August 2024

Christopher Mabb From: Dr Christopher Mabb, Scientific Word Ltd.
To: Our Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook Technical Typesetting list

 

    Welcome to our August mailing with a selection of Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook Technical Support solutions to help you get the most from your system, whether v5.5 or v6; most of the items below refer primarily to v5.5.
    As always, the latest version of the programs is available on our download page, with links to the current installation instructions.

 

  1. Surface tablet (ctd):    This is the rest of the story we started in our June 2024 mailing Item 3 about installing Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 on a Surface tablet. A few weeks after that June mailing went out, the user Emailed to say:
    Got back to the US and set up my Surface tablet. The Scientific Workplace 5.5 loaded perfectly, and it is working!! So your program works just fine with Surface tablets. My tablet is new but a 2022 model. I don't think it matters. It works just like a PC laptop.
    Am grateful for the support from you.
    We expect that will be useful information to several others in due course.



  2. Changing computers (again):    Whenever people ask us how to move their Scientific Word/WorkPlace installation to a new computer, we refer them to the comprehensive summary in our Leap Year's Day 2020 mailing Item 7. But a user earlier this year found himself in difficulties as follows:
    I started the directions to transfer sw55 from my old W10 machine to my new W10 machine. Before I did anything I made of backup of the sw55 directory on the old machine.
    <snip>
    Copied the new sw55 directory from the old to the new machine. Executed sciword550.exe on the new machine.
    We replied:
    We expected you to download sciword550.exe from our download page and install from scratch, according to Step 2 of the v5.5 installation instructions. The version of sciword550.exe that you have from your previous installation might or might not be the latest build of version 5.5 (Build 2960); if you check the file size in File Explorer, it should be 75,702Kb.
    It seems you did copy the \sw55 folder across; and it’s because the installation could ‘see’ the rest of the c:\sw55 folder on the new computer that it gave you the dialog in your first screenshot (Modify, Repair or Remove) about the installation it looked like you already had; you should not have received that dialog.
    All we expected you to copy across, in due course, were:
    1. the contents of the c:\sw55\docs folder [see the August 2013 mailing Item 2] and
    2. the file c:\sw55\enguser.clm [see the Leap Year's Day 2020 mailing Item 7].
    Having got into these difficulties, the easiest solution was to remove the installation on the new computer by deleting the c:\sw55 folder, download the Scientific Word v5.5 program file sciword550.exe (75,702Kb) from our download page, and follow the v5.5 installation instructions.



  3. TrueTeX installation:    Here's another issue with the v5.5 installation which has caused trouble for several users recently. One user reported it like this:
    I am having difficulties installing Scientific Workplace 5.5 on my new laptop running Windows 11 Entreprise.
    The installer stalls before finishing the installation.
    Please let me know how to do it.
    We signed him up for 12 months’ complimentary Tech Support (subject to our Fair Use Policy) through our Individual Annual Maintenance, and then replied:
    To resolve your installation problem
    1. Please follow our v5.5 installation instructions
    2. At Step 2, click the link that says: Windows 10/11 users: for possible problems, please see here (Item 6)
    3. At our June 2016 mailing Item 6(1) first bullet:
      • Installation: The TrueTeX installer portion of the installation will [may] be blocked, so [in which case – if the installer sits doing nothing for half an hour] do the installation in safe mode (Windows 10; Windows 11)
    4. Follow the relevant Windows 10/11 link to learn how to reboot in Safe mode
    5. Do the Scientific WorkPlace installation in Safe mode.
    Rebooting in Safe mode has worked in every case so far – apart from the professor whose university didn't trust him to reboot his machine in Safe mode! We suggested he install on another machine, pointing out that the v5.5 system requirements are modest (see our February 2012 mailing Item 4) so an old computer would probably suffice.



  4. Run-as-Administrator:    Here are two other v5.5 installation-related questions which have the same solution as each other:

    1. System Registry: Multiple users have asked this question:
      A couple of years ago, I installed SWP5.5 in my new win laptop, and from that moment, everytime I run SWP, i get a strange splash (see image): SWP starts (and runs normally) only after I push the OK button. So, can you tell me what to do to avoid this boring splash?
      We wrote back advising that:
      Almost all such issues are caused by not following the v5.5 installation instructions precisely when installing: specifically, not using right-click – Run as Administrator where indicated at Steps 2 and 12.

