[Xy-pic] Xy-pic development has a new home!

[Ross Moore]

Hi Kris, and others,

On 16/04/2010, at 6:54 AM, Kristoffer H Rose wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> Xy-pic development now has a new development home on
>
>         http://sourceforge.net/projects/xy-pic/

I've just uploaded the xypdfTeX folder, containing the
basic support for the  xypdftex  driver, which is loaded using:

   \usepackage[pdftex, ...other options...]

It includes files  xypdf-*.tex  which are analogs of  xyps-*.tex
with  * = c,f,l,r,s  for  color/frame/line/scale/rotate .

Mostly these do nothing, but allow the corresponding Xy-pic options
to be processed without interruption.
Hence I've labelled them as "place-holder".

One useful task would be enrich these place-holders with the
necessary PDF graphics commands to provide the proper support
for at least some of the Xy-pic features covered by the
corresponding extensions.

>
> In particular I encourage everyone to go to the site and RATE the  
> project.
>
> In addition to the original version 3.7 release files the site has  
> the full version controlled source code (with full history back to  
> 1990) as well as the typeset "literate programming" document for  
> the entire code (look for "xysource.*.gz").
>
> Rumor has it that we're now (finally) working on a release 3.8  
> which will include PDF support using Daniel Müllner's great xypdf  
> package...so encouragement and kind words will be appreciated.

Note that  xypdfTeX  is *not* the same as  xypdf.sty .
And  xypdf.sty  does *not* automatically provide PDF support
for all of the extensions listed above.

However, there does not seem to be any conflict, so that both
can be used together. The aim is to integrate these such that
the  [pdftex]  option automatically loads  xypdf.sty
*as well as* supporting the above extensions.


Similarly  [dvipdfm] and [xetex]  options should be developed,
to give the same functionality using those driver engines.
Perhaps also [luatex] ?


Hopefully all of the 'pdftex', 'dvipdfm' and 'xetex' options
can use the same PDF support files:  xypdf-*.tex .
The  xypdf.sty  commands: \xP at literal  and  \xP at cm
should make this possible.

But are these enough to handle all the desired effects?
What else might we need?

For instance, pdfTeX has extra options to  \pdfliteral
viz.  keywords:  'direct' , 'page' , 'enclose'
which affect just what gets added to the content stream
to ensure that it remains valid PDF coding.

The notes on these, in pdftex.web, are :

@# {modes of setting the current transformation matrix (CTM)}
@d set_origin              == 0 {end text (ET) if needed, set CTM to  
current point}
@d direct_page             == 1 {end text (ET) if needed, but don't  
change the CTM}
@d direct_always           == 2 {don't end text, don't change the CTM}
@d scan_special            == 3 {look into special text}
@d enclose                 == 4 {like |direct_always|, but end  
current string and sync pos}

The 'scan_special' mode seems to be for supporting \special{...}  
commands,
as yet another way to write directly into the content stream.


>
> Best regards,
>   Kris


Hope this helps,

	Ross


PS.
If there is anyone out there who has experience with PDF coding
at this level, then please make yourself known to us.
Your help will be most appreciated.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ross Moore                                       ross at maths.mq.edu.au
Mathematics Department                           office: E7A-419
Macquarie University                             tel: +61 (0)2 9850 8955
Sydney, Australia  2109                          fax: +61 (0)2 9850 8114
------------------------------------------------------------------------