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Manual page for Correspondence,_troubleshooting,_and_bug_reports(PL)
CORRESPONDENCE
Steve Grubb is the author of ploticus.
To submit a bug report or other feedback, click here
If you have interesting examples or web sites that use ploticus, please send the
URLs or script files.
TROUBLESHOOTING
Here are some troubleshooting tips and common snafus:
Downloading
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Unix users should download gzip tar files.
Zip files are intended only for PC environments (text files have CR/LF line terminators).
Compiling from source code
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Before compiling, review the Makefile and follow the simple 3-step
installation guide.
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An ANSI-compliant C compiler such as gcc is required to compile the source code.
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After building, do a quick test. From within the src directory type: pl stock.htm
Or, this: pl -gif stock.htm
For further testing see pltestsuite , or run some gallery examples.
Using ploticus
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This error: pl error 4899: No PLOTICUS_PREFABS env var (or hardcoded Makefile
PREFABS_DIR) found, indicates that the user does not have the
PLOTICUS_PREFABS environment variable set and exported
(it must contain the full pathname of the directory where
ploticus prefabs reside, as included in the download).
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Within
proc getdata
set showresults: yes to show the data that ploticus has gotten, and how it
was parsed into fields.
This can also be done with
proc processdata.
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Use the -debug command line option.
The resulting diagnostic output has been improved recently, and
there is now better debugging support for
CGI mode.
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Use the -echo command line option to display expanded script lines as
they are evaluated.
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Be sure you know which version you are executing
(you might have earlier ploticus versions on your system and not realize it).
Use pl -version to print the ploticus
version; use the unix command which pl to print the file that you
are actually executing when you type pl.
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Unix builds prior to 2.11 do not read native PC text files. This problem occurs
if pl is compiled on a unix machine and you feed it native PC text files,
either as scripts or data files.
Symptoms may include truncated multi-line text
items, or garbage characters appearing at the end of text items.
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If an image result contains blank areas at the top or side, it is probably because
the image is larger than 8" x 8" in one or both dimensions. To generate images larger than
8" x 8" a sufficient pagesize must be specified, either on the command line or via
proc page.
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If viewing result images in a browser, remember that image caching is usually
being done, and that you might not be seeing the most recently generated image,
even when you Reload or Refresh.
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Use proc print or #write to print out variable contents.
Use #exit to stop script execution prematurely, so that you can "step thru"
your script.
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Check to be sure you aren't exceeding one of the
program limitations
BUG REPORTS
Much of the incremental improvement in this package has been due to
the careful bug reports that have been sent in by attentive users. Thanks!
Bug reports and other feedback may be posted to the
ploticus news group
or sent to me at
scg@jax.org
Before submitting a bug report, please make a fair effort towards solving
the problem yourself (the troubleshooting tips above may be useful).
In order to speed up the process, please supply the following:
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1. Indicate whether you are using a prefab or a script.
2. Include a self-contained example (include sample data) that reproduces the problem.
For scripts, send a script and a sample data set.
For prefab, send the exact command you used, and a sample data set.
3. Indicate your pl version (type pl -version to find out)
and your computing platform (win32, linux, etc.)
4. Supply other details describing exactly how you invoked pl.
CGI mode? By typing in a pl command? Via perl or PHP? Provide the exact pl command
used (or the URL if using CGI mode). If you used a config file please send it.
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 data display engine
Copyright Steve Grubb
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