      You can either re-do the installation accordingly; or it may work simply to open Scientific WorkPlace once by right-clicking on the icon and selecting Run as Administrator the next time you use the program. After that you should be able to go back to using left-click as normal. Do please let us know whether that works; if not, just re-do the installation.


    2. Toolbars: Another user wrote:
      One problem I've encountered is my toolbars do not remain once I exist the program? I don't remember that ever happening before? Can't I say I want all of them to be there everytime I use SW?
      We wrote back advising that:
      Almost all such issues are caused by not following the v5.5 installation instructions precisely when installing: specifically, not using right-click – Run as Administrator where indicated at Steps 2 and 12. From this point, you can either:
      1. Re-do the installation accordingly, using serial number 300-E0600-<snip>; or
      2. It may work simply to open Scientific Word once by right-clicking on the icon and selecting Run as Administrator the next time you use the program; after that you should be able to go back to using left-click as normal. If not, just re-do the installation.
    It works.



  5. Graphics format:    A user with Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 asked about the formats for graphics:
    The program I use is called QuickCAD <snip>. It only allows me to save drawings in their proprietary .cad format, or in .wmf format. When I save in .wmf format, text on the drawing gets shifted about, and the whole figure is moved to the very edge off the page -- all less than satisfactory.

    More recently, I've been going from the .cad format via a screen grab to save drawings as .tif. This seems to be more faithful when I import it into SWP 5.5, but there is still a problem. When I do a Preview PDF in SWP after bringing in the .tif, once again, the text gets shifted. The shafted text often interferes with part of the drawing, and it looks a mess.
    He attached various samples; after examining them we said:
    Well I think you had solved your own problem: the WMF causes problems, and the TIFF works. <snip>
    The files you sent me purported to show the problem in the PDF attached; but in the .tex file you were using the WMF rather than the TIFF.

    Separately, an easier way to convert between virtually any two file formats is the Zamzar website. If QuickCAD will save in any one of the formats on the left hand side of https://www.zamzar.com/conversionTypes.php#image then you can convert it to .tiff on the right hand side from https://www.zamzar.com/converters/image/.
    Please also see our August 2021 mailing Item 4(3), where we first draw attention to the Zamzar website.



  6. Graphics permissions:    This question came from someone using Scientific Word v4.1. The substantive issue was the same as for later versions v5.0 or v5.5; but first there was an additional v4.1 problem in that he was saving his documents in \My Documents, and LaTeX doesn't like spaces in folder and file names. (Subsequent versions of Scientific Word/WorkPlace added code to handle that – but with v4.1 it was still causing problems.)
    Once we persuaded him to save his document in c:\sw41\docs we were able to get to the real question:
    I have put the file start2.tex in C:sw41/Doc along with the figures, which I moved to C:sw41/graphics, as you suggested. It does compile, but the compiling automatically puts the figures at the top of the page and the captions I wrote are separate.
    We replied:
    It seems your document compiles correctly when put in the correct location – that’s good.
    1. <snip>
    2. The compiler automatically puts the graphic according to the permissions you gave it when you added the graphic to the document. You can check this for each graphic by right-clicking on the graphic – Properties – Layout. Your graphics have got permission to go:
      1. Separately on a page just for Floating objects, or
      2. At the Top of a page or
      3. At the Bottom of a page (see Graphics1a attached).
      This default can be set for all future graphics added to your document from Tools – User Setup – Graphics – Floating placement; I have mine set to Here (see Graphics1b attached).
    3. Your caption gets separated from the graphic because it is not part of the graphic; we have [obviously] separated the graphic and its caption with some Carriage Returns in Graphics2 attached to make the point. You should enter the caption for the graphic by right-clicking on the graphic – Properties – Labeling – Caption Text.
    4. <snip>
    And to another (v5.5) user we wrote similarly:
    When you import a graphic using File – Import Picture, the Graphic Properties has a Layout tab where you can select its placement (bottom right of the dialog). You probably want to select Here in most cases – otherwise graphics will float to the top or bottom of the page if these options are checked. <snip>
    If the graphic is set to Floating (on the Layout tab) the name of the graphic is set on the Labeling tab as the Caption Text; in the PDF printout it will say Fig.1: [Caption Text].



