February 2011

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

 

1. Acknowledgements:    Someone contacted us from France recently asking:

   "how to insert acknowledgment in the front matter
   Thank you"

   There's not an obvious way, as the Acknowledgement item tag (one of the theorem-like objects) does not work inside the Front Matter. So we suggested the following workaround:

   Thanks for your message. A simple way would be to use a dummy Date field - which, after the MakeTitle command, will not affect the automatic date included as part of the Title (see attached).

   And we attached a sample document which we suggest you might like to download from Acknowledgement.tex and check the Typeset - Front Matter before you Typeset - PreviewPDF to see the result.
       You might also want to note the counter-intuitive usage of the Date item tag before the MakeTitle command (in Typeset - Front Matter): it yields the date of compilation when absent, but omits the date when present. We discuss this in more detail in our Scientific Word/WorkPlace Training Courses .



2. Spaces in filenames:    LaTeX, the underlying mathematical typesetting language to which we give you an interface, does not like spaces in the names of files or folders. While your Scientific Word/WorkPlace/Notebook system successfully negotiates this problem in respect of .tex files, you can get caught out trying to use graphics which have spaces in their filenames. The solution is straightforward - simply make copies of your graphics with single-word names.



3. Yet again - graphics:    Judging by our back mailings page at https://www.sciword.co.uk/mailings the No.1 problem our users have is in handling graphics. Someone who's been a user since the days of Scientific WorkPlace v2.0 Emailed saying (among other points):

   "However, I also needed to make a pdf, and the built in pdf processor just
   fell over. It first complained of an unresolved reference, which was pure
   fiction on its part, and then it said it couldn't find the graphics files. I resorted
   instead to printing from the TrueTex preview to another pdf processor."

   We replied:

   You should do one of two things:

   1. Either, put your graphics in the Graphics folder c:\swp55\Graphics and simply use File - Import Picture which lets Scientific WorkPlace handle the graphic using the file name only: for example, sw40logo.wmf, in the .tex file attached. In this case, you must put your graphic in a folder that the software will look in (eg. c:\swp55\Graphics).
      [Note: After downloading, right-click the graphic then select Properties - Picture Properties to see that the program found the graphic sw40logo.wmf in the \Graphics folder of whichever of our programs you've got.]
   2. Or, use the graphicx package and the \includegraphics command with the full path name, as in Item 2 of our November 2010 mailing . In this case, the graphic can be located anywhere on your computer.

   Trust this resolves the issue for you. If not, please wrap up your .tex file using Tools - Document Manager, and let us have the .rap file to look at.

   We're keen to provide our users with all the support you need to ensure your graphics behave themselves. If you can't find the solution to your question on our mailings page, please drop us an Email describing the problem (and including your serial number, available from Help - System Features).



4. Page breaks:    Despite the logical design principle of letting the software arrange the layout of the document (leaving you free to concentrate on the content), you might occasionally need to insert some spacing commands. Recently someone asked us:

   "When writing an exam, I need to arrange the questions in a fashion that will give a space for students to write their solutions. Does the page show a page break like in Microsoft Word? How will I be able to edit the pages? Thank you for your time."

   We replied:

   You can enter a page break by clicking on Insert - Spacing - Break - Pagebreak - OK. You'll see a green dotted line in your document in the editing screen; if you turn on View - Invisibles, you'll also see the green symbol for Pagebreak (looking like a page torn in two).

   The file examsample.tex demonstrates the use both of Vertical Space (Insert - Spacing - Vertical Space) and the Pagebreak mentioned in our reply. You see the green symbols for these commands as long as you've got View - Invisibles turned on. Of course, you only see the true effect of the spacing when you click on Typeset - PreviewPDF.



5. Type the TeX:    You probably noticed that on February 11th the date was palindromic, both in the form 11/2/11 and in the form 11/02/2011 - which are, of course, equivalent. We were amused, then, that someone contacted us on February 11th wanting the "not equivalent" symbol. So we responded (though a little carelessly, we admit) with a link the negated symbols available in our programs, pointing out that they are added to a document simply by clicking on the required symbol.
       The user replied saying that he wanted the \not\equiv symbol (three straight lines crossed out), for which we don't provide point-and-click entry. The point of interest here is that, if you know the TeX command, you can simply enter it into a TeX Field (Insert - Typeset Object - TeX Field). First change to maths mode, and then open a TeX Field and type:

   \not\equiv

   When you next save and reload the document, the symbol is interpreted (as long as you didn't tick the Encapsulated box) and shows in the document. Why not download the file notequiv.tex and try entering the symbol again as described here?



6. Page numbering (again):    Last month we received the following Email:

   "One of our Academics is trying to make his SWP document have a page
   numbering that displays on the first page of his document, but he wants
   it so the figure it displays on that first page (and starts the count
   from) is 53. I've played around with information in the preamble, such
   as \fancyfoot[CO,CE]{\pagenumbering=53}, this displays 53 on every page
   and even \setcounter{page}{53} but I can't get this to work.
   Is this even possible in SWP? Any advise would be much appreciated?"

   We replied to say we:

   ...would have thought that

   \setcounter{page}{53}

   would work if page numbers were otherwise working as desired. Why not send us the .tex file as an attachment and we'll be happy to take a look at it... Remember that first pages (with the title) need the command (which could be in a TeX Field) \thispagestyle{fancy} rather than just \pagestyle{fancy} to work.

   which we're glad to say worked just fine. The key is that title pages are not covered by the usual \pagestyle command.



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