Tag: Export

I have a notebook with about 50 expressions like this:

data = Table(i, {i, 10});
ListPlot(data (*, some Plot options *))

I want to export all of these drawings to separate image files in the destination directory.

Monkey work

You can right click on -> "Save graphic as …". But this works tedious, boring and impractical.

Export last issue

Another idea I had was copying and pasting a simple command that exported the last issue after there were ~ 50 diagrams:

data = Table(i, {i, 10});
ListPlot(data)
Export(NotebookDirectory() <> "\pics\" <> ToString(++globalPicCounter) <> ".png" 
 , %, "PNG") (* this line is manually pasted after every Plot in the notebook *)

Do not forget to bet globalPicCounter to 0 before you start exporting everything.

This also works and has dissatisfied me too. It does not differ much from Mokey work, it breaks if Plot was not the last issue, and if you want to reset the notebook to its original state after work is done, you need to do more monkey work.

This idea can be improved: I can search and replace all pure function diagrams that do the same:

Export(NotebookDirectory() <> "\pics\" <> 
    ToString(++globalPicCounter) <> ".png", #, "PNG") &@ListPlot...

Plot() packaging

The next idea that came to my mind was to implement Villegas-Gayley wrappers for Plot:

globalGraphicsCounter = 0;
Module({$inMsg},
 Unprotect(ListPlot);

 ListPlot(args___) /; Not@TrueQ($inMsg) :=  
   Block({$inMsg = True, result},
    result = ListPlot(args);
    Export(
     NotebookDirectory() <> "\pics\" <> 
       ToString(++globalGraphicsCounter) <> ".png", result);
    result);

 Protect(ListPlot);
)

To my surprise, that did not work. ListPlot is evaluated as usual without a plot being exported. Some put Print(...)is in the packaging of ListPlot indicates that the new definition of ListPlot is not used. I tried to do the same thing Message(...) Villegas-Gayley wrapper in the initial setting to replicate and it works as expected.

So, although this would be a really nice solution, I did not manage to get it up and running.

Author Tools package

In search of another way to export land, I came across it Author Tools Package. There is a Export Cells Palette that "allows extracting content of a particular type from a particular notebook or project and storing the content in a desired format". There is an option to export all graphic cells, but when I try, the following error message appears:

I did not succeed in trying to figure out what it is all about.

I also tried to export lots of land AuthorTools`ExportNotebook():

In(90):= ExportNotebook(EvaluationNotebook(), "Graphics", "PNG")

Out(90)= {}

and did not have much success. It turned out that all graphic objects from the notebook returned an empty list. Where are all the plots? I found them when I tried to export them all Input Cell Groups With _AuthorTools_`ExportCells Palette. All diagrams are located in the output cells that are in the input cell groups.

Low-Level Notebook Programming

I think there is also an option to work with low-level laptops and cell expressions to create a simple parser for this task. But I have very vague understanding of how to do it.

This method may have an additional benefit: you do not need to re-evaluate your notebook.

For some further considerations, I understand that this problem has two slightly different variations depending on the constraints imposed:

• If evaluations in the notebook are not time-consuming, you can use methods that re-evaluate the notebook or some cells in it.

• If the evaluations in the notebook are long, you should use a method that does not require the notebook to be reassessed.

And although my notebook is "light" in this case, I find it interesting and useful to make a distinction if the proposed methods are subject to additional constraints (there may be others, but an evaluation time that I did not think of) ,