  7. Cross-referring:    We deal with both v5.5 and v6 here:

    1. Version 5.5: We said:
      For guidance about cross-referring to keys (of equations, and of Floating graphics) and to markers (of sections) in version 5.5, we will temporarily give you complimentary access to Section 4.1 of our Training Course videos: https://www.sciword.co.uk/training/4-1.FloatingGraphics.mp4 . You should also read the online Help available in Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 from Help – Search – cross-references – cross-references – [several topics available].


    2. Version 6: The user wrote:
      SWP is successfully compiling PDF but few problems is occurring:
      1. For cross-referencing the key is not getting saved in the graphics(floating) in slide 4
      2. <snip>.
      Can you kindly help me with this
      In the v6 document the user sent there were Floating graphics to which she was wanting to cross refer, but for which she hadn't selected to have a caption either above or below and for which the Key dialog, while looking active, was therefore not responsive (see screenshot). We wrote back explaining that:
      Cross-referring to a graphic is intended for the graphic to have a caption, eg. Vegetables, which is shown under or above the graphic as Fig.1: Vegetables. The cross reference then uses the key (probably ‘vegetables’) for the cross reference to appear as Fig. 1.
      It follows that for you to be able to enter a key for the cross reference, your graphic needs to have a caption, either Above or Below. Your graphics did not have a caption either Above or Below, and consequently you were unable to enter and save a key by which to cross-refer to them. We have corrected that.

      We have also entered the line
          \setbeamertemplate{caption}[numbered]
      in the Typeset – Preamble in order that the caption is shown as, for example, Figure 1: Table 2, instead of Figure: Table 2.
    That should help iron out further problems with cross-references.



  8. Importing Maple?    Long-time users of Scientific WorkPlace (or Scientific Notebook) may remember that we included Maple as the computation engine up until Scientific WorkPlace/Notebook v4.x (2002), but that it was replaced with MuPAD 2.5 from SWP/SNB v5.0 (2003).
    That's the background to a user asking:
    Recently, I have proved a well known result by use of Maple (an old version, Maple 8). I seem to recall that Maple results can be imported into SWP, but when I tried importing "nonSWP Latex" it would not accept the import. This raises two questions then:
    1) Can you tell me how to make the import work in SWP 5.5?
    2) Is it possible to edit the Maple content after it is imported into SWP?
    We weren't sure what he intended by 'importing': the Maple output he sent looked like LaTeX code. We responded initially:
    I’m afraid this is not possible in the format you intend, since Scientific WorkPlace version 5.5 (and possibly version 5.0 before it) does not include Maple. The last version of Scientific WorkPlace I’m confident included Maple was version 4.0 (see our 2002 announcement of version 4.0 forwarded separately).

    So you need to ask yourself: Where are you thinking the Maple magic is being done?
    1. If the Maple computation is taking place in your separate Maple installation, then you need to output a graphic of the result and import that graphic into your Scientific WorkPlace document
    2. If you think the Maple computation is being done within the Scientific WorkPlace document, that’s impossible since Scientific WorkPlace v5.5 does not include Maple. So for example, your .tex file <snip> includes lines such as:
      <snip>
      but Scientific WorkPlace cannot understand that since it doesn’t include Maple.
    Hopefully that’s clear – and that you find a way to export your results from your separate Maple installation as graphics.
    and followed up with:
    If I were wanting to generate a graphic from a program running on my computer then I would try:
    1. Selecting the graphic and looking for an option like File – SaveAs; or
    2. Selecting the graphic and looking for an option like File – Export; or
    3. Right-clicking on the graphic and looking for a suitable option on the context-sensitive menu that showed.
    If you’re wanting to extract the LaTeX code <snip> then simply open the .tex file you sent us using WordPad or Notepad, and you will see the LaTeX code there.

 

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Cheers,

Christopher
--
Christopher Mabb, Scientific Word Ltd., UK
Tel: +44 (0)345 766 0340; Fax: +44 (0)345 603 9443
Email: christopher@sciword.co.uk
Web: https://www.sciword.co.uk