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Support
Much of the incremental improvement in this package has been due to
the careful reports that have been sent in by attentive users. Thanks!
Troubleshooting
Be sure that the pl executable can be located via your command PATH.
You can either move the executable into an existing bin directory that's named in your PATH,
or add a new directory to your PATH as shown here:
PATH=$PATH:/home/steve/pl241linux/bin
export PATH
Set and export PLOTICUS_PREFABS environment variable.
It must contain the full path name of the directory (./prefabs)
where prefab files reside. (Note: some installations hard-code this
at build time, making this step unnecessary). Here's an example:
PLOTICUS_PREFABS=/home/steve/pl241linux/prefabs
export PLOTICUS_PREFABS
(Note, the above two examples assume /bin/sh, which requires the "export" step. Other shells may not).
To run an initial quick test, go into the pltestsuite directory.
If you're on a Unix/linux system with X11, just type: pl stock.htm
Otherwise, create a GIF file by typing this: pl -gif stock.htm
..or create a PNG file by typing this: pl -png stock.htm
You can run a series of examples by typing: run_script_test
...and: run_prefabs_test
Verify that your data are being read and parsed correctly.
For tab-delimited or comma-delimited data be sure that you have specified delim
appropriately.
Prefab users can verify the data by specifying echodata=yes.
Script writers can use specify showresults: yes within proc getdata.
If your script uses variables (etc.),
try the -echo command line option to see the post-evaluation script source.
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.
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.
If you're attempting to create a large PNG/GIF/JPEG image (greater than 8" in either dimension)
a sufficient pagesize must be specified, either on the
command line
or via
proc page.
Failure to do this results in the top or side of an image result being cut off or obliterated.
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.
If you're using a
ploticus config file
and want to confirm that it's being found and processed correctly, put the following line
at the top of your config file: option: -debug .
This is because the config file is processed before command line args are evaluated, so a
-debug on the command line won't take effect in time.
(Note: this trick doesn't work if you're using direct CGI mode)
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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