Re: Can't save a plot

[Ben Abbott]

On Nov 11, 2012, at 1:27 PM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:

> -----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 6:43 PM
> To: Jorgen Sandberg
> Cc: address@hidden
> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
> 
> 
>> 
>> On Nov 11, 2012, at 12:06 PM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>> 
>>> ----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
>>> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 5:28 PM
>>> To: Jorgen Sandberg
>>> Cc: address@hidden
>>> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
>>> 
>>>> On Nov 11, 2012, at 10:39 AM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
>>>>> Sent: Sunday, November 11, 2012 3:59 PM
>>>>> To: Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>> Cc: address@hidden
>>>>> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Nov 11, 2012, at 9:51 AM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
>>>>>>> Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2012 4:14 PM
>>>>>>> To: Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>>>> Cc: address@hidden
>>>>>>> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> On Nov 10, 2012, at 4:23 AM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
>>>>>>>>> Sent: Friday, November 09, 2012 9:35 PM
>>>>>>>>> To: Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>>>>>> Cc: address@hidden
>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> On Nov 9, 2012, at 3:01 PM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> -----Original Message----- From: Ben Abbott
>>>>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, November 08, 2012 11:37 PM
>>>>>>>>>> To: Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>>>>>>> Cc: address@hidden
>>>>>>>>>> Subject: Re: Can't save a plot
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> On Nov 8, 2012, at 1:43 PM, Jorgen Sandberg wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> Dear Sirs,
>>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> I have installed OCTAVE 3.6.2 VS2010 on a Windows 7 machine. When i 
>>>>>>>>>>> will save a plot using the print or saveas command, I get an error 
>>>>>>>>>>> message saying that ghostscript is missing.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Instructions for installing ghostscript at on the wiki at the link 
>>>>>>>>>> below.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> http://wiki.octave.org/Octave_for_Windows#Printing_.28installing_Ghostscript.29
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>>> In addition the package symbolic does not install.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> How did you try to install the symbolic package?
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Have you looked at using maxima for symbolic calculations?
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> http://maxima.sourceforge.net
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Ben
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Dear Ben Abbott,
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> Thanks a lot for your help. Unfortunately, I still have the problem.
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I have downloaded Ghostscript 9.05 and installed it. I have added 
>>>>>>>>>> the path in the /.octaverc file as per the instruction for Octave 
>>>>>>>>>> with Visual studio, but OCTAVE still can't find ghostscript. I have 
>>>>>>>>>> looked into the ghostscript installation and in the bin file is 
>>>>>>>>>> gswin32.exe. Thus I guess Octave should be looking for gswin32.exe. 
>>>>>>>>>> Is that so?
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I have Ghostscript 8.15 installed. Its binary is gswin32c.exe.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Assuming you have the gs_path environment variable set and have set 
>>>>>>>>> the path in the Control Panel, you can tell the print command use use 
>>>>>>>>> gswin32.exe instead by ...
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> print -dpdf test.pdf -Ggswin32.exe
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> If that fixes the problem for you, I can patch the sources to include 
>>>>>>>>> "gswin32.exe" when Octave searches for Ghostscript.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I have also found a Ghostscript version 9.02 that is a tar.gz file 
>>>>>>>>>> like the other packages for Octave on Sourceforge. Should I download 
>>>>>>>>>> this and install it as a package in OCTAVE? Will that do the trick?
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> I am sorry to pass you these stupid problems. I am aware that OCTAVE 
>>>>>>>>>> is free so I should not complain. However, please understand that I 
>>>>>>>>>> want to spend my effort on using it in place of struggling with the 
>>>>>>>>>> installation. My wish is that you prepare a complete installation 
>>>>>>>>>> package for stupid users as I such that there is no need to install 
