gnuplot & ConTeXt

gnuplot & ConTeXt

[Mojca Miklavec]

Hello,

I've put the gnuplot binary for windows on
http://modules.contextgarden.net/gnuplot-win, just in case that anyone
is interested (Firefox has problems displaying that page, but I didn't
figure out whether the problem lies in the garden, firefox or on my
computer).

Some functionality and documentation is still missing, but the
interface should be stable now. If anyone would like to suggest what
the default settings for some options should be, feel free to comment.
I'm not sure if the current settings are all sensinble and there might
still be time to change some.


Gnuplot 4.2 will probably be released very soon. The context terminal
might have chances to be included in the "patchset 1", but the
developers are reluctant to include it without any feedback from other
users.

Even a few comments like "it works for me" on
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1654807&group_id=2055&atid=302055
or on the mailing list would probably help.

There are known limitations (like "memory limit exceeded"),
unimplemented features, but also bugs. So please report/email any bugs
to me as soon as you find them.

Mojca

Re: gnuplot & ConTeXt

[Aditya Mahajan]

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007, Mojca Miklavec wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I've put the gnuplot binary for windows on
> http://modules.contextgarden.net/gnuplot-win, just in case that anyone
> is interested (Firefox has problems displaying that page, but I didn't
> figure out whether the problem lies in the garden, firefox or on my
> computer).
>
> Some functionality and documentation is still missing, but the
> interface should be stable now. If anyone would like to suggest what
> the default settings for some options should be, feel free to comment.
> I'm not sure if the current settings are all sensinble and there might
> still be time to change some.

I downloaded the gnuplot and a couple of tests. Few comments:

m-gnuplot is found before t-gnuplot on my system. I know that 
m-gnuplot has been removed from the core packages, but I (and I guess 
most people) update using ctxtools --update, which will not delete the 
existing m-gnuplot. So, to ensure that the new module is loaded, you 
must use

\usemodule[t][gnuplot]

I do not understand the need to create a batch file in Windows. I 
understand the naming mess in gnuplot, but can't you follow the same 
strategy as the bib module. That is allow the user to name the 
command, something like

\setupgnuplot[program=wgnuplot|pgnuplot|whatever]


> Gnuplot 4.2 will probably be released very soon. The context terminal
> might have chances to be included in the "patchset 1", but the
> developers are reluctant to include it without any feedback from other
> users.


Please also include a demo file with the gnuplot module. If I 
were seriously considering using gnuplot, a demo file will help a lot. 
That will also allow you to find the syntax mistake in the 
examples at the end. You should hae

\startGNUPLOTscript[exp] instead of
\startGNUPLOTscript{exp} (square brackets, instead of braces)


> Even a few comments like "it works for me" on
> http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=1654807&group_id=2055&atid=302055
> or on the mailing list would probably help.

I will test it a bit more and then leave some feedback there also.

Aditya

Re: gnuplot & ConTeXt

[Mojca Miklavec]

On 3/1/07, Aditya Mahajan wrote:
> On Wed, 28 Feb 2007, Mojca Miklavec wrote:
>
> > Hello,
> >
> > I've put the gnuplot binary for windows on
> > http://modules.contextgarden.net/gnuplot-win, just in case that anyone
> > is interested (Firefox has problems displaying that page, but I didn't
> > figure out whether the problem lies in the garden, firefox or on my
> > computer).
> >
> > Some functionality and documentation is still missing, but the
> > interface should be stable now. If anyone would like to suggest what
> > the default settings for some options should be, feel free to comment.
> > I'm not sure if the current settings are all sensinble and there might
> > still be time to change some.
>
> I downloaded the gnuplot and a couple of tests. Few comments:
>
> m-gnuplot is found before t-gnuplot on my system. I know that
> m-gnuplot has been removed from the core packages, but I (and I guess
> most people) update using ctxtools --update, which will not delete the
> existing m-gnuplot. So, to ensure that the new module is loaded, you
> must use
>
> \usemodule[t][gnuplot]

But that is more ugly. I prefer to say explicitely to delete
m-gnuplot.tex rather than having to keep using [t] for ages. m-gnuplot
is/was a great starting point, but now obsolete anyway.

> I do not understand the need to create a batch file in Windows. I
> understand the naming mess in gnuplot, but can't you follow the same
> strategy as the bib module. That is allow the user to name the
> command, something like
>
> \setupgnuplot[program=wgnuplot|pgnuplot|whatever]

Thanks for the suggestion. The problem under windows is that gnuplot
usually doesn't reside in PATH anyway (in contrast to unix). Adding
such a setting in file would mean incompatibility when compiling the
same file on linux, but of course one could add
\setupgnuplot[program=wgnuplot] to cont-usr.tex. I just thought that
creating a batch file would be less problematic than hardcoding the
path in the module. But such an option can always be added.

> > Gnuplot 4.2 will probably be released very soon. The context terminal
> > might have chances to be included in the "patchset 1", but the
> > developers are reluctant to include it without any feedback from other
> > users.
>
>
> Please also include a demo file with the gnuplot module. If I
> were seriously considering using gnuplot, a demo file will help a lot.
> That will also allow you to find the syntax mistake in the
> examples at the end. You should have
>
> \startGNUPLOTscript[exp] instead of
> \startGNUPLOTscript{exp} (square brackets, instead of braces)

Braces were used at the beginning (as in \startuseMPgraphic{name}),
but since \useGNUPLOTgraphic[name][1,3][width=4cm] needed optional
parameters, it was a bit inconsistent to have braces in one place and
brackets on the other.

Both should work. Well, at least they were supposed to work (or at
least "I think that I remember them working"). Apparently it doesn't.
I spent quite some time trying to support both brackets and braces,
but I didn't manage to make \useGNUPLOTgraphic{name} work.
\startGNUPLOTsript{name} doesn't complain, but doesn't seem to work
either. Never mind, it's not that important. I'll change the demos,
but I also need to improve them and write some general documentation.

Thanks a lot for suggestions & comments,
    Mojca

Re: gnuplot & ConTeXt

[Peter Münster]

On Wed, 28 Feb 2007, Aditya Mahajan wrote:

> m-gnuplot is found before t-gnuplot on my system. I know that 
> m-gnuplot has been removed from the core packages, but I (and I guess 
> most people) update using ctxtools --update, which will not delete the 
> existing m-gnuplot.

Hello Aditya,
for this reason I wrote updateConTeXt.sh
( http://pmrb.free.fr/work/OS/ConTeXt/updateConTeXt.sh ).
If you want to use it, you need to have your local files in a different
texmf tree (texmf-local for example and the ConTeXt tree in texmf-context).
Cheers, Peter

-- 
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