.

Many thanks,
adam


-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Adam T. Lindsay                      atl@comp.lancs.ac.uk
 Computing Dept, Lancaster University   +44(0)1524/594.537
 Lancaster, LA1 4YR, UK             Fax:+44(0)1524/593.608
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Re: MP Graph and texnum.mpx

[Hans Hagen]

At 03:59 PM 10/28/2002 +0000, Adam T. Lindsay wrote:

>If you're saying that it should be taken care of, then there's probably
>something wrong with my installation that's not dynamically generating
>texnum.mpx when it's supposed to

actually, texnum should not be used at all, so i'm puzzled

> >As a side question, would I have to fiddle with texmf/metapost/base/
> >>texnum.mp to affect the font of the x- and y-axis numbers on an MPGraph
> >>plot? They seem to stick to CMR no matter what I do to defaultfont in
> >>MetaPost.
> >
> >no, texnum cum suis are actulay spoiling the game, but it should work ok now
>
>Hmm. Seeing as everything that relies on m-graph is working fine, I'm
>more convinced it's in the on-the-fly generation of mpx files. I had
>problems with it with MPXCOMMAND as both makempx and texexec.

can you send me a minimal failing file to test?

Hans
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                   Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE | pragma@wxs.nl
                       Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
  tel: +31 (0)38 477 53 69 | fax: +31 (0)38 477 53 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
                        information: http://www.pragma-ade.com/roadmap.pdf
                     documentation: http://www.pragma-ade.com/showcase.pdf
-------------------------------------------------------------------------