ploticus: correspondence, troubleshooting, and bug reports

## Correspondence, troubleshooting, and bug reports | Welcome Gallery Handbook |
| Manual page for Correspondence,_troubleshooting,_and_bug_reports(PL)

## CORRESPONDENCE

Steve Grubb is the author of ploticus.

You can reach me by email at `scg@jax.org` , or by posting to the ploticus news group (you don't have to join the newsgroup to post or browse).`` I reserve the right to use your message in the user feedback page or FAQ .`` 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

- 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

- Before compiling, review the Makefile and follow the simple 3-step installation guide.``
- An ANSI-compliant C compiler such as gcc is required to compile the source code.``
- 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

- 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).
- Use the -debug command line option.`` The resulting diagnostic output has been improved recently, and there is now better debugging support for CGI mode.``
- 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 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 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.
- 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 debugging a script, use the proc getdata `showresults` attribute if there is any doubt about the incoming data or how it is being processed or filtered. Ditto for proc processdata.`` Use proc print or #write to print out variable contents.`` Use #exit to stop script execution prematurely.``
- 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 should be sent to `scg@jax.org` or may be posted to the ploticus news group.``

When reporting a problem, please do the following:

  1. Use the -debug command line option and send the resulting diagnostic output.``

  2. Include a self-contained example that demonstrates the problem. Usually the first thing I do is attempt to reproduce the problem here.``

  3. Indicate your OS ( linux, solaris, windows/NT, etc.)

  4. Indicate your pl version if it's not shown in the above diagnostic output (type `pl -version` to find out)

  5. Describe exactly how you invoked pl. Using a prefab? 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 attach it.``
  data display engine
  Copyright Steve Grubb

Markup created by unroff 1.0, `` `` December 10, 2002.