Re: Org, latex and asymptote in a math project

[Ethan Ligon <ligon@are.berkeley.edu>]

Hi, Jarmo-

Jarmo Hurri <jarmo.hurri <at> syk.fi> writes:
> 1. If I have understood correctly, in order for an asymptote image to be
>    included as an inline image, one has to specify a file name at the
>    beginning of the code block, as in
> 
>    #+CAPTION: A test caption.
>    #+begin_src asymptote :file foo.pdf
>    size (1cm, 0);
>    filldraw (unitsquare, red);
>    #+end_src
> 
>    It would be convenient if the user would not need to specify a
>    (unique) invented file name for the inline image. Instead, in the
>    case of an exported pdf, as an end user I would like for asymptote to
>    generate a unique temporary pdf image file, which would be removed
>    after the pdf corresponding to the complete document was
>    complete. The case of exported html is not as clear to me yet; my
>    current guess is that I would like the system to automatically
>    generate a uniquely named image file (preferably an svg image, but
>    not sure which browsers support these) which would then be inline
>    included into the html page.

I'm starting on a textbook project using a similar set of tools.  
I'm making progress, but am still finding lots of little snags; perhaps as we 
both proceed we can share what we've learned.

In any case, using temporary file names is a good idea, which hadn't occurred to
me.  But I guess it's easy to do, using something like

#+CAPTION: A test caption.
#+begin_src asymptote :file (org-babel-temp-file "figure-" ".pdf")
   size (1cm, 0);
   filldraw (unitsquare, red);
#+end_src

> 2. At least for me, _by far_ the most common way of referring to a
>    floating element (table or figure) is immediately before or after the
>    latex code that defines the float. For this, having to generate a
>    unique label for the float has always been an overkill, and I have
>    wanted a way to just refer to the previous or next float in the
>    document. In org this could mean something like specifying
>    #+AUTOLABEL and then some way of referring to the labels of the next
>    and previous float (regardless of whether they would be automatically
>    generated labels or standard named labels). Any support for this? Any
>    ideas regarding the syntax?

How would one implement this behavior in LaTeX?  

> 3. It seems that currently inline images generated by asymptote are
>    included in the resulting latex file with a default size
>    width=.9\linewidth. I prefer them to be included in their original
>    size. To achieve this I first tried to define
> 
>    (setq org-export-latex-image-default-option "")
> 
>    This did not help: in the resulting latex file, the size was now
>    defined as width=.7\textwidth, which seems to come from
>    org-latex.el. Finally I obtained the wanted behaviour by artificially
>    defining the option to some value that does not cause any harm; in my
>    case
> 
>    (setq org-export-latex-image-default-option "keepaspectratio=true")
> 
>    Like I said, this is artificial. Is there a more natural way to
>    achieve the desired result, that is, inclusion of images in their
>    original size? Would it be ok if the code were changed so that
>    setting 
> 
>    (setq org-export-latex-image-default-option "")
> 
>    would override the width=.7\textwidth coming from org-latex.el?

This was one of the "snags" for me that I mentioned above.  But this
works:

#+CAPTION: A test caption.
#+Attr_LaTeX: width=\textwidth
#+begin_src asymptote :file (org-babel-temp-file "figure-" ".pdf")
   size (1cm, 0);
   filldraw (unitsquare, red);
#+end_src


> 
> 4. Let us say that in the math document there would be questions with
>    corresponding answers and solutions. An answer would be just the
>    result, while the solution would show the steps needed to obtain the
>    result. In the org document I would like to write the question, the
>    corresponding answer and the solution in one place, one after the
>    other, while in the exported pdf / html I would like the answers and
>    solutions to be at the end of the document, numbered according to the
>    numbers of the questions. How could I achieve this?
> 

Haven't done this, but the LaTeX code could put the answers and
solutions in a float, which could then be floated to the end of the
document.

-Ethan