GHOSTSCRIPT PATH

GHOSTSCRIPT PATH (SET)

Set Subcommand

Specify the path to the Ghostscript command on your local platform.

Ghostscript/Ghostview can be used externally from Dataplot to view Dataplot generated Postscript files. It can also be used to print these Postscript files on non-Postscript devices.

Dataplot uses Ghostscript internally in the following two contexts:

1. The CAPTURE HTML command is used to generate the Dataplot output in HTML format. If device 2 is set to Postscript, Dataplot will run Ghostscript to convert the Postscript graph to JPEG format. Dataplot will insert an <IMG> tag in the HTML file to the JPEG file.

2. The SET POSTSCRIPT CONVERT command is used to specify either JPEG, PDF (Portable Document Format), TIFF, PBM, PGM, PPM, or PNM. If one of these devices is set and a Postscript device is closed, then Dataplot invokes Ghostscript to convert the Postscript output to the specified device. The original Postscript file is preserved. The new file has the same name with the file extension replaced with "jpg", "pdf", "tif", "pbm", "pgm", "ppm", or "pnm".

   The purpose of this command is to automatically generate output in a format suitable for importing into an external program (e.g., Word, Power Point, Photoshop, Gimp). Although most programs will import Postscript, this capability provides a number of options that should cover most programs.

These two capabilities assumes that Ghostscript is installed on your local system. Currently, these commands have been implemented on Unix (this includes Linux, Mac OSX, and FreeBSD) and Windows platforms. It can easily be extended to any platform (e.g., VAX VMS) to which Ghostscript has been ported.

For Unix platforms, Ghostscript is launched with a "gs" command. On Windows platforms, Ghostscript is launched with "C:\GS\GS704\GS\BIN\GSWIN32C.EXE".

If these default paths are not correct for your local platform, then you can enter the following command:

SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH <path-name>

where <path-name> is the path to the directory that contains the Ghostscript executable. For example, on my Windows system, I use

SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH F:\GS\GS704\GS\BIN\

Note that the Ghostscript command itself is not included. The ending "\" is optional (Dataplot will automatically add it if it is omitted).

If you need this command, we suggest adding it to your Dataplot startup file "dplogf.tex".

SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH <path>
where <path> identifies the directory containing the Ghostscript executable file.

SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH D:\GS\GS7.04\BIN\
SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH C:\GS\GS8.0\BIN\

Note that the default path assumes that you are running version 7.04 on Windows. Ghostscript just recently released version 8.0. For Dataplot purposes, any version starting with 6.51 should suffice. If you have an earlier version, then you need to upgrade to a more current version.

The default is "C:\GS\GS7.04\BIN\" on Windows. For Unix, no path is assumed (i.e., it is assumed that Ghostscript is in your default path).

None

DEVICE xx POSTSCRIPT	= Set the device to Postscript.
POSTSCRIPT CONVERT	= Specify the device that Postscript output will be converted to.
PP	= Print the current plot.
SET GHOSTVIEW PATH	= Set the directory where Ghostview (and GSPRINT) is installed.
SET GHOSTSCRIPT PRINTER	= Use Ghostview as the default printer under Windows.

Graphics Output

2003/1

 
SET GHOSTSCRIPT PATH /usr/local/src/bin/
SET POSTSCRIPT CONVERT JPEG
DEVICE 2 POSTSCRIPT
PLOT SIN(X) FOR X = -6 0.1 6
DEVICE 2 CLOSE
SYSTEM xv dppl1f.jpg