>>>>>>>>>> any other packages. Please....
>>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>>> On the symbolic package. I downloaded the package from the 
>>>>>>>>>> sourgeforge.net site for windows. The name of the package is 
>>>>>>>>>> octave-3.6.2-symbolic-1.1.0-vs2010-setup.exe. After having installed 
>>>>>>>>>> OCTAVE 3.6.2 I clicked on the package to activate its installation 
>>>>>>>>>> like I had done it for the other packages available on the same 
>>>>>>>>>> site. But the symbolic package came with the error message, while 
>>>>>>>>>> all the other packages installed without any error message.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I can't help with this.  Hopefully someone familiar with the symbolic 
>>>>>>>>> package on windows with help.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Ben
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Dear Ben Abbott,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Sorry, but it does not work.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I have attached a screen snap and a copy of the octaverc file, where 
>>>>>>>>> I have added the path information. It seems to me that OCTAVE is 
>>>>>>>>> still looking for a file named ghostscript.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> I would highly appreciate that you integrate ghostscript in the 
>>>>>>>>> installation package for Windows 7, 64 bit. In that way it would work.
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>>> Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>>>>>> <Install Ghostscript.docx>
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> When you installed Ghostscript, what was the "Destination directory"?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> DId you set "gs_path" to the "Destination directory" in ~\.octaverc?
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Using the default destination directory for 32 bit Win7 the adds to 
>>>>>>>> include in ~/.octaverc are ...
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> cmd_path = getenv ("path");
>>>>>>>> gs_path = 'C:\Program Files (x86)\gs\gs9.05';
>>>>>>>> if (isempty (strfind (cmd_path, gs_path)))
>>>>>>>>  setenv ('path', strcat (cmd_path, pathsep (), gs_path));
>>>>>>>> endi
>>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>> Ben
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Dear Ben Abbott,
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Maybe this info can help clarifying the problem.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> I have added to the octaverc file an fprintf of the path before and 
>>>>>>> after the addition of the path to the gswin64. The print shows that the 
>>>>>>> correct folder is added to the path.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> To verify the path is indeed there I have entered at the command prompt 
>>>>>>> of OCTAVE   system("gswin64.exe") and ghostscript starts up. Thus it is 
>>>>>>> in the path.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Why does it not start when I enter  print -dpdf -Ggswin64.exe test.pdf
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>> Jorgen Sandberg
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> You can see the ghostscript command used by Octave by adding -debug to 
>>>>>> your print stattement
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> print -debug -dpdf -Ggswin64.exe test.pdf
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Please copy the result into your reply.  Is the correct command being 
>>>>>> used?
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> Ben
>>>>> 
>>>>> Dear Ben,
>>>>> 
>>>>> No, I do not see the correct command. I have attached a screendump. I 
>>>>> have also include the system command calling the gswin64.exe and as you 
>>>>> can see it works, thus the path to the gswin64.exe is there.
>>>> 
>>>> Ok. The gswin64.exe is a GUI program.  You'll need to tell print() to use 
>>>> the command line version (see section 4.2 at the link below).
>>>> 
>>>> http://ghostscript.com/doc/current/Install.htm#Install_Windows
>>>> 
>>>> Does the command below work for you (added the "c") ?
>>>> 
>>>> print -Ggswin64c.exe test.pdf
>>>> 
>>>> Ben
>>> 
>>> Dear Ben,
>>> 
>>> Unfortunately, no it does not help to change to gswin64c.exe. I have 
>>> attached a new screendump and indeed the gswin64c outputs to the same 
>>> window as used by Octave.
>> 
>> Ok.  Let's back up and check a few things. Does the command below run 
>> Ghostscript ?
>> 
>> system gswin64c.exe
>> 
>> If not, what does the following return.
>> 
>> getenv path
>> 
>> If you see 'C:\Program Files (x86)\gs\gs9.05\' in the path, what does the 
>> command below return ?
>> 
>> dir 'C:\Program Files (x86)\gs\gs9.05\'
>> 
>> Ben 
> 
> Dear Ben,

> 
> Yes, the command:
> 
> system gswin64c.exe
> 
> runs ghostscript in the same prompt window as Octave.
> 
> Regards,
> Jorgen

I'm out of ideas.

Hopefully, someone else will have an idea.

Ben