General ⇒ Missing Output Profile

[Haldo]

Hi,

I've got TeXnicCenter installed on my laptop, and on the pc I use in the lab at work (both are windows XP, laptop is media center, pc is XP pro), and both are using the same version of Texniccenter and MikTex.

I've just noticed that my the TeXnicC on my laptop is missing an output profile (LaTeX => PS => PDF) which is there on the PC. How can I get this profile to appear on my laptop TXC and why is it not there?

Also, when I try to build PDF's from my laptop my pictures and figures are missing, but works fine for DVI and PS files, and works fine on the PC using LaTeX => PS => PDF.

Can anyone tell me how to get the output profile LaTeX => PS => PDF on my laptop version of TeXnicCenter?

Thanks

[Kris]

Hi,

Just rebuild this profile with the [Assistant] in the
bottom left corner in the TexnicCenter-Output-Profile menu:

TexnicCenter => Output => define Output-Profiles

or press:

ALT+F7

Regards
Kris

[craigim]

Also, when I try to build PDF's from my laptop my pictures and figures are missing, but works fine for DVI and PS files, and works fine on the PC using LaTeX => PS => PDF.

The reason for that (I'm guessing) is that your figures are EPS format. PDFs don't like EPS, but DVI and PS handle them just fine. When you do LaTeX => PS => PDF, the EPS figures are converted by an external program (like acrobat distiller or ghostscript) along with the text to PDF format. When you go straight to PDF, however, Acrobat chokes.

[Haldo]

Thanks guys, I've got it working now.

Cheers.

[Soroush]

Also, when I try to build PDF's from my laptop my pictures and figures are missing, but works fine for DVI and PS files, and works fine on the PC using LaTeX => PS => PDF.

I also have the same problem. Using LaTeX => PS => PDF solves the problem, but I'm using the hyperref package, and the links are lost when done this way, so I really want to do LaTeX => PDF instead. Anyone tried this?

[Kris]

Hi Soroush!

Do You use the [dvips]-option for the hyperref-package?
I remember, it enables the links if You are going the LaTeX => PS => PDF compiling route...

An other solution: convert Your pictures to PDF with the EPS2PDF GUI...

ftp://cam.ctan.org/tex-archive/support/eps2pdf/

Regards
Kris

[Soroush]

Thanks Kris.
I added the 'dvips' option to the package, and links were enabled when using LaTeX => PS => PDF!
I'll have a look at the epstopdf option as well.

Out of curiosity, do you know if the quality of the PDF file is different depending on the method of creation? i.e. is using pdfLaTeX better than LaTeX => PS => PDF?

Thank you.

[Kris]

Hi again,

I don't really know, but I expect that pdfLaTeX produces a
(slightly?) more efficient code 'cos it's going the 'straight' way...

One the other hand, I'm using frequently PSTRICKS for graphics,
so direct PDF compiling with pdfLaTeX is not my first choice!

If You're not using PSTRICKS or other PS-specials, direct PDF compiling
of Your LaTeX code with pdfLaTeX is fast and easy...It's up to You!

Have fun!
Kris

[tramir]

If you don't use PSTricks and the only question is about eps graphics, here's a solution that might work. You need two packages: eps2pdf and ifpdf. Then add the following in your preamble:

Code: Select all

\usepackage{epstopdf}

\usepackage{ifpdf}
\ifpdf
	\usepackage[pdftex]{hyperref}
\else
	\usepackage[hypertex]{hyperref}
\fi

Now you can include eps graphics even if you use pdflatex, and moreover you can use the TEX => PDF and TEX => DVI profiles directly (which allows hyperref to do its thing, making links active etc.).

The way it works is as follows:

• eps2pdf converts the eps files to pdf if needed. If you include the file extension (.eps) in the file name in the \includegraphics{} command, then the file will be converted to pdf every time you re-compile your document. If you omit the extension, then the eps file will not be converted to pdf if the pdf version of the graphic already exists. So, if you don't plan on changing those graphs, omitting the extension would save you a lot of time.
• ifpdf detects whether pdflatex is used or not. If you're compiling your file with pdflatex, then hyperref is loaded with the "pdftex" option, which means that it will activate all the pdf capabilities of the package (bookmarks, links, page display etc.). If you're not compiling with pdflatex, then you're probably just compiling it to DVI, so hyperref is loaded with the "hypertex" options, which enable the links in the DVI file.

Hope it makes sense, it made my day when I found this thing (just a couple of weeks ago, actually).

Mircea

[Soroush]

Thanks Tramir!
I used something that is slightly like your suggestion. I used the eps2pdf program to make pdf versions of my eps files. Then I omitted the extension of the files whenever I inserted graphics. I used the code given in the program's manual to do a conditional case, similar as yours.
... the advantage I can see from your one is that it created pdf files on the fly, rather than me having to create them. Also, your code is shorter! I'll try it out!

Thanks! (I'm learning a lot of neat tricks around here!)