[comp.sys.amiga] VLT problem: TEK screen to PS file

choinski@primerd.prime.com (11/22/89)

[Lineaters...very dangerous...you go first!]

||myb100@csc.UUCP (Markus Buchhorn) asks:
||
||My PS interpreter produces a `nocurrentpoint' error at a `show' statement. 
||
||What follows is part of the PS header which defines the commands:
||
||/m  {stroke newpath moveto}        bdef
||/d  {lineto}                       bdef
||/p  {stroke newpath moveto domark} bdef
||/s  {stroke newpath show}          bdef
                      ^^^^ this is the problem

||0 3068 m (I) s          |
||52 3068 m (N) s         |
||104 3068 m (P) s        |---- This is the text which causes problems.
||156 3068 m (U) s        |---- (remove it => no errors)
||208 3068 m (T) s        |---- and is the only place where the `s' is used
            ^^ see text below

In postscript, before you do a show, you must provide a current point
thourgh the use of a "moveto" command.  The "m" function as defined
"uses up" the current point you last set.  Try either inserting another
set of coordinates like:

208 3068 m 208 3068 (T) s

and that will solve the problem (although you may requre different coordinates
then the ones I have provided here)  Other problems exist, though.

||I find (i) newpath wipes the path, (ii) stroke wipes the path and
||(iii) show comes straight after these commands. This doesn't make any 
||sense to me, however, I'm not a PS guru.

I admit, I am baffeled as to why the rest of your code doesn't croak when it 
does the "m" commands.  Something is scrod in your interpreter.

-============================================================================-
 Burton Choinski                                       choinski@env.prime.com
   Prime Computer, Inc.                                  (508) 879-2960 x3233
   Framingham, Ma.  01701
 Disclaimer:  Hey, not me man; musta been my evil twin.
-============================================================================-

myb100@csc.anu.oz (11/22/89)

(posted to c.lang.postscript and c.sys.amiga)

G'day 

I recently got a copy of VLT4.226 terminal emulator for the Amiga from xanth, 
and WOW what a great package !
However, I've come across a small problem: This relates to the PostScript
output generated by capturing the graphics on the TEK screen. What I have is
a plot generated by a local package, and on the same screen some text
written by the VAX on the TEK screen, the word `INPUT', written before the plot
starts.

My PS interpreter produces a `nocurrentpoint' error at a `show' statement. 

What follows is part of the PS header which defines the commands:

/m  {stroke newpath moveto}        bdef
/d  {lineto}                       bdef
/p  {stroke newpath moveto domark} bdef
/s  {stroke newpath show}          bdef
/sd {stroke newpath setdash}       bdef
/sc {stroke newpath setrgbcolor}   bdef

[...]                   | and now the plot...

3248 1400 m             |
3248 1400 d             |
                        |
[...]                   |----- These commands produce the plot
                        |----- without any errors
3220 1148 m             |
3220 1148 d             |

0 3068 m (I) s          |
52 3068 m (N) s         |
104 3068 m (P) s        |---- This is the text which causes problems.
156 3068 m (U) s        |---- (remove it => no errors)
208 3068 m (T) s        |---- and is the only place where the `s' is used

stroke
showpage


Digging out my handy red book I find that nocurrentpoint implies the path 
has been wiped and I'm trying to execute a `show'. Hmmmm. Looking at the
definition

/s  {stroke newpath show}          bdef

I find (i) newpath wipes the path, (ii) stroke wipes the path and
(iii) show comes straight after these commands. This doesn't make any 
sense to me, however, I'm not a PS guru.

So, my question is this: Is this a real bug ? (a) the definition of `s'
as it stands is strange, and (ii) text on the TEK screen is usually
generated by (vector)graphics commands, not by the VAX writing to 
the sys$output device, so is this a case which VLT wasn't designed to handle ? 

Any comments greatly appreciated
adTANXvance


Markus Buchhorn
Mt Stromlo Observatory, Canberra, Australia
markus@mso.anu.oz.au  or  nssdca::psi%mssso::markus

P.S. Anybody know Willy Langeveld's (sp?) E-mail address (not on BIX) I'd
like to get in contact with him.