Re: [Groff] How to embed PS char into groff input

[Amitava Dutta]

Thanks to all, esp Ted and Tadziu for the help.

I had been following Ted's original example 
and it is working fine. 
Now I have a set of input which requires 
the mm macro (groff -mm) and when I use 
this macro, I get error
    warning: numeric expression expected (got a special character)

How do I modify the character definition to survive the macro ?

Thanks
Amitava

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ted Harding" <address@hidden>
To: "Amitava Dutta" <address@hidden>
Cc: <address@hidden>
Sent: Saturday, December 08, 2001 4:45 AM
Subject: RE: [Groff] How to embed PS char into groff input


> On 07-Dec-01 Amitava Dutta wrote:
> > I have 
> > (a) a PostScript code fragment
> >       (i.e.  gsave .... grestore)
> >       which draws a piece of graphic.
> >    This is to be used as the character XY
> >    in a groff input (below).
> > 
> > (b) a set of groff (rather troff) input files
> >      that has the sequence
> >           \(XY
> >     and each such occurance has to use the 
> >     graphic (above) as the character XY.
> > 
> > How do I print these to a PostScript printer ?
> 
> Sorry about the length of this response. The following
> is from a groff demo talk of mine, using PS code from
> "PostScript Language Tutorial and Cookbook" (the "Blue Book"),
> page 133 ("Program 1 / Repeated Shapes"). First the PS code
> for the graphic, then the details for making this into a groff
> character, finally a demo of how it can be used.
> 
> 1. Put the PS code into a file "rose2.ps". NB that this code
> MUST include a suitable "%%BoundingBox:" comment line.
> ====================
> %!PS-Adobe-3.0
> %%BoundingBox: 172 173 259 260
> /inch {72 mul} def
> 
> /wedge
> { newpath
> %%  rgbR rgbG rgbB setrgbcolor
>   0 0 moveto
>   1 0 translate
>   15 rotate
>   0 15 sin translate
>   0 0 15 sin -90 90 arc
>   closepath
> } def
> 
> gsave
>   3 inch 3 inch translate
>   0.5 inch 0.5 inch scale
>   0.02 setlinewidth
>   1 1 12
>   { 12 div setgray
>     gsave
>       wedge
>       gsave fill grestore
>       0 setgray stroke
>     grestore
>     30 rotate
>   } for
> grestore
> 
> showpage
> ===================
> 
> 2. Define the character "\[rose]" using the groff ".char"
> request, which uses the "\X'ps: import" function to pull in
> the code from the file (Note the explicit citation of the
> "%%BoundingBox:" coordinates from the graphic file):
> 
> .char \[rose] \Z'\h'+\\n[.ps]u*1u/40u'\v'\\n[.ps]u*10u/42u'\
> \X'ps: import rose2.ps \
> 172 173 259 260 \\n[.ps]''\&\h'\\n[.ps]u'
> 
> ====================
> 
> 3. Use it:
> 
> A Rose \[rose]\s+8 A Rose \[rose]\s0 A Rose \[rose]
> .sp 1
> \[rose]\*{\[rose]\*{\[rose]\*}\*}
> 
> (This uses the ms macros where "\*{" raises the following
> text as a superscript with reduced font size, and "\*}"
> restores the normal printing on the line).
> 
> ====================
> 
> I hope this is a sufficient model for you to adapt it to
> your own requirements. Use \(XY or \[XY] instead of \[rose],
> your own PS file instead of "rose2.ps", and watch out for
> that "%%BoundingBox:"!
> 
> This should work on any version of groff. You don't need
> to interfere with any of the font files in ..../devps,
> since it is all done "in-line".
> 
> Good luck!
> 
> Ted.
> 
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> E-Mail: (Ted Harding) <address@hidden>
> Fax-to-email: +44 (0)870 167 1972
> Date: 08-Dec-01                                       Time: 09:45:31
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