Printing and Saving Schemes

This appendix explains:

How to print your schemes on the printer.
How to export your schemes in various graphical formats.
How to incorporate these saved files into wordprocessing packages such as Latex or MS Word.

Printing Diagrams

At present, printing support in Tcl/Tk is primitive. All we can do is save the diagram as a postscript file and try to send this file to the printer. This is only possible in some cases:

Unix/Linux: Printing should not be a problem. Just click on the "Print Scheme" button (in Structure mode) to send the diagram to the printer.
Windows: The "Print Scheme" button will only work if you are using Tcl/Tk 8.0, 8.1 or 8.2. For those with the latest versions (8.3x or 8.4x), the dll (dynamic load library) for printing from Tcl/Tk doesn't exist yet. I am still waiting for it to appear.
In some cases, users report that the printed diagram comes out too small to be of use ("postage stamp size" according to Bill Mann). I think this is a problem with the type of printer, or the printer driver, but I don't know.
Macintosh: Currently, the "Print Canvas" button does not function on Macintoshes. Maybe in the future.

If the "Print Canvas" button works for you, the program should send the whole structure directly to the printer. if the diagram is larger than a single page, it will be printed over several pages.

If the "Print Canvas" button doesn't work for you, there are several solutions:

Downgrade Tcl/Tk: If you are a Windows user, uninstall Tcl/Tk and install version 8.2, which supports printing. See the Tcl/Tk website mentioned in section 2.
Indirect Printing: Otherwise, you might try saving the diagram as a postscript file (hitting the "Save PS" button). You can then print this file (see below). Note however, that the structure is written to the PS file as a single page, so structures spanning multiple pages cannot be printed in this way. I am still looking for a solution to this problem.
Saving in other format and printing from application: as described below, you can save the diagram as a PDX diagram, which MayuraDraw can deal with. Using Mayura (Windows only), you can then re-export the diagram as either WMF (windows meta file), PDF, EPS, AI (Adobe Illustrator), etc. You may have an application which can read in one of these formats, and deal with it intelligently (i.e., multi-page printing). I don't know of one yet, but I don't own commercial software.
Note that for printing a single-page diagram, exporting as PDF and printing that is a good option for all platforms.

Exporting schemes in various graphical formats

As mentioned above, the Systemic Coder allows you to export diagrams in two formats (PS and PDX), and one of these (PDX) can in turn be saved as a number of other formats (Windows only at present).

Saving PS Files

To save a postscript version of the scheme diagram, select "Save EPS" from the "Scheme" menu. You will be asked for a place to save the file.

The PS file can be sent to a printer (under Unix: "lpr <filename>"). Alternatively, it can be inserted into Latex or Microsoft Word (perhaps other word processing packages also) and printed as part of that document. See below for details.

Some people report that the PS file saved by the Coder is truncated to the right. However, I don't think the files are truncated, rather, Ghostview (a viewer for postscript files) only shows the first print page of the diagram. If you resize the page larger, you can see more of the diagram.

However, I still don't know how to print these files over multiple pages.

Saving PDX Files

To save a PDX version of the scheme diagram, select "Save PDX" from the "Scheme" menu. You will be asked for a place to save the file.

Once saved, the PDX file can be loaded using Mayura Draw (obtain from here). Using this package you can:

Edit the diagram to your taste.
Export the diagram to other more useful formats (for inclusion in MS Word for instance).

Wider networks seem to be truncated once loaded into Mayura, but this is a bug in the display, rather than in the file. If you export the diagram and insert into MS Word (see below) you can see the whole diagram.

See the "Export" option under Mayura's "File" menu. The useful options here are: WMF and EPS (for inclusion in MS Word documents, PDF (for distribution to other people), and maybe AI (Adobe Illustrator).

Telling PDX which font to use: Font names used in PDX files are different than those used in Tcl/Tk. If your fonts seem to be wrong, you can tell Mayura which fonts to use. There is a file in Library/FONT_MAP which states which PDX font to use for which TCL font.

Finding out the Tcl/Tk name of your font: Select "Appearance Options" from the "Options" menu. Your Current font name will be displayed, e.g., "MS Sans Serif".
Finding out the name of the font in PDX: Open Mayura Draw. Select "Font..." from the "Text" menu, and you will see a list of font names. Select one, and copy the name to the clipboard.
Open the Coder/Source/Library, and edit the file "FONT_MAP". add a line like the ones already there, e.g.,
MS Sans Serif: TimesNewRomanPSMT
Save the file.

The new font should be used in your pdx files from then on.

Including Diagrams in your Documents

Once you have your diagram saved as a file, you can include it in other documents, for instance, academic papers.

Latex: To include a document in latex, saving as a ps file should be adequate. These files can using the epsfig package. If you are on Windows, you can also try saving as PDX, and using Mayura to save as EPS.
Microsoft Word: Two formats exported by Mayura Draw can be inserted into MS Word documents (and perhaps other wordprocessing packages):
- Encapsulated Postscript (EPS): this format can be included in Microsoft Word documents, depending on the version. For instance, under Office 98, select "Picture..." from the "Insert" menu. and select the file. Note that eps or ps files cannot be inserted in older versions of MS Word. If inserted, EPS graphics may not be displayed in the document properly, but will print ok on a postscript printer. EPS won't print properly on a non-postscript printer. If it doesn't work for you, try the WMF format (below).
- Windows Meta File (WMF): this format is more robust (works on more versions of MS Word, and on non-postscript printers), but the picture quality is slightly worse in the printing. Insert in the same way as explained for EPS just above.
The Web: The best way to get netowrks onto your web pages is to: Save the diagram as pdx format. Load it into Mayura, and "Export" as JPG. Ensure that Smoothing is Maximal or Normal, and Quality is "High". This produces a JPG version of your entire structure which is of good readable quality.
The alternative is to do a screen dump (capture the screen as a bitmap), trim off parts of the image you don't want, and save as a gif or jpg. However, if your diagram doesn't display in a single page, you will need to join the separate screen captures together. Messy.
Drawing Packages: The AI format exported by Mayura can be loaded into CorelDraw, Micrografx Windows Draw, and possibly other programs.
- Unix/Linux: various programs exist to capture a window either to a file or to the clipboard. On Unix, I use Snapshot, which allows me to select a region of the screen, and then use XV to save the resulting file as jpg or gif. Other solutions exist.
- Windows: Bring the Coder window to the front, with the network you want captured clearly displayed. Press the "Alt" key at the same time as the "Print-Scrn" key, and the top window will be saved in the clip board. Then Open your favourite graphic editor (I use Paintshop Pro) and paste the diagram into a new screen. Then trim out parts of the window you don't want, and save the diagram as jpg or gif.
- Macintosh: There are tools on the Mac to do the same as in the above. I am no longer a Mac user, so don't know their names.

Sharing Analyses with other people

The CD2 format (Saved codings file) is easily distributable, but they need